Washington Gardener November 2015

NOVEMBER 2015 VOL. 10 NO. 9

WWW.WASHINGTONGARDENER.COM

WASHINGTON WAS W WASHINGTO ASHINGTO

ggardener

the magazine for gardening enthusiasts in the Mid-Atlantic region

Dealing with Mammal Pests Your Garden Tasks To-Do List

Meet Artist/ Plantswoman Karen Rexrode Easy Landscape Fixes The Scoop on Poop: Locally Sourced Manure

How to Attract Resident Birds Local Garden Events Calendar

Alliums:

Starpower in the Garden

GoGardeners Garden Coaching

Elise Stigliano Garden Coach elise@gogardeners.com • 301-518-8333

www.gogardeners.com

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RESOURCESsourc

Need a Garden Club Speaker?

Washington Gardener Magazine’s staff and writers are available to speak to groups and garden clubs in the greater DC region.

Call 301.588.6894 or email wgardenermag@aol.com for available dates, rates, and topics.

Haven’s Natural Brew Tea conditions the soil so your plant’s root system can better absorb nutrients needed to build a strong, healthy root base. The manure tea can also be applied to compost piles to accelerate the composting process.

RARE AND EXCEPTIONAL PLANTS FOR THE DISCRIMINATING GARDENER AND COLLECTOR Barry Glick Sunshine Farm and Gardens 696 Glicks Road Renick, WV 24966, USA Email: barry@sunfarm.com

Order some today at: www.manuretea.com

www.sunfarm.com

Specializing in Garden

Renewals & Renovations Yard By Yard Makeovers, LLC 7304 Carroll Avenue, #229 Takoma Park, MD 20912 301-270-4642 yardmakeovers@yahoo.com www.yardmakeovers.com

We can reshape and beautify neglected yards.

Green Spring Gardens

www.greenspring.org

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A “must visit” for everyone in the metropolitan Washington, DC, area. It’s a year-round gold mine of information and inspiration for the home gardener. It’s an outdoor classroom for children and their families to learn about plants and wildlife. It’s also a museum, a national historic site that offers glimpses into a long, rich history with colonial origins.

Located at 4603 Green Spring Rd., Alexandria, VA. Information: 703-642-5173.

INSIDEcontents

FEATURES and COLUMNS

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o Allium ‘Globemaster’ on the Shepherd Park Garden Tour of Washington, DC. According to Colorblends, a bulb wholesaler, ‘Globemaster’ bears 8- to 10-inch orbs of lilac-purple flowers on tall, stout stems. Because the flowers are sterile, they last a long time. Alliums present a two-act performance: first act is the purple bloom, second act is the dried flower, which can hold its shape for many weeks.

o

Might Mesh bird feeder is specifically designed for fun-loving clinging birds like chickadees, titmice, woodpeckers, warblers, finches, bluebirds, etc.; it prevents larger birds that can’t cling from hogging the feeder.

Photo courtesy of Cole’s Wild Bird Products.

BOOKreviews 14-17 Bearded Iris, Rachel Carson, Beatrice Potter, Art of Gardening, One-Pot Gourmet GARDENbasics 8 Dealing with Mammal Pests GOINGnative 19 Large Flowered Bellwort HORThappenings 9 UDC Sustainable Agriculture, Daffodil Planting, Trees Matter, Garlic Planting, Book Club LOCALresources 6 Animal Manure Sources NEIGHBORnetwork 18-19 Karen Rexrode PLANTprofile 20 Ornamental Alliums TIPStricks 10 Attracting Backyard Birds, Easy Landscape Fixes, Horticultural Therapy for Veterans

DEPARTMENTS

ADVERTISINGindex BLOGlinks EDITORletter GARDENcontest LOCALevents MONTHLYtasklist NEXTissue READERreactions RESOURCESsources

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ON THE COVER

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Allium ‘Gladiator’ has five-inch flowers and 40-inch stems. It is known for its tall, sturdy stems topped by dense lilacpurple flower heads.

In our December 2015 issue:

Indoor Citrus

Karen Rexrode lives in Aldie, VA, and describes herself as a previous nursery owner, currently enjoy gardening and many forms of creative interpretation.

Gardener Gift Guide Local Cut-Flower Farmers and much more...

If your business would like to reach area gardeners, be sure to contact us by December 10 so you can be part of the next issue of our growing publication!

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Be sure you are subscribed to:

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EDITORletter

Credits Kathy Jentz Editor/Publisher & Advertising Sales Washington Gardener 826 Philadelphia Ave. Silver Spring, MD 20910 Phone: 301-588-6894 wgardenermag@aol.com www.washingtongardener.com Call today to place your ad with us!

Ruth E. Thaler-Carter Proofreader Joelle Lang Intern Cover price: $4.99 Back issues: $6.00 Subscription: $20.00 Address corrections should be sent to the address above.

Your editor striking a pose in a Virginia garden on the recent APLD tour. Photo by Carolyn Mullet.

Ready for My Close-up?

One of the projects my interns and I have been working on this past year is building up the magazine’s video collection. We have a video channel at https://www. youtube.com/user/WDCgardener1 or just go to Youtube.com and put “Washington Gardener Magazine” in the search field. Right now, we have about 50 original videos and we are adding a new one to the collection every Wednesday.

About half of the videos are how-to tutorials — everything from planting garlic to taking coleus cuttings. The rest are mainly recordings of local area gardening events, such as the recent NCOS Orchid Show or the opening of UDC’s green roof.

We have also mixed in a few just-for-fun videos, such as a visual count of every gnome statue in my home garden.

The most popular video on the channel is one I took two years ago of the tiny houses at the Boneyard Studios in Washington, DC. The collective has broken up now, so I’m very grateful I have this tour filmed and still available for anyone to view.

One of our least popular is our video of Brookside Garden’s butterfly exhibit. This is a bit bewildering to me as I cannot imagine who doesn’t want to watch a few minutes of footage of these gorgeous creatures. Perhaps it was the mid-August release timing or maybe there are just too many competing similar videos? In any case, I hope you take a few minutes during the cold months to visit and view some of our videos and leave a thumbs-up plus your comments.

We are always on the look-out for more video ideas. Is there something you would like to see demonstrated or an event you think we should cover? Let me know and we will try to work it into our upcoming schedule.

Happy gardening (and reading)!

Kathy Jentz, Editor/Publisher, Washington Gardener, wgardenermag@aol.com 4

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• Washington Gardener Blog: www.washingtongardener.blogspot.com • Washington Gardener Archives: http://issuu.com/washingtongardener • Washington Gardener Discussion Group: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ WashingtonGardener/ • Washington Gardener Twitter Feed: www.twitter.com/WDCGardener • Washington Gardener is a womanowned business. We are proud to be members of: · Garden Writers Association · Think Local First DC · DC Web Women · Green America Magazine Leaders Network · Green America Business Network To order reprints, contact Wright’s Reprints at 877.652.5295, ext. 138.

Volume 10, Number 9 ISSN 1555-8959 © 2015 Washington Gardener All rights reserved. Published quarterly.

No material may be reproduced without prior written permission. This magazine is purchased by the buyer with the understanding that the information presented is from various sources from which there can be no warranty or responsibility by the publisher as to legality, completeness, or technical accuracy.

All uncredited photos in this issue are © Kathy Jentz.

READERcontt

Reader Contest

For our November 2015 Washington Gardener Reader Contest, Washington Gardener is giving away several passes to the Garden of Lights at Brookside Gardens in Wheaton. MD. Make a new holiday tradition at the Garden of Lights! This walk-through holiday light display features 1 million dazzling, colorful lights shaped into hand-crafted, original art forms of flowers, animals and other natural elements. Enjoy nightly musical performances and visit the conservatory to watch Gscale model trains wind through a seasonal landscape. The event will be open nightly from November 27, 2015, through January 3, 2016 (closed December 24 & 25).

Stroll from garden to garden, enjoying twinkling tree forms, fountains, sparkling snowflakes overhead, and more. The Garden of Lights celebrates its 18th season as a Baltimore/Washington, DC-area family holiday tradition.

Warm up in the Visitors Center while you sip hot cocoa and listen to one of the nightly musical performances. Find out more at http://www. montgomeryparks.org/brookside/garden_lights.shtm, To enter to win a pass that admits one car-load of guests to the Garden of Lights, send an email to WashingtonGardener@rcn.com by 5pm on Monday, November 30, with “Lights Show” in the subject line and in the body of the email. Tell us which was your favorite article in this November 2015 issue of the magazine and why. Please also include your full name and mailing address. The pass winners will be announced and notified on December 1.

Caption Contest We asked our Facebook page followers: We found this over-sized and friendly carrot at The Washington Youth Garden. How would you caption this photo?

Look for more monthly caption contests at the Facebook.com/WashingtonGardenerMagazine page.

Winning Captions:

“The best secrets are found deep down” ~ Mish Brosseau “Elmer Fudd changes tactics and tries camouflage this hunting season — be vewy, vewy quiet.” ~ Julie Blackwell “Once a carroter always a carroter.” ~ Kenny Dacks “If you carrot at all about kid’s gardening, you’ll donate to the youth garden!” ~ Jim Johnson “Keep calm and carrot on.” ~ Mary Sue Eames “GMO foods are perfectly safe.” ~ Sally Roads “I’d make a joke, but no one would carrot at all.” ~ Liz James

Jake Dacks, Washington Youth Graden’s garden coordinator, in his Halloween costume. Photo by Kathy Jentz.

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LOCALrourc

Photo credit: Malene Thyssen, http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Malene

The Full Scoop on Poop Locally sourced manure for your garden

By Kathy Jentz

Animal manure is a favorite soil amendment for gardeners. It is great for claybusting and adding needed nutrients back into garden beds. It is especially helpful in edible gardens that get quickly depleted of nitrogen, phosphorous, and potassium. Manure also holds moisture in well.

Be sure to get aged manure; if you get fresh, “age” it yourself before applying it to planting beds. Aging consists of hot-composting the manure to break down any pathogens or weed seeds that may be in it.

Fresh manure will be pungent. Locate your compost pile where the scent will not affect you or your neighbors.

Composting and aging it will cut out most of the odor.

Add the manure to your compost pile and turn over the pile every few weeks.

Chicken manure, in particular, should be aged at least a year since it can “burn” plants due to its high nitrogen content.

Rabbit manure is the exception and can be used immediately as a top dressing on garden beds.

Animal manure should only be used from herbivores. Pet waste from dogs and cats should never be introduced to your garden or compost pile because of disease and pathogens (salmonella, listeria and E. coli) that meat-eating animals can spread to humans.

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for this article, I found a few old wive’s tales and dead-ends. For instance. the Smithsonian National Zoo does not give out animal waste to anyone for any purpose, according to the media office.

Free Local Horse Manure

Horse manure from local riding stables is usually mixed with bedding like sawdust or straw. It needs to be aged at least a year before it can be used in the garden. Bring a shovel, buckets, and dress to get messy with gloves and boots.

• Rock Creek Park Stables Pick-up only. Come before 9am and not on the weekends. Call ahead. Manure is mixed with sawdust. Bring a shovel.

5100 Glover Road Northwest, Washington, DC 202-362-0117 http://rockcreekhorsecenter.com/ • Star Gazing Farm Saturdays between 9am and 3pm until the end of the year; other days by appointment. Bring a pickup truck, trailer, or heavy-duty compost bags or buckets.

There is no charge for the manure; however, a donation to the farm to keep the animals eating and pooping and making this great stuff is appreciated.

16760 Whites Store Road, Boyds, MD 301-349-0802. http://www.stargazingfarm.org

• Little Burgundy Farm Pick-up only. Call ahead.

5715 Sable Drive, Alexandria, VA 571-357-4330 http://www.littleburgundyfarm.com • Wheaton Park Stables Pick-up only. Call ahead.

1101 Glenallan Ave., Wheaton, MD 301-622-2424 http://www.wheatonparkstables.com/ • University of MD Equestrian Club Pick up only. Call ahead.

Animal Science Campus farm on the University of Maryland campus in College Park, MD 301-405-1298 http://www.studentorg.umd.edu/MEC/ faqs.html

Buy It Neat and Pre-Packaged

Alternatively, you can purchase bagged, aged animal manure at your local garden center or by mail order. One product that comes in neat, easily stored, and usable packages is manure tea in brewing bags from Authentic Haven Brand (http://www.ahavenbrand.com/).

Another is Poopeas (http://poopeas. com/), which is organic, pelletized manure compost. o Kathy Jentz is editor of Washington Gardener Magazine. An earlier version of this article appeared our enewsletter.

READERreactions

Our Readers Share Their Thoughts “My favorite article (in the July 2015 issue) was about Herb Drying. I grow my own herbs and have often wondered about the proper way to keep them throughout the winter months.” ~ Carol Yemola, Drums, PA “My favorite article in the July 2015 issue was the cut flower day trip story. Finally made me go find McKee Beshers!

Thanks!” ~ Alison Mrohs, Rockville MD “My favorite article in the October 2015 issue of the Washington Gardener Magazine was entitled, ‘Research on Bulb and Perennial Combinations’ by Joelle Lang. The article addressed the results of a trial at Cornell University, Department of Horticulture, showing the advantages of combining various bulbs and perennials in the garden environment. The reader was led to an incredible website which contained color images, showing the various contrasting colors and textures of both the bloom and the foliage. This was truly a timely article, as many gardeners are planning their spring bulb purchases to hopefully accent their existing or newly planted perennials. The term heaven may be defined by a quote from the web site, ‘The height of the Tulip at bloom and the Geranium makes the Tulip blooms look as if they are floating in a sea of green.’” ~ Karen Bishop Wood, Hollywood, MD “While all the articles are interesting and informative, your short explanation about the Deer Ban (in the September 2015 issue) is of special interest to me as we are inundated by deer in our suburban neighborhood. I have been using a variety of smelly deer sprays with limited success but inevitably the deer win the battle. This Deer Ban product is possibly a longer term solution for us. Thanks for the information.” ~ Mark Ross, Rockville, MD “My favorite article in the August 2015 issue of the magazine is the article about items that can be composted; the reason is that I never knew that I can compost dryer lint and popsicle sticks. I plan to start doing so today!” ~ Melissa Merideth, Bethesda, MD “I really enjoyed the Top 5 Butterfly Houses in our region article in the August 2015 issue.I love visiting butterfly houses and didn’t realize that there was one in Hershey or Norfolk.

Good to know for future roadtrips!” ~ Katie Rapp, Gaithersburg, MD “ I found the stinkbug article in the September 2015 issue to be the best and hopefully very helpful.” ~ Kathy May, Kensington, MD “Love this magazine! Keep up the great work!” ~ Shelley Newport, Alexandria, VA

Share Your ReaderReaction

Send to Washington Gardener at wgardenermag@aol.com. o

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Join Us For: Seed Swapping Door Prizes Planting Tips Expert Speakers Goody Bags

Washington Gardener Magazine presents the

10th Annual Washington Gardener

Seed onExchanges Saturday, January 30, 2016 National Seed Swap Day! from 12:30 – 4:00PM at Brookside Gardens in Wheaton, MD AND on Saturday, February 6, 2016 from 12:30 – 4:00PM at Green Spring Gardens in Alexandria, VA

Registration will open on December 15, 2015 at www.washingtongardener.com.

Washington Gardener Magazine current subscribers get $5 off the attendee fee!

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GARDENbasics

Dealing with Mammal Pests in the Garden

By Kathy Jentz

Gardening ecologically in the Washington, DC, region can be a challenge. We plant native plants and then complain about the native animals that come to munch on them. We can hardly be miffed at Bambi and Thumper, when we have planted a virtual gourmet banquet of their favorite treats for them. Yet, we still want to garden and not have just stubble and bare sticks in our landscape. How can we garden alongside wildlife and still have a decent-looking yard?

First, we need to judiciously pick our battles. Clearly, if you are growing edibles, then you want to devote more of your time and resources to protecting them so you can maximize the harvest you get to consume. Next on your list will be to protect those ornamental plants that have sentimental or other value for you. Finally, you will want to preserve those plantings with intrinsic property value.

The main line of defense against mammal garden pests is exclusion.

Fence off your entire property or just that portion you want to protect. If you are aiming to keep out deer, then the fencing has to be at least eight feet high. Under most of the local governments and HOAs in the DC suburbs, the maximum allowed solid fencing is six feet high. Therefore, you will need to get creative. You can string fishing line or electrified wire at two-foot intervals along sections of your property that are not crossed regularly by humans.

You can also look into mesh deer fencing, which is a flexible, net-like material. At a distance of 20 feet or so, it is practically invisible to the human eye. If you do use the mesh deer fencing, make sure you do not leave a gap at the bottom as deer can go under just as well as they can go over. All fencing also requires regular maintenance and repair against things such as tree limbs or snow that can weigh down or break a fencing section.

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The next line of defense is natural predators -- that can include encouraging our pet cats and dogs to take care of rabbits, voles (meadow mice), chipmunks, and rats. Some of our domestic pets are skilled hunters, while others are not. You may also not be comfortable with this tactic. A more-acceptable tactic for many is to use predator urine sprays and granules. Brands include Shake-away and Bobbex. These sprays contain urine from natural predators like bobcats and coyotes. You can also sprinkle blood or bone meal to deter mammals from feasting on your garden beds. Milorganite is a fertilizer that is derived from human sewage waste and has proven effective at repelling deer predation. All of these sprays need regular re-application since they can fade away and heavy rains can wash them away.

Another kind of spray program you can try is organic, sulfur-based brands like Liquid Fence or Deer Out. These are “bad taste” sprays that you apply to the foliage of plants that you do not want deer or rabbits to nibble on. They also can contain hot pepper extras and mint essential oil. Whatever spray brand you choose, know that animals can habituate to certain smells and that you may want to switch to a different brand very three to six months to keep them on their toes.

One proven technique to keep all kinds of mammals from your gardens is a motion-sensor sprinkler system (Havahart and Contech Scarecrow are two popular brands). These shoot out a burst of water at anything that interrupts the motion sensor. It can be quite shocking and a great deterrent.

Unfortunately, this works equally as well on humans, so you or a guest can be zapped by a water stream, which can be an unpleasant experience. I always caution those who use this technique to move the sensor around every few weeks, but to put a note on their door

to remind themselves and the rest of their households of where they last put it, so they don’t get sprayed as they head out in the morning.

Finally, pick plants that are less-palatable to your problem creatures. Deer hate fuzzy leaves as with most of the culinary herbs – from lavender to sage.

Strong-scented plants like catmint, horseradish, and hyssop repel deer.

They also do not like those that are bitter because they are poisonous; those include daffodils, hellebores, lily of the valley, and foxgloves. They also turn up their noses at some native plants like Paw Paw tree and Serviceberry. Use these plants to create a buffer zone between the deer and those plants that they love to consume, such as hostas and tulips.

Our mammal friends often make gardening frustrating, but it does not have to be an all-or-nothing affair. With proper planning and selection, we can garden and still live alongside our native creatures.

Harmless Mammals

The following mammals are harmless and often actually beneficial for your gardens: opossums, raccoons, skunks, coyotes, and moles. All of these mammal visitors to your garden will eat slugs, bugs, and small vermin. They should be welcomed, or, at least, not interfered with, as they visit and take care of other pest problems for you.

Some of these mammals, particularly raccoons, can be destructive and messy, but they should not be a major issue unless you are not practicing good garden hygiene. What does that mean?

That includes cleaning up all fallen and rotting fruit and berries; not leaving out pet food; cleaning up pet waste; and storing seeds, trash, and organic fertilizers in metal containers. o Kathy Jentz is editor of Washington Gardener Magazine. An earlier version of this article appeared on The DC Ladies blog.

HORThaenings

The University of the District of Columbia’s College of Agriculture, Urban Sustainability, and Environmental Sciences hosted the 2015 Urban Agriculture Symposium from October 22-24. A panel Thursday night featured the CEO of DC Central Kitchen, the executive chef of the National Press Club, and the executive director of school nutrition for Detroit Public Schools. The audience asked questions ranging from the quality of free lunch in schools to addressing food deserts in Prince George’s County. The audience included local residents as well as visitors from Brazil and Aruba. The remainder of the weekend included lectures on food production and distribution, as well as roundtable discussions with experts about the food market. More than 130 people attended the event.

Garlic Planting Party

Garden Book Club Meeting

The Washington Gardener Magazine’s Garden Book Club discussed Teaching the Trees: Lessons from the Forest by Joan Maloof at the Takoma Park (DC) Neighborhood Library on November 5. The group also set the club’s 2016 reading list. The club will be reading: The Invention of Nature: Alexander von Humboldt’s New World in the winter, The Rambunctious Garden: Saving Nature in a Post-Wild World in the spring, Planting in a Post-Wild World: Designing Plant Communities for Resilient Landscapes in the summer, and Paradise Under Glass: An Amateur Creates a Conservatory Garden in the fall. The Washington Gardener Magazine Garden Book Club is free and open to all. It meets quarterly on a weekday evening in a metro-accessible location in the DC-area. Check for more information posted on the blog soon at washingtongardener.blogspot.com.

Photo courtesy of Sue Hauser.

The Washington Youth Garden hosted their fourth annual “Garlic Planting Party” mid-day on October 31 in the Demonstration Garden at the U.S. National Arboretum. The family-friendly event featured face painting, pumpkin painting, garden adventures, and garlic planting. The event also including food, live music by the band, Dragon, and a costume fashion show. The event encouraged participants to tweet about the event to promote gardening and public gardens in the area, using the #GardenDC hashtag. Around 75 people came out to enjoy the event.

Daffodil Planting

On the morning of Veteran’s Day, November 11, the Silver Spring Garden Club planted 800 assorted daffodil bulbs at Jesup Blair Park in Silver Spring, MD, on the Washington, DC, border. The club re-created the bulb plantings that they originally installed at this same location almost 75 years ago.

The historic planting was of 30,000 bulbs to honor World War II servicemen and –women.

The club donated 600 of the bulbs, and 200 were donated by individuals.

The majority of the bulbs were of the tall, yellow “Dutch Master” variety. The Montgomery Parks said they would avoid mowing the bulbs in future years and the hope is that the bulbs will multiply and naturalize.

Photo courtesy of Montgomery Parks.

UDC Causes Urban Agriculture Symposium

Trees Matter Conference

The fourth annual Trees Matter Symposium, was themed “Trees and the Built Environment.” It took place November 4 in the Silver Spring Civic Building and was sold out. This year’s event focused on the welfare of trees in developing landscapes, and included six speakers.

Experts such as Dr. Michael Dirr, founder of Plant Introductions Inc., spoke about the economic and environmental value of trees. Dirr also closed the event with a second talk on top tree selections for surviving in various environments. Keynote speaker and horticulturist Holly Shimizu spoke about how trees change and adapt over time. Dr. Chris Luley, vice president of Urban Forestry in New York, spoke on fungi that affect trees in urban environments. Dr. Kelby Fite, a member of the Barlett Tree Research Lab, covered the importance of root development and proper soil in urban settings.

The symposium included vendors from places such as the Maryland Native Plant Society, Kelly Landscaping, the Montgomery County Forest Board, and Stadler Native Plants. There was also a speaker book-signing table and door prizes. The event was presented by the Horticulture, Forestry, and Environmental Education Division of Montgomery Parks and Pogo Tree Experts. o Compiled by Joelle Lang a senior at the University of Maryland, College Park. She is a multi-platform journalism student in the Philip Merrill College of Journalism. This autumn, she is also an editorial intern for Washington Gardener Magazine.

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Photo from Cole’s Wild Bird Products.

TIPStricks

Horticulture Therapy Helps Combat Veterans

According to research published in the journal, Psychiatry Investigation, engaging in horticulture therapy (gardening) helps reduce pain, improves attention, reduces stress and agitation, and lowers the usage of medications. Additionally, the University of Florida reports that horticulture therapy improves bodies, minds, and spirits, and has been used for centuries. For all of these reasons, horticulture is one of the complementary alternative therapies that is being used to help the many combat veterans suffering from such conditions as post-traumatic stress, traumatic brain injuries, and physical injuries.

“Most combat veterans don’t think about gardening as a tool to help them heal, yet it does a lot to help the mindset,” explains Ken Falke, chairman and founder of Boulder Crest Retreat.

“Horticulture therapy has a prominent place in our programs because we know that it helps and it’s something that our guests can take home with them to continue their healing process.”

Horticulture therapy includes the growing of plants and tending them, is centuries old, and is a great way of helping to reduce stress and improve mental state. The University of Florida reports that, as early as 1798, Dr. Benjamin Rush, who also signed the Declaration of Independence, reported that mentally ill patients made improvement through gardening.

At Boulder Crest Retreat, military combat veterans and their family members, engage in gardening exercises as part of their stays. The retreat offers combat veterans and their families the opportunity to stay free of charge for two to seven nights at the 37-acre retreat. Gardening is one of the therapies offered. Others include art, music, meditation, yoga, equine therapy, and various recreational therapies such as archery and kayaking. Combined, all of these modalities make up the full program.

“Adding gardening in our beautiful rural outdoor setting just made sense,” said Falke. “It slows people down, gives them something to tend to, and provides many benefits that we all need.”o 10

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How to Attract Resident Birds to Your Backyard

Not all birds fly south for the winter.

Birds that eat seed are more likely to stay put and that means you can entice them to your backyard by serving their preferred varieties. Green Earth Media Group explains what songbirds you might see in the winter and what to serve them: • Goldfinches — These birds primarily eat seed, so they’ll appreciate a premium blend of sunflower meats and niger seed. The finch mix is designed to work well in all kinds of tubular feeders, and is also appealing to purple finches and pine siskins.

• Blue Jays — Entice them by serving suet and sunflower seeds or a blend that features sunflower meats. They also love peanuts, so try incorporating this high-protein, high-fat offering into the fare you serve.

• Cardinals — Cardinals are fans of virtually any kind of seed (except niger) and suet, so stock your feeders with a variety of seed mixes, as well as their favorite: Safflower seed.

• Chickadees — Seeds make up about half their diet in winter, so they will spend a lot of time dining in your backyard if you serve a variety of seeds.

They also need fat to weather winter cold, so stock up on suet.

• Eastern Towhee — Towhees like seeds, berries, suet, and small fruits, so look for options that incorporate more than one of their favorites. Serve this combination of nourishing sunflower meats and suet in a mesh feeder or a seed dish.

• Dark-eyed Junco — While they primarily eat seeds and insects, they do appreciate some berries and suet when winter arrives, so entice them to your yard with a combination of premium fruits, preferred nuts, whole kernels of sunflower meat, and insect suet kibbles.

Regardless of what birds you’re trying to attract, remember that they need fresh water and roosting spots throughout the year. o

Facing Your Fixups

Anthony Tesselaar Plants, an International horticulture marketing company (www.tesselaar.com) shared these tips for tackling common landscape issues.

• Irrigation — If you have a new boggy patch in the garden bed or a suspicious dry zone across the last third of the lawn, you probably have a boggy-break or a drought-block in your irrigation.

Breaks are fixed by neatly trimming and splicing in a new section of pipe.

Dry zones are usually caused by water being prevented from reaching a zone.

Look for kinked, flattened, or blocked pipes. Flushing will fix the blockages and splices will sort the rest.

• Loose pavers or bricks — If you experience a loose paver, lift it and clean out the debris around and under it. Mix up some “mud,” aka cement, and set the paver back into place, checking the level is spot on. Finish with grouting material to match existing aged grout.

If you have a loose railroad tie, the most difficult part is working out how to avoid using a fresh raw tie in open view as its replacement. See if you can find one elsewhere in the garden where it’s less visible. Prop up the step tread while you swap the rotten tie for the replacement, and then take a good look at the rotten one. Rolled over, it might be fine to put where the substitute came from.

• Dull paving and decking — Some people love a weathered surface and can’t wait for a fresh concrete path to soften and age, while others love the original look and want to bring it back.

Sometimes it’s a matter of necessity since aged surfaces can become slippery underfoot. Hire, borrow, or buy a pressure washer. If you’ve been cleaning a deck, let it dry thoroughly before giving it a new coat of deck paint, stain, or oil. Do your research about what you put on it, and check the application instructions, but a cheap mop and a paint tray is a very quick and easy way to do it. o Tips compiled by Joelle Lang a senior at the University of Maryland, College Park. She is a multi-platform, journalism student in the Philip Merrill College of Journalism. This autumn, she is also an editorial intern for Washington Gardener Magazine.

GARDENnews

Quick Links to Recent Washington Gardener Blog Posts

• Native Spotlight: Fothergilla • Local First Friday Series • DIY: Make Your Own Birdbath Container Garden • Growing Heirloom Mums See more Washington Gardener blog posts at: WashingtonGardener.Blogspot.com o

November-December Garden To-Do List New Plant Spotlight For 2016, David Austin Roses Introduces “Possibly the Best Rose We’ve Ever Bred” In spring 2016, U.S. and Canadian gardeners get their chance to grow the charming soft-pink English Rose that David Austin himself calls “possibly the best rose we’ve ever bred.”

‘Olivia Rose Austin’ is a landmark English Rose introduction,” said Michael Marriott, technical director and senior rosarian at David Austin Roses in Albrighton, England. “It’s achingly beautiful, fragrant, and as close to diseasefree as we’ve ever seen.”

Not only that, the new rose kicks off its extraordinarily long flowering season a full three weeks earlier than most other roses, early enough to overlap with the lilacs and wisteria, said Marriott. “All season, the blooms keep coming with full-blown flushes that follow in quick succession, hot on the heels of the one before,” he said.“ David Austin’s English Roses (www. davidaustinroses) are known for combining the classic flower forms and perfume of antique roses with the desirable color range, repeat-flowering, and disease-resistance of modern roses.

They can be grown in full sun or partial shade.

Austin roses are available in the U.S. and Canada by mailorder as bare root stock, with orders taken year-round by phone or online. As always, those choosing new introductions should order early, as should those in warmer areas. The roses are sold on a firstcome basis. No matter how early an order is placed, all roses are shipped only at the right time for planting in the recipient’s area. o

• Switch your deer deterrent spray if you’ve been using the same one for several months. Re-apply after heavy rains.

• Have your soil tested at least once every three years.

• Cover carrots and other root crops with straw to extend the harvest season.

• Deadhead spent mums and plant them (if still in pots).

• Don’t panic over leaf/needle drop on established evergreen shrubs and rhododendrons. It is normal at this time of year for them to shed a third of them.

• Bulb foliage already starting to surface? Don’t fret. It is also normal and will not affect next year’s blooms.

• Check for vole problems and set out traps.

• Caulk and seal your home to prevent wildlife from coming indoors.

• Protect fig trees from freezing by piling up leaves around them.

• Clean the leaves of your indoor houseplants to prevent dust and film build-up.

• Collect plant seeds for next year’s planting and for trading.

• Turn off outdoor water valve and store hoses.

• Store terra cotta pots in a shed or protected areas.

• Prune and mulch hybrid tea roses.

• Harvest the last of your vegetables and till compost into the beds.

• Plant garlic for harvest next spring.

• Force spring bulbs for indoor blooms this January by potting them up, watering thoroughly, and placing them in your vegetable crisper for about 10 weeks.

• Remove this year’s fruiting raspberry canes down to the ground.

• Clean out your ponds and compost annual plants. Move hardy plants to deeper water. Cover with netting to block falling leaves.

• Clean, sharpen, and store your garden tools.

• Reduce fertilizing of indoor plants (except cyclamen).

• Set up a humidifier for indoor plants or at least place them in pebble trays.

• Vacuum up any ladybugs that come in the house.

• Rotate houseplants to promote even growth.

• Pot up Paper Whites and Amaryllis for holiday blooming.

• Water evergreens and new plantings to keep them hydrated this winter.

• Fertilize your lawn and re-seed if needed.

• Transplant trees and shrubs.

• Continue to divide and transplant perennials.

• Rake leaves, shred, and gather in compost piles.

• Start feeding birds to get them in the habit for this winter.

• Attend a local garden club meeting.

• Turn your compost pile weekly and don’t let it dry out. Work compost into your planting beds.

• Plant evergreens for winter interest.

• Weed.

• Take a break from holiday stress to enjoy your garden.

• Do not place live wreaths or greenery in-between your door and a glass storm door, especially if the doorway is facing south. This placement will “cook” the arrangement on a sunny day.

• Sign up all your friends and family for garden magazine subscriptions as holiday gifts.

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TOP AREA GARDENING EVENTS DC-Area Gardening Calendar ~ Upcoming Events ~ November 16–December 15, 2015 • Tuesday, November 17, 7–8:30pm Living History: Meet Gertrude Jekyll Enjoy a living history performance to celebrate and understand one of history’s most influential garden designers, Gertrude Jekyll. Garden Designer Martha Oliver performs as this renowned garden designer, who, along with architect Edwin Lutyens, designed and installed hundreds of gardens in the U.K., Europe, and America from 1876 to the 1930s. The influence of Jekyllian ideas is still evident in the wide borders, bold colors, and integrated designs of many of today’s great gardens. Sponsored by Four Seasons Garden Club. Verified Four Seasons Garden Club members attend for free. $10 for in-county guests, $12 for outof-county guests. Advance registration recommended. Call 703-642-5173 or go to www.fairfaxcounty.gov/parks/ greenspring for paid registration.

• Tuesday, November 17, 7pm Maryland Native Plant Society’s Holiday Social and Members Share Night Share images or stories of your local or distant adventures experienced in the past year. Meeting at Wheaton Library, Wheaton, MD. Details at MDFlora.org.

•Wednesday, November 18, 7:15-9pm A Year in Rock Creek Park Co-sponsored by Takoma Horticultural Club & Friends of Sligo Creek at Historic Takoma, 7328 Carroll Ave., Takoma Park MD. Presented by Melanie Choukas-Bradley, author/naturalist. This inspirational talk about the natural history of Rock Creek Park, the oldest and one of the largest urban national parks in the country, is based on the award-winning book, A Year in Rock Creek Park – the Wild, Wooded Heart of Washington DC by Melanie ChoukasBradley, with photographs by Susan Austin Roth. The presentation takes us on a journey through the seasons in the park, with a focus on the native plants of the Rock Creek Park woodlands. Choukas-Bradley has traveled the 33-mile length of the creek on foot and cross-country skis, by bicycle and by canoe, and she will describe her adventures. The talk will be illustrated 12

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by Susan Austin Roth’s evocative photographs, many of which appear in the book. Celebrate the 125th anniversary of Rock Creek Park, which was created in 1890, the same year Yosemite was established, with our visitor from a neighboring watershed! This event is FREE and open to public. No need to RSVP. •Thursday, November 19, 10am Decorating for the Holidays Laura Dowling, former White House floral designer, is presenting a special program on home holiday decorations in Alexandria, VA. The program, “Holiday Cheer: Innovative Ideas and Tips for Decorating in the Garden Style,” is being hosted by the Garden Club of Waynewood. Admission is $10 for nonmembers. The event is at 8532 Fort Hunt Road (Fellowship Hall, Plymouth Haven Baptist Church). Doors will open at 9:30am. A chance to win one of Laura Dowling’s designs at the end of the program is available to those that purchase raffle tickets. For pre-purchase of tickets, contact Dorothy Raduazo at dmraduazo@cox.net or 703-3602316.

• Saturday, November 21, 1:30–2:30 pm Getting Creative With Winter Planters Containers aren’t just for summer anymore. Join horticulturist Carol Miranda for a tour of the winter containers outside the Visitor Center and the Atrium.

Anything goes for winter interest, from dried plants to spray paint. Plant list will be provided. Garden admission ($2.50– $5.00) applies for this one-hour tour.

Cost: Free with paid admission to the gardens. Reservation required. Contact 703-255-3631 or jmaloney@nvrpa.org.

Meadowlark Botanical Gardens, 9750 Meadowlark Gardens Ct., Vienna, VA. • Sunday, November 22, 1–2:30 pm Make a Harvest Flower Arrangement Join Kathy Jentz for a fun and creative workshop putting together a fresh and dried flower Harvest Arrangement for your Thanksgiving table and playing with chalk paints. Fee: $40. Classes held at On The Purple Couch, 4228

Howard Ave., Kensington, MD. Register at www.onthepurplecouch.com.

• November 26, 2015-January 3, 2016 Season’s Greenings: Pollination Station inside the Conservatory Holiday cheer abounds at the U.S. Botanic Garden! Despite the cold winter outside, the conservatory boasts a tropical paradise, one of the largest indoor decorated trees in Washington, DC, and a showcase of poinsettias. It wouldn’t be the winter holiday season without the train display in the East Gallery, where trains chug along tracks around and above you through imaginative structures created with plant materials. Explore Pollination Station, where you can visit oversized flowers, bees, and butterflies in this year’s scenic wonderland. See DC landmarks such as the Capitol, Lincoln Memorial, and Washington Monument, all made from plants, on display in the Garden Court.

Come in from the cold and enjoy the sights, scents, and sounds of Season’s Greenings. See: http://usbg.gov.

• Wednesday, December 2, 12n– 1:30pm Pomegranates, Persimmons, and Pears Adrienne Cook, garden and cooking writer, and Danielle Cook, holistic nutritionist and cooking instructor, lead a session on a trio of fruits that star in holiday meals and thereafter. Not only do these winter fruits bring welcome flavor and color to cold-weather dishes, they also are just the ticket for what we need nutritionally to stay healthy during the season. Fee: $35 FOBG: $30; registration required. Brookside Gardens’ Visitors Center Auditorium. Register at http://www.montgomeryparks.org.

• Wednesday, December 2, 5:30–8pm Holiday Greens Add spark and beauty to your holiday decorations! Join us for our annual Holiday Greens Workshop, where you can create a beautiful wreath or table arrangement from an unusual collection of fresh greens, dried flowers, seeds, fruit, and ribbons. Expert arrangers and wreath-makers will be onhand

TOP AREA GARDENING EVENTS DC-Area Gardening Calendar ~ Upcoming Events ~ November 16–December 15, 2015 to provide guidance and encouragement. Bring hand pruners and gloves to work with prickly materials. Space is limited. Refreshments served. Register

by November 20 and specify wreath or centerpiece. Members $35, Non-members $45. Held at Delaware Center for Horticulture, 1810 North Dupont Street, Wilmington, DE. See www.thedch.org.

• Thursday, December 3, 12:45— 1:15pm (repeated) Gardener’s Focus: Christmas Decor Get an intimate look at Hillwood’s holiday decor with the experts! Jason Gedeik, head of design, highlights Christmas trees inspired by diverse decades of fashion from Marjorie Merriweather Post’s life. Register at www. hillwoodmuseum.org.

• Saturday, December 5, 10–11:30am Terrarium Ornaments Workshop The Friends of the National Arboretum (FONA) invite you to deck your halls with epiphytes! Epi-whats? Epiphytes are air plants that gather moisture and nutrients from the air, making them perfect terrarium plants. These lowmaintenance house plants will add a pop of fresh green to your holiday décor and can be displayed year-round. With the help of a designer, you’ll craft two holiday-themed terrarium ornaments to keep or share. Invite a friend! All materials provided; light refreshments served.

Pre-registration required. Fee: $35 (FONA $28). Meet in the Visitor Center at the U.S. National Arboretum. Go to http://www.usna.usda.gov to register.

• Sunday, December 6, 12–4pm Gardeners’ Holiday Open House Treat yourself to a day of holiday fun in the garden, featuring the annual gingerbread house contest, trackless train rides ($3/person), holiday breads and ornaments for sale, and free refreshments. This festive day is for gardeners of all ages. Bring the children to a holiday puppet show by Bob Brown Puppets at 1pm and 3pm ($3/person).

Free admission. Green Spring Gardens, 4603 Green Spring Road, Alexandria, VA. For more information, call Green Spring Gardens at 703-642-5173.

• Friday, December 11, 10am—12n From Nature to Your Door: Wreathmaking Workshop Learn to make your own lush wreath using greenery from the Tudor Place Garden. We provide instruction along with all the cedar, magnolia, berryladen holly, pine cones, and boxwood you’ll need, as well as generous supplies of ribbons and décor. You provide the imagination — no prior expertise required! Registration fee is per medium-sized wreath and covers all materials. For teens to adults. Fee: members $30 and nonmembers $35. Register at TudorPlace.org.

• Saturday, December12, 3–4:30pm Healthy and Happy Holiday Plants Talk plus: Pot-up Bulbs Two Ways!

Covered will be Poinsettias, Amaryllis, Paperwhites, Christmas Cactus, and a few other unusual choices, including how to force spring-blooming bulbs into early bloom. Class led by Kathy Jentz and held at On The Purple Couch 4228 Howard Ave., Kensington, MD. Register at www.onthepurplecouch.com

Save These Future Dates: Seed Exchanges • January 30, 2016, at Brookside Gardens in Wheaton, MD • February 6, 2016, at Green Spring Gardens in Alexandria, VA Philadelphia Flower Show Trips 2015 with Washington Gardener Magazine • March 9, 2016, depart from downtown Silver Spring, MD • March 10, 2016, depart from Behnke Nurseries in Beltsville, MD • February 20 - March 19, 2016 Saturdays, 1—3pm, 5 sessions Landscape for Life Create healthy, beautiful landscapes using a toolkit of basic skills that work in harmony with nature. Learn about the benefits of compost, how to manage water responsibly, plants that are both attractive and provide habitats for beneficial insects, and the value of using locally sourced materials. Whether you garden on a city or suburban lot, a 20-acre farm, or the common area of

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Fee: $100. Held at Mt. Cuba Center, 3120 Barley Mill Road, Hockessin, DE. Details at www.mtcubacenter.org.

Still More Event Listings

See even more event listings on the Washington Gardener Yahoo discussion list. Join the list at http://groups.yahoo. com/group/WashingtonGardener/.

How to Submit Local Garden Events

To submit an event for this listing, please contact: Wgardenermag@aol. com — put “Event” in the subject line.

Our next deadline is November 10 for the November 15 issue, featuring events taking place from December 16, 2015 to January 15, 2016. o

Advanced Landscape Plant IPM PHC Short Course January 4–7, 2016 For registration information, contact: Avis Koeiman Department of Entomology 4291 Fieldhouse Dr. University of Maryland College Park, MD 20742 Tel: 301-405-3913 Email: akoeiman@umd.edu  NOVEMBER 2015

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BOOKreviews

A Guide to Bearded Irises: Cultivating the Rainbow for Beginners and Enthusiasts

By Kelly D. Norris Publisher: Mitchell Beazley List Price: $39.95 Reviewer: Jim Dronenburg When this book came to me to review, I had great hopes that it was a reference book. Written by an author who is also an iris hybridizer, it promised big things. Instead, it turns out to be a coffee table book. There is information there, granted, but it is clothed in hyperbole that would make Gertrude Jekyll blush — and her prose had all the purple of the British Empire at its height behind it. Plus, a lot of the chapters are introduced with a heaping portion of information not about the irises but about the author’s feelings about them. He uses “swoon” in talking about himself enough times that it brought to mind Dorothy Parker’s review of Milne’s The House at Pooh Corner. Since she said it better than I could, I invite you to Google that review. Granted, Mr. Norris is an iris fanatic. Granted, one of the aims of the book is to create more fanatics. But it would, perhaps, have been better with a little less hype.

The book starts out with a section debunking iris “myths,” and then goes on to define color. Colors are discussed individually, what the color (red, for example) is and, as a point of interest, how that color came into the modern iris spectrum, which was very good reading.

The really interesting part came when, after the colors qua colors, he got into the definition of color patterns, 14

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what they are called, and how they came in. This was fascinating.

Then there is a section on how to grow bearded irises. Granted, this is perhaps redundant after the “myths” section, essentially telling positively what the mythbusting told negatively, but a good start for beginners.

Especially the parts about borers and rot many gardeners, including your reviewer, were of the “just stick it in the ground” school with bearded irises when we started, and a lot of plants were lost that would not have been if we’d all read this section.

The next section, “How Bearded Irises Are Made,” is an overall account of the process of hybridization, genetics, and what breeders are (or should be) looking to produce in future irises (color, of course, plus texture, form, fragrance, branching, and substance). Not to mention hardiness, bud count, and reblooming ( there are several genetically driven types of rebloom — you need to read the book for this. This, again, was fascinating.) The section ends with how to grow iris from seed once your crosses are made.

The information continues in the next section, a discussion of the original species and how the earliest iris hybrids came to be, up through the middle of the last century. It ends with a rather neat and lucid explanation of genetic ploidy, which is what has opened the doors to so much of what is going on in modern irises.

Then he comes along to sections describing the six classes of bearded iris: miniature dwarf bearded (MDB), standard dwarf bearded (SDB), intermediate bearded (IB), miniature tall bearded (MTB), border bearded (BB), and tall bearded (TB). Upon first reading, it was a bit annoying not to be told in advance what these classes were in relation to each other; there is such a chart of comparison, but it was in the back of the book, facing the photo credits.

The second reading of the book, knowing of this chart in advance, went much better. Each type is described overall, then its place in the bloom time given, a precis of that type’s hybridization, companion plants, “Cultivars You Should Grow,” and a (picture) “Gallery” of some other irises in the class.

The pictures are stunning. But I can’t help regretting what makes me call this a coffee table book: there is so much wasted blank paper. Almost a third is blank space. There was room for far more information per page — many of the irises described in the historical accounts have no associated pictures, and the gallery pictures have no associated text, except for cultivar, breeder, and year. And the descriptions in the Cultivars sections are back to the hyperbole.

Having vented, though, I have to admit I learned a lot. I am not sure I would pay the price on the inner flap of the dust cover, but it would not be amiss to see if this book is in your library and, if it is not, to ask for it.

Jim Dronenburg is an accountant by day, an Irish harper/singer by night, and a Behnke Nursery weekend warrior to support his expanding gardens in Knoxville, MD.

One-Pot Gourmet Gardener Delicious container recipes to grow together and cook together

By Cinead McTernan Publisher: Mitchell Beazley List Price: $26.99 Reviewer: Joelle Lang The One-Pot Gourmet Gardener offers 25 recipes cooked from ingredients grown in one container, organized into sections under picnics, soups and salads, quick suppers, tasty accompaniments, and drinks and pubs. It’s a great resource for anyone with only a small

BOOKreviews area for gardening, such as someone living in the city with only a small roof or patio. Because the book was written in London, however, a Mid-Atlantic reader would not find much benefit from the resource list for planting materials at the end of the book.

The first section of this book serves as an introduction to one-pot planting.

It discusses topics ranging from how to choose a pot and what equipment to purchase to using compost and watering the pot. While this section of the book is very information-heavy and a little difficult to read, it is a great crash course in one-pot planting tips and tricks.

The most interesting part of the book is the pot recipes. Each recipe includes a list of necessary plants and material; step-by-step instructions on sowing, planting, and after-care methods for plants; and advice on how to harvest.

It also includes tips on making growing room in the pot later in the season, and a step-by-step recipe on how to transform your plants into a dish. The onepot recipes appear to be easy to follow and, for the most part, only require a few seeds.

This book holds your hand through the entire planting and cooking process; each recipe is separated into a “grow me” section followed by an “eat me” section. The photography that accompanies both of these sections is beautiful.

Some of the most interesting recipes in the book include Blueberry and Rose Geranium Compote, which is made from planting one pot of ‘Sutton’s Early’ and ‘Sutton’s Late’ blueberries and Rose Geranium. The Courgette and Fennel Tart dish looks delicious and is created by growing Florence fennel ‘Sirio’ seed, courgette ‘Piccolo’ F1 seed, onion ‘Forum’ sets, and marigold seed in one pot. The recipe that I am going to try at home is Kale and Celery soup, which requires growing kale ‘Nero di Toscana’ seed, celery ‘Golden Selfblanching 3’ seed, and marigold seed together.

Joelle Lang, a senior at the University of Maryland, College Park, is a multi-platform journalism student in the Philip Merrill College of Journalism. This autumn, she is also an editorial intern for Washington Gardener Magazine.

Rachel Carson and Her Sisters: Extraordinary Women Who Have Shaped America’s Environment

By Robert K. Musil Publisher: Rutgers University Press List Price: $26.95 Reviewer: Kathy Parrent For this book, Robert K. Musil has unearthed the untold stories of the early women researchers, scientists, and naturalists whose work paved the way for Rachel Carson to write Silent Spring, the momentous 1962 wake-up call on the dangers of pesticides. The latter half of Musil’s book is an impassioned account of the work of women scientists and activists who have followed in Carson’s footsteps.

Silent Spring taught the public the concept of ecology, prompted policy makers and President Kennedy to take action, led to a ban on the insecticide DDT, and reignited the modern environmental movement.

It was released in an era when it was widely believed that synthetic chemicals would lead to “better living.” Whole cities were sprayed with toxic chemicals by low-flying planes spewing poisons on neighborhoods without warning or explanation. Carson asked, “Can anyone believe it is possible to lay down such a barrage of poisons on the surface of the earth without making it unfit for all life?”

She believed in the “precautionary principle” to regulate hazardous chemicals, a standard that activists are still fighting for to this day. It says that if science suggests a chemical is hazardous, remove it, and then study it further to prove it is safe, rather than allowing it to be used until it is proven dangerous.

Carson worked as a marine biologist for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for most of her career and lived in Silver Spring, MD. Unknown to most, she was suffering from breast cancer while publicizing the book and testifying before Congress. She died in 1964, just two years after Silent Spring was published.

While it took Carson’s considerable vision, scientific knowledge, writing skill,

and courage to write Silent Spring, Musil tells us she didn’t act alone. She was supported by a movement that strategically promoted saving the environment in the same way that Rosa Parks acted strategically as part of the civil rights movement when she refused to move to the back of the bus.

Carson was the intellectual descendent of the many women of the 19th and early 20th centuries who contributed to the modern environmental movement: birders, gardeners, Social Progressives, conservationists, naturalists, women’s club members, and aspiring scientists. Denied admission to universities and access to research laboratories because they were women, they somehow persevered. Musil describes in detail how many knew and helped one another.

The list of these early women includes Susan Fenimore Cooper, who wrote the first popular nature book in America, a best-seller that influenced Thoreau. Then there was Anna Botsford Comstock, who wrote a Handbook of Nature Study in 1911. Dr. Alice Hamilton, the first female professor at Harvard, worked alongside Jane Addams, the social worker and reformer, to help poor urban workers.

With the Great Depression and World War II, many of the pioneering efforts of women on behalf of the environment were forgotten. But after the war, writes Musil, “other women were once again at the heart of the struggle to save birds, restrict chemicals, and redefine American’s views of technology, progress, and even nature itself.”

The second half of the book is an inspiring account of the efforts of women who have followed in Carson’s footsteps, including Terry Tempest Williams, Ellen Swallow Williams, Sandra Steingraber, and Devra Davis, among others.

Musil describes how the post-Carson generation is carrying on Carson’s mission, fighting against the use of hazardous chemicals and the pollution of the air and the oceans, pursuing research on the environmental connections Book Reviews continued on next page NOVEMBER 2015

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BOOKreviews to cancer, and struggling to stop the causes of climate change. They, too, are up against corporate giants that treat them as they did Rachel Carson — dismissing her expertise and denying or hiding the dangers she identified. The narrative in this section is engaging and suspenseful, as Musil reveals shocking tales of buried cancer research and corporate cover-ups.

“Those who pollute and plunder have huge resources at their command,” he writes. “They challenge serious science, real reform, and claim to care about people and the planet even as they block every reasonable effort to build a better, healthier environment for our children and generations yet to come.”

But, he writes, “We can draw inspiration and leadership from the long line of American women who somehow defied the cinched circumstances and enervated expectations for their gender to become extraordinary leaders of many kinds.”

Musil is the president and CEO of the Rachel Carson Council, Inc.; author of Hope for a Heated Planet; and former CEO of the Nobel Peace Prize-winning Physicians for Social Responsibility.

Kathy Parrent is a freelance writer in Silver Spring, MD. She runs “Green Thumb to the Rescue,” a Facebook page about gardening, the environment, wildlife, and nature photography.

The Art of Gardening: Design Inspiration and Innovative Planting Techniques from Chanticleer By the Chanticleer Gardeners and R. William Thomas Publisher: Timber Press List Price: $34.95 Reviewer: Teri Speight R.. William Thomas, the Chanticleer Team, as well as Timber Press, have taken the reader on a fantastic horticultural journey into amazing beauty and captured this journey in a book.

The Art of Gardening shares the tale of an estate in Pennsylvania, where a few select earth artisans demonstrate a craft, a skill set that brings pleasure to all who experience it. Shared, never rented, Chanticleer hosts guests from all over the world, who are enthusiastic and are inspired by the art of gardening. The mission of Chanticleer is clearly 16

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spelled out — to operate as a public garden, the home at Chanticleer must be made into a museum and, most importantly, Chanticleer must educate amateur and professional gardeners. This book allows the reader to understand the organic development of Chanticleer.

Each chapter shares a bit about the life of the staff at Chanticleer and their interpretation of beauty is awesome, to say the least. It takes you from the thought process as they approach each season, to what they do in the depths of winter when the garden is closed to the public. Other than basic cold-season chores such as tree pruning, decorative and functional items selected to dwell in the garden are created from wood and metal. Each of the artfully crafted items in some way relates to nature and are displayed without looking out of place. They complement the space, rather than distract the eye from observing the natural flow and beauty in each garden room.

The text, as well as the photography

by Rob Cardillo, would make anyone who loves the earth, gasp while virtually strolling from garden room to garden room. Page by page, tales are shared describing how the gardeners of Chanticleer work with the land and not against it. Thanks to the earth artisan’s role of creatively executing a seamlessly beautiful canvas, visitors barely notice how the plantings change from season to season.

The Art of Gardening details the collective voices of the gardeners on staff.

Each gardener describes how and why they design specific areas, why they pick certain color schemes and plant material, and how they make all of the different perspectives meld throughout the season. From the container plantings, one of which meets you as you enter by Emily’s house, to the gravel garden to the ruins, the gardens and grounds teach us that experimenting with color, texture, and form with total abandon is okay. It is up to the staff to select and decide how each plant will contribute positively and work cohesively with the total landscape. Color, bark texture, the structure of the trees, how the trees branch and cast shadows — each contributes to creating a pleasurable view that is shared with those who visit.

I highly recommend this book. It should to be on the list of the perfect gifts for every gardener — even for giving to yourself. It is one of those books that is great for winter reading and will surely lead to an inspired garden in the next season.

Teresa Speight is a native Washingtonian, who resides in District Heights, MD. She owns Cottage in the Court Landscape Consulting. She can be reached at cottageinthecourt@gmail.com.

Beatrix Potter’s Gardening Life: The Plants and Places That Inspired the Classic Children’s Tales

By Marta McDowell Publisher: Timber Press List Price: $24.95 Reviewer: Liz McGuinness When this book was selected by Washington Gardener Magazine’s Garden Book Club, I was very excited to read it. I have fond memories of reading Beatrix Potter as a child.

Thinking about the books brings back memories of childhood friends, the children’s room in our local library, and, of course, the beautiful illustrations. At that time, my friends and I couldn’t tell one flower from another, but we were in love with the stories and the paintings that went with them.

Beatrix Potter’s Gardening Life is like two books in one. The first half of the book provides a biography cover-

BOOKreviews

ing Beatrix Potter’s life and work. The second half is devoted to describing her garden through the seasons. Detailed appendices, including lists of plants grown in Potter’s garden and lists of plants appearing in her books, are provided at the end.

The biography of Beatrix Potter was both interesting and surprising. She came from a well-to-do family and had a comfortable life. She developed an interest in art at a young age and was encouraged in that direction. Two things stood out to me as I read about her early life. As a product of the Victorian times, Beatrix was not sent away to school to be educated as her brother was. She was educated, if that is the right word, by a series of governesses.

In her twenties, as her interest in the natural world increased, she became fascinated with fungi, which she studied and painted. After several years of work and with the help of her uncle, she eventually submitted a paper to the Linnean Society, London’s premier botanical group. The paper was considered unpublishable without more work.

Potter dropped it, along with her scientific investigations into botany. We can only wonder what would have happened if the Linnean Society had been more open to women back then.

After this set back, Potter went on to write 26 children’s books and collect farmland and gardens in the Lake District of England, where she lived for most of her adult life. When she died, she left 4,000 acres to the National

Trust to ensure that the property would be preserved from development for future generations to enjoy.

I felt that the second part of the book, “The Year In Beatrix Potter’s Gardens,” is the book that the author really wanted to write. It is a meditation on Potter’s gardens, season-by-season, with descriptions of what was growing and what Beatrix Potter would be doing during each of those seasons. This part is so compelling that one wants to go and visit the gardens. As if on cue, Part 3 of the book provides information on how you can do just that.

As informative as the book is about Beatrix Potter’s life and her gardens, the real strength of the book is the photos and artwork. Many of Potter’s watercolors, from both her books and elsewhere, are featured. Photographs, many early ones taken by her father, enable us to better envision her life and times. The photos of the plants and landscapes help us picture the place she called home.

This book would be a great gift for anyone interested in the art or life of Beatrix Potter. She was an artist and a gardener, and an inspiration to those of us who, like her, did not begin to garden until later in life.

Liz McGuinness is a master gardener who lives and gardens in Washington, DC. In her spare time, she an independent consultant working in research, monitoring and evaluation of international development programs. o ����������������������������������������������������������������

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Local Gardening Calendar

Each month includes a list of what to do in the garden for local DC-MD-VA and Mid-Atlantic gardeners, along with a gorgeous photo of a seasonal flower from a local public garden collection in our area.

Go to http://www.cafepress.com/ washgardener to order this new calendar for gifts and to treat yourself!

Be sure to note on your order what month you want the calendar to start with. This calendar is a keeper that you can use for years!

Visit DCGardens.com for:

Photos of 16 Major Public Gardens by Month and Where to Buy Plants Where to Connect Local Garden Media Where to Volunteer Youth Gardens Where to Find Designers Tours and Events Where to Learn to Garden NOVEMBER 2015

WASHINGTON GARDENER

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NEIGHBORnwork baby spiders hatched in my jar on the school bus, which was a little freaky (for some). That was in Okinawa, where we had a gardener tend our little yard, and I followed him around a lot. My maternal grandmother and grandfather were huge gardeners — vegetables and flowers. They had a root cellar, which was a scary place, but I remember fetching potatoes and cutting them. They were so juicy they almost squirted. Who knew potatoes could be that way? She also grew the most gorgeous tuberose begonias, which I’m sure were saved from year-to-year in the root cellar.

Meet Karen Rexrode Plantswoman and Artist

Interview by Joelle Lange Photos by Dan Weil

Karen Rexrode has been a prominent horticulturist and noted photographer in the Washington, DC, metropolitan area for many years. She owned and operated Windy Hill Plant Farm in Loudoun County which specialized in perennials and unusual annuals, for 25 years.

After closing the nursery in 2005, she traveled for a year to pursue her photography interests before joining the staff at the historic Virginia estate of Oak Hill.

Karen has taught class at Green Spring Gardens, is a frequent speaker at garden clubs and conferences, and cohosted the Merrifield Garden Center’s “Gardening Advisor” televison program.

In her gardening articles in the Eccentric newspaper every month, she doles out advice for local gardeners, under the pseudonym of “The Plant Lady.”

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In her free time, which includes late afternoons and winters, Karen works on her art in a studio in Manassas, VA. She sells her art at the Art A La Carte gallery in Occoquan, VA.

Q: When did your love for gardening start?

A: I have always been a nurturing person, which I think is so much of what it takes to be a gardener. My first memories of a plant are a rubber tree in our apartment in Berlin, Germany, when I was five or six. I remember it was bigger than me and I was always curious about it. In middle school, I grew plants on my windowsills and also had salamanders, frogs, and tadpoles in my bedroom.

Outside, I had pet slugs, a praying mantis, and a spider with an egg sack. The

Q: What is an average day like, working in a nursery?

A: Boy, that’s a tough question! Most days are decided by what fires need to be put out. Of course, there’s always, water, water, and then water some more. When I hired my first grower, she was very experienced, having owned her own nursery. She advised me that, if sales are lost in a season, people don’t realize they didn’t spend enough with you and come back, so much of your energy goes to making sure you are ready for each season. One year, we had a mild March and sales almost matched April, which is unheard of. It just shows that, if you’re ready, and you have a great day, sales can be tremendous. But it also takes a lot of planning to be months ahead of your customers.

Especially when you do a lot of your own growing, which we did.

Q: What is your best advice for beginning gardeners?

A: I think one of the biggest problems, especially with a beginner, is the whole acquisition thing. Buy, buy, and buy some more. The garden can get ahead of you, with weeds, plants too crowded, time to manage it, etc. One thought is to plant a garden or flower border and don’t expand anymore until you prove that you can take good care of it. Of course, I don’t think I could do that — plant acquisition is a delightful thing!

Plus, I did that and managed the garden space really well for 10 years, but this year, it kinda fell apart.

Q: What is the best piece of advice you received about gardening?

NEIGHBORnwork A: Probably the best advice has been about tools. There’s always little bits of advice, like planting bulbs in layers or don’t let the weeds go to seed (from my grandfather), but a good tool can be so rewarding. The best tool I own is a bramble cutter. It’s a curved blade with a wooden handle — cutting down perennials in fall is so easy. Donna Williamson, the founder of the now out-of-print Grandiflora magazine, told me about it. The other tool is my ARS clippers, made of aluminum. They are light, don’t rust, and small enough to slide into my pocket. One pair of ARS clippers lasted for 10 years with daily cutting. I prefer them to Felco’s, which are bulky, and much heavier, and don’t hold their edge as long.

Q: How did you become interested in photography and teaching photography?

A: It was really an epiphany. I was showing a friend one of my slide presentations and realized that things weren’t quite in focus. My father was a photographer (for the CIA), so I went to him and he started me on my first SLR camera. What a difference! Since I owned a nursery, I was asked to give presentations and it expanded and became a source of income in the winter months.

As far as teaching, I joined the Manassas-Warrenton Camera Club in 2000 and stayed until 2011. I climbed the ranks and finished with “Photographer of the Year” in black-and-white photography in the advanced level, which was my ultimate goal. I called it the school of hard knocks, because you are judged every month. After that, I felt qualified to teach, at least at the beginners level.

Q: What is the relationship between your passion for gardening, art, and photography?

A: I never considered myself a real gardener until I took my first job. at Kenny Roberts Garden Center in 1976. Before that, and as far back as I can remember, I was an artist. I went to the Annandale campus of Northern Virginia Community College for a couple of years and took art classes, even as I worked at Kenny Roberts, but soon realized that I was crazy about plants, particularly tropicals. That may have been because I lived in Okinawa and Mexico, so they seemed familiar to me.

After I closed the nursery in 2005, a friend asked if I might be interested in joining a gallery and selling my photography. That was three galleries ago. The photography sold well when I first started, but it’s not as popular now. Even though I altered it by doing transfers to wood, printing on various surfaces (metal and fabric), even hiring models, and traveling a lot. I made Polaroid transfers, froze flowers in blocks of ice, and converted cameras to infrared. It was all expensive.

Q: What was the inspiration behind your current show, “Saints and Sinners”?

A: Five years ago, I discovered assemblage art and have worked very hard to try and figure it out and create assemblages to the point where I think I have achieved some success. I picked up a book on saints during the 2014 holiday season and was intrigued by how many there were and their legends. It was clearly a direction I could go in and not run out of saints. The sinners part probably comes from living in Mexico where they have the “Day of the Dead” and lots of skull art. I collect skulls and some have called my art “dark.”

Q: Why do you enjoy lecturing?

A: I guess I’ve done it so long that I do enjoy it. I’ve attended lectures that instruct you on how to make them better. I even went to a Toastmasters class.

Another reason is just the expense of the equipment I’ve purchased to make them good. Something that became quite clear to me as a member of a camera club. I own my own digital projector and laptop computers, all Macintosh. Since I have professional-level cameras, it just makes sense to use the results to teach people. Next year will be my 40th year as a horticulturist and I have lots of things to share and teach.

Q: What is your favorite topic to speak about?

A: Perennials, of course!

Q: How can our readers contact you?

A: They can reach me through my blog at: http://karenrexrode.typepad.com/ studiology/. o Compiled by Joelle Lang a senior at the University of Maryland, College Park. She is a multi-platform journalism student in the Philip Merrill College of Journalism. This autumn, she is also an editorial intern for Washington Gardener Magazine.

Y ou Can Make a Difference. . . by

Sharing Your Harvest

Plant an extra row in your garden and deliver the harvest to a local food bank or shelter. The need is great!

With your help, PAR can continue to make a difference for America’s most vulnerable.

Call our toll-free number (877.GWAA.PAR) or visit our website at www.gardenwriters.org/par for more information.

NOVEMBER 2015

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PLANTprofile

By Judith Mensh Now that Cabbage and Kale can be purely ornamental, the ornamental relatives of the edible onion are joining the trend and coming into focus and availability. The National Garden Bureau has named 2016 as the Year of the Allium.

Culinary, medicinal, and ornamental, this genus casts a wide net: food gardening intersecting with ornamental gardening, ornamental gardening stretching to include and to embrace new directions and possibilities.

Ornamental onions make excellent, long-lasting cut flowers. Many of them are fragrant (only the leaves, which die back before blooming, have the onion odor). These are bred for looks, not taste. “Can I eat my flowers?” is a common question when it comes to vegetables that have gone to the other side and become more important for looks than cooking. They are edible, but not really palatable.

Cool colors prevail, from subtle lavenders to deep royal purples, blues 20

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unequivocally blue, but also pinks, dark reds, yellows, and whites, too. Although the globe-shaped flowers are the calling cards of ornamental onions, they also come in a fireworks-like, shooting-star form of flower umbel that offers an excellent foil to the balls. A. christophii, a short Allium, whose common name is Star of Persia, and A. schubertii, a giant Allium, are two nice examples.

Allium Origins

Onions, garlic, leeks, shallots, and chives — this is where it all started, but look at us today. The beauty of the flowers alone are enough to motivate us to nurture and perpetuate, and we are happy and lucky enough to oblige.

Onions, whether edible or floral, all belong to the genus Allium, family Amaryllidaceae (formerly Liliaceae). As with corn and rice, the exact details of the human/onion connection are unknown.

Try to track down the lineage of,

Allium ‘Purple Sensation’ in a Silver Spring, MD, garden.

Allium: Starpower in the Garden

for example, the hybrid Allium ‘Hair’ and you will find it categorized as A. sphaerocephalon in one reference, and A. vineale in another. Anybody know what gives?

This is a genus in which to expect confusion. In terms of flower history, ornamental onions are relatively new in our everyday and our public gardens.

The last 20 years have seen a growth in species in cultivation, and new hybrids with the best qualities. Scientists are still unearthing their secrets, including genome studies currently in progress.

Allium studies from plant research institutions around the globe — Russia, India, Germany — can be found on www. researchgate.net.

Life without onions is unthinkable; for me, that is like life without dogs or colors. And in fact, it seems that Alliums have always been with us. Imagine 6,000 years ago, walking on this earth, stepping on a patch of onion grass; the pungent odor wafts up, repugnant to insects and other plant predators. With natural curiosity, after the nose encouraged the mouth to taste, the onion, like the dog, became a trusted part of human life.

Cabbage, potatoes, and onions were the staple of the medieval European diet. Onions featured in art, medicine, and cuisine in the culture of the Egyptians, Greeks, Romans; in Asia and the Middle East. Although quite content with the onion as it was, when 19thcentury plant explorers brought back exotic flowering onions, with blooms that were unique and unlike any seen before, a quiet revolution began with today’s varieties the happy outcomes of history.

According to one source, the floral Allium appeared in some European gardens in the 18th century but interest waned until the mid-19th century, when these new varieties arrived from Asia.

The 20th century brought increased interest in hybridizing and the genus Allium has proven to be a species-rich plant. Mark McDonough, aka the Onion Man, has devoted a lifetime to this novel genus, and contributed much to its further use in the marketplace. A. ‘Millenium’ is the work of McDonough and a much-praised hybrid for its pink globes and late summer blooming.

PLANTprofile

Best Growing Conditions

Being sun-loving garden plants, Alliums are drought-tolerant. Good drainage is imperative.

Like many bulbs, too much water during their winter dormancy, is disastrous, and can cause the decimation of your patch, which, if unexpected, is so disappointing in the spring.

If your garden is a shade garden in the morning, but has good afternoon sun, most alliums can manage.

Attention: Please don’t let your pets eat the alliums! Like chocolate and grapes, all onions — ornamental, culinary, or medicinal — are toxic for cats and dogs. It’s the thiosulphate.

This makes them fairly deer-resistant, though voles may take a few bites of them. These plants are fragrant and spring-flowering, and provide nectar for pollinators. Even after blooming, they continue to add visual interest to the garden.

Top Cultivars for Our Area

If you like big families, this one is for you. Alliums come in all sizes, from small to tall, and plantings can be designed to have continuous color from spring to frost.

A large selection of flowering onions does well in our zone, and is available in the fall as bulbs for spring and summer blooming. They need their winter, being cold during dormancy is in their DNA, so northern gardens have an advantage. However, I have enjoyed several seasons of never-fail-to-amaze large purple onion flowers, and am encouraged to add more Allium bulbs to the existing grouping, with confidence in their survivability.

Offerings of Allium bulbs can change from year to year, with the giant ones being most consistently available. A number of the more rare cultivars sell out quickly and may have to be ordered one year ahead. Check out your chain stores for the more common ones (‘Purple Sensation,’ ‘Lucy Ball,’ and ‘Gladiator’) and visit your local garden center for greater variety and the newest hybrids. The world of Allium bulbs is out there, and a number of companies that specialize in bulbs offer informative web sites as well as sales. (See “Sources and Information” at right.)

Dr. Seuss, meet the ‘Hair’ Allium (A. vineale). Talk about being a good sport, this one appeared in a sharp-eyed grower’s field of the Drumstick Allium (A. sphaerocephalon), borrowing the dark-red/purple color of the flower for its center and adding pedicels — flower petals best described, in this case, as curly green hair. Unfurling in late spring, they rise two feet above the spent daffodils and tulips, with three weeks of additional bloom time.

Chives, Allium schoenoprasum, are a great place to start. As a crossover culinary, medicinal, and ornamental plant, it can grace the herb garden, the sunny border, and the kitchen garden. Great for new gardeners, easy to plant, fun to watch grow, beautiful to see in flower, and delicious in salads. They look terrific in containers, around a lamp-post, or as a border plant. Sold in pots in the spring, chives can also be started from seed, which is easily obtained.

The nodding onions are another variation to explore. A. cernuum is an American native with bellshaped flowers hanging down. These pink beauties arise from small bulbs attached to rhizomes. They can handle part-shade, and will naturalize, so plant in plenty of space. They are summer bloomers.

Japanese bunching onion (A. fistulosum); A. moly, with yellow flowers; A. sativa, the type specimen; A. nutans — so many alliums, so little time.

Companion Plant Choices Dutch Iris, Lilies, Gaura, and ornamental grasses all mix well with Allium. For true drama, plant with the Foxtail Lily (Eremurus sp.).

There are bulb-forming Allium, and rhizome-forming species and the difference between the two is in the leaves, which disappear when the bulbous plants bloom, but persist and look good through the season on the rhizomatous ones. Hardy Geraniums are often recommended to cover the sometimesunsightly leaves of the bulb-bearing alliums.

Design stunning Allium displays; plant

among a drift of sun-loving groundcover. Put together your own Allium sampler, great for the beginning gardener and the young gardener. Consider combining A. hair with A. forelock for an eccentric combination — both are June bloomers.

Cross the culinary/ornamental divide and plant Garlic chives (A. tuberosum) along with the classics, Echinacea and Rudbeckia; they look good and they taste good, too. Be mindful of their maintenance, since they can become invasive if left unmanaged.

Sources and Information

Lots of resources online provide a fascinating journey through a large subject (hundreds of species). The Pacific Bulb Society (PBS), National Onion Association (NOA), National Garden Bureau( NGB), and PlantBuzz aka Allium Central, all provide photos and in-depth information.

When you want to go beyond the big-box choices, check out the many online catalog choices available; for example, try www.odysseybulbs.com.

Thanks to the afore-mentioned Onion Man, Mark McDonough, there is a Blue Alliums Worksheet and photo gallery at www.plantbuzz.com.

This web site aspires to be the place to go for all things ornamental onion. It is still under construction, but offers a wealth of information in one spot, as intentioned. Excellent charts showing bloom times, growth habit, and color are available as well.

Two heirloom varieties, brought to America by European settlers, are available from www.oldhousegardens.com: German or Mountain Garlic (Allium senescens subsp. montanum), first mentioned 1800, and Purple-headed garlick (Allium sphaerocephalum), 1766 — today’s Drumstick Allium.

Tulips, Daffodils, and Hyacinth move over; there’s Allium to plant to add a bit of whimsy to the late-spring bulb display. o Judith Mensh is a local horticultural consultant. She is available to walk your yard with you and identify plants and possibilities.

She can be reached via email at JudithMenshNurtureNature@gmail.com.

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Jentz Prints

Antique Botanical Prints for the decorator, collector, connoisseur, and art lover.

Jentz Prints can be purchased on most Saturdays at the Eastern Market, and most Sundays at the Georgetown Flea Market.

Antique prints are affordable — most in the $10-$30 range — and they are the perfect gift idea for that plant lover in your life. And don’t forget to buy a few for yourself!

For more information, to make a private appointment, or to get a detailed show schedule, please contact Jentz Prints by email at UllrichJ@aol.com. You can also find Jentz Prints on eBay.com under the seller ID: printyman.

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