Washington Gardener Enews May 2011

MAY 2011 Welcome to the Washington Gardener Enewsletter!

This enewsletter is the sister publication of Washington Gardener Magazine. Both the print magazine and online enewsletter share the same mission and focus — helping DC-MD-VA region gardens grow — but our content is different. In this monthly enewsletter, we address timely seasonal topics and projects; post local garden events; and, a monthly list of what you can be doing now in your garden.

We encourage you to subscribe to Washington Gardener Magazine as well for indepth articles, inspirational photos, and great garden resources for the Washington DC area gardener.

IMPORTANT NOTE: Starting with our August 2011 issue, this enewsletter will no longer be sent out via email to nonsubscribers. Without your support, we cannot continue publishing this enewsletter nor Washington Gardener Magazine! Our magazine subscription information is on page 9 of this enewsletter.

If you know of any other gardeners in the greater Washington, DC-area, please forward this issue to them so that they can subscribe to this free enewsletter as well using the form on page 9 of this enewsletter to subscribe to our print magazine.

You can also connect with Washington Gardener online at: • Washington Gardener Blog: www.washingtongardener.blogspot.com • Washington Gardener Discussion Group: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/WashingtonGardener/ • Washington Gardener Twitter Feed: www.twitter.com/WDCGardener • Washington Gardener Facebook Page: www.facebook.com/washingtongardenermagazine • Washington Gardener Web Site: www.washingtongardener.com Sincerely, Kathy Jentz Editor/Publisher Washington Gardener Magazine

Reader Contest

For our May 2011 Washington Gardener Reader Contest, Washington Gardener is giving away a year’s subscription to Washington Gardener Magazine. (Should a current subscriber win, we will add a year to their subscription.)

Name Our Garden! We need a name for the Washington Gardener Magazine headquarters’ garden. It can be serious or funny, whimsical or clever. The name can incorporate one of the garden’s features or the nearby street names (Fenton or Philadelphia) or can be completely outside-the-box. Garden features include a small goldfish pond, five 80-year-old oaks, lots of lavender, roses, and other perennials.

The garden is set on an urban corner in downtown Silver Spring near Montgomery College, Takoma Park, and the Washington, DC border.

To enter to win a year’s subscription to Washington Gardener Magazine (valued at $20), send an email to WashingtonGardener@rcn.com by 5:00pm on May 31 with “Name Contest” in the subject line and tell us: What you would name the Washington Gardener Magazine headquarters’ garden? In the body of the email, please also include your full name and mailing address. The winner will be announced and notified by June 2.

Current Issue

Our Spring 2011 magazine issue is now printed, out, mailed, and in area book stores such as the USNA Arbor House.

To subscribe today and start with this issue, see page 9 of the enewsletter.

The cover story is on Cutting-edge Garden Design. We explore what garden trend are on the horizon and what factors are impacting those changes.

The cover photo is the Grand Prize winner of our annual Garden Photo contest. Inside, you’ll find the other 16 winners and information on the photographers. From beginning amateur to accomplished professional, all levels were represented in this fine grouping.

You’ll also find in this issue: • A DayTrip to Dumbarton Oaks in Washington, DC • Bleeding Hearts • Final Frost Dates and Just WHEN to Plant in Our Area • 10 Top Tips for Growing Great Onions • Native Cutleaf Toothwort • DC Design House Before-and-After • Battling Asparagus Pests • Weeding Out Field Pennycress • Spring Bulb Care Tips • A Profile of the local Landscape Designers Group • Best Cutting Garden Flowers • An Interview with Red Wiggler Farm’s Woody Woodruff and much, much more...

To subscribe, see the page 9 of this newsletter for a form to mail in or go to www.washingtongardener.com/index_ files/subscribe.htm and use our PayPal credit card link.

Quick Links to Recent Washington Gardener Blog Posts

Spotlight Special Gurney’s® Li’l Big Pixie Crunch Apple Tree At just 6 feet tall with a 6- to 8-foot spread, it’s startling how much fruit gardeners harvest from their Li’l Big Pixie Crunch apple trees. Don’t be fooled by the tree’s diminutive size—it bears more than a half-bushel of full-size fruit in late summer. Its complex breeding is responsible for the other reasons you’ll love Pixie Crunch: Think unparalleled sweetness; fine, crisp texture; and excellent disease resistance.

The small stature of Gurney’s Li’l Big Trees is due to the breeding method created by Gurney’s expert horticulturists. The result is full-size fruit in just 18 months — compared to 5 or 6 years for standard-size trees. The early and heavy fruiting keeps the tree small and easy to care for — perfect for smaller spaces.

Li’l Big’s small size makes picking fruit a breeze and simplifies pruning and spraying.

Gurney’s Pixie Crunch rivals the popular Honeycrisp, a current favorite found at farmer’s markets, grocery stores, and sold by Gurney’s. Sweeter and even more crisp than Honeycrisp, Pixie Crunch is sugary sweet and juicy. Surrounded by thin skin, its flesh is light and almost delicate, and is described as breaking and popping crisp by industry experts.

Pixie Crunch was specially bred for resistance to apple scab, and it’s also resistant to cedar-apple rust and fire blight. The result of a complex cross originally bred at Rutgers University in 1971, Pixie Crunch has Red Rome, Melba, Golden Delicious, Edgewood, Rome Beauty and Crandall among its lineage. The seedling designate was selected in 1978 and tested at Purdue University, Rutgers University and the University of Illinois for years.

For more information on Gurney’s Li’l Big Pixie Crunch Apple Tree, go to www.

Gurneys.com.

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• My Favorite Flowers • Video Wednesday: Love Song of a Plant Pathologist • Fenton Friday: Measuring and Mulching • Prince Charles Visits DC Garden • What is the best-smelling plant growing in your garden right now?

See more Washington Gardener Blog posts at WashingtonGardener.Blogspot.com.

May Garden To-Do List

Here is our comprehensive garden task list for gardens in the greater DC metro region for May 16-June 15. Your additions to this list are most welcome: If you started seeds last month, thin them and start the hardening off process.

• Cut back spent tulip and daffodil blooms, but not the foliage!

• Divide and replant crowded daffodils.

• Feed your roses and new plantings with slow-release fertilizer sparingly.

• Provide supports for fast-growing perennials such as delphiniums, peonies, and lilies.

• Tie up clematis and other fast-growing climbing vines.

• Hose off aphids, white flies, or spider mites on your roses or other perennials.

• Deadhead spent blooms on your annuals and perennials to encourage re-flowering.

• Water your newly planted shrubs, trees, and perennials.

• Weed regularly.

• Go on a local house and garden tour to see what plants are thriving in other’s area home gardens.

• Pinch back mums, salvias, and other late season bloomers to encourage bushy not leggy growth.

• Check pots and containers daily for water needs.

• Plant dahlias, gladioli, caladiums, and cannas.

• Direct sow annual flower seeds.

• Thin vegetable seeds sown directly in the garden.

• Move your houseplants outdoors for a summer vacation on your porch.

• Put out slug traps around your vulnerable edibles and hostas.

• Prune back forsythia, spirea, and other early spring blooming shrubs.

• Check for black spot on your roses -- remove and discard and affected leaves in the trash, never back into your garden or in your compost -- apply a fungicide with neem oil every two weeks during the growing season.

• Cut some flowers to enjoy inside -- make a small arrangement for every room.

• Sow squash and melon seeds.

• Plant seedlings (or direct-sow) sweet potatoes, tomatoes, peppers, and eggplants.

• Fertilize azaleas and rhodos, if needed.

• Divide crowded perennials and share them.

• Turn your compost pile.

• Start a water garden or re-new yours for the season.

• Mark and photograph your bulb plantings now, while they are still visible.

• Keep a sharp eye for fungal diseases and pests.

• Replace cool-season annuals with heat-loving ones.

• Be vigilant for mosquito breeding spots, any standing water from a bottle-cap to blocked gutters, and clean them out immediately. Ask your surrounding neighbors to do the same. Put Mosquito Dunks or Bits in any areas that accumulate water.

• Plant tomatoes and peppers. To get them started off right, put cages/stakes in at same time as you plant them, so that you are not disturbing their roots later. Place a collar (cardboard tube or cat food can) around the tender plants to prevent cutworms. Put crushed eggshells first in the planting hole of tomatoes for extra calcium and mix lime in the soil you surround the plant with to prevent blossom-end rot. Fertilizes with kelp extract or fish emulsion.

• Hand pick cabbage worms from cabbage and broccoli.

WASHINGTON GARDENER ENEWS © 2011 Washington Gardener Magazine All rights reserved.

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                      

                    

UT!   ~ Thursday, April 21    LD O SO           ~ Saturday, July 16

             ~ Wednesday, September 21

     

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  ~ Thursday, December 15

                                      

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                                                                                                                                                         

         

     

  

     

    

    

            

  

            

                                                                             

  

                       

TO REGISTER TODAY for one or more of the tours:

Go online at www.shop.behnkes.com.    Click on Behnke Garden Tours Bus Trips.     fee to  There is a $3.00/person handling pay     online.     OR mail a registration form to: Garden Tours, 8000 N. Park St., Dunn Loring, VA  22027     Please make check payable to  Cheval’s 2nd Act.      

WASHINGTON GARDENER ENEWS © 2011 Washington Gardener Magazine All rights reserved.

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DC-Area Gardening Calendar ~ Upcoming Events ~ May 16 - June 15, 2011 The Accokeek Foundation

Brookside Gardens

• Saturday, May 21, 10am-12:30pm

• Saturday, May 21

3400 Bryan Point Rd. Accokeek, MD 20607 301.283.2113 www.accokeekfoundation.org

Soil and Compost

Improve your garden’s health from the bottom up! This course will provide you with the information needed to build your soil fertility. We will discuss how to test and improve your soil, how to construct a backyard compost pile, and how to feed the plants that will soon feed you. We will also discuss how to compost with worms.

Participants will receive their own small worm bins to take home.

• Saturday, June 11, 10am-12:30pm

Weed and Pest Management

Controlling weeds and pests can be a gardener’s worst nightmare. This course will provide you with the information needed to identify several common weeds and pests, as well as the most effective ways of getting rid of them. We will discuss both biological and mechanical methods of control. Feel free to bring along a problematic plant or an unknown insect for identification by our instructors.

Bread for the City

1800 Glenallan Avenue Wheaton, MD 20902 301.962.1400 www.brooksidegardens.org

Party With the Peonies: Gail Gee’s Private Garden Preview Party and Open Garden

Though the garden is known for its fabulous, rare peonies, which should be in full glory during this special morning in May, there’s much more to this three-acre paradise in Fulton, MD. It was created as Gail’s personal pleasure garden and features wonderful color combinations in the English Style. (Raindate: May 28) ~ Preview Party 9:00–11:00am $35 per person, Event number 138799 (registration required) As a preview guest, you will be one of the few who will receive an exclusive tour of the garden with Gail and Phil Normandy, Brookside Gardens’ Plant Collections Manager (who has consulted with Gail on plant selection and design from the garden’s inception in 2001). ~ Open Garden, 12:00–4:00pm Gail’s garden will be open for self-guided tours in the afternoon. $5 per person Event number 138849 (registration encouraged) Register at ParkPASS.org

1525 Seventh St., NW, WDC 202.386.7006 www.breadforthecity.org

• Thursday, June 9, 6:30-8:00pm

• Tuesday, May 24, 5:30-8pm

Karl Gercens, Indoor Section Gardener, Longwood Gardens A bland landscape can always use some spice. Explore what you can do with rich Merlot, buttery yellows and silver, the icing on the cake. We’ll look at how foliage color can lend a zesty punch and which edibles can garnish the top for a savory finish. Course number 130852 Free; registration required Visitors Center Auditorium

Film Screening, Green Roof Tour, and Potluck

A screening of “A Community of Gardeners” and a discussion about how to get more gardens growing in the District at Bread for the City. Prior to the screening, there will be a tour of Bread for the City’s new rooftop vegetable garden at 5:30 p.m.

The post-film discussion speakers will include filmmaker Cintia Cabib, Dennis Chestnut, Executive Director of Groundwork Anacostia, and Bea Trickett, Program Director of the Neighborhood Farm Initiative, who will present the brand new Guide to Starting Community Gardens in Washington, DC. Attendees are encouraged to bring a dish to share for the potluck dinner or make a small donation. Please RSVP to Allison at aburket@breadforthecity.org or call (202) 386-7006. Bread for the City is walking distance from the Shaw-Howard University Metro on the Green line.

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Spring Lecture Series: Delicious Color for Your Garden

Casey Trees

3030 12th Street NE Washington, DC 20017 202.833.4010 www.caseytrees.org • Wednesday, June 15, 6:30-9:00pm

Class: CSI for Bugs: Honing Your Diagnostic Skills

Fort Dupont Activity Center Instructor: Michael J. Raupp, University of Maryland, College Park Sometimes only symptoms or signs remain after insects injure plants. Like a crime scene investigator you can use these clues to identify the perpetrator. Accurate identification will enable you to design the right strategy for managing the pest in the most timely and efficacious way. Join us to learn the basics of this approach, known

WASHINGTON GARDENER ENEWS © 2011 Washington Gardener Magazine All rights reserved.

as ‘symptomology’, and put your skills to the test during the field activity at the end of the evening.

A light dinner will be provided. Continuing Education Units (CEUs) will be offered for ISA certified arborists.

Friends of Sligo Creek www.fosc.org

• Tuesday, May 24, 7:30pm

Unseen Abundance: The MicroMoth Caterpillars of Eastern Forests

Program takes place at the Silver Spring Community Building, Fenton Street at Ellsworth in downtown Silver Spring, MD. Learn about the tremendous diversity of micro-moths (“microlipidoptera”) whose abundant caterpillars depend upon our forest canopy for survival and which, in turn, serve as a primary food-source for nesting birds. The speaker is John Lill, an insect ecologist at George Washington University. He specializes in the 300+ species of micro-moths that feed just on oaks in the Eastern United States. John is a native and current resident of the Sligo watershed and leads FOSC’s popular Caterpillar Hunt each year.

For more information, contact naturalhistory@fosc.org.

Green Spring Gardens 4603 Green Spring Road Alexandria, Virginia 22312 703.642.5173 www.fairfaxcounty.gov/parks/gsgp/ • Saturday, June 4, 10am-12:30pm

Designs from the Garden

Arranging cut flowers and foliage from the garden, Bruce Nash, Northern Virginia Community College instructor and professional floral designer demonstrates the basics of floral design and creates floral masterpieces you can duplicate. $30. Create and take home your own creation for an additional materials fee of $20. Call Green Spring Gardens at 703-642-5173 to register and pay supply fee by May 27.

• Monday, June 6, 11am-12noon.

Garden Sprouts: Sunshine and Shadows

Preschool children (ages 3-5) with accompanying adult(s). It’s the summer solstice, the longest day of the year! Learn fun facts about the earth and make a sunny craft. $5. Register on-line at fairfaxcounty.gov/parks/gsgp or call Green Spring Gardens at 703-642-5173.

• Thursday, June 9, 1-3pm

Garden Stroll & Tea

Take a docent-led stroll through the demonstration gardens and enjoy afternoon tea at the Historic House. Hear about the mission and history of Green Spring Gar-

DC-Area Gardening Calendar ~ Upcoming Events ~ May 16 - June 15, 2011 dens, one of the preeminent places for horticulture in the Washington, D.C. area.

Individuals and groups welcome. $27. Call the Green Spring Historic House at 703941-7987 to register.

• Saturday, June 11, 9:30am-12noon

Workshop: Hanging Container Garden

Hanging containers expand available growing space, bring a colorful scheme to your home and garden and provide a eye catching display of flowers and foliage for empty and dull areas. The instructor provides information and inspiration to guide you through the process of creating an attractive hanging container to take home. $20 registration and $25 supply fee. Call Green Spring Gardens at 703-642-5173 to register by June 3.

Hammond-Harwood House 1774

19 Maryland Avenue Annapolis, Maryland 21401 410.263.4683 ext. 14 www.hammondharwoodhouse.org • Saturday, June 4 and Sunday, June 5, 15pm both days,

11th Annual Secret Garden Tour The tour sponsored by the Hammond-Harwood House, an 18th c. National Historic Landmark, will take place on Saturday, June 4 and Sunday, June 5, 1 to 5 pm both days, rain or shine. Twelve to fourteen private gardens will be on display in the neighborhood along Spa Creek. Proceeds from the popular two-day event will benefit the education & restoration programs of the historic Hammond-Harwood House.

Tickets are $25 in advance, $30 day of event, good for either Saturday, Sunday or both days. Tickets can be purchased by calling 410/263-4683-ext. 14 or on line at www.hammondharwoodhouse.org.

Riversdale House Museum and Gardens 4811 Riverdale Road Riverdale Park, Maryland.

301.864.0420 www.pgparks.com

• Sunday, June 5, 12:30-3pm

Garden Day at Riversdale

Gardening is a pastime steeped in the tradition of Riversdale. Rosalie Stier Calvert, the mistress of Riversdale, enjoyed a lifelong love of gardening and wrote frequently about her gardens and orchards.

On Sunday, June 5, 2011 from 12:30-3pm, Riversdale invites you to enjoy and experience Garden Day! Adults and children alike will find some fun at this spring outing! Participate in a family-friendly scavenger hunt in the garden, enjoy kids’ crafts at the children’s booth, and take a

peek at a cooking demonstration in our open hearth kitchen! Master Gardeners will be offering a talk and will be on hand to answer your gardening questions at the Plant Clinic. Feel free to bring examples and specimens with you! Take a tour of the Federal-era historic house and learn about the historic gardens and orchards with Sarah Urdaneta, head gardener at Riversdale. Round out your afternoon with light refreshments that highlight produce from the herb garden.

The cost is $5 per person and reservations are requested by Tuesday, May 31.

are addressed while a variety of kitchen skills and techniques are integrated throughout each session.

Fee: $90 per Workshop for Members of Tudor Place/ $95 for nonmembers or $260/$275 for the series of three cooking workshops.

Shepherd Park NW DC

• Saturday, June 4, 10:30-11:30am

* Sunday, May 22, 1-4pm

Todd Brethauer, USBG Volunteer During the height of the Age of Dinosaurs 150 million years ago, it was warm, wet and there was lots of carbon dioxide. It was a great time to be a plant! Ferns and gymnosperms dominated the landscape.

Flowers and fruits were still millions of years in the future. Join Todd to learn about these plants’ living descendants, their place in the environment, how they are used around the world and how “green genes” and the fossil record help explain their evolution and protect endangered species. This Summer series delves into the permanent collection of the USBG in conjunction with our Terrace exhibit Green Genes: Mapping the Plant World.

Code: LH060411 Location: Conservatory Classroom FREE: Pre-registration required: Visit www. usbg.gov

www.shepherdpark.org

7th Annual Shepherd Park Citizens Association Garden Tour

Towering trees, meandering flagstone paths, waterfalls, ponds, fountains, seas of flowerings plants, tropical grasses and plants, shrubs, decks, patios, a bluestone pool and the smell of floral bouquets permeating the air. If you guessed the National Arboretum, you’re wrong.

Where are you? You are at the 7th Annual Shepherd Park Citizens Association Garden Tour viewing seven of the most delightful gardens found in the city. See photos of past tours at www.shepherdpark.org The tour starts at Shepherd Elementary School at 14th Street and Kalmia Road, NW DC where you can purchase your tickets starting at 12:45pm. Tickets are a mere $15 for the general public. The winter was long and dismal, come see how Mother Nature protects and nurtures.

Tudor Place Historic House and Garden 1644 31st Street, NW Washington, DC 20007 202.965.0400 www.tudorplace.org • Saturday, May 21

Garden to Table

Join Tudor Place Director of Gardens and Grounds, Suzanne Bouchard, and lifelong “foodie” and owner of Just Simply...Cuisine, Chris Coppola Leibner for a series of garden-to-table workshops inspired by the historic gardens at Tudor Place.

Make your own potted herb garden to take home. After the hands-on workshop at Tudor Place about growing sustainable organic foods in your own backyard, participants will cook their own lunch using ingredients talked about in the morning session.

Just Simply...Cuisine depends on local grocers, farm markets, butchers, fishmongers, bakeries and dairies to inspire students. Basic through advanced skill levels

United States Botanic Garden Conservatory 100 Maryland Avenue, SW, Washington, DC 202.225.8333 www.usbg.gov

Before Flowers and Fruit – Ferns and Gymnosperms

US National Arboretum 3501 New York Avenue, NE Washington, D. C. 20002-1958 202.245.2726 www.usna.usda.gov

• May 28 – June 12, 10:00 am – 4:00 pm

Exhibit: Bonsai Bling: Azalea Bonsai in Bloom

National Bonsai & Penjing Museum Special Exhibits Wing In Japan, it is said that the beauty of an azalea bonsai in bloom is like the beauty of a courtesan dressed in her finest brocade kimono. Experience the breathtaking blossoms covering late-blooming Satsuki azaleas, miniature in form, but covered with full-sized flowers, at our annual spring exhibit showcasing these gems of nature.

Free.

Event Listing Notes

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

Our next deadline is June 12 for the June 15 edition of this enewsletter featuring events taking place from June 16-July 15.

WASHINGTON GARDENER ENEWS © 2011 Washington Gardener Magazine All rights reserved.

5

Get a Head Start on Summer Flowering Bulbs While your spring bulbs are ending outside, now is the time to start thinking about your summer bulbs. This issue, we bring you advice straight from the bulb growers, Netherlands Flower Bulb Information Center, at www.bulb.com: Summer bulbs such as canna, calla lilies, begonias, dahlias, and gloriosa are among the most dramatic flowers in the summer garden. They’re very easy to grow, but they’re also very sensitive to frost. In fact, in the trade, they’re called tender bulbs.

But tender bulbs respond incredibly well to a little tough love. Wake them up early and get a jumpstart on summer by potting them up indoors. It’s easy to do. This simple head start will afford you weeks more color from you bulb flowers in the summer garden.

Summer bulbs are available as bare bulbs for planting from late winter through late spring and as pre-grown bedding plants in pots in late spring through summer. In most parts of North America, tender summer bulbs can be started indoors four to six weeks prior to the usual last local frost date and then planted outdoors to begin their regular summer growing season.

Tips for Starting Summer Bulbs Indoors: • Select bulbs (true bulbs, tubers, rhizomes, roots) that are firm to the touch.

• To get earlier blooms, pot them up indoors to start growing about six weeks before your planting-out date, the date in your area when the threat of night frosts is past. Choose clean containers with drainage holes. Good drainage is essential. Use a commercial potting soil mixed with equal parts peat moss and a drainage material such as sand or Perlite.

• Place bulbs in the soil mix, following the planting directions suited to that type of plant. Different types of summer bulbs require very different planting methods. Some are planted barely covered with soil, others deep, others laid in horizontally, some concave side up. For specific details related to planting depth and positioning, look for instructions on www.bulb.com (Summer Flowering Bulbs) or on bulb packaging.

• Warm humid settings are optimal for growth. Keep soil moist, but not wet.

• Once the threat of frost is past (May 15 in the DC region), transplant tender bulb plants to the garden or outdoor containers. Summer bulbs prefer warm soil, close to 60° F (15°C). This soil temperature is generally reached once nighttime temperatures have stayed at/or above 60°F (15°C) for about two weeks

Try the following bulbs out this summer: Alocasia, Alstroemeria (Peruvian Lily), Amaryllis belladonna, Begonia, Bletilla (Chinese Ground Orchid), Caladium, Canna, Colocasia esculenta (Elephant Ear, Taro), Crinum (Swamp Lily), Crocosmia (Montbrecia), Curcuma (Gingers), Cyclamen, Cyrtanthus (Vallota), Dahlia, Eucharis (Amazon Lily), Eucomis (Pineapple Lily), Gloriosa Lily, Haemanthus, Hymenocallis (Ismene), Incarvillea (Hardy Gloxinia), Liatris, Oxalis, Polianthes tuberosa (Tuberose), Ranunculus, and Zantedeschia (Calla).

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WASHINGTON GARDENER ENEWS © 2011 Washington Gardener Magazine All rights reserved.

WASHINGTON GARDENER ENEWS Š 2011 Washington Gardener Magazine All rights reserved.

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MARCH/APRIL 2005 • Landscape DIY vs. Pro • Prevent Gardener’s Back • Ladew Topiary Gardens • Cherry Trees MAY/JUNE 2005 • Stunning Plant Combinations • Turning Clay into Rich Soil • Wild Garlic • Wisteria • Strawberries JULY/AUGUST 2005 • Water Gardens • Poison Ivy • Disguising a Sloping Yard • Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens • Edible Water Plants • Water Lilies SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2005 • Container Gardens • Clematis Vines • Make Herbs & Vinegars • Sponge Gardening/Rain Gardens • 5 Insect Enemies of Gardeners NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2005 • Backyard Bird Habitats • Hellebores • Building a Coldframe • Gardening as Exercise • Bulb Planting Basics JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2006 • Garden Decor Principles • Primroses • Tasty Heirloom Veggies • U.S. Botanic Garden MARCH/APRIL 2006 • Top 10 Small Trees and Large Shrubs • Azaleas • Figs, Berries, & Persimmons • Oak Diseases • Basic Pruning Principles MAY/JUNE 2006 • Using Native Plants in Your Landscape • Crabgrass • Peppers • Secret Sources for Free Plants • Alternatives to Invasives JULY/AUGUST 2006 • Hydrangeas • Theme Gardens • Agave • Find Garden Space by Growing Up SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2006 • Shade Gardening • Hosta Care Guide • Fig-growing Tips and Recipes • Oatlands Plantation • Native Woodland Plants NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2006 • Horticultural Careers • Juniper Care Guide • Winter Squash Growing Tips and Recipes • Weed-free Beds with Layer/Lasagna Gardening JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2007 • Indoor Gardening • Daphne Care Guide • Asparagus Growing Tips and Recipes • Houseplant Propagation MARCH/APRIL 2007 • Stormwater Management • Dogwood Selection & Care Guide • Early Spring Vegetable Growing Tips • Franciscan Monastery Bulb Gardens MAY/JUNE 2007 • Roses: Easy Care Tips • Native Roses & Heirloom Roses • Edible Flowers • How to Plant a Bare-root Rose JULY/AUGUST 2007 • Groundcovers: Alternatives to Turfgrass • How to Pinch, Prune, & Dead-head • A Trip to the William Paca House & Gardens • Hardy Geraniums SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2007 • Succulents: Hardy to our Region • Drought-tolerant Natives • Southern Vegetables • Seed Saving Savvy Tips NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2007 • Gardening with Children • Kid-Friendly Vegetables

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• Indoor Bulb Forcing Basics • National Museum of the American Indian • Versatile Viburnums JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2008 • Dealing with Deer • Our Favorite Garden Tools • Indoor Bulb Forcing Basics • Delightful Daffodils MARCH/APRIL 2008 • Patio, Balcony, and Rooftop Container Gardens • Our Favorite Garden Tools • Coral Bells (Heucheras) • Brookside’s Phil Normandy • Japanese-style Garden MAY/JUNE 2008 — ALMOST SOLD OUT! • Growing Great Tomatoes • Glamorous Gladiolus • Seed Starting Basics • Flavorful Fruiting Natives • Build a Better Tomato Cage • Restored Gardener’s House at Mount Vernon JULY/AUGUST 2008 • Landscaping with Ornamental Grasses • Edible Grasses to Graze On • Slug and Snail Control • Sage Advice: Sun-loving Salvias • Richmond’s Treasure — Maymont’s Gardens SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2008 • Autumn Edibles — What to Plant Now • Ladybug Lore • Beguiling Barrenworts (Epimediums) • The Best Time to Plant Spring-blooming Bulbs • 14 Dry Shade Plants Too Good to Overlook NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2008 • Outdoor Lighting Essentials • How to Prune Fruiting Trees, Shrubs, and Vines • 5 Top Tips for Overwintering Tender Bulbs • Harry Lauder’s Walking Stick • A Daytrip to Tudor Place JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2009 • Compost Happens: Nature’s Free Fertilizer • Managing Stormwater with a Rain Garden • Visiting Virginia’s State Arboretum • Grow Winter Hazel for Gorgeous Winter Color MARCH/APRIL 2009 • 40+ Free and Low-cost Local Garden Tips • Spring Edibles Planting Guide for the Mid-Atlantic • Testing Your Soil for a Fresh Start • Redbud Tree Selection and Care • Best Local Viewing Spots for Virginia Bluebells MAY/JUNE 2009 • Top 12+ Easy Summer Annuals for DC Heat • Salad Table Project • Grow and Enjoy Eggplant • How to Chuck a Woodchuck from Your Garden SUMMER 2009 • Grow Grapes in the Mid-Atlantic • Passionflowers • Mulching Basics • What’s Bugging Your Tomatoes • Growing Hops FALL 2009 • Apples • How To Save Tomato Seeds • Persimmons WINTER 2009 • Battling Garden Thugs • How to Start Seeds Indoors • Red Twig Dogwoods • Unusual Edibles to Grow in Our Region • Visit to Riversdale House SPRING 2010 • Community Gardens • Building a Raised Bed • Dwarf Iris • Broccoli SUMMER 2010 • Fragrance Gardens • Watering Without Waste • Lavender • Potatoes FALL 2010 • Vines and Climbers • Battling Stink Bugs • Russian Sage • Garlic WINTER 2010 • Paths and Walkways • Baltimore’s Cylburn Arboretum • Edgeworthia • Kohlrabi

WASHINGTON GARDENER ENEWS © 2011 Washington Gardener Magazine All rights reserved.

Coming Soon!

Washington Gardener Magazine’s DayTrip columns compiled into one handy publication — available soon in both paper and e-book versions. Great gift idea!

In Our Next Issue...

SUMMER 2011 Ornamental Edibles

Spring Garden Tour Wrap-Up An Inspirational Before & After

Amsonia: Perennial of the Year

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Magazine Excerpt: Bleeding Hearts: Woodland Lady by Kate Tyndall

With dangling pink and white lockets, the demure Dicentra spectabilis — also known as bleeding hearts, lyre plant, and, most charmingly, lady in the bath — is an old-fashioned spring favorite.

In Old Time Gardens (published in 1901), author and historian Alice Morse Earle found bleeding hearts blooming in every cottage garden and noted how quickly it became beloved. “The graceful racemes of pendant rosy flowers were eagerly welcomed by children; they have some inexplicable, witching charm; even young children in arms will stretch out their little hands and attempt to grasp the Dielytra, when showier blossoms are passed unheeded.

Many tiny playthings can be formed of the blossoms: only deft fingers can shape the lyre in the ‘frame.’”

English plantswoman Vita Sackville-West wrote: “One could pull each locket of the Bleeding Heart into different shapes, the most pleasing turning into a little pink-and-white ballet dancer. If you don’t believe me, try it,” she challenged her readers.

When Earle was writing about bleeding hearts, the plant was known by the generic name Dielytra, which was the way Dicentra spectabilis was classified when first introduced into cultivation in England in the 1840s. In the 21st century, this woodlander has now been moved into a genus of its own. Its new botanical moniker is Lamprocapnos spectabilis, a mouthful by any measure, but, like all changes in nomenclature, its adaptation will be a gradual one, giving gardeners plenty of time to become accustomed to the name. Now that you know its new name, I will revert to using the old one, for purposes of clarity.

The plant remains the same delightful perennial it has always been, since plant hunter Robert Fortune added it to his finds on a plant-hunting expedition in China in 1846.

It is one of a number of dicentras, such as the fringed bleeding heat, D. eximia, which is native to the eastern United States, and a handsome yellow-flowered climber with blue tinted foliage (D. scandens) among its members, but of them all, D. spectabilis remains the best-known and most garden-worthy in our region.

Bleeding hearts are best served by being planted in a cool, shady spot, but they can take some sun; morning sun is best. The ideal growing conditions are...

Want to learn more about Bleeding Hearts? Read the rest of this PlantProfile column in the Spring 2011 issue of Washington Gardener Magazine.

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WASHINGTON GARDENER ENEWS © 2011 Washington Gardener Magazine All rights reserved.