Washington Gardener Magazine February 2024

FEBRUARY 2024 VOL. 18 NO. 12

WWW.WASHINGTONGARDENER.COM

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gardener

the magazine for gardening enthusiasts in the Mid-Atlantic region

Restoring the Pry House Medicinal Garden

Shrubs for Late Winter and Early Spring Blooms Best Timing to Start Vegetable Seeds New Geranium Big EEZE Pink Batik Native Chokeberry (Aronia spp.)

Great Gardening Books Reviewed Orchid Show Features Futuristic Art Over-wintering Wax Begonias

17 Award-winning

Garden Photos

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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 DC region and ONLINE! Call 240.603.1461 or email KathyJentz@gmail.com for available dates, rates, and topics.

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

www.sunfarm.com

Green Spring Gardens

Ask Maryland’s Garden Experts extension.umd.edu/hgic Your Ad Here

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Please submit your ad directly to: KathyJentz@gmail.com.

2 WASHINGTON GARDENER FEBRUARY 2024

A “must visit” for everyone in the metropolitan Washington, DC, area. It’s a year-round goldmine of information and inspiration for the home gardener. It’s an outdoor classroom for children and www.greenspring.org 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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Since its restoration by Dr. Greg Susla, his wife Lisa, and other staff members and volunteers, the Pry House Medicinal Garden has grown to house more than 35 different herbal varieties that would have been used during the Civil War in the Mid-Atlantic region. Photo

by Lisa A. Romano.

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Got a Garden Question?

Send your questions to KathyJentz@gmail.com and use the subject line “Q&A.” Then look for your answered questions in upcoming issues.

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ASKtheExpert 9 Winter-blooming Shrubs, Best Vegetable Seed Starting Times BOOKreviews 20-22 A Gardener at the End of the World, The Garden Against Time, ¡Verdura! Living a Garden Life, Houseplant Hookups DAYtrip 10 Smithsonian Orchid Exhibit INDOORgarden 9 Wax Begonias NEIGHBORnetwork 6 Dr,. Greg Susla, Pry House Medicine Garden NEWPLANTspotlight 11 Geranium ‘Pink Batik’ PHOTOcontest 2024 14-19 17 Winning Images PLANTprofile 8 Aronia aka Chokeberry

DEPARTMENTS

ADVERTISINGindex BLOGlinks EDITORletter GARDENDCpodcasts LOCALevents MONTHLYtasklist NEXTissue READERcontest RESOURCESsources

Salad green seedlings grown under fluorescent lights. Photo by Jon Traunfeld, HGIC.

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23 11 4 5 13 11 3 5 2

ON THE COVER Win a Monrovia gift card.

See contest details on page 5.

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One Black Chokeberry shrub can yield up to 2 pounds of fruit in one growing season. Aronia berries photo by Konjica, CC BY-SA 3.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/bysa/3.0>, via Wikimedia Commons.

The grand prize winner of our 2024 Garden Photo Contest is

by Georgette Grossman.

See details on page 14.

In our March issue:

Amsonia Study Garden Design Tips Azaleas at the National Gallery of Art and much more . . .

Be sure you are subscribed!

Click on the “subscribe” link at washingtongardener.com FEBRUARY 2024 WASHINGTON GARDENER 3

EDITORletter

Glow-in-theDark Petunias and GMO Purple Tomatoes The gardening community was hit with a double whammy of big news this month by the announcements of two huge developments in plant breeding. The first is a glow-in-the-dark petunia called ‘Firefly’.

The company that bred it, Light Bio of Ketchum, Idaho, just got approval by the USDA to sell it. During the day, it looks like a regular white petunia. At night, it gives off an “ethereal aura.” The plant gets its “glow” from genes extracted from naturally bioluminescent mushrooms. The company had been working on this project since 1986 and anticipate that future plants will be 10 times brighter than this first introduction. You can order your very own ‘Firefly’ petunia for $29 plus postage and handling at https://light.bio/. If you do, let me know if it lives up to the hype!

The other piece of big news was the introduction of a GMO tomato to the home gardening market. Up until now, I Your editor at the recent Washington Gardener Seed Exchange at Green Spring Gar- could confidently proclaim at our annual dens in Alexandria, VA. Seed Exchanges that GMO seeds were Photo by Cassie Peo. only available to large-scale farmers and none would be sold in retail to consumers. Now the genie is out of the bottle. This first one is being sold to home gardeners as a way of showing the American public the benefits of GMO foods. It is a purple tomato with high levels of anthocyanins that have anti-cancer and antiinflammatory effects. The purple gene comes from a snapdragon and was inserted into a bacteria that the tomato took in to “express this new gene.” [You are probably familiar with the ‘Indigo Rose’ tomato and the rest of the series—‘Indigo Cherry Drops’, ‘Indigo Kiwi’, etc.—that were the result not of GMO gene splicing, but of crossing Solanum cheesmaniae and Solanum chilense with a regular tomato variety.]

Will these two novelty plants be accepted and embraced by the American public?

What new directions in GMO and conventional breeding are yet to be explored?

What will the future hold for home gardeners? Stay tuned...

Sincerely,

Kathy Jentz, Editor/Publisher, Washington Gardener, KathyJentz@gmail.com

4 WASHINGTON GARDENER FEBRUARY 2024

Credits Kathy Jentz Editor/Publisher Washington Gardener 826 Philadelphia Ave. Silver Spring, MD 20910 Phone: 301-588-6894 kathyjentz@gmail.com www.washingtongardener.com Ruth E. Thaler-Carter Proofreader Cassie Peo Hannah Zozobrado Intern Subscription: $20.00 • Washington Gardener Blog: www.washingtongardener.blogspot.com • Washington Gardener Archives: http://issuu.com/washingtongardener • Washington Gardener Discussion Group: https://groups.google.com/g/ washingtongardener/ • Washington Gardener Twitter Feed: www.twitter.com/WDCGardener • Washington Gardener Instagram: www.instagram.com/wdcgardener • Washington Gardener Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/ WashingtonGardenerMagazine/ • Washington Gardener YouTube: www.youtube.com/ washingtongardenermagazine • Washington Gardener Amazon Store: www.amazon.com/shop/wdcgardener • Washington Gardener BookShop: bookshop.org/shop/WDCgardener • Washington Gardener Podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/ show/gardendc/ • Washington Gardener is a woman-owned business. We are proud to be members of: · GardenComm (formerly GWA: The Association for Garden Communicators) · Green America Business Network · National Garden Bureau · One Montgomery Green · Ladies in the Landscape · Potomac Rose Society

Volume 18, Number 12 ISSN 1555-8959 © 2024 Washington Gardener All rights reserved. Published monthly.

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.

READERreactions

READERcontt

Reader Contest

For our February 2024 Washington Gardener Reader Contest, we are giving away a Monrovia gift card (value $100).

Inspired by the beauty of plants, gardens, and landscapes everywhere, Harry E. Rosedale, Sr. founded Monrovia in 1926 to be a premier grower of shrubs and trees. Monrovia collaborates with plant breeders around the world to introduce improved plant varieties to North America. Monrovia plants flourish once planted to beautify gardens and landscapes.

Visit Monrovia.com to learn more.

To enter to win the Monrovia gift card, send an email to: WashingtonGardenerMagazine@gmail.com by 5:00pm on February 29 with “Monrovia Gift Card” in the subject line and in the body of the email. Tell us what your favorite article was in this issue and why. Please also include your full name and mailing address.

The winner will be announced and notified on/about March 1. o

Your Ad Here

Are you trying to reach thousands of gardeners in the greater DC region/MidAtlantic area? Washington Gardener Magazine goes out in the middle of every month. Contact KathyJentz@gmail.com or call 301.588.6894 for ad rates (starting from $200). The ad deadline is the 5th of each month. Please submit your ad directly to: KathyJentz@gmail.com.

The Urban Garden: 101 Ways to Grow Food and Beauty in the City is all about small-space gardening solutions!

By Kathy Jentz and Teresa Speight

Published by Cool Springs Press/Quarto Homes

Order it today at: https://amzn.to/3yiLPKU

GardenDC Podcast Plant a Row for the Hungry (PAR) is an easy program to participate in and really does not take any extra resources than what you may have in your garden. In normal times, about 35 million people wonder where their next meal will come from.

Most of these are children. That’s where PAR steps in.

PAR is such a simple program: It urges gardeners to Plant A Row (or a container) dedicated to feeding the hungry, and then take the harvest to someplace or someone that needs it. Once you have donated, send an email to KathyJentz@gmail.com with the total (in pounds and ounces) of what you gave.

That is all there is to it. Easy. Effective. Adaptable and Helpful.

The GardenDC podcast is all about gardening in the greater Washington, DC, and Mid-Atlantic area. The program is hosted by Kathy Jentz, editor of Washington Gardener Magazine, and features guest experts in local and national horticulture. The latest episodes include interviews with experts on Invasive Plants, Amsonia, and Winter Gardening.

You can listen online at https:// washingtongardener.blogspot.com/ or on Spotify, Apple, etc. o FEBRUARY 2024 WASHINGTON GARDENER 5

NEIGHBORnwork

Greg Susla Historic Medicinal Garden Volunteer

By Cassie Peo

Retired critical care pharmacist Greg Susla is a museum volunteer at the National Museum of Civil War Medicine and oversees the Pry House Medicinal Garden, on the grounds of the Pry House Field Hospital Museum in Keedysville, MD. The medicinal garden is on National Park property and at the site of the Antietam National Battlefield. Susla received his undergraduate pharmacy degree from the University of Connecticut and his Doctor of Pharmacy degree from the University of Florida, and completed a critical care pharmacy residency at the Ohio State University Hospitals. Susla spent the majority of his career as an ICU pharmacist at the National Institutes of Health Clinical Center in Bethesda, MD, and ultimately retired as the Associate Director of Medical Information at the biotechnology company MedImmune in Gaithersburg, MD. Since 2011, Susla has been volunteering at the Pry House Medicinal Garden and leading the restoration of the garden, assisted by his wife Lisa and other staff members and volunteers. Susla had no prior gardening knowledge, so he became a Master Gardener. He and his wife have worked to plant, care for, and expand the 19thcentury medicinal herb garden and present plants that would have been grown and used during the Civil War. Susla says his main interest in the Pry House Medicinal Garden was, at first, purely from a pharmacognosy perspective, but has since grown into an interest in both pharmacy and gardening, 6 WASHINGTON GARDENER FEBRUARY 2024

and combining the two. Susla and his wife undertook the task of restoring this historic garden, which had been left overgrown, as a period-correct medicinal garden. “It gave us the opportunity to turn a diamond in the rough into a potential jewel,” Susla said.

In addition to the medicinal herb garden, visitors can tour the grounds of the Pry House, which include a barn that was used as a field hospital after the Battle of Antietam. The Pry House (https://www.civilwarmed.org/pry/ plan/) is currently closed for the season but will reopen on June 1, 2024, with $5 general admission fee.

Tell us about your background.

I was born and raised in Torrington, CT, along with my two sisters. My father was a pharmacist who initially owned a classic corner drugstore and eventually became the Director of Pharmacy at our local hospital. My mom was a clerk/typist at the Torrington branch of the University of Connecticut (UCONN).

I started my professional pharmacy career at the 37-bed Winsted Memorial Hospital in Winsted, CT, but then went on to spend the majority of my career as the ICU pharmacist at the National Institutes of Health Clinical Center in Bethesda, MD. How did you become interested in pharmacy and then gardening?

I became interested in pharmacy because my dad, my uncle, and aunt were pharmacists. I started working in my dad’s drug store at an early age and knew early on that I wanted to be a pharmacist. Pharmacy has always been my passion. I was not so much interested in gardening as I was interested in medicinal plants and medicinal gardens. The UCONN School of Pharmacy had a medicinal garden on the grounds of the school and I remember walking through the garden, reading the names of the plants, and then learning

about the medicines obtained from these plants in class. My initial interest in restoring the Pry House Medicinal Garden was purely from a pharmacognosy, the science of plant-derived medicines, perspective. The gardening aspect came later.

Where did your interest in the Civil War come from?

My interest in the Civil War starts in my hometown of Torrington, CT. Torrington is the birthplace of John Brown, the abolitionist. Torrington still celebrates his birthday every year and although his house burned down in the early 1900s, the stone wall surrounding the property still exists and there are walking trails throughout the property.

I had an American history teacher who had an ancestor who fought in a Union regiment in Sherman’s March to the Sea. She was so proud of his service and repeatedly spoke of him during her classroom lectures on the Civil War. We also learned about several Connecticut regiments that fought in the Civil War, specifically at the Battle of Antietam. About 25 miles east of Torrington in Hartford, CT, are the homes of Mark Twain and Harriet Beecher Stowe. They sit side by side on the same property and are common destinations for class trips for Connecticut middle and high school students. Mark Twain helped get Ulysses S. Grant’s memoirs published after his death and Harriet Beecher Stowe wrote Uncle Tom’s Cabin, a book required to be read in many school classes during the 1970’s.

Tell us about the Pry House Medicinal Herb Garden.

The Pry House Medicinal Garden is located on the grounds of the Pry House Field Hospital Museum in Keedysville, MD. The Pry house served as the battlefield headquarters for Union General George McClellan during the Battle of Antietam on September 17, 1862. The current medicinal garden sits on the actual location of the original Pry family garden. The Pry family garden was probably their kitchen garden. A previous National Museum of Civil War Medicinal (NMCWM) volunteer restored a kitchen/medicinal garden about 10–15 years ago. When

NEIGHBORnwork I heard about his work, I asked him if I could work with him on the garden. Unfortunately, he left for graduate school before I could work with him in the garden. I then asked the director of the NMCWM if I could take over the garden and he gave me permission to work on the garden. I also got permission from the appropriate people at the Antietam National Battlefield to take over the garden. My initial vision of the garden was that it would look like the pictures I saw of it in the past. Unfortunately, when my wife and I first walked into the garden in June 2016, it was completely overgrown with weeds and in complete disrepair. At this point, I had to look at it as either an opportunity or an obstacle. We took the more positive route and began restoring it as a period-correct medicinal garden.

My wife and I took it on because it gave us the opportunity to turn a diamond in the rough into a potential jewel.

How would you spend your ideal day?

My ideal day starts with and continues with coffee. I love coffee, especially Spella Coffee from Portland, OR. I would then spend a few hours weeding, watering, and tending to the garden.

The Pry House Medicinal Garden is a very serene place. After you understand what happened at Antietam in 1862, you begin to feel a presence on the property. It’s a very special place.

After that, I like to build things, so I would spend time in my woodshop.

I like to cook, so I would end the day making dinner for my wife and me.

I own a couple of sports cars and I love to spend time driving the backroads of Maryland, Virginia, and Pennsylvania discovering new places to visit.

What is your favorite thing to grow?

My favorite plants to grow in the garden are the pollinator plants, such as hyssop, beebalm, and lamb’s ear. They are incredible bee and butterfly magnets and it’s fun to watch those as they buzz and flutter around the plants as I water the garden. The garden is purely ornamental, so I do not use any of the plants for medicinal purposes that are

od medicinal gardens because of my work on the garden. We’ve also used the garden for filming YouTube how-to gardening videos.

Do you have an influence, mentor, or hero who inspired you?

I have been lucky in that I have had several people who inspired me and continually inspire me. The first is my father, who was a pharmacist and was why I became a pharmacist. I carry him with me every day.

I had two professors in pharmacy school; one taught me how to bring pride to the profession and everything else I do in life and the second one taught me how to be an honorable man. The fourth person is a pharmacist I worked for during pharmacy school who taught me about opportunities versus obstacles and about humanity.

grown in the garden. Witch Hazel is another favorite plant of mine and I do use a proprietary brand of Witch Hazel as a topical astringent.

What are the most challenging and rewarding things about this project?

The most challenging aspect of restoring the garden was my lack of gardening knowledge. I knew nothing about plants or gardening in general. My wife’s gardening knowledge was a big help to me, but I needed to learn more, so I completed the University of Maryland Extension Master Gardener Program and became a Master Gardener. Although I was familiar with the pharmaceutical aspect of medicinal plants, I again needed a baseline level of knowledge, so I completed the Cornell University of College of Agriculture and Life Sciences Medicinal Plant certificate program. This was a couple of years of hard academic work, but it was worth the time. The reward was turning a plot of weeds with my own hands and the help of my wife and several friends into a beautiful garden with about 50 different species of medicinal plants. The garden has also taken on a life off the Pry property. I’ve been asked to lecture on the history of medicinal plants and gardens, and have consulted on other Civil War peri-

What tips, tricks, or advice do you have for readers looking to get into gardening with medicinal plants?

There is nothing unique about growing medicinal plants. They are no different than growing other ornamental plants.

It is important to know the USDA Hardiness Zone they thrive in and their physical characteristics, watering and sun requirements, and bloom times.

I think it is also important to select medicinal plants that are pollinator plants and native species, if possible. It is important to know the potential toxicities of medicinal plants. For example, I would not recommend growing belladonna in a garden because its berries resemble blueberries and, if eaten, are toxic to humans and pets. I don’t recommend growing medicinal plants for personal therapeutic use.

How can our readers contact you?

Readers can contact me by email at gsusla@earthlink.net. o Cassie Peo is a senior at the University of Maryland in the Philip Merrill College of Journalism, She looks forward to helping her mom tend their garden during the summer back home in New Jersey. This spring semester, she is an intern at Washington Gardener Magazine.

Photos on pages 6–7 by Lisa A. Romano.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

FEBRUARY 2024 WASHINGTON GARDENER 7

PLANTprofile

Aronia

By Kathy Jentz

Black chokeberry (Aronia melanocarpa, previously known as Pyrus melanocarpa and Photinia melanocarpa) and red chokeberry (Aronia arbutifolia) are deciduous shrubs that are native to eastern North America and bear fruits that are eaten by birds and other wildlife.

These shrubs have three seasons of interest, with showy white flowers in the spring, fruits in late summer, and vibrant foliage in the fall.

The plants are self-pollinated, but are also pollinator-friendly and attractive to bees, butterflies, and ants.

Both kinds of Chokeberry shrubs grow to about 3 to 6 feet wide and high. They are hardy to USDA Zones 3 to 9.

They reproduce from seed and sending up suckers, which you can prune out or dig and plant elsewhere.

They tolerate some shade and prefer moist sites, but will grow in drier soils as well. In the landscape, they can be used in mass plantings for erosion control and windbreaks.

Chokeberry can also be grown as an edible fruit crop for humans. However, the fruit is too astringent to be eaten raw. It is normally prepared in baked goods and made into jams, jellies, syrup, tea, juice, and wine.

Note that Aronia or Chokeberry is not the same as Chokecherry (Prunus virginiana).

Some selected Chokeberry cultivars are available commercially that are more compact and better-behaving for the garden setting. They include ‘Autumn Magic’, ‘Viking’, ‘Nero’, ‘Brilliantissima’, and ‘Iroquois Beauty’. o Kathy Jentz is the editor of Washington Gardener.

8 WASHINGTON GARDENER FEBRUARY 2024

KNOWitall

Ask the Expert

By Miri Talabac

Shrubs for Late Winter and Early Spring Blooms

Q: What are some uncommon shrubs for winter color or early spring flowers?

I’d like to think about what to look for this season so I can enjoy some diversity in future winters.

A: I’ll presume species we both consider commonly grown or well-known among the early bloomers include forsythia, camellia, and daphne, plus redosier dogwood (redtwig dogwood, Cornus sericea) for winter bark color.

The flowering shrubs described here tend to bloom anytime in March, although a few can begin in February.

It’s not an exhaustive list, but may spur some interest. One reason these underused options can be uncommon is that they may be harder to find at nurseries.

The soft, silvery catkins of Pussywillow are a common cut-stem decoration in late winter, but adventurous gardeners may not realize there are also pink-toned (Salix gracilistyla ‘Mt. Aso’ or ‘Mt. Asama’) as well as black (Salix melanostachys) options for catkin color. Our regional native, Salix discolor, is the typical gray, though the look-alike species sold most widely is Salix caprea from Eurasia.

You may be familiar with hybrid and Vernal Witchhazels (Hamamelis x intermedia and H. vernalis, respectively) for their very early and often-fragrant spidery flowers in reddish-orange and gold, but a cousin that gets overlooked is Winterhazel (Corylopsis). Despite being related, their light-yellow, fragrant blooms look quite different, dangling in short clusters like ornaments.

A Daphne relative that’s equally tricky to grow well (excellent drainage is a must) is Paperbush (Edgeworthia).

Some cultivars may be hardier than others, but all are borderline if you’re on the colder edge of Zone 7. Silky hairs coat the nodding clusters of buds, which produce a wonderful fragrance when open. Blooms begin as deep yellow but age to near-white. There’s a rarer red-orange cultivar, but it’s supposedly less cold-hardy.

Bushy St. Johnswort bark. Photo by Miri Talabac.

Several non-native Viburnum species and hybrids are fragrant, but the earliest I’ve seen is Bodnant Viburnum (Viburnum x bodnantense). Pink bloom clusters open on leafless stems and are nicely scented.

Heath (Erica), sometimes confused with its similar-looking cousin Heather (Calluna), blooms early and has evergreen foliage, but one reason they’re not more widely grown in the Mid-Atlantic is due to stress from summer heat and less-than-ideal soil drainage. Still, nice swaths have grown at Longwood Gardens and have also graced Bartholdi Park in DC. Sweetbox (Sarcococca) is evergreen and comes in both slow-spreading groundcover and non-spreading shrubby forms, although the latter is a bit less cold-hardy overall. All produce somewhat inconspicuous white flowers (sometimes with pink tips) that are very fragrant. A cousin of boxwood, it is unfortunately vulnerable to Boxwood Blight if you happen to have an outbreak nearby.

Winter Jasmine (Jasminum nudiflorum) sounds like it would be fragrant, but ironically, it isn’t (or has minimal scent, depending on whom you ask).

Flowers resemble Forsythia from a distance, but not as prolific. They also appear on a shrub with a more interesting growth habit, spilling over a wall like a waterfall or arching down a slope. Stems are green all year, and even though the flower display isn’t as loud as Forsythia, it lasts longer since blooming can start as early as

December or January in mild weather.

If you don’t mind Forsythia but wish it wasn’t screaming yellow, there is a cousin aptly named White Forsythia (Abeliophyllum distichum) with white flowers; there’s also a palest-pink cultivar. More compact than the rangy Forsythia and with a slightly earlier bloom time, the flowers have a mild fragrance.

Our native Bushy St. Johnswort (Hypericum densiflorum) is not an early bloomer, but boasts smooth, cinnamon-brown bark on mature stems. This is not a groundcover St. Johnswort, with which most folks might be familiar; expect it to mature up to about 5 feet tall. Its summer flowers are popular with bees.

Best Timing to Start Vegetable Seeds

Q: When do I start my vegetable seeds? Some years, I’m too early and the seedlings get leggy, but I also don’t want to be too late.

A: We have a handy chart for all of the widely grown vegetables: https://extension.umd.edu/resource/vegetableplanting-calendar/.

A PDF link on the page allows you to print the chart and there’s also a Spanish version available. As noted in the chart, suggested time frames are based around a May 1 last frost date for central Maryland. In DC or parts of Virginia, this may shift a week or so earlier, based on how much urban heat island your area experiences, so adjust your sowing or transplanting as needed.

For folks newer to seed-starting, we also have a three-part Maryland Grows blog article about sowing seeds indoors. Part one, “Making Plans for Spring Seed-Starting,” can be found at https://marylandgrows.umd. edu/2023/12/01/making-plans-forspring-seed-starting/. o Miri Talabac is a Certified Professional Horticulturist who has worked as a horticulture consultant for the University of Maryland Extension Home and Garden Information Center since 2019. To ask a gardening or pest question, go to http:// extension.umd.edu/hgic and scroll to “connect with us.” Digital photos can be attached.

FEBRUARY 2024 WASHINGTON GARDENER 9

DAYtrip

Orchid Show

A Living Exhibit of Art and Plants

By Hannah Zozobrado

On January 27, Smithsonian Gardens and the U.S. Botanic Garden opened their 24th annual orchid co-exhibition to the public in the Smithsonian American Art Museum (SAAM) and National Portrait Gallery’s Kogod Courtyard.

We recommend visiting it multiple times because the exhibit rotates its display weekly. “As one plant fades, another plant will be replacing it to really give a maximum diversity of things that people will actually see when they visit,” said Justin Kondrat, Smithsonian Gardens’ Orchid Collection Lead Horticulturist. “Since there’s a variety within the Smithsonian Garden Orchid Collection, every week, there’ll be something new to see. There’s an orchid for everybody, so you will not be disappointed.”

The location of the orchid exhibit alternates annually, with the U.S. Botanic Garden typically hosting the joint collaboration in their conservatory on oddnumbered years and the Smithsonian hosting it on even-numbered years.

“We really wanted this exhibition to broaden our exposure and to entice different visitors, so we wanted to mash orchids and art, to bring those together, to help tell a united story about the importance of orchid conservation and collaboration,” Kondrat said. “It was the perfect time to commission an artist for 10 WASHINGTON GARDENER FEBRUARY 2024

the first time to help expand and tell that story.”

Baltimore-based Phaan Howng is the artist who collaborated with Kondrat and the Smithsonian for over a year to create this year’s orchid exhibit.

“Working with this artist, we really enjoy the style, and how she combined her passion for the environment, and orchids and plants, through her art,” Kondrat said.

Visitors entering the Kogod Courtyard are greeted with splashes of vibrant color among the beautiful array of orchids. Bright neon yellows, pinks, and blues splatter across the natural greenery of the space that grows beneath the courtyard’s glass-and-steel roof.

Howng’s intentions behind the orchids’ bold visuals are intertwined with the message she hopes to convey.

“I’ve always naturally used bright colors in general,” Howng said. “I have this idea or this shtick: I always say, ‘What does an optimistic post-apocalypse look like?’ and then…in a post-human future…I think about how [orchids] would thrive, how they would also take on defense mechanisms that we use today. Or, you know, warning signals.”

For this installation, Howng based the orchid art’s brilliant colors and wild appearance on “bits of reality to create

a speculative feature, but also to drive the concept of the over arching theme” of plant conservation and cognizance.

She calls the movement the “Plant Renaissance.”

“They also have a backstory, they also have a history,” Howng said. “I want to make us have this less-superficial understanding of plants.”

The orchids are placed nearby to tables and lounge spaces so people can enjoy and co-exist in close proximity to the exotic plants. According to Kondrat, the Kogod Courtyard gives guests the opportunity to “just take in the sights, the fragrances, the ambiance of the whole exhibition.”

“This year is really unique… it’s merging horticulture with art, with science,” Kondrat said. “It’s a fantastic conversion of those three talking points to form a united front and to come together to ensure that we all have a shared, hopeful future. I really want the visitor to enjoy and take a moment to enjoy these beautiful collection items that rarely get seen by the public, and to see themselves in the orchid and to be continuously inspired.”

How to Visit

This exhibit is free and open daily, 11:30am–7:00pm through April 28.

See more details at https://gardens. si.edu/exhibitions/future-of-orchids/. o Hannah Zozobrado is a senior at the University of Maryland in the Philip Merrill College of Journalism and a Silver Spring, MD, native. This spring semester, she is an intern at Washington Gardener Magazine.

GARDENnews

Quick Links to Recent Washington Gardener Blog Posts

Photos courtesy of All-America Selections.

New Plant Spotlight Geranium Big EEZE Pink Batik (Pelargonium x interspecific) The Big EEZE geranium series is known for its superior container performance, medium vigor, and heat tolerance. The newest addition to the series, Pink Batik, is an AAS National Winner that is sure to impress gardeners with its unique coloration and minimal maintenance requirements.

Batiking is known for being a laborintensive way to produce colorations on fabric, but this new geranium is a super-“EEZE” way to get stunning petal colors on a floriferous plant with very little effort. According to one judge: “The combined flower output of all our entry plants totaled well over 100 blooms, and each one was the same size, with an equal amount of pink and white striations.”

Foliage color: Dark green Plant height: 18 inches Plant habit: Upright Plant type: Vegetative cutting Garden location: Full sun, Partial sun Bloom time: Late spring to frost Breeder: Dummen Orange® o

• All About Hollies • Why Winter Garden • Invasive Plants

See more Washington Gardener blog posts

at WashingtonGardener.blogspot.com o

February–March Garden To-Do List

• Cut some branches (Forsythia, Quince, Bittersweet, Redbud, Willow, etc.) for forcing indoors.

• Put out suet for birds.

• Keep birdfeeders filled and provide a source of water.

• Check outside plants and trees for animal (deer) damage.

• Mist indoor plants and set up pebble trays to increase humidity.

• Rejuvenate Holly bushes and Boxwood with a hard pruning.

• Plan landscape design projects.

• Check evergreens for signs of desiccation.

• Start seeds of cool-season vegetables and flowers.

• Keep ice-melting chemicals away from garden beds. Use coarse sand instead.

• Prune any dead or diseased wood off trees and shrubs.

• Fertilize trees, shrubs, and evergreens.

• Prune roses.

• Begin tilling beds (when the ground is dry enough to work, but not muddy) and work in compost.

• Plant or transplant trees or shrubs, including berries, roses, and evergreens.

• Apply pre-emergent weed control such as corn gluten.

• Protect tender plants by covering them with some type of cloth material, if an unusually cold day/night is in the forecast. Be sure to uncover when it warms up.

• Weed.

• Trim ornamental grasses such as Liriope, Mondo, and Pampas.

• Divide overgrown or crowded perennials such as Daylilies and Shasta Daisies.

• Scan houseplants for insect activity.

• Dust house plants with a slightly damp cloth.

• Clear perennial beds of any dead plant parts and debris.

• Clean and organize the garden shed.

• Clean, sharpen, and oil tools, if not already done last fall.

• Walk your yard to check for heaving plants and bulbs, and place them back in the ground as needed. Cover with more mulch to prevent further heaving.

• Apply dormant oil spray to ornamentals and fruit trees before dormancy breaks.

• Check and tune up power equipment (mowers and trimmers).

• Build garden furniture.

• Spread new gravel on paths.

• Mulch bare areas.

• Design new beds and gardens.

• Pick up new gardening books and magazines for inspiration.

• Start seedlings indoors under grow lights. Some good choices to start early are Peppers, Artichokes, Onions, Beets, Turnips, Cabbage, Kale, and Leeks.

• Put up trellises and teepees for Peas and Beans to climb on.

• Direct-sow early, cool-season crops as soon as ground soil can be worked.

Good choices are Peas, Lettuces, Mustards, Onion sets, Kale, and Cabbages.

• Start or turn your compost pile.

• Do an annual soil test and amend soil as recommended.

• Check for snow damage. Gently brush off snow weight, if you must, but it’s better to let snow melt on its own. o FEBRUARY 2024 WASHINGTON GARDENER 11

TOP AREA GARDENING EVENTS Classes, Events, and Plant Shows/Sales • Wednesday, February 21, 7:30–9pm Overcoming Fears of Pruning The Takoma Horticultural Club’s monthly meeting features a talk by Josh Demers, Brookside Gardens’ horticulturalist. Learn all about the why, how, and when of pruning a variety of specimens in your garden. Gain invaluable advice and experience about how to make proper pruning cuts on trees and bushes of various sizes to achieve structural corrections and rejuvenate old, overgrown shrubs. This meeting is FREE and open to all. The meeting wil be at Historic Takoma, 7328 Carroll Ave., Takoma Park, MD. • Monday, February 26, 7:30–9pm Paradise Under Glass The Silver Spring Garden Club’s meeting features a talk by guest speaker Ruth Kassinger, author of Paradise Under Glass and A Garden of Marvels, as well as a number of award-winning science and history books for young adults. Kassinger will talk about her journey of learning how to garden indoors and build a glass conservatory, which sparked an interest in mid-life changes and the history and science of the conservatory. Held at Brookside Gardens Visitors Center/Education Building, 1800 Glenallan Avenue, Wheaton, MD. This meeting is FREE and open to all.

• Tuesday, February 27, 7–8pm Tiny Forests, Big Results? Testing the Miyawaki Tiny Forest Concept in Urban Landscapes Hosted by the Maryland Native Plant Society. Speakers Joe Chambers and Andrew Putnam will discuss early results observed in native plant composition and wildlife use of tiny forests over time and will describe the process of planting and maintaining a tiny forest. The program is free and open to the public. It will be held online via Zoom. Register at http://www.mdflora. org/event-5450029.

• Saturday, March 2 2024 Galanthus Gala Held in Downington, PA, with lectures

by Gerard van Buiten of Utrecht Botanic 12 WASHINGTON GARDENER FEBRUARY 2024

Garden in Holland and Johan Nilsson of Gothenburg Botanic Garden in Sweden.

These lectures, as well as a tour of the Hershey Trees with C. Dale Hendriks, are a chance to shop with top vendors of rare and unusual plants. A live auction is included. The admission cost is $39 and tickets can be purchased at: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/galanthus-gala-2024-march-1-2-2024-tickets775377203087?aff=oddtdtcreator.

• Sunday, March 3, 10–11am, at the Homestead Gardens, Davidsonville, MD, and March 3, 2–3pm, at the Homestead Gardens, Severna Park, MD Pruning Roses Demystified Kathy Jentz, editor of Washington Gardener Magazine, is an expert in all things related to rose care. In her informative session, she will cover every aspect of rose care, including culture, care, maintenance, common problems, and pruning techniques. Jentz will share her personal recommendations for disease-resistant rose varieties that thrive in our specific area. This talk not only provides valuable insights into rose care, but also emphasizes an organic gardening approach, promoting sustainability and environmental consciousness. Fee: $15, Register at https://homesteadgardens.com/ upcoming-event/pruning-roses-demystified-with-kathy-jentz/.

• Saturday, March 9, 10am–1pm 2024 Spring Garden Kickoff At Plot Against Hunger’s 2024 Spring Garden Kickoff will have speakers about gardens and food pantries, seed and seedling giveaways, and garden tips plus a chance for gardeners to meet and mingle, information about how to participate in the Plot program, and more. This event is FREE to the public. Held at Arlington Central Library - Auditorium, 1015 N. Quincy St., Arlington, VA. For event details and updates, go to https://arlingtonurbanag. org/2024-spring-garden-kickoff/.

• Saturday, March 9 Rooting DC 2024 Rooting DC is a FREE, day-long urban gardening forum that: 1) provides education about urban agriculture and food systems, 2) cultivates health and protection of the environment, and

3) builds community. Held at Anacostia High School, 1601 16th Street Southeast Washington, DC. More details at https://www.facebook.com/rootingdc/.

Free and open to all.

• Saturday March 16, 10am Ikebana Demonstration and Luncheon The Ikebana International Chapter #1 will host this event at the Belle Haven Country Club in Alexandria, VA. The event begins with a social hour and ginza (sale) followed by an Ikebana demonstration and lunch. The demonstration, titled “The Sangetsu Way” will be presented by Helena Arouca and Mary Jane Sasser of the Sangetsu School of Ikebana. Tickets are available on the chapter website: iichapter1.com.

• Saturday, March 23 Native Plant Sale Friends of the National Arboretum (FONA) annual Native Plant Sale takes place in conjunction with the U.S. National Arboretum’s Lahr Native Plants Symposium. The sale will include a small number of plant vendors from across the Mid-Atlantic selling spring ephemerals and many other choice perennials and woody plants. Stay tuned, more details coming soon at FONA.org.

Looking Ahead • May 20 First Annual Reduce Your Lawn Day! See details soon at reduceyourlawnday. com.

• Wednesday, May 22, 2024 Spring Garden Party 2024 Held at Tudor Place. Details soon at https://tudorplace.org/.

Event Listing Updates See updated event listings on the Washington Gardener discussion list.

Join by emailing WashingtonGardenersubscribe@googlegroups.com.

How to Submit Events To submit an event for this listing, email washingtongardenermagazine@gmail. com with “Event” in the subject line.

Our next deadline is March 5 for the January 2024 issue, for events taking place after March 15, 2024. o

INDOORgarden

Wax Begonias: Trash or Treasure?

By Savannah Scollar Wax begonias aren’t generally paid much mind or looked at very closely.

You’re likely to pass them by, as they bloom in large clumps outside a mall or shopping center. An exciting change happens, however, when they’re brought indoors and potted in cute containers. They take on a new and glamorous life: the center of attention, the star of the show!

My journey with wax begonias (also known as bedding begonias) began with the trash. Like most gardeners, I’m prone to seeing the discarded plants at hardware stores and thinking, “I can save him!” Upon seeing begonias destined for the dumpster, I was reminded of a photo I had saved from a magazine: a wax begonia in a kitschy ceramic planter, displayed on a dining room table. Now, it was my turn.

I honestly expected a challenge. Wax begonias aren’t usually indoor plants, right? I assumed the reason must have had something to do with their degree of difficulty to grow inside. As it turned out, that was far from the truth. I was shocked and delighted to witness the rapid transformation of my “trash begonias.” They were more than cooperative—quickly growing new leaves and blooming profusely.

They branched in thick stems, with glossy leaves and pearlescent petaled

flowers: white, pink, and red. The center of each flower is reminiscent of a baby chicken—a fluffy yellow pom-pom.

When it’s kept in a very sunny spot, you’ll see a formerly green-leaved variety develop a cherry-colored suntan.

The red gradient look is pretty striking and unique and shows on the stems as well. This blush is a sign that your plant is definitely getting enough light. In fact, if your wax begonia is turning red, you can choose to move it further from the light to get some new green leaves instead. Keep in mind that once a particular leaf turns red, it won’t turn back.

Wax begonia leaves are easily bruised, and that’s probably the reason you don’t see them sold as indoor plants. With indoor plants, people want every leaf to look right, since they’ll be looking at them more closely. With outdoor plants, a little damage isn’t a huge issue.

The great thing, however, about wax begonia leaves and flowers, is that they’re incredibly tasty, and are quick to replenish. Pruning damaged leaves off a wax begonia is an opportunity to enjoy their refreshing and slightly sour flavor. When my wax begonias participate in their natural activity of dropping spent flowers, I always pick the fallen flowers up and eat them. These plants actually bloom year-round, and if they

stop, they just need a quick dose of fertilizer or worm castings to recharge.

Houseplant hobbyists will be happy to hear that wax begonias are known for their disease- and pest-resistance.

While I’ve heard of certain plants being described as “spider mite magnets” and things along those lines, wax begonias are just chill.

Still, “resistant” doesn’t mean invincible. It’s always important to check for signs of pests and diseases before putting a new plant near your other houseplants. I recommend keeping new plants separate for a week, giving any bugs the opportunity to show themselves, and reducing the chances of accidentally introducing aphids to the whole squad.

Looking at the photo at left, you might be wondering where I got the tiniest begonias of the group. As it turns out, stem and leaf cuttings of wax begonias root easily in a bud vase on a windowsill! The trick to keeping them happy once you’ve rooted them?

Start them off in a very small container of soil, like a shot glass. I move up gradually from there, an inch at a time, switching containers when plants start drinking faster than I can keep up with watering. Like most houseplants, wax begonias like their soil to get mostly, but not entirely, dry, before they’re watered again. If you notice your wax begonia leaves turning transparent, it’s not too late! Give that dry soil some water and the leaves will go back to normal within a few hours.

It’s too cold outside right now to find your own set of trash begonias at the hardware store. However, I keep healthy wax begonias in stock at my shop, Easy Little Plants in Olney, Maryland. After all, these plants are some of my favorites. They seriously grew on me, turning from trash into treasure, and once my shop picks up, I’ll definitely be trying the variegated varieties as well. Can’t wait! o Savannah Scollar opened Easy Little Plants in July 2023 at age 21. It’s a houseplant shop in Olney, MD. She loves doing research, teaching private workshops, decorating with houseplants, and arranging adorable terrariums. Contact her through her website: easylittleplants.com.

FEBRUARY 2024 WASHINGTON GARDENER 13

18th Annual Washington Gardener Magazine Photo Contest Winners

PHOTOcontt

18TH ANNUAL PHOTO CONTEST DETAILS

Here are the 17 winners in the Washington Gardener Magazine 18th Annual Photo Contest. More than 130 photos were submitted in this year’s contest from 20 entrants. As usual, the quality of entries was high and our judge had an especially difficult time winnowing the images down to the best of the best! It was great to see several first-time entrants place highly. Many of these photos are of the photographers’ own home gardens, while the majority of the rest of the images were taken at public gardens in our region.

Congratulations to the 2023 DC Garden Photo Contest winners and thank you to all who entered.

WHERE TO SEE THE PHOTOS AT THEIR FULL QUALITY Winning images will be displayed during the Washington Gardener Seed Exchanges and appear in a local photo exhibit this summer at Meadowlark Botanical Gardens in Vienna, VA. The opening reception is Sunday, August 4 at 2pm.

THANK YOU TO OUR JUDGE Elizabeth Olson, certified photography judge with the Maryland Association of Agricultural Fairs & Shows (MAAFS).

THANK YOU TO OUR 2023 PRIZE SPONSORS • Capital Photography Center, LLC • Proven Winners ColorChoice Flower Shrubs Additional prizes supplied by Washington Gardener Magazine

14 WASHINGTON GARDENER FEBRUARY 2024

Grand Prize Winner (on the cover)

Georgette Grossman “Pretty in Pink” Location: Photographer’s home garden in Dunn Loring, VA Taken using a Fuji X-T5 camera with a Fuji 70–300 mm set at f/11, 1/450 sec, ISO 320; tripod in natural lighting. Grossman is an amateur photographer with 18 years’ experience.

Images of insects, birds, frogs, domestic pets, wild animals, etc., in a private or public garden setting.

First Place

Thu Do “Bee on Orange Dahlia” Location: Vienna, VA Taken using a Motorola cellphone. Do is an amateur photographer with just one year of experience.

Second Place

Kathy Stevens “Aster Abundance” Location: Photographer’s home garden in Silver Spring, MD A bumblebee foraging on Aster tataricus ‘Jin Dai’. Taken with natural light in October 2023 with an iPhone 8, 28 mm, f1.8, ISO25, 63 mm, 0ev, 1/40s. Stevens is an amateur photographer with 9 years’ experience.

Third Place

Janet Sifers “Grumpy Bluebird” Location: Oak Hill, VA “This little bluebird was out in the public garden near my house,” said Sifers. “I like his expression!” Taken with a Nikon D500. Sifers is an amateur photographer with 20+ years’ experience.

18th Annual Washington Gardener Magazine Photo Contest Winners

Garden Creatures Category

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FEBRUARY 2024 WASHINGTON GARDENER 15

18th Annual Washington Gardener Magazine Photo Contest Winners

PHOTOcontt

Garden Vignettes Category Groupings of plants in beds or containers, unusual color or texture combinations, garden focal points, and still scenes.

First Place

Liz Gephardt “Tumbling Snapdragons” Location: Photographer’s home garden in Washington, DC Serviceberry leaves that have fallen onto a salad bowl container with a mix of Snapdragon ‘Black Prince’, Swiss Chard ‘Vulcan’, and lettuce ‘Bronze Beauty’. Taken with a digital camera from a Pixel 4, natural late afternoon light, November 2023. Gephardt is an amateur photographer with two years’ experience.

Second Place

Jolie Zimmerman “Urban Garden Patio” Location: Adams Morgan, Washington, DC Japanese ferns near the front door. Taken using an iPhone SE 3rd generation. Zimmerman is an amateur photographer with five years’ experience.

16 WASHINGTON GARDENER FEBRUARY 2024

Third Place

Karin Melinda Reber “The Ruby Slippers” Location: The Kensington Park Library Literary Garden, Kensington, MD “This chainsaw sculpture in the Kensington Park Library Literary Garden represents the infamous Ruby Slippers from The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. Surrounded by the natural beauty of native plants in the peak of their fall color, Dorothy’s most famous wardrobe accessory is the envy of fashionistas everywhere.” said Reber. Taken using a Google Pixel 6 Pro ƒ/1.91/4806.81 mm ISO39. Reber is an amateur photographer with 20+ years’ experience.

PHOTOcontt

Tight close-up or macro image of a single flower, plant parts, leaves, fruits, etc.

First Place

Karin Melinda Reber “Fit for a Fairy” Location: Holmes Run Park, Falls Church, VA “Holmes Run Park is beautiful every day, but after several days of straight rain, it really comes alive.

Among the many fungi that sprung up, this ‘Old Man of the Woods’ mushroom was by far one of my favorite discoveries. Nestled in this mossy knoll overlooking the adjacent stream, it is truly a scene fit for a fairy,” said Reber. Taken using a Google Pixel 6 Pro ƒ/1.91/1106.81 mm ISO56. Reber is an amateur photographer with 20+ years’ experience.

Second Place

Georgette Grossman “Meadowlark Crocus” Location: Meadowlark Botanical Gardens, Vienna, VA Crocus taken in February in front of the Meadowlark building using a Fuji X-T5 Fuji 70-300 mm lens, specs f/5, 1/170 sec, ISO 320; tripod in natural lighting. Grossman is an amateur photographer with 18 years’ experience.

Third Place

Ann Johnson “Blueberries” Location: Photographer’s home garden in Kensington, MD Close-up of a bunch of ripe blueberries. Taken using a Samsung cellphone. Johnson is a professional photographer and educator with 20+ years of experience.

18th Annual Washington Gardener Magazine Photo Contest Winners

Small Wonders Category

FEBRUARY 2024 WASHINGTON GARDENER 17

18th Annual Washington Gardener Magazine Photo Contest Winners

PHOTOcontt

Garden Views Category Beautiful, dramatic, or unusual perspectives of a garden landscape, including wide shots showing the setting.

First Place

Deborah Whitman “Red Sails” Location: Ladew Topiary Gardens, Monkton, MD Red-sailed ship in the pond of the Iris Garden Taken with a NIKON D3100, AF-S DX VR ZoomNikkor 18-55 mm ƒ3.5-5.6G in natural light.

Whitman is an amateur photographer with 36 years’ experience.

Second Place

Thu Do “Bridge in Serenity of Green” Location: Meadowlark Botanical Gardens, Vienna, VA Taken using a Motorola cellphone. Do is an amateur photographer with just one year of experience.

Third Place

Valerie Brown “After the Storm” Location: Home of Yvonne Tsikata in Great Falls, VA “This is a view of an Asian garden room in spectacular garden in Great Falls, VA,” said Brown. Taken using an Nikon D850, lens 35-105 mm, natural light in late afternoon.

Brown is a professional photographer with 50 years of experience.

18 WASHINGTON GARDENER FEBRUARY 2024

PHOTOcontt

Thu Do “Fly on Yellow Sunflower” Location: Vienna, VA Taken using a Motorola cellphone. Do is an amateur photographer with just one year of experience.

Honorable Mention Garden Views

Karin Melinda Reber “A Garden Full of History” Location: Private Property, Round Hill, VA “This beautiful meadow garden stands at the back of a historic privately owned property in Round Hill, VA. It is lovingly called ‘The Fortress’ by its owners in reference to the time it is believed George Washington himself came to stay on the premises during the Revolutionary War. The pop of blue from the Bachelor’s Buttons in the meadow make the beauty of this 300+-year-old structure even more serene,” said Reber. Taken using a Google Pixel 6 Proƒ/1.91/23006.81 mm ISO37.

Reber is an amateur photographer with 20+ years’ experience.

Honorable Mention Small Wonders

Liz Gephardt “After the Rain” Location: Photographer’s home garden in Washington, DC Camellia sasanqua ‘Kanjiro’ after a winter’s rain. Taken with a digital camera from a Pixel 4, natural morning light, December 2023. Gephardt is an amateur photographer with two years’ experience.

Honorable Mention Garden Vignettes

Deborah Whitman “Fall Annuals” Location: Hillwood Estate, Museum, & Gardens, Washington, DC Fall annual flower bed at Hillwood in Washington, DC. Taken with a NIKON D3100, AF-S DX VR Zoom-Nikkor 1855 mm ƒ3.5-5.6G. Whitman is an amateur photographer with 36 years’ experience.

18th Annual Washington Gardener Magazine Photo Contest Winners

Honorable Mention Garden Creatures

FEBRUARY 2024 WASHINGTON GARDENER 19

BOOKreviews

The Garden Against Time: In Search of a Common Paradise Author: Olivia Laing Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company List Price: $27.99 Order Links: https://amzn.to/49yd5Yz and https://bookshop.org/ a/79479/9780393882001 Reviewer: Jim Dronenburg The Garden Through Time is perhaps the most interesting concept your reviewer has seen in a garden book.

This is not, by the way, a how-to-doit book. It is the true story of Olivia Laing and her husband purchasing the house and derelict gardens of Mark Rumary. In his time, it had been a Royal Horticultural Society tour garden, but now…

They started to bring back the garden. The authors also made changes made in the house. Each step segues into a different topic, a different time.

The first diversion (second chapter) is to the Garden of Eden, and from that, any idea of Paradise or Eden, woven in stream of consciousness into Ms. Laing’s own history, her own family troubles, and her own work in her present garden.

The second diversion (third chapter) is about enclosure of the British common lands from the 16th century on, and displacement of people. We hear of the changes made to existing gardens, and the Landscape Movement— think Capability Brown here—where 20 WASHINGTON GARDENER FEBRUARY 2024

estates of thousands and thousands of acres were totally changed to be picturesque landscapes. And the fact that so much of the fabulous wealth that made the enclosure and great sprawling estates possible, where whole villages were moved or simply razed, were made possible by slavery in the British Caribbean and in America, primarily from the sugar industry. One might expect condemnation of that source from an American writer, but it came as a surprise from a British writer.

From then on, the diversions go to Milton and Paradise Lost. Then we visit the Utopia of William Morris (of Morris & Co.—think wallpapers, for example) and his thoughts about gardens should be (and how he implemented that in his various houses). We go next to the garden of Rumary’s surviving partner.

Other sidetracks follow, giving a whole raft of people and books to look up (and possibly purchase). The final diversion is to a garden… well, suffice it to say that it is a garden that was, and yet never was. It is a stunning conclusion to the book, and the reason for the book’s title.

That’s all your reviewer will say. I admit that I love the history of gardens, and others might not. But this is a truly spectacular book. For history, for a whole web of British subjects to read after you’re done with this book, for the story of restoration of a garden.

Buy this book. If your local library doesn’t have it, buy this book. o Jim Dronenburg is a retired accountant and now gardens full-time in Knoxville, MD.

A Gardener at the End of the World Author: Margot Anne Kelley Publisher: David R. Godine Publisher List Price: $28.95 Order Links: https://amzn.to/4bC00iN and https://bookshop.org/ a/79479/9781567927344 Reviewer: Beth Py-Lieberman Four years have passed and we can’t keep ourselves from marking the traumatic moments in those perilous first weeks when reports trickled in of people in China sickening from the novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. We remember acutely the last days of February 2020 when we could, without fear or concern, gather closely with our friends

and family. We remember the old way we worked, commuting to our offices on crowded subways and buses to engage and conference with colleagues in our sealed and unventilated steel and glass office buildings.

We will forever mark March 11, much as a generation has enshrined President John F. Kennedy’s 1962 assassination, as the day the World Health Organization declared a global pandemic and everything as we knew it, changed forever.

Yet, readers might think, “Too soon,” as they crack the binding of this recent offering from the multi-talented scholar, photographer, essayist, and author, Margot Anne Kelley.

Kelley, who lives mere miles from the northern-most tip of Maine, has penned a vivid reminder of that year in her new book A Gardener at the End of the World, out from Godine Press in April. When this reviewer began to partake of the opening pages, a desire arose to close the book and send it back to the editor of Washington Gardener Magazine with the plea: “No, not ready yet to go there.” But Kelley’s evocative memories gently compel the reader down that perilous road on a necessary journey to revisit the multiple traumas of the year 2020.

The author’s deep dives into past pandemics, human disease transmission, global trade, and the origins of crops and plants are viewed through the lens of the garden that Kelley and her husband Rob maintain on their one-acre homestead. As the couple hunkers down for what would become more than a year of isolation, Kelley, a cancer survivor with a weakened immune system, envisions the process of gardening as a “defiance.” Her 2020 garden would become “a way to propagate life and health and pleasure and optimism when death feels terrifyingly present.”

Organized as a monthly accounting of the author’s garden journal, we revisit acutely the things that we wish to forget, but shouldn’t.

In March, as the author “quiets her growing anxiety” with her early spring ritual of adding seeds to trays in her greenhouse, she contemplates the linguistic relationship of seeds and

BOOKreviews

viruses and how the two share dispersal strategies. Every day, Kelley’s worry grows as she logs in to a website, where she tracks the rising numbers of Covid-19 infections and deaths, monitoring the daunting challenges of what it will take for communities around the country to “flatten the curve.”

For the reader, phrases we used that year come roaring back like a gut punch. Remember what it meant to invite someone into your “bubble,” or the horrific anxiety we all suffered while “doom scrolling”?

In April, as Kelley’s two dozen melon seeds are sending up shoots in the greenhouse, she and her husband, unschooled as we all were in how the virus is transmitted, wear K95 masks and nitrile gloves for an excursion beyond their property to hear the peepers in a nearby spring.

On May 25, a Minneapolis police officer murders George Floyd on the street. A video records how police blithely watch as the dying man calls for his mother and the breath is slowly choked from his body. Kelley ponders the power of empathy—the “ubiquitous virus” and its “existential terror,” a mirror to what “Black Americans know far too well.”

Meanwhile in Kelley’s garden, the serviceberry is flowering; a plant that got its name, she reports, because a tree in bloom signaled to the local undertaker that the ground was “soft enough to dig graves.”

In July, the author is growing a new breed of purple pea, the Beauregarde— developed by a chef in collaboration

with a plant breeder—against a background of growing animosity among the summer visitors flocking to her Maine home town, who become suspicious of the local quarantine guidelines and the town’s printed flyers of tips meant to be helpful. The gestures of kindness that somehow offend the arriving tourists mirrors the acrimony emanating from the White House as the Trump Administration threatens to withdraw support from the World Health Organization.

In August, as the U.S. is swamped by a quarter of the world’s nearly 18 million Covid cases, and the heat, unseasonably warm, saps the plants in Kelley’s garden and emboldens the deer, the author takes refuge in her research, digging out the long history of the Justinian Plague that began in 542 CE and profoundly alters power structures around the globe by the time it diminishes in 1353.

Throughout the fall, as Dr. Anthony Fauci guides feckless White House officials towards the goal of an effective vaccine, Kelley notes that local growers tending their gardens with extra time and attention are seeing “great yields” and donations to the local food pantry are so overwhelming that tourists are invited to share the offerings.

Apples ripen in November as Americans elect Joe Biden to the presidency and Moderna announces that its experimental vaccine has a 94.5 percent efficacy rate. But the CDC cautiously advises Americans to avoid gathering together for Thanksgiving, so Kelley and her husband, accustomed to large holiday festivities, are the only two at their table, choosing to eat chicken instead of turkey and baklava instead of pie.

December arrives and Kelley has packed her greenhouse with pots, and plants, and lawn chairs; and preps for the winter months ahead. Democracy prevails as the Electoral College casts their votes, making Joe Biden the president-elect, even as the disgraced, now twice-impeached former president launches his infamous bid to commit his crimes of insurrection that will kickoff 2021 on January 6.

Kelley is circumspect, having observed how monumental upheav-

als measure up against the gentle quiet of a garden and its annual cycle.

“Not only has the pandemic changed how time flows, stretching some days beyond what we feel we can bear, it has eroded the easy assurance that our yesterdays presage our tomorrows,” she writes. “The Pandemic will surely ebb…Whatever comes next will be different from what was…And we will be different, too.” o Beth Py-Lieberman is the author of the 2023 book, The Object at Hand: Intriguing and Inspiring Stories from the Smithsonian Collections. Until her retirement in December, Py-Lieberman served as the senior museums editor at the award-winning Smithsonian magazine, where over a 37-year-career, she frequented the halls and galleries of the Smithsonian museums, educating readers on its history, art and science collections, and exhibitions.

Houseplant Hookups: All the Dirt You Need to Find the Perfect Match Author: Agatha Isabel Illustrated by: Mai Ly Degnan Publisher: Gibbs Smith List Price: $17.99 Order Links: https://amzn.to/3wq7RzG and https://bookshop.org/ a/79479/9781423663461 Reviewer: Cassie Peo Houseplant Hookups is a beginnerfriendly guide to common houseplants, modeled after the world of online dating. Featuring 35 profiles of potential plant “partners,” Houseplant Hookups explores the pros and cons of different houseplants, their required maintenance and levels of difficulty, and personalities. Clear explanations and a friendly tone, coupled with vibrant and stylized illustrations, make the book engaging and informative for all audiences. Like the description says, “getting involved with someone new can seem overwhelming,” so this how-to guide is great for better understanding how to select and care for a variety of houseplants, especially if you are new to gardening.

Author Agatha Isabel is a plant enthusiast, nonprofit leader, and digital privacy professional, according to her personal website. Currently based in southern California, Isabel owns an online plant store and leads the FEBRUARY 2024 WASHINGTON GARDENER 21

BOOKreviews a plant’s compatibility with their lifestyle.

The illustrations paired with each plant allow readers to visualize these plants in various home settings. There is also a “Plant-Based Personality Quiz” for readers still struggling to make a decision, and an index with plants organized by levels of difficulty and needs.

I think this book would make a great gift for anyone new to gardening or looking to explore horticulture and indoor plant varieties. As a beginner gardener, it taught me so much about the basics of plant care, and the friendly tone and humor put a welcoming and creative spin on an otherwise mundane topic.

This book inspired me to look into getting a Spider Plant for my apartment and allowed me to feel confident about starting this journey, despite being a beginner gardener. o community-sourced project “Planting for Progress.” Isabel’s anecdotes and tips make the book informative and engaging, and her passion for plants is evident on every page. Isabel quickly establishes the foundation for a successful relationship with information about basic plant care and makes it clear that everyone will be able to find their “perfect plant partner.”

Illustrator Mai Ly Degnan is an awardwinning illustrator and educator currently based in Baltimore, MD, and teaches full-time at the Maryland Institute College of Art, where she earned her MFA in Illustration Practice. Degnan’s love for creating stylized, “slice of life” illustrations shines through in each page of this book—she created beautiful illustrations for every plant profile that highlight each plant’s unique features.

The book starts with tips for choosing a plant; kinds of maintenance; and how to navigate relationships and problems, like dry leaves, root rot, sickness, and pests. The main portion of the book is organized into dating profiles for each plant, which include the plant’s origins; Latin name; light, water, humidity, and room temperature needs; and difficulty rating from 1 to 3. Each summary highlights the plant’s best or worst features and hidden qualities through prompts, like “We’ll get along if…” and “You might be surprised to learn…” This allows readers to make quick assessments of 22 WASHINGTON GARDENER FEBRUARY 2024

Cassie Peo is a senior at the University of Maryland in the Philip Merrill College of Journalism. This spring semester, she is an intern at Washington Gardener Magazine.

¡Verdura! Living a Garden Life: 30 Projects to nurture Your Passion for Plants & Find Your Bliss Author: Perla Sofía Curbelo-Santiago Publisher: Cool Springs Press List Price: $24.99 Order Links: https://amzn.to/3OOrec9 and https://bookshop.org/ a/79479/9780760381267 Reviewer: Hannah Zozobrado Perla Sofía Curbelo-Santiago’s debut book ¡Verdura! Living a Garden Life catalogs 30 budget-friendly and easy gardening projects that both beginner and expert gardeners can follow, stepby-step. While covering a broad range of indoor and outdoor projects, ¡Verdura!

Living a Garden Life is a charming and heartwarming read. Curbelo-Santiago embeds the occasional personal story throughout the book, inspiring an emotional connection to gardening. Born and raised in Puerto Rico, she gives readers a glimpse into how her upbringing and experiences have shaped her desire to promote gardening as a lifestyle and a “healthy habit that enhances your life both physically and mentally.”

For beginner gardeners, especially, this guide is the perfect introduction and how-to about finding fulfillment in the garden, and in life.

Curbelo-Santiago graduated with her master’s degree in public relations from the Universidad del Sagrado Corazón, and received her Horticultural Therapy Certificate from the Chicago Botanic Garden. In 2009, she founded her Spanish gardening lifestyle platform, Agrochic.com; ¡Verdura! Living a Garden Life is also available in Spanish.

Between her retrospection and nostalgia, Curbelo-Santiago presents garden projects that are simple, cost-effective, beginner-friendly, and able to be grown in diverse spaces. It’s written colloquially—as if she’s in conversation with a friend—with the occasional insertion of Spanish vocabulary, making it feel like bits and pieces of her identity are evenly spread across the pages.

Throughout the book, she asks questions and gives readers the physical space to answer them on the page. It’s a lovely touch that reflects her message of fostering an intentional, healthy relationship between personal well-being and gardening. The pictures from a home garden are another special feature of this book that make it feel more intimate and allow a better understanding of each project’s outline.

As someone who has little-to-no experience in gardening, ¡Verdura! Living a Garden Life has inspired and motivated me to start up my own garden. This easy-to-follow and cost-friendly guide gives the wholesome impression that anyone can be capable of a lifelong commitment to growth—in both the garden and yourself. o Hannah Zozobrado is a senior at the University of Maryland in the Philip Merrill College of Journalism. This spring semester, she is an intern at Washington Gardener Magazine.

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MARCH/APRIL 2005 • Landscape DIY vs. Pro • Prevent Gardener’s Back • Ladew Topiary Gardens • Cherry Trees

MAY/JUNE 2007 • Roses: Easy Care Tips • Native Roses & Heirloom Roses • Edible Flowers • How to Plant a Bare-root Rose

MAY/JUNE 2005 • Stunning Plant Combinations • Turning Clay into Rich Soil • Wild Garlic • Strawberries

JULY/AUGUST 2007 • Groundcovers: Alternatives to Turfgrass • How to Pinch, Prune, & Dead-head • William Paca House & Gardens • Hardy Geraniums

JULY/AUGUST 2005 • Water Gardens • Poison Ivy • Disguising a Sloping Yard • Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens

SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2007 • Succulents: Hardy to our Region • Drought-Tolerant Natives • Southern Vegetables • Seed Saving Savvy Tips

SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2005 • Container Gardens • Clematis Vines • Sponge Gardening/Rain Gardens • 5 Insect Enemies of Gardeners

NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2007 • Gardening with Children • Indoor Bulb-Forcing Basics • National Museum of the American Indian • Versatile Viburnums

NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2005 • Backyard Bird Habitats • Hellebores • Building a Coldframe • Bulb Planting Basics

JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2008 • Dealing with Deer • Our Favorite Garden Tools • Delightful Daffodils

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 • Basic Pruning Principles MAY/JUNE 2006 • Using Native Plants in Your Landscape • Crabgrass • Peppers • Secret Sources for Free Plants 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 NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2006 • Horticultural Careers • Juniper Care Guide • Winter Squash Growing Tips and Recipes • Layer/Lasagna Gardening

SUMMER 2009 • Grow Grapes in the Mid-Atlantic • Passionflowers • Mulching Basics • Growing Hops

MARCH/APRIL 2008 • Patio, Balcony, Rooftop Container Gardens • Our Favorite Garden Tools • Coral Bells (Heuchera)

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U MAY/JUNE 2008 DO SOL • Growing Great Tomatoes UT! O • Glamorous Gladiolus LD ! SO • Seed-Starting OUT Basics D L •SFlavorful Fruiting Natives O

JULY/AUGUST 2008 • Landscaping with Ornamental Grasses • Edible Grasses to Graze On • Slug and Snail Control • Sage Advice: Sun-Loving Salvias SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2008 • Autumn Edibles — What to Plant Now • Beguiling Barrenworts (Epimediums) • 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, Vines • 5 Top Tips for Overwintering Tender Bulbs • Harry Lauder’s Walking Stick JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2009 • Compost Happens: Nature’s Free Fertilizer • Managing Stormwater with a Rain Garden • Visiting Virginia’s State Arboretum • Grow Winter Hazel for Winter Color

JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2007 • Indoor Gardening • Daphne Care Guide • Asparagus Growing Tips and Recipes • Houseplant Propagation

MARCH/APRIL 2009 UT! D O Tips • 40+ Free and Low-cost Local Garden SOL !

T • Spring Edibles Planting Guide OU • Testing YourSSoil OLDfor a Fresh Start T! Selection and Care UTree • Redbud O LD Viewing Spots for Virginia Bluebells • Best SO

MARCH/APRIL 2007 • Stormwater Management • Dogwood Selection & Care Guide • Early Spring Vegetable Growing Tips • Franciscan Monastery Bulb Gardens

MAY/JUNE 2009 • Top Easy Summer Annuals for DC Heat • Salad Table Project • Grow and Enjoy Eggplant • How to Chuck a Woodchuck

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SPRING 2010 • Community Gardens • Building a Raised Bed • Dwarf Iris • Broccoli

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SUMMER 2010 • Fragrance Gardens • Watering Without Waste • Lavender • Potatoes

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FALL 2010 • Vines and Climbers • Battling Stink Bugs • Russian Sage • Garlic WINTER 2010 • Paths and Walkways • Edgeworthia • Kohlrabi SPRING 2011 • Cutting-Edge Gardens • Final Frost Dates and When to Plant • Bleeding Hearts • Onions SUMMER 2011 • Ornamental Edibles • Urban Foraging • Amsonia/Arkansas Blue Star • Growing Corn in the Mid-Atlantic FALL 2011 • Herb Gardens • Toad Lilies • Sweet Potatoes • Cool Weather Cover Crops WINTER 2011/EARLY SPRING 2012 • Green Roofs and Walls • Heaths and Heathers • Radishes SPRING 2012 • Pollinator Gardens • Brunnera: Perennial of the Year • Growing Yacon SUMMER 2012 • Tropical Gardens • Captivating Canna • Icebox Watermelons SPRING 2013 • Great Garden Soil • All About Asters • Squash Vine Borer SUMMER/FALL 2013 • Miniature/Faerie Gardens • Beguiling Abelias • Growing Great Carrots WINTER/EARLY SPRING 2014 • Ferns for the Mid-Atlantic • Chanticleer Gardens • Beet Growing Basics

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Jentz Prints can be purchased most weekends (weather-dependent) at the world-famous Eastern 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!

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24 WASHINGTON GARDENER FEBRUARY 2024