Washington Gardener Magazine January 2024

JANUARY 2024 VOL. 18 NO. 11

WWW.WASHINGTONGARDENER.COM

WASHINGTON

gardener

the magazine for gardening enthusiasts in the Mid-Atlantic region

Grow Your Own Loofah Sponge

Maryland Beetles Used in Fight to Protect Hemlock Trees The Year of the African Violet USNA Introduces ‘Strawberry Moon’ Chitalpa No-till Gardening for Healthy Soil Great Gardening Books Reviewed Human/Nature: Why People Are Drawn to Living Things Attracting the White-breasted Nuthatch

2024 Garden Trends

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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

Are you trying to reach thousands of gardeners in the greater DC region/Mid-Atlantic area? Washington Gardener Magazine goes out on the 15th of every month. Contact KathyJentz@gmail.com or call 301.588-6894 for ad rates (starting from $200). The ad deadline is the 10th of each month.

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

2 WASHINGTON GARDENER JANUARY 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

18

The African Violet (Streptocarpus ionanthus formerly Saintpaulia ionantha) was discovered in 1892 by Walter von SaintPaul-Illaire in the wooded Usambara mountains near the border of Kenya and Tanzania in Africa.

Royal Knockout photo by Pleasant Jules.

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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.

15

An adult Laricobius nigrinus beetle feeding on hemlock woolly adelgid. Photo by Bryan Mudder, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.

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BIRDwatch 22 White-breasted Nuthatches BOOKreviews 19-20 Garden to Table Cookbook, Growing an Edible Landscape, Galanthophiles DAYtrip 21 “Human/Nature” Smithsonian Gardens Exhibit GARDENtrends 16-17 PHS 2024 Garden Trends INDOORgarden 18 African Violets INSECTindex 15 Laricobius nigrinus Beetle to Control Hemlock Woolly Adelgid NEWPLANTspotlight 11 ×Chitalpa ‘Strawberry Moon’ PHOTOcontest 2024 8 PLANTprofile 14 Loofah SEEDexchanges 2024 6-7 TIPStricks 10 No-till Gardening

DEPARTMENTS

o 22 White-breasted Nuthatch looking for a place to stash the seed he’s carrying. He’ll be back for it at a future snack-time.

ADVERTISINGindex BLOGlinks EDITORletter GARDENDCpodcasts LOCALevents MONTHLYtasklist NEXTissue READERcontest READERreactions RESOURCESsources

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ON THE COVER

Ornamental grasses in winter at the rooftop garden of the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library in Washington, DC .

In our February issue: 2024 Garden Photo Contest Winners Garden Design Tips and much more . . .

Be sure you are subscribed!

Click on the “subscribe” link at washingtongardener.com

JANUARY 2024 WASHINGTON GARDENER 3

EDITORletter

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 Christine Folivi Intern Subscription: $20.00

Carrie Engel, your editor, Louisa Zimmermann-Roberts, and Katie Elzer-Peters at the 2024 Mid-Atlantic Nursery Trade Show (MANTS).

A New Growing Year Begins

Another turn of the calendar and the gardening year kicks off in Baltimore, MD, with the Mid-Atlantic Nursery Trade Show (MANTS). I spent two days there this year gathering story ideas, networking with horticultural industry professionals, checking out new plants and products, and catching up with old friends.

Speaking of friends, I ran into the women in the image above as I took a break from the noisy hall and stepped out to the entrance lobby to take a call. We took the opportunity to get a photo together—something I usually forget to do in the moment.

Here is a little about each amazing woman in the photo with me (left to right).

Carrie Engel is the Greenhouse Manager at Valley View Farms in Hunt Valley, MD. Carrie began working there in 1972 and is well-known in our area. Carrie appears with meteorologists Tony Pann and Ava Marie weekly on the WBAL TV’s Sunday Gardener. Louisa Zimmermann-Roberts is the Greenhouse Grower (and so much more!) at Thanksgiving Farms in Adamstown, MD, and Katie Elzer-Peters is the Chief Executive Officer of The Garden of Words, a one-stop-shop for digital marketing for the green industry.

Note that we are all wearing shoes we can actually walk in! MANTS is not the event for looking cute. You are covering acres of booths and are on your feet for hours. We get our “steps in” for sure!

Sincerely,

Kathy Jentz, Editor/Publisher, Washington Gardener, KathyJentz@gmail.com 4 WASHINGTON GARDENER JANUARY 2024

• 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 11 ISSN 1555-8959 © 2023 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

Reader Contest

For our January 2024 Washington Gardener Reader Contest, we are giving away passes to the GreenScapes Symposium (value $55).

The GreenScapes Symposium is an annual program, sponsored by Brookside Gardens since 2004. This year’s theme is “Innovative Designs from the Field.” It is being held via Zoom on Friday, February 16, 2024, 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. EST. This symposium will offer new and innovative sustainable design and maintenance strategies to take your home garden or professional work to the next level. Join industry experts as they share practical and scalable lessons from the field, representing a diverse range of natural landscapes and human environments. Explore the latest research from the University of Delaware, including case studies from award-winning public gardens and museums. Designers will share the challenges faced and solutions discovered in working on projects with leaders like Roy Diblik, Piet Oudolf, and Cassian Schmidt. Learn how to create masterpieces by leveraging block and matrix plantings that maximize the characteristics of native species.

For more go to https://montgomeryparks.org/parks-and-trails/brookside-gardens/ greenscapes/.

To enter to win passes to the GreenScapes Symposium, send an email to WashingtonGardenerMagazine@gmail.com by 5:00pm on January 31 with “GreenScapes” 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 February 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.

READERcontt

Reader Comments In 2024, I will attempt to utilize succession planting of the lettuces in my garden. I also can’t wait to grow romanesco cauliflower from seeds.

Thank you for organizing the Seed Exchange events. I really enjoyed attending last year and looking forward to coming this year in Green Spring gardens. ~ Ljudmila Mladenovic, Arlington, VA This year, I’m trying again for a bumper crop of Sweet Peas. The mice ate every single plant last year!

Of course, I’ll also be planting purple pod peas and several varieties of bush beans.

I’m looking forward to this year’s Seed Exchange! ~ Mary-Denise Smith, Greenbelt, MD I’m interested in the Seed Exchange because I am starting a new raised bed vegetable garden for 2024. It’s about 3-1/2' x 8' and I’m excited to fill it with delicious food and flower plants for a salad garden.

Thanks for your sage advice and interesting info. ~ Sarah Jackson, Westminster, MD o

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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.

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JANUARY 2024 WASHINGTON GARDENER 5

Join us for: Seed Swapping Planting Tips Expert Speakers Goody Bags Door Prizes Washington Gardener Magazine presents the

19th Annual Washington Gardener

Seed Exchanges

on Saturday, January 27, 2024, 12:30–4:00PM

National Seed Swap Day! at Brookside Gardens in Wheaton, MD Registration is now open at

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/seed-exchange-brookside-gardenswheaton-md-tickets-780501058677?aff=oddtdtcreator

and on Saturday, February 3, 2024, 12:30–4:00PM at Green Spring Gardens in Alexandria, VA Registration is now open at

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/seed-exchange-green-spring-gardens-alexandria-va-tickets-780506585207?aff=oddtdtcreator

COVID POLICY We request attendees to wear masks.

Space is limited, so act today!

Washington Gardener Magazine subscribers get $5 off the $20 attendee fee!

6 WASHINGTON GARDENER JANUARY 2024

Overview

Washington Gardener magazine, the publication for DC-area gardening enthusiasts, is hosting the 19th annual Washington Gardener Seed Exchange at Brookside Gardens and Green Spring Gardens. These seed swaps are in person and face to face. You bring your extra seeds and swap them with other gardeners. Everyone will leave with a bag full of seeds, new garden friends, and expert planting advice.

When

Two Seed Exchanges will be held: Saturday, January 27, 2024, in MD and Saturday, February 3, 2024, in VA from 12:30–4:00PM

(Foul weather that day? Call 240-603-1461, for updates about possible snow/ice delay.)

Where

We are holding a duo of Seed Exchanges one week apart on opposite sides of the Washington Beltway. We urge you to attend the one closest to you.

One exchange will be held at Brookside Gardens, 1800 Glenallan Ave., Wheaton, MD. The other will be at Green Spring Gardens, 4603 Green Spring Road, Alexandria, VA.

How to Register

You can easily register online at Eventbrite.com. Be sure to select the correct date and location for the Seed Exchange you are going to be attending.

You can also fill out the form on the opposite page. Send the form, along with payment, to Washington Gardener, 826 Philadelphia Ave., Silver Spring, MD 20910, Attn: SE Registration. Please make checks out to “Washington Gardener.”

Registration fee is $20 per person.

Friends of Brookside members, Friends of Green Spring members, and current Washington Gardener subscribers receive a discount rate of $15 per person.

We strongly urge you to register in advance. There is a limit of 100 participants at each location!

We are GREEN!!!

Garden Book and Seed Catalog Exchange

Seed Exchange attendees are encouraged to bring their used or new garden books and seed catalogs to swap and share at this year’s event. We also ask you to bring your own water bottle or reusable mug and a home-made nametag. We will have a “best nametag” contest, so get crafty!

Hashtags #GardenDC and #SeedSwapDay

Washington Gardener Magazine’s 19th Annual

Seed Exchange Details

If You Have Seeds to Bring and Swap

Please package them in resealable plastic zipper or wax sandwich baggies. Put an average of 20 seeds per baggy—more for small seeds like lettuce, fewer for large seeds like acorns. Label each baggy with a white sticker (such as Avery standard 5160 address label sheets) giving all the information you have about the seeds. If known, include the plant’s common and scientific names; its soil, sun, and watering needs; and its origins—where and when you collected the seeds. If you don't know all the information, that is okay; just provide as much as you can.

Yes, you can bring unused or opened commercial seed packs.

If You Don’t Have Any Seeds to Swap

Come anyway! Even if you don’t have any seeds to trade, you are welcome to attend.

We’ll have plenty of extra seed contributions on hand and many attendees will be there just to learn, network, and prepare for next year’s seed collecting.

Education Program

Expert speakers from the local gardening community will give short talks about seed collection and propagation tips. There will be ample time for individual Q&A throughout the program with the featured speakers and invited experts as well.

Schedule

(Note: This schedule is subject to change.)

12:00-12:30 Registration check-in 12:30-12:40 Introductions 12:40-1:20 Gardening talk 1:20-1:55 Gardening talk 2:00-2:15 Snack break and room reset 2:15-2:30 Seed Swap preview time 2:30-3:00 Seed Swap 3:00-3:30 Photo Contest winners* 3:30-4:00 Door prizes and closing talk

How Do We Swap?

As you check in, staff will collect your seeds and place them at the appropriate seed category tables.

You will be assigned a random seed swap number. There will be a short period for attendees to preview all the seeds brought in and available for swapping. You will be called in by your number to pick a seed pack from each of the category tables (if desired).

After the initial seed swap is complete, attendees are free to take any of the leftover seeds and to trade seeds with each other.

Dividing of packets is encouraged and extra baggies with labels will be on hand for that purpose.

What Types of Seeds?

Seed swap categories will include natives, edibles, herbs, exotics, annuals, perennials, and woodies (trees/shrubs). If you can pre-sort your seeds in advance into the seven major categories that fit the best, that would help us speed up the process on the swap day.

Door Prizes! Goody Bags!

Each attendee will receive a goody bag at the seed swap. The bags include seeds, publications, and garden items donated by our sponsors. In addition, we have some incredible door prizes to give away especially for area gardeners.

If your organization would like to contribute seeds or garden-related products for the goody bags and door prizes, contact KathyJentz@gmail.com by January 25. *See photo contest details on page 8.

19th Annual Washington Gardener Seed Exchange Advance Registration Form

Please fill out this form and mail with your check/money order to: Washington Gardener Magazine, 826 Philadelphia Ave., Silver Spring, MD 20910

Name:____________________________________________________________________________________ Street Address:____________________________________________________________________________ Email:____________________________________________________________________________________ Seed Exchange Date and Location:  January 27 at Brookside Gardens  February 3 at Green Spring Gardens (We will only use your email address for Seed Exchange notices and will never share them with anyone else.)

Seed Exchange Attendee Fee: $20.00 __________ Discount (if eligible*): -$5.00 __________ Optional: Washington Gardener Magazine Annual Subscription: $20.00 __________ TOTAL_____________ *The following groups are eligible to pay the discount attendee rate of $15.00; please CIRCLE if one applies to you: • Washington Gardener Magazine subscribers • Friends of Brookside Gardens members • Friends of Green Spring Gardens members A portion of the event proceeds will go to benefit Native Seeds/SEARCH for conserving crop genetic resources.

continued on page 16

JANUARY 2024 WASHINGTON GARDENER 7

You’ve seen those gorgeous garden photos published in magazines and newspapers. Enter this year’s competition and have a chance of getting your images published, too. Whether you take the photos in your own backyard, a nearby public garden, or while visiting friends and family in their local gardens, there are so many photographic opportunities to be found. Let’s show off the best in DC-area gardening!

This contest offers an opportunity for all photographers to present their best shots of gardens in the greater Washington, DC, area. Contest entries will be judged on technical quality, composition, originality, and artistic merit.

More than $500 in prizes will be awarded. Winning images will be published in Washington Gardener Magazine, displayed during the Washington Gardener Seed Exchange, and appear in a local photo exhibit.

SUBMISSION GUIDELINES

Each entrant is limited to a total of 10 images. Each electronic file must be identified with your last name and the entry category. For example, BeeJonesGC1.jpg or JoeSmith-SW2.jpg.

All photographs should accurately reflect the subject matter and the scene as it appeared in the viewfinder.

Nothing should be added to an image and, aside from dust spots, nothing should be removed. Cropping and minor adjustments to electronic images to convert RAW files are acceptable.

If an image is selected as a finalist, a high-resolution digital file might be required before finalizing our results.

Digitally captured images should be taken at the camera’s highest resolution (3 megapixels or larger). For preliminary judging, digital files must be submitted in JPEG format sized to 1,000 pixels on the longest side at 300 dpi.

If photos are taken with a film camera, they must be scanned and submitted in JPEG format sized to 1,000 pixels on the longest side at 300 dpi.

Contest entries can be submitted via email to DCGardenPhotos@aol. com. Use the subject line “WG Photo Contest” and include an entry form for each image in your email’s text field.

8 WASHINGTON GARDENER JANUARY 2024

18TH ANNUAL PHOTO CONTEST Entries can also be sent in on a CDROMs. Please verify their integrity by making sure they are readable and not damaged. We reserve the right to disqualify any disk that is unreadable or defective. Please check your CDs with the latest virus-detection software. We will disqualify any disk that appears to contain a virus or a suspicious file.

Label each CD and case with your full name. We strongly suggest mailing CDs in protective cases. We are not responsible for disks damaged during shipping. No CDs will be returned, but they can be picked up after judging.

Send your entries and entry fee to: Washington Gardener Photo Contest, 826 Philadelphia Ave., Silver Spring, MD 20910. Mailed entries must be received by January 21, 2024.

You can print out blank entry forms from the Washington Gardener blog (WashingtonGardener.blogspot.com) or from our Facebook page.

We will verify all entries, so please ensure your email address is included on all items.

Entrants must not infringe on the rights of any other photographer, landowner, or other person. Photos involving willful harassment of wildlife or destruction of any property are unacceptable.

The entrant must have personally taken the photo. By entering, you state this is your work and it is free of copyright elsewhere.

Failure to comply with any contest guidelines will lead to disqualification.

category or submit all 10 in one category.

Photos must have been taken during the 2023 calendar year in a garden within a 150-mile radius of the Capitol Building in Washington, DC. • Garden Views (GV): Beautiful, dramatic, or unusual perspectives of a garden landscape, including wide shots showing the setting. Subject can be a private or public garden.

• Garden Vignettes (Vig): Groupings of plants in beds or containers, unusual color or texture combinations, garden focal points, and still scenes. Subject can be photographed in a private or public garden.

• Small Wonders (SW): Tight close-up images or macro shots of single flowers, plant parts, fruits, vegetables, etc.

Subject can be photographed in a private or public garden.

• Garden Creatures (GC): Images of insects, birds, frogs, pets, etc., in a private or public garden setting.

COPYRIGHT NOTE

CONTEST ENTRY FEE

Your entry in this contest constitutes your agreement to allow your photographs and your name, city, state, and photo description texts to be published in upcoming issues of Washington Gardener and used for other related purposes including, but not limited to, Washington Gardener Photo Contest promotions and online, live presentations, and gallery exhibits. Entrants retain ownership and all other rights to future use of their photographs.

CATEGORIES

Each entrant is limited to a total of 10 images. You may submit a few in each

PRIZES

Prizes include gift certificates to area camera stores, gardening tools, new plant introductions, and much more.

If you would like to be a prize donor or sponsor, contact us today.

WINNERS’ OBLIGATION

Photo contest winners will need to provide high-resolution versions of their images for publication and an 11x14 print suitable for framing. Winners may be asked to provide additional information for press and media coverage.

The entry fee is $20.00 or $15.00 for current Washington Gardener Magazine subscribers. The fee includes up to 10 total image submissions per entrant.

Please send a check or money order made out to “Washington Gardener” or a payment via www.PayPal.com to DCGardenPhotos@aol.com.

DEADLINE

Entries are due by midnight on January 21, 2024.

QUESTIONS?

Call 301-588-6894 or email DCGardenPhotos@aol.com. o

Discover the Netherlands Garden Tour with Kathy Jentz Experience the beauty of Dutch gardens and horticulture on our Discover the Netherlands Tour from April 17–26, 2024!

Join Washington Gardener Magazine editor Kathy Jentz on this once-in-alifetime garden adventure. We will visit private and public gardens, nurseries, test gardens, flower shows, and more.

Highlights include the Keukenhof Gardens, Hortus Botanicus Leiden, and the FloraHolland Flower Auction.

Accommodations are in 4-star hotels, and most meals are included.

• Space is limited to the first 20 guests who sign up.

• Pricing starts at $4,985 per person.

• For full details and registration, go to: https://tinyurl.com/HollandTourwithKJ

JANUARY 2024 WASHINGTON GARDENER 9

TIPStricks

No-till gardening keeps soil–and plants–healthy

While the practice of no-till gardening is not new, information has traditionally centered on agricultural field crops.

Now, home gardeners are catching on.

“The concept of no-till has been around for a couple of decades, but research has been very focused on field crops like wheat and corn, things largely grown in the Midwest,” said Erica Chernoh, Oregon State University Extension Service horticulturist.

“There’s not much on vegetable production or fruit. There’s a lot to learn, and research is ongoing.”

No-till gardening minimizes soil disruption, which compacts the soil and destroys the pathways that channel air and water through the soil, Chernoh said. Every time a tiller cuts through soil, the structure is weakened, which can cause compaction and increase runoff. Erosion and surface crusting also results from over-tilling, Chernoh said.

In addition to disturbing soil structure, tilling disrupts the microorganisms and other soil dwellers that live in the top couple of inches and are essential for soil and plant health, Chernoh said.

Soil microbes, some of which have a symbiotic relationship with plants, cluster around roots and, as they feed on organic matter and each other, secrete nutrients that feed plants and substances that act as glue to bind soil particles into larger aggregates that keep soil pores open. Long strands of fungal hyphae can hold the aggregates together, and earthworms and other large organisms also work to create pore space.

Weed seeds, some of which can remain dormant in the soil for several years, come to the surface under the blades of a tiller, then germinate and become a problem. A big part of no-till gardening is keeping the soil protected with a mulch layer, leaving the seeds in place and suppressing any weeds that pop up.

No-till has its disadvantages, too, Chernoh said. Covering the soil makes it more difficult to direct seed into the bed, especially for home gardeners who don’t have large seed drills. Mulch also keeps the soil from warming up as 10 WASHINGTON GARDENER JANUARY 2024

quickly in spring as un-mulched beds.

However, the benefits far outweigh those drawbacks, she said.

“Mechanical tillage does have its place, especially in the formation of new garden beds with high compaction and low organic matter,” she said. “In most cases, however, non-mechanical approaches to working with soil can help you accomplish your goals without the negative effects of tilling on your soil.”

Soil coverage is also an important concept in a no-till system. For home gardeners, this can be achieved by using cover crops or mulch. Mulching materials may include straw, compost, aged livestock manure, dried leaves, or grass clippings. Mulch will protect the soil from rain and wind, which can cause erosion. In early spring, the mulch layer can be pulled back from the bed to allow sunlight to warm the soil.

One method of no-till gardening is often referred to as sheet mulching or lasagna gardening, because it features layers of organic materials to create a healthy growing medium. It’s a system in which organic materials, many of which would normally be sent to a landfill, are used to create a garden bed.

Cover crops are a big part of no-till farming but can be a challenge for home gardeners because many need to be tilled in or sprayed with an herbicide to terminate the crop, Chernoh said. If using a winter cover crop, gardeners should plant in early fall and mow in spring, after flowering but before the plants set seeds and become weeds.

You can transplant or direct seed into the fine cover crop mulch layer.

If using cover crops, be sure to select one that can be killed by cold temperatures or mowing rather than tilling or herbicides. Cover crops like Austrian winter peas, crimson clover, or fava beans are good options for home gardeners using no-till methods.

When cleaning up the garden at the end of summer, gardeners can cut off the tops of cover crops plants and leave the roots in the soil. There’s less disruption and the roots will decompose and provide food for the microorganisms.

The clippings can be used as a mulch “A lot of people create beds with the lasagna style,” Chernoh said. “You can

A garden fork can be used to loosen a thin layer of soil in no-till gardening. Photo by Tom Gentle.

even build one on top of the lawn. It’s a no-till way of making a nice garden bed rather than turning the soil to make a new seed bed every year.”

Here’s how to create a lasagna bed or sheet mulching: • Start in fall so the bed has all winter to start decomposing.

• Cut grass as low as possible, or start a lasagna garden on top of an old planting bed.

• Loosen soil with a digging fork to increase aeration. Even punching holes in the ground will work.

• Remove weeds.

• Build a raised bed frame or just mound up the layers of organic material into an unframed bed.

• Put a layer of cardboard overlapping an inch or two and water it.

• Cover with 2-inch layers of green organic material like grass clippings, fresh plant debris, fresh animal manure, and food scraps that provide nitrogen, along with brown materials like dry leaves, wood chips, straw, and shredded newspaper that are carbon sources. Repeat layers until the bed is about 18 inches.

• Top off with a 2- to 6-inch brown layer; thicker if you want to plant right away.

• Create beds only wide enough to reach into the middle and create paths lined with straw to walk on so soil doesn’t get compacted.

• Lasagna beds will shrink as materials decompose and may need refreshed layers each year.

• Using transplants is easier in no-till gardening systems; the mulch layer is easier to transplant directly into than direct seeding, especially for smallseeded crops like lettuce and broccoli.

To transplant, use a trowel or other tool to make holes large enough to plant into. If directly seeding into the bed, pull back the mulch layer and smooth over the surface layer with a rake before seeding.

For more information, see the article, “Three methods for no-turn cold composting,” posted at oregonstate.edu. o

GARDENnews

Quick Links to Recent Washington Gardener Blog Posts • New Plants and Products for 2024 • Top Garden Books of 2023 • Top 2023 GardenDC Podcast Episodes • Sweetgum Plant Profile

Photo courtesy of the U.S. National Arboretum.

New Plant Spotlight ‘Strawberry Moon’ Chitalpa (Chitalpa tashkentensis) ×Chitalpa ‘Strawberry Moon’ originated from a controlled cross made at the U.S. National Arboretum in 2008 between tetraploid ×Chitalpa tashkentensis ‘Pink Dawn’ and a diploid, powdery mildew-tolerant Catalpa ovata. The objective was to produce an improved pink-flowered, tree-form chitalpa. Forty-two seedlings from this cross were planted in a field trial for evaluation in July 2010. ‘Strawberry Moon’ was selected in 2014 and distributed for evaluation in 2015. ‘Strawberry Moon’ is a triploid chitalpa combining reduced fruit set and smaller foliage size, resulting in less litter compared to commonly planted catalpa. With darker-pink flowers and improved habit, ‘Strawberry Moon’ is suitable for urban and suburban landscapes.

The original plant was 38.5 feet tall in March 2022, 12 years after field planting in Beltsville, MD. It is a medium-sized tree with open branching and attractive winter silhouette.

‘Strawberry Moon’ is hardy to USDA Zones 6b/a–7b/8.

This is a flowering tree with a tropical feel, suitable for specimen planting or groves in urban and suburban landscapes, including public parks, commercial spaces, medians, and residential properties.

There is limited availability for wholesale growers and propagators.

It should be available in local tree nurseries from 2025 onward. o

See more Washington Gardener blog posts

at WashingtonGardener.blogspot.com o

January–February Garden To-Do List

• Prune any dead or diseased wood from your small trees and shrubs.

• If you purchased a live Christmas tree, plant it now.

• Cut off the flower stalk on your amaryllis once flowers fade. Leave foliage to grow.

• Keep poinsettias in a well-lit area, but out of direct sun and away from drafts.

• Buy a few new houseplants.

• Fertilize only your winter-blooming houseplants, such as violets.

• Give your houseplants a quarter turn every few weeks.

• Build a compost bin.

• Repair your shed and repair/paint your fences.

• Clean out your cold frame or build a new one.

• Collect large plastic soda bottles to use as cloches. (A cloche is a clear, bellshaped cover used to protect tender plants from frost.)

• Clean and refill bird feeders.

• Wash and refill the birdbath or set out a shallow bowl of water in icy weather.

• Check on stored summer bulbs and seeds. Discard any that have rotted.

• Buy seeds and order plants from the new garden catalogs.

• Prune summer bloomers such as Hydrangeas, Rose of Sharon, Crape Myrtles, and Butterfly Bushes.

• Till and add organic matter to annual/vegetable beds.

• Weed—especially check fast-growing vines such as honeysuckle, autumn clematis, bittersweet, wild grape, Virginia creeper, and poison ivy.

• Place a floating ball or small plastic soda bottle filled two-thirds with water and a tablespoon of salt in your pond to stop it from icing over entirely, especially if you have fish. If ice does form, remove the ball by pouring hot water on it.

• Insulate outdoor containers with bubble wrap or landscape fabric.

• Check that newly planted trees, shrubs, and perennials have not been heaved out of the ground due to freeze-and-thaw cycles.

• Take hardwood cuttings from willow and dogwood to propagate them.

• Look for evidence of pest or fungal damage throughout your garden.

• Clean out your greenhouse and wash those windows.

• Set out your live potted evergreens from holiday decorating in a protected outdoor space to harden them off before planting them.

• If we get more snow in the DC area, gently dislodge snow from trees and shrubs with a broom to prevent damage to branches.

• Start hardy herbs, onions, cabbage, pansies, and perennials.

• Clean and tidy up pots and seed trays to get a good start in February.

• Use leftover holiday greens and cut-up tree branches to mulch beds and create windbreaks.

• Do not step on frozen soil in flower beds or lawns.

• Keep all houseplants out of drafts and away from heat vents.

• Use de-icer sparingly or a nonchemical substitute such as sand, grit, fireplace ashes, or non-clumping kitty litter.

• Volunteer at a local public or historic garden.

• Paint a few terracotta pots in spring-like colors.

• Pot up any leftover bulbs that did not make it into the ground by now and force them for indoor blooms. o JANUARY 2024 WASHINGTON GARDENER 11

INNOVATIVE DESIGNS FROM THE FIELD FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 16 , 2024 | 9 AM–4 PM Join industry experts as they share scalable lessons from the field that fill in the gap between sustainable design theory and practice. We’ll explore the latest research from the University of Delaware, including case studies from award-winning public gardens and museums. Lectures will reimagine traditional landscapes with native plants and offer the latest in ecologically focused management strategies.

SEMINAR TOPICS � Lessons from Stoneleigh: Reimagining Traditional Landscapes with Native Plants

Ethan Kauffman, Director, Stoneleigh

� How Field Research Is Informing Sustainable Design and Maintenance Practices

Dr. Susan Barton, professor and extension specialist, Department of Plant and Soil Sciences, University of Delaware

� The Masterpiece of Glenstone: From Suburbia to Organic Oasis

Paul Tukey, Director of Environmental Stewardship, Glenstone Museum Jennifer Corlett, Senior Associate, PWP Landscape Architecture

� The Inside Scoop: Naturalistic Planting Design Lessons from Industry Innovators

Austin Eischeid, landscape designer and owner, Austin Eischeid Landscape Design GreenScapes will be offered as a series of live online lectures using Zoom with audience Q&A incorporated into the program.

Registration includes access to watch recordings of each session after the event.

BrooksideGreen.org 301-962-1451 12 WASHINGTON GARDENER JANUARY 2024

R E G I S T R AT I O N I N F O R M AT I O N E A R LY B IR D FE E: $50/person until Jan 12, 2024

S TA N DA R D FE E: $60/person starting Jan 13, 2024

Register using this link ActiveMontgomery.org (Course PBG0057) or call 301-962-1451.

TOP AREA GARDENING EVENTS Classes, Events, and Plant Shows/Sales • Monday, January 22, 7:30pm Indoor Plant Parenthood 101: Basics and Beyond Jeff Kushner of Plants Alive will cover proper watering techniques, light requirements, fertilizing (time release and water soluble), insect treatments (spray and systemics), pruning/trimming, and equipment needed. Hosted by the Silver Spring Garden Club at Brookside Gardens Visitors Center/Education Building, 1800 Glenallan Avenue, Wheaton, MD. This meeting is FREE and open to all.

• Tuesday, January 23, 1pm History of Natural Medicines Have you ever thought of using herbal medicines? Growing your own? Are you interested in the history of medicine? Come hear an expert in the fascinating field of herbal medicines and their history. Find out the best practices and cautions of using herbs for medical needs. Dr. Greg Susla presents the history of natural medicines; early medicinal gardens around the world; types of medicinal preparation; the history of Pry House near Frederick, MD; and his restoration of the Civil War Medicinal Garden there. He also discusses considerations needed when growing and making your own herbal medicinal preparations. Susla is a Doctor of Pharmacy, worked at the National Institutes of Health in the Intensive Care Unit, and is also certified as a Frederick County Master Gardener. The meeting will be held at the Holiday Park Senior Center, 3950 Ferrara Dr., Silver Spring, MD. Free and open to all.

• Saturday, January 27, and Saturday, February 3, 12:30–4pm Washington Gardener 19th Annual Seed Exchanges Washington Gardener Magazine is cohosting two annual seed exchanges, one at Brookside Gardens and the other at Green Spring Gardens, with lectures and a face-to-face seed swap. Bring your extra seeds to swap and leave with a bag full of seeds, make new garden friends, and get expert planting advice.

Fee: $20 ($15 for verified Friends group members and Washington Gardener subscribers). See details on pages 6–7.

• January 27 through April 28 The Future of Orchids: Conservation and Collaboration This orchid exhibit in the Kogod Courtyard of the Smithsonian American Art Museum and National Portrait Gallery features the Smithsonian Gardens Orchid Collection and U.S. Botanic Garden collection. Free. Details at https:// gardens.si.edu/exhibitions/future-oforchids/.

• Tuesday, January 30, 7pm Are Native Plants Warming to a Changing Climate?

Speaker Dr. Sara Tangren will discuss the potential effects of climate change on Maryland’s native plants. In response to a warming climate, Maryland’s native plant species will either adapt, migrate, or go extinct. Fortunately, we can help make native plants more resilient to climate change. Join this discussion of the relationship between native plants and a changing climate, past, present, and future. Hosted by the Maryland Native Plant Society via Zoom. Free. Register to receive the link at https://www.mdflora.org/events.

• Saturday, February 10, 10–3pm 2024 Seed Sale Hosted by the Hyattsville Horticultural Society and held in person at the Hyattsville Municipal Building. In addition to the seed sale, there will be homemade food and beverages, a chance to ask/discuss all of your gardening questions, used gardening books and supplies at bargain prices, and a valentine-making craft corner for kids of all ages. Details at https://www. hyattsvillehorticulture.org/seeds.

• Friday, February 16, 9am–4pm GreenScapes Symposium Join Brookside Gardens for a day of virtual lectures as industry experts share valuable lessons from the field of creating sustainable landscapes. Lectures will reimagine traditional gardens with native plants and offer the latest in ecologically focused management strategies. Fee: $60. All sessions will be

recorded and made available online to registrants. For more information and to register online, visit https://mocoparks. org/3lWVVus.

Looking Ahead • Saturday, March 9 Rooting DC 2024 Held at Anacostia High School.

More details and link to registration soon. Free and open to all.

• 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.

• April 16–25 Discover the Netherlands Tour See details on page 9.

• 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 February 5 for the January 2024 issue, for events taking place after February 15, 2024. o

JANUARY 2024 WASHINGTON GARDENER 13

PLANTprofile

Loofah

By Kathy Jentz

Loofah (Luffa sp.) is a gourd that is dried and used to make a sponge. It is an annual vine that is part of the cucumber and squash family. It is hardy from USDA Zones 7 to 13.

There are two main kinds of Loofah: the Luffa aegyptiaca, also known as the angled luffa, ridged luffa, Chinese okra, or vegetable gourd, and the Luffa acutangular or L. cyclindrica, also known as the smooth luffa, Egyptian luffa, dishrag gourd, or gourd loofa.

Plant them from seed in late spring in a full sun location with good draining soil that is amended with compost or aged manure. The vines can grow up to 30 feet, so a large trellis or fence is required to support them.

The bright-yellow flowers of the Loofah vine are quite attractive. When pollinated, they grow into long, green gourds. Leave them on the vine until they start to turn yellow or brown, then peel them to reveal the fibrous sponge inside. Shake out the seeds and save a few to plant next year, then wash off any sticky sap in a bucket of soapy water. Dry them in the sun.

The young fruits and flowers of the Loofah vine are all edible as well.

The Loofah vine can be attacked by the cucumber beetle and get touched by powdery mildew during hot, humid weather. Otherwise, it is relatively disease- and pest-free.

The vines will die after they are hit with a frost and can then be composted. o Kathy Jentz is the editor of Washington Gardener.

14 WASHINGTON GARDENER JANUARY 2024

INSECTindex

Maryland Beetles Used in Fight to Protect Hemlock Trees

By Carol Allen

The Maryland Department of Agriculture (MDA)’s Forest Pest Management program released a statement to the press on December 7, 2023. It seems that 2023 saw the most successful collection and redistribution event to date of a little—the size of a grain of rice—predatory beetle: Laricobius nigrinus.

L. nigrinus is a beetle native to western North America that feeds only on adelgids. The aim is to control the spread of the hemlock woolly adelgid (Adelges tsugae) in the native range of hemlock (Tsuga canadensis). In Maryland, the hemlock’s native range is concentrated in the western counties with a second population north of Baltimore. Their range continues northward through Pennsylvania and New York, into New England, and on into Canada. The range also extends southward down the Appalachian Mountains and into Georgia.

Isolated and rare pockets of hemlocks have been treated with applications of the chemical Imidacloprid, but without treatment, these choice trees can be killed in four to 10 years by the adelgids.

Chemical applications are impractical in large native stands. The release of predatory insects was initiated in New Jersey in 1998. L. nigrinus has been

Dorsal view of an adult Laricobius nigrinus beetle. Photo by Gina Davis, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.

the most successful of all the predators trialed.

Fast-forward to 2004, when 1,200 lab-reared L. nigrinus were released at Rocky Gap State Park, seven miles east of Cumberland in Allegany County, Maryland. This release area has been one of the most successful—so successful that since the fall of 2012, a team of foresters gathers yearly to collect beetles and redistribute them to the Flight 93 National Memorial located in Pennsylvania. This past fall saw 772 beetles collected and relocated.

The National Park Service created a video of the capture and release of the beetles, which you can find at www. nps.gov.

According to a press release, 2023 marked the most successful collection and redistribution event to date.

Over the three-week collection period in late October and early November, MDA staff, state, and Federal cooperators from seven organizations collected more than 8,000 beetles for distribution throughout six states. The Maryland beetles were released across the East Coast, assisting in the protection of Eastern Hemlock trees as far north as Maine and as far south as West Virginia. In the last three years, this multi-state cooperative project has

moved more than 19,000 beetles to imperiled Eastern Hemlock forests in Maine, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Maryland, and West Virginia, including sites in national parks.

For the homeowner who wishes to have their own hemlock grove, start by siting the trees in a shade to partshade area with preferably cool, moist soils with a generous organic content.

The north side of a building or other shade trees would be a good spot for hemlocks. They may need irrigation during times of drought. Avoid planting in full sun or a spot that gets a lot of reflected heat from driveways, sidewalks, or patios.

The University of Maryland has information about cultural and chemical controls for the hemlock woolly adelgid at https://extension.umd. edu/resource/hemlock-woolly-adelgidtrees/. o Carol Allen describes herself as a committable plant-a-holic. She has more than 25 years’ experience in the horticulture industry, with a special interest in plant pests and diseases; is a Licensed Pesticide Applicator in the state of Maryland; and is an ISACertified Arborist. She can be contacted at carolallen@erols.com.

JANUARY 2024 WASHINGTON GARDENER 15

Top Gardening Trends of 2024 The Pennsylvania Horticultural Society (PHS) have released their top trends gardeners can expect to see in 2024.

PHS, known as a national leader for gardening and producer of the PHS Philadelphia Flower Show, is routinely tapped as a source for inspiration and trendsetting in gardening and horticulture.

“These 2024 gardening trends are based on what we have seen by attending conferences, exhibitions, visiting countless personal and public gardens, and conversations with professionals.

They are a fantastic way for gardeners to get inspired and get a feel for what professionals at the forefront of this industry are doing in their own gardens.

Whether you are a beginner or a seasoned expert, these trends and plant selections can breathe new life into your space in an approachable way,” said PHS’s Vice President of Horticulture, Andrew Bunting.

Here is the full list of PHS’s gardening trends for 2024.

1) Consider the environment as you garden This trend includes gardening practices that put the environment first. As part of PHS’s ethos of “Gardening for the Greater Good,” ways that gardening can promote environmental stewardship include: · Movements such as “Leave the Leaves” in the fall help reduce landfill waste. · Converting two-cycle gas-powered engines (blowers, lawn mowers, etc.) to battery-operated machinery reduces carbon emissions. · Creating habitats for overwintering insects by not cutting back perennials in the fall provides shelter and a source of 16 WASHINGTON GARDENER JANUARY 2024

food for insects and animals. · “Rewilding” or converting portions of a lawn into meadows using eco-friendly plantings. · Using peat-free potting soils to help lower demand for peat harvesting. Peat bogs are vital wetland habitats for many animals, insects, and plants, and harvesting them damages these important ecosystems. · Buying brands that focus on native plants, such as American Beauties® can add to backyard biodiversity and reduce the usage of resources such as water and fertilizers.

2) Grow fruit at home Growing fruit at home has gained popularity for those with both yard space and container space. As a fun and lowermaintenance alternative to growing vegetables, this trend drives gardeners to add some sweetness to their gardens.

Plant options: For those with yard space, Asian persimmons like Diospyros kaki ‘Saijo,’ ‘Fuyu,’ or the native persimmons (Diospyros virginiana) and the native pawpaw (Asimina triloba) have been gaining in popularity as alternatives to the more traditional pears, apples, and peaches. For gardeners who want to try container fruit gardening, new options include high-producing, compact, ornamental, and self-pollinating plants for the home garden such as Bushel and Berry® blueberries, the Fignomenal® dwarf figs, and Sweet Kiss™ strawberries.

3) Decorate with houseplants Houseplants continue to dominate as a source of décor while the term “plant parent” is now a common term. Companies and retailers are focusing on education so that all levels of “plant par-

Monarch on milkweed. Photo courtesy of Pennsylvania Horticultural Society.

GARDENtrends

enting” can be accommodated through easy instructions for success.

Plant options: Popular houseplants in 2024 include the easy-to-care-for mother-in-law’s-tongue, Sansevieria (syn. Dracaena), and the popular low-light-loving, unique foliage aroids (Monstera, pothos, Anthurium, Epipremnum, Alocasia, and Philodendron). The popular brand Proven Winners has introduced lifestyle house plant collections (Leaf Joy® Atrium™ Collection and Leaf Joy® Cocoon™ Collection) that take the guesswork out of figuring out ideal conditions for plants, offering easy-to-access information to ensure plants thrive.

4) Achieve ecological certifications Home gardens are becoming popular vehicles to draw attention to the overall nature-based movement. With gardeners working hard on curating their gardens, why not garner some public recognition for your efforts? Several organizations now recognize home gardens with ecological certifications.

Some of these programs include: • Home Grown National Park • Monarch Watch Waystations Habitat Registration • National Wildlife Federation Wildlife Habitat Certification • Penn State Extension Service Pollinator Friendly Garden 5) Plant pollinator-friendly gardens Pollinator gardens provide habitat and food for native pollinating bees, wasps, moths, and butterflies, including the iconic monarch butterfly. Usage of these plants in gardens is rising in tandem with greater awareness of the important ecological functions that pollinators provide. Creating bee habitats like “bee hotels” and leaving or stacking stems from perennials are also popular tactics gardeners are adopting to provide good overwintering habitat for pollinators.

Plant options: Adding pollinatorattracting plants such as mountain mint (Pycnanthemum sp.); Joe-pye weed (Eutrochium syn. Eupatorium); gayfeathers (Liatris sp.); coneflowers (Echinacea sp.), and milkweeds (Asclepias sp.) will increase the diversity of garden pollinators.

6) Mitigate global climate change By planting more heat- and droughttolerant southern native species, gar-

GARDENtrends deners can help counteract the impacts of changing weather patterns, including increases in periods of drought and much hotter summers. Strategically selecting species for drought tolerance, as well as adopting waterwise gardening practices, and using gravel gardens, rain gardens, or swale gardens are tools that can be used to mitigate the impacts of climate change.

Plant options: Mexican dogwood (Cornus florida subsp. urbiniana) is a good choice for likely heat- and droughttolerant genetics, along with southern magnolia (Magnolia grandiflora), willow oak (Quercus phellos), and Florida anise (Illicium floridanum).

7) Use substitutes for boxwoods Boxwood blight is an ongoing fungal issue for many gardeners who consider boxwoods an easy-to-care-for and durable evergreen. Boxwood blight is hard to control in the garden and since it spreads quickly, many plants are dying or being compromised. Because of this, gardeners are starting to think about alternative options to prevent potential boxwood blight.

Plant options: Some great substitutions include alternate evergreens such as inkberry holly (Ilex glabra) Strongbox®, Gem Box® and Proven Winners®, and Squeeze Box®. Additionally, boxwoods that are bred to be resistant to blight are being promoted

by Better Boxwood® such as Skylight™, Renaissance™, Heritage™, and Babylon Beauty™.

8) Plant more grasses and sedges Grasses and sedges continue to be popular garden plants, playing important ornamental and ecological roles in the garden. The use of these plants has been popularized by famed garden designers such as Piet Oudolf, Claudia West, Kelly Norris, Roy Diblick, Jeff Epping, and many others, pushing grasses and sedges to the forefront of design instead of being just filler. While ornamental grasses have been popular for nearly three decades, their prominent usage has grown as a critical component in native plant and pollinator gardens.

Plant options: Some top performing sedges include the Wood’s sedge (Carex woodii); Cherokee sedge (Carex cherokeenis); common brome sedge (Carex bromoides); white-tinge sedge (Carex

albicans), and the ever-popular Pennsylvania sedge (Carex pensylvanica). Some new grasses from famed grass hybridizer Brent Horvath at Intrinsic Perennials include two selections of the little bluestem (Schizachyrium scoparium), ‘Little Red’ and ‘Sandhill’, and the big bluestem (Andropogon gerardii) ‘Blackhawks’ and ‘Holy Smoke.’

9) Grow Hydrangea Hydrangeas will continue their dominance in the home landscaping and floral industry. Beloved for their mops of colorful, long-blooming flowers in many unique shapes, hydrangeas will continue their reign in both the floral and landscaping arenas.

Plant options: Growers are responding by introducing several new varieties that emphasize stunning color variations and the ability to find a hydrangea for any garden space. Bailey Nursery’s First Editions® Hydrangea macrophylla Eclipse® features stunning purple-black foliage and contrasting pink flowers.

From Star® Roses and Plants, Hydrangea paniculata Sweet Starlight™ is a new compact selection that is perfect for the small garden or container.

10) Enjoy a taste of the tropics Tropical plants are popular in the garden for their seasonal large and luxuriant foliage. This impact in the temperate garden creates a tropical-like feeling throughout the summer and into the fall, and offers up vibrant splashes of color, bringing a taste of the tropics home.

Plant options: There continue to be many great tropical plants coming to garden centers, including two new elephant ears, Colocasia esculenta Redemption™ and Pharaoh’s Mask™ from Plants Nouveau®. There are a host of new bold-foliaged begonias with great leaf patterns are available, including Jurassic rex begonias, Begonia rex Curly™, and the Shadow King® series.

The Hollywood® Hibiscus, Sun Parasol® Mandevilla and Canna Cannova® Red Golden Flame, and Bronze Peach are great new tropical plant introductions.

For more ideas about and trends in gardening, visit PHSOnline.org. o The Pennsylvania Horticultural Society (PHS) is an internationally recognized nonprofit organization founded in 1827.

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

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 New Plants,Hollies, and Scent in the Garden.

You can listen online at https:// washingtongardener.blogspot.com/ or on Spotify, Apple, etc. o JANUARY 2024 WASHINGTON GARDENER 17

INDOORgarden LE Nastia photo by The Spotted Waffle.

African Violets: 16,000 Varieties!

By Savannah Scollar

Have you ever seen Rob’s Argyle Socks? Hunter’s Primal Scream? What about Boo Man—or my personal favorite, Rob’s Gundaroo? At this point, you’re probably wondering what on Earth I could possibly be referring to.

Well, I’m absolutely delighted to inform you that Boo Man is not a superhero, but in fact, a registered cultivar (cultivated variety) of African violet. That’s what really got me hooked on these plants. The names give them so much personality, and with more than 16,000 registered varieties to choose from, there’s always more to explore. Now’s the perfect time to get started, too.

African violets are the National Garden Bureau’s houseplant of the year!

A Rainbow of Flowers

You may be used to seeing the typical violets at the grocery store, but once you dig into the cultivars, you’ll be in for a real treat. Leaves can be found with hot-pink edges, red undersides, yellow stars, or variegated tie-dye patterns.

The leaves come in different shapes, too. Ruffled, quilted, scalloped, round, and heart-shaped are just a few of the options you’ll see online or at a show.

I haven’t even gotten into the flowers yet, have I? To answer the age-old debate: Yes, on rare occasions, violets are blue or maybe it’s more of a periwinkle or indigo? I mean, blue’s a very pretty color, but why stop there. African violets are also pink, red, purple, yellow, white, green, orange, striped, ruffled, layered, bell-shaped, and spotted.

A lot of cultivars are presented as a series with matching names. In particular, I’d like to shine a spotlight on the Buckeye and Jitterbug series. These amazing plants were developed by Pat Hancock, who spent more than 50 years creating some of the most beautiful hybrids you’ll ever see. She died recently at age 95. She’ll be dearly missed as her legacy blooms on.

To me, the community around these flowering houseplants, and the variety 18 WASHINGTON GARDENER JANUARY 2024

of colors, shapes, and sizes that have been developed as a result, is truly something spectacular. The African Violet Society of America (AVSA) has been growing strong since 1946, and I’ve made some great memories by attending some of their meetings and shows. One day, I hope to develop some hybrids of my own.

Potting and Growing Tips

To keep your violets happy and healthy, you’ll want a soil with good airflow.

These plants thrive in a mix based on coconut shell chunks (coir), perlite, pumice, or vermiculite. Their roots need to breathe.

The pot should be pretty small, too— only one-third the width of the plant itself. For younger plants, this probably won’t even be a pot—more of an empty single-serve creamer cup with a hole at the bottom. To label a plant that small, use a piece of tape that you’ve written on in permanent marker.

If you buy your plant from a specialist, you might notice a little piece of yarn running through a hole at the bottom of the pot. That’s for wick watering.

Wick watering is a technique where the pot is placed on top of a container of water, so it can drink continuously through a string. This is extra-beneficial for African violets, since they can get damaged when cold water droplets are left to sit on their fuzzy leaves.

Two things are really important for getting this technique right. First, you want your soil mix to be significantly more chunky than usual. This is generally accomplished by using a lot of perlite. If you look at the potting medium of a wick-watered violet, you’ll notice it doesn’t really look like soil. It looks more as if somebody accidentally stirred wet potting mix into their bag of perlite, tried to scoop the potting mix back out, but couldn’t quite remove it all. This is because soil holds a ton of water if you let it. If you wick-watered a plant in regular soil, the soil would

turn into mud and the plant would rot away from a lack of air pockets in the rootzone.

The second thing to get right for a wick setup is the water level. You’ll want to make sure the bottom of the pot isn’t touching the water. Some of the yarn should be in the water, but the pot should be lifted above the surface, suspended by the rim of the glass. To keep your violet blooming, make sure to add some flowering plant fertilizer to the water, following the directions on the bottle. Don’t overdo it!

When it comes to light, choose a spot that’s sunny, but not hot or cold.

A violet with too much sun will have its leaves start curling downward. A sunlight shortage, on the other hand, will cause your plant to start reaching up for more.

With such a long history and so many techniques to try, there’s no way I could cover it all here. This is just the tip of the iceberg. If these plants strike your fancy, I encourage you to look into the Mid-Atlantic African Violet Club. For research, the AVSA website (https:// africanvioletsocietyofamerica.org/) can be a huge help.

I also want to give a shout-out to r/africanviolets on Reddit. Thank you to everyone who submitted their photos for me to use in this article. By the way, if you’re looking to get a plant with a name, eBay is a surprisingly good source. You’ll find plenty of plant listings available for auction. Just remember to keep your plant labeled. It’s no use playing a game of “guess who” with a roster of 16,000. Now, get growing! o Savannah Scollar opened Easy Little Plants in July 2023 at age 21. It’s a houseplant shop in Olney, MD. Savannah loves doing research, teaching private workshops, decorating with houseplants, and arranging adorable terrariums. Contact her through her website: easylittleplants.com.

Optimara Romana

BOOKreviews Butts covers every season and offers different produce from the garden for each. The author shares her favorite seasonal recipes with clear instructions for success. The Balsamic Beet Salad with Feta and Pecans is perfect with mixed greens from the garden—especially spinach. Pesto Five Ways is a delicious and easy way to experiment with using green items in the garden other than the traditional basil.

If you are a health-conscious gardener who loves to cook, this is a great addition to your kitchen library. o

Garden to Table Cookbook: A Guide to Preserving and Cooking What You Grow Author: Kayla Butts Publisher: Fox Chapel Publishing List Price: $29.99 Order Links: https://amzn.to/3UbJS0W and https://bookshop.org/ a/79479/9781497102927 Reviewer: Teri Speight Healthy eating is more important now than ever before. Taking the time to grow healthy food is only the first step on the journey that includes healthier eating habits. Preserving and preparing the harvest are just as important.

The author, Kayla Butts, is a registered, licensed dietician with firsthand experience in how diet can affect our health. Her book helps the reader understand why we should consider the health benefits of growing at least some of what we put into our bodies.

Growing what we can also offsets the high cost of healthier food choices from grocery stores. Butts creatively offers delicious recipes that are not only taste good, but are good for you.

The author has included a few essential charts on preparation techniques, as well as storage. Outlining the methods for preserving specific vegetables by freezing, canning, or dehydrating is quite useful. I was impressed with her notes on the shelf life of the preserved items. The recipes included in this book are priceless and don’t involve over-processing—including “master recipes” is a great way to get the reader started on a lifetime of preserving food items from the garden.

Teri Speight is a proud native Washingtonian. She is the former head gardener for the City of Fredericksburg, Virginia, and currently an estate gardener, speaker, writer, and podcaster. Her website is https:// cottageinthecourt.com/.

Growing an Edible Landscape: How to Transform Your Outdoor Space into a Food Garden Authors: Gary Pilarchik and Chiara D’Amore Publisher: Cool Springs Press List Price: $27.99 Order Link: https://amzn.to/3tYNNUh and https://bookshop.org/ a/79479/9780760381489 Reviewer: Marsha Douma Growing an Edible Landscape is an eminently readable garden book, aimed at beginning gardeners, but also useful for more experienced gardeners who are interested in how to make space in their existing landscapes for more edible plants. The authors are enthusiastic ambassadors for expanding the amount of edible plants we all grow and hope the book encourages us to rethink how our gardens should look.

Out with the old, in with the new.

The book is filled with lovely pictures of edibles seamlessly and creatively planted among perennials, in annual flower beds, and rock gardens, around the foundation, in the middle of the lawn, almost everywhere. The authors write, “We believe everyone can be an artist who connects with the land outside their door to create beautiful, abundant edible landscapes.”

Growing an Edible Landscape is full of useful information, beautiful photographs, and clear explanations of how to build and care for all kinds of gar-

dens, including 20 separate charts full of the essential details needed to successfully grow a wide variety of edible fruits, berries, flowers, and vegetables.

While all the “how to” explanations and illustrations are clear, I thought the charts were particularly useful.

The charts solve the daunting problem of how to clearly present what might otherwise feel like, especially to a beginner gardener, an overwhelming amount of information. The charts organize and explain how to match planting dates with soil types, water needs, light requirements, air and soil temperature preferences, germination times, transplanting or direct seeding, etc., for the wide variety of plants the authors are so passionate about growing. A future edition of the book could consider duplicating the charts as a stand-alone supplement that could be readily removed from the book.

The book logically begins with where to put the garden. The authors are hoping to convince those with a lawn, to replace at least some of their turfgrass with plants that are beautiful to look at, while at the same time delicious and nutritious to eat. They seem to suggest having one’s outdoor land primarily planted in grass is somewhat analogous to designing a house with empty rooms. For those who have no outdoor planting space, the authors propose using a balcony, the front steps, a window box, a driveway, or wherever there is room to place above-ground containers to use as alternative growing spaces.

Book Reviews continue on page 20 JANUARY 2024 WASHINGTON GARDENER 19

BOOKreviews Book Reviews continued from page 19

“You don’t need a formal vegetable garden. You can tuck some of your favorite vegetables just about anywhere there is room to plant,” they write.

Throughout the book, the authors include effective low-cost and easier ways to create the various projects they describe. An example of their practical approach is in the chart “No-frills fixes for Five Soil types.” The authors list the various kinds of problem soils, and what to do about them, but then offer the category of “good enough,” suggesting it is more important to get started than to wait until everything is perfect.

While there are certainly universal gardening principles, in many ways, gardening is also very local. I found I paid a bit more attention to many of their ideas since the authors are from our area: Gary in Baltimore, MD, and Chiara in Columbia, MD. Wanting to stress the importance of using a calendar to create a planting schedule from the beginning, they logically used Baltimore. The chart helpfully includes, all in one place, the average day- and night-time temperature for each month, in which months the ground will probably be frozen, the most probable date range for the last and first frost, and which kind of crops seeds can be put in when the outside weather is cold, cool, warm, or hot.

Another chart I liked was of the 10 dependably edible plant families, listed together in groups, rather than individually. There is a helpful chart of all the “classic” garden vegetables, showing in one place whether they are warm or cool season; how much sun they need; their frost tolerance; temperature requirements for optimal growth, and preferred planting methods for the seeds. There is also a chart of the edible parts of plants not commonly eaten—the flowers of nasturtium, dandelion, violets; early shoots of hostas, and ostrich fern fiddleheads, to name only a few, plus all the plants that can be grown for use as herbs or teas. This is a very complete book.

In summary, Growing an Edible Landscape is a carefully written book providing easy access to information about how to either add to the edible 20 WASHINGTON GARDENER JANUARY 2024

plants you are already growing or how to get started if you are not. o Marsha Douma is a retired dentist and lifelong gardener who also enjoys swimming, tennis, and playing the piano. She lives in Rockville, MD.

The Galanthophiles: 160 Years of Snowdrop Devotees Authors: Jane Kilpatrick and Jennifer Harner Publisher: Orphans Publishing List Price: $62.10 Order Links: https://amzn.to/3O8zIKK Reviewer: Jim Dronenburg This book is an historian’s look at the cultivation of Galanthus (snowdrops), primarily in Britain. It starts with the species as they came into the country, and then the cultivars and hybrids— through the lens of the stories of the people who grew and promoted snowdrops.

You have probably seen pictures of snowdrops—very early, nodding, white and green flowers, but there are details that most people miss, because there are, in the DC region, basically only two kinds sold. The first is Galanthus elwesii, an earlier, larger species of snowdrop. Then there is Galanthus nivalis, smaller and later.

But there are more species, more hybrids. The most obvious difference is when they bloom, from Galanthus reginae-olgae, which blooms in October, to others that bloom through February and early March. Those people with an eye for detail, and the unusual, form a very special group. These are the galanthophiles—those who dote on bloom time; single vs. double; green vs. yellow markings and knob at the top of the flower; size; flower shape; kind of markings (one snowdrop is called ‘Grumpy’ because the marks on the inner petals resemble a frowning face); leaf variation (there are three divisions here). These people have, for 160 years, discovered, described, collected, grown, and passed around unusual snowdrops.

For years, the only way to get some of these unusual snowdrops was to know a person who had them. Then nurseries started propagating them. Even so, some of the bulbs can be more than $50 per bulb, as opposed to, say, plain

Galanthus elwesii, which one catalog this fall had for about $34 for 100 bulbs. The reason for most of this, of course, is that some things simply grow better/faster/more happily than others.

If a certain bulb had been as good a doer as the cheap bulbs, it would be a cheap bulb.

The people who loved and grew snowdrops? If you have gardened for any length of time, you have heard some of the names. James Allen. Henry Harpur Crewe. Samuel Arnott. E.A. Bowles. But there were many more.

These are the people responsible for the breadth of snowdrops available today. From a tight circle of connoisseurs that continued and grew with new members replacing the old, to the discovery of a faster means of propagation and snowdrop-selling companies so that almost anyone might obtain these plants, to both the mega-bulbcompanies that package dry bulbs and the tiny micronurseries that sell the snowdrops green and growing, this book is a collection of biographies that link to other biographies, and between them, tell the story of snowdrop cultivation.

Admittedly, if you want a hands-on, “do thus and so” snowdrop book, this isn’t for you, but if you want to know how you came to get the ones you have (or could get; snowdrops do well here), this is a book well worth the reading.

I found it best in small doses every couple of days. Seriously, march down to your library and ask that they get this book. o Jim Dronenburg is a retired accountant and now gardens full-time in Knoxville, MD.

DAYtrip

Human/Nature:

Why People Are Drawn to Living Things

By Kathy Jentz A cold winter’s day is the perfect time to go three stories underground to explore a new exhibit examining the impact of plants on people. “Human/Nature” is housed inside the S. Dillon Ripley Center and introduces visitors to the Smithsonian Gardens (SG) Archives of American Gardens.

The team designed and installed the displays. Alexandra M. Thompson, horticulturist, and Lauren Brandes, PLA, ASLA, landscape architect, provided the following information about the exhibit.

The exhibit explores the notion of biophilia—the innate need for humans to connect with living things, especially with plants. The exhibit presents these ideas.

• Spending time in spaces with leafy green plants improves mental and physical health.

• The Quad building was designed in a way to bring natural elements into the interior spaces to help visitors maintain their connection to the outside.

• Because of this innate desire to connect with living things, people have found ways to bring plants indoors.

• Plants suited for the indoors are often from tropical areas because the conditions in which they live can be replicated more easily indoors than plants from more temperate regions.

• Nature inspires creativity. Elements from nature can be seen in collection items in the adjacent National Museum of African Art and National Museum of Asian Art museums.

• Water is another natural element that people are drawn to. Water is often

used in designing spaces by people because of the psychological benefits of seeing and hearing water.

• The desire to be surrounded by plants when indoors is not a new phenomenon. The exhibit features SG Archive of American Gardens images of Victorian homes, as well as contemporary homes, decorated with houseplants.

The initial content of this exhibit came from a previous exhibit, “The Great Indoors,” in the Robert and Arlene Kogod Courtyard at the Donald W. Reynolds Center for American Art and Portraiture. The content was tailored to relate to the existing space in the Quad building and expanded to include content from the Archives of American Gardens. The team researched the history of the design of the S. Dillon Ripley Center as it relates to biophilia. The team also did research at the Archives of American Gardens to select archival images related to the exhibit messages.

GROUNDCOVER REVOLUTION IS OUT NOW!

By Kathy Jentz

Published by Cool Springs Press

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

“Groundcover Revolution is must-have book for anyone who is interested in having less lawn, fewer weeds, and reduced mulching. The properties charts will save the reader time and money, the pictures provide inspiration, while the detailed plant portraits give the focused information needed for creating beautiful, functional landscapes.” ―C.L. Fornari, GardenLady.com

How to Visit

“Human/Nature” is in the Smithsonian’s Quadrangle—a subterranean complex connecting the S. Dillon Ripley Center, National Museum of African Art, and National Museum of Asian Art. The space is directly below the Enid A. Haupt Garden.

This exhibit will be open until 2025.

At that time, it will be revised to become part of the next SG campus-wide exhibition (opening in fall 2025). o Kathy Jentz is the editor and founder of Washington Gardener.

“Inspire. Connect. Grow.”

The National Garden Bureau is a nonprofit organization that exists to educate, inspire, and motivate people to increase the use of garden seed, plants, and products in homes, gardens, and workplaces by being the marketing arm of the gardening industry. Our members are experts in the field of horticulture and our information comes directly from these sources. Find out more at https://ngb.org/ JANUARY 2024 WASHINGTON GARDENER 21

BIRDwatch

Whitebreasted Nuthatch

By Cecily Nabors Upside-down, right-side-up, or sideways, White-breasted Nuthatches (Sitta carolinensis) patrol the trees. In non-breeding season, they’re seldom found alone.

A walk in winter woods or a survey of backyard birdfeeders often reveals chickadees, titmice, and nuthatches hanging out together. They all have dark backs and white chests, but the ones that are usually upside-down are Whitebreasted Nuthatches. Males have white faces, black caps, and dark-gray backs; females are slightly paler. Agile and athletic, these small birds are in our area all year.

A common nuthatch hunting strategy is to fly to the top of a tree and examine it from the top down. These treegleaners skitter in angular paths around the trunks and along major branches, often lifting their dark-capped heads to look around before returning to poke into crevices and check out cavities for food items. Sometimes they can be seen banging away at a nut they’ve stashed in a crevice.

The word “nuthatch” comes from an old name, “nuthack,” which describes this behavior: The bird jams a large seed or an acorn into a furrow of the bark, and then hacks away at it.

Nuthatches tend to be both vocal and loud. They chatter in nasal conversation22 WASHINGTON GARDENER JANUARY 2024

al tones as they meander along a branch or spiral down a tree trunk. Perhaps they are commenting on the quality of the insects they are finding, seeking seeds they’ve cached in bark crevices, or just staying in touch. The common call is a low, nasal “Yank! Yank!”

Our winter visitors include little cousins of local nuthatches. These birds have red breasts, dark eyelines, and brightwhite eyebrows. Their song, similar but higherpitched, sounds like a kid blowing a toy trumpet.

If you’re lucky, you may spot a tiny Red-breasted Nuthatch (see photo inset, right) clinging to your peanut feeder or toot-tooting its way along the smaller branches of a conifer.

These closely related birds spend the winter with us but don’t breed here.

Male White-breasted Nuthatches start to sing in late winter. Their song is a series of six or eight notes on the same pitch. Although nuthatch pairs usually stay together in the same area all year, these courtship songs serve to delineate territory and reestablish pair bonds.

Nuthatches nest in natural tree cavities, old woodpecker holes, and occa-

sionally nest-boxes. The female builds a cup nest of bark fibers and grasses. The two then work together in an interesting behavior called “bill-sweeping.” Each bird takes something like a crushed beetle or a twig from an aromatic conifer in its beak and uses it to sweep the area around the cavity opening, the inside of the cavity, and even the nest. Scientists think the smelly, sticky substances from the improvised “brooms” may deter nest parasites and cavity predators such as snakes and squirrels. White-breasted Nuthatches are good housekeepers!

The pair raises one brood a year. The female incubates the eggs, and her attentive mate brings her food. One study of 20 nests found the average brood size to be six. Both parents bring insects and spiders to feed the nestlings.

After fledging, the youngsters stay with their parents for several weeks. Like their parents, they forage on tree bark to find tasty insects and larvae, and perhaps to stumble on a previous seed cache.

To encourage these energetic and talkative birds to visit your feeders, offer suet and big seeds like sunflower seeds and peanuts. You’ll often hear a nuthatch make a polite comment before flying away with its goodies.

According to data from the Breeding Bird Survey (BBS), the population numbers of this wideranging and adaptable species have increased since 1966, when the BBS began. We can help extend this admirable track record by providing nest boxes, but get them up in the very early spring.

It’s also good practice to allow non-dangerous dead trees to remain standing; woodpeckers will create cavities that allow other birds like Whitebreasted Nuthatches to move in.

We are lucky to see (and hear) these songbirds all year. Keep your eyes open this winter for foraging flocks of small birds and enjoy the head-down antics of the White-breasted Nuthatch. o Cecily Nabors is a retired software manager who has been watching birds for much of her life. She publishes the Good-Natured Observations blog at cecilynabors.com.

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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)

T!

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

Got a gardening question you need answered? Send your questions to KathyJentz@gmail. com and use the subject line “Q&A.” Please also include your first name, last initial, and what city and state you are writing from.

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

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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

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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JANUARY 2024 WASHINGTON GARDENER 23

Jentz Prints

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

Jentz Prints can be purchased at the Downtown Holiday Market through Saturday, December 23.

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

For more information or to get a detailed show schedule, please contact Jentz Prints by email at UllrichJ@aol.com.

24 WASHINGTON GARDENER JANUARY 2024