Washington Gardener Magazine March 2025

20thAnniversaryIssue

WASHINGTON g a rdener

the magazine for gardening enthusiasts in the Mid-Atlantic region

Catching Up with Past Profile

Subjects

Orc hids: Masters of Deception

Designing Resilient Landscapes

Celebrate Tulip Time

Better Ways of Removing Ubiquitous Honeysuckle How Gardening Changed My Life

New and Improved Fire Ants?!

Red-winged Blackbirds

Early-spring Native Plants

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

Barry Glick

Sunshine Farm and Gardens

696 Glicks Road

Renick, WV 24966, USA Email: barry@sunfarm.com www.sunfarm.com

www.greenspring.org

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.

Green Spring Gardens

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 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.

Trout lily (Erythronium americanum) is a spring ephemeral native. Photo by Barry Glick.

20 Years in Local Gardening

I’ve tried to gather a few numbers to share with you when looking back at launching this magazine 20 years ago.

March 2005 was the official first issue of Washington Gardener Magazine. I had quit my job on December 31, 2004, and basically jumped right in. First. I sent out an enewsletter and mailing to a local gardener address list. Then came that first issue.

Our first blog post was Monday, September 19, 2005. I remember thinking that I should have started the blog first and done that for a year before launching the magazine, but better late, than never. Since that date, we have posted more than 3,500 times.

The last print issue was mailed in Winter/Early Spring 2014. That next month, we went all-digital and increased the publication frequency to monthly.

In March 2020, we published our first GardenDC Podcast episode and have been going weekly ever since (with some holiday breaks). This week, we publish episode 233!

Our YouTube channel has 763 videos—many of them are our weekly Plant Profile series.

We’ve hosted our annual Seed Exchanges and Garden Photo Contests almost from the beginning, along with several years of trips to the Philadelphia Flower Show and other garden tours.

What will the next 5, 10, or 20 years bring? I’ve got ideas and I want to hear yours!

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

Skylar Drew Madison Korman Interns

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• Washington Gardener is a woman-owned business We are proud to be members of:

· GardenComm (formerly GWA: The Association for Garden Communicators)

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· Maryland Nursery, Landscape and Greenhouse Association

Volume 20, Number 1

ISSN 1555-8959

Sincerely, Kathy

Jentz,

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

© 2025 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.

Your editor hosting a live garden segment for MPT Direct Connection at Brookside Gardens, Wheaton, MD. Photo by Katherine Lambert.

Reader Contest

For our March 2025 Washington Gardener Magazine Reader Contest, we are giving away a signed copy of City of Trees by Melanie Choukas-Bradley. (Retail value: $28.)

Washington, DC, boasts more than 300 species of trees from America, Europe, Africa, and Asia, and City of Trees has been the authoritative guide for locating, identifying, and learning about them for more than 25 years. The third edition is fully revised, updated, and expanded and includes an eloquent new foreword by the Washington Post’s former garden editor, Adrian Higgins.

To enter to win the book, send an email by 5:00pm on March 31 to WashingtonGardener Magazine@gmail.com with “City of Trees” in the Subject line and in the body of the email. Tell us what your favorite article was in this issue and why. Please include your full name and mailing address. Winners will be announced and notified on/about April 1. Replies might be published. 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.

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.

GardenDC Podcast

Love the “Designing Your Natural Garden with Kelly Norris” Episode 226!

~ Rick L. Cidre, Manassas, VA

Seed Exchange 2025

Thank you again for hosting this wonderful annual event!

~ Joan C. Jansen, Washington, DC

I really enjoyed the seed-saving talk at the recent Seed Exchange. I learned a lot about both saving and storing seeds.

~ Marion Klepper, Gaithersburg, MD o

“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

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 14, 2025 9 AM–4 PM

PRACTICAL TOOLS FOR DESIGNING RESILIENT LANDSCAPES

By Skylar Drew and Madison Korman

On February 14, 2025, more than 1,300 participants met via Zoom to attend the 22nd annual GreenScapes Symposium. Ulrich Lorimer, Ann English, Kelly Norris, and Kim Shearer gave virtual presentations. Here is an overview with the themes that ran through their presentations, followed by a short summary of each speaker’s sessions.

ing weather patterns and increasing the intensity of storms, leaving many landscapes unprepared to handle the changes.

weaken wild populations. In urban and suburban areas, where yards are smaller, compact cultivars and selections can still provide food for insects and birds with less risk of harming natural habitats.

Join us for a fascinating day of presentations offering practical strategies to create sustainable and resilient landscapes. You’ll benefit from decision matrixes that help make informed plant selections and develop successful designs based on a range of environments, ecological benefits, and sustainability goals. Experts will help you create resilient landscapes by presenting a range of native plant combinations and design layouts that manage water runoff, survive droughts, and support pollinators and wildlife. You’ll be surprised how climate change is dictating conservation efforts, its impact on native plant ecoregions and even its implications for expanding our plant palette.

SEMINAR TOPICS

Several themes were discussed throughout the symposium. Resilience, in a time where climates are changing, was a topic discussed during multiple presentations. Another frequent theme was designing better landscapes in public or private places.

Ulrich Lorimer, Director of Horticulture, Native Plant Trust

� Resilient RainScapes: Designs That Thrive in Climate Extremes

The first speaker of the day was Lorimer, director of horticulture at the Native Plant Trust, discussing “Species, Cultivars, and Selections: Design Matrixes for Making Smarter Choices in Your Landscapes.” He focused on the impact of human activity on ecosystems, the importance of native plants, and how to make better planting decisions. He said no place on Earth has been left untouched by human influence, but native plants have survived despite the changes to forests, meadows, and other landscapes. However, massive amounts of native vegetation have been lost: an area equal to all national and state parks combined. This loss has contributed to the decline of insects, which has a direct effect on birds. Climate change is making things worse by shift-

� Species, Cultivars and Selections: Design Matrixes for Making Smarter Choices in Your Landscapes

Ann English, RainScapes Manager, Watershed Restoration Division, Montgomery County Department of Environmental Protection, Maryland

� Practicing New Naturalism: Site-Specific Plantings in Public and Private Places

Kelly Norris, award-winning landscape designer, horticulturist, author

� Responding To a Rapidly Changing Climate: The Case for Diversity & Plant Palette Expansion in Urban Landscapes

Lorimer emphasized that more people are starting to see gardening as more than just decoration. Instead, they are thinking about how their choices can support wildlife. He said a major challenge is the large number of non-native plants, especially in the Northeast, where many were introduced through ports of entry. The nursery industry also makes it difficult for people to find truly native plants. A survey of wholesale nurseries in the Mid-Atlantic found that only 25 percent of their stock was native, and of that, most were cultivars or hybrids rather than straight species. Studies show that while people are willing to pay more for native plants, they usually choose them for their appearance rather than their role in the environment. Popular traits include long flowering periods, compact growth, and disease resistance.

In conclusion, Lorimer said plants should support insects, which in turn support birds. He pointed to research showing that cultivars with altered foliage colors, such as red or purple, made it harder for insects to feed on them, probably due to chemical changes. Similarly, changes to a flower’s shape, color, or blooming period could reduce the amount or quality of pollen and nectar, which can be especially harmful to specialist pollinators. He also noted that soil conditions play a big role in plant growth. Lean soils keep plants more compact, while rich or fertilized soils encourage weeds and weak, floppy growth. He urged attendees to welcome native plants into their landscapes, whether using a species or a wellchosen cultivar.

Kim Shearer, Director of Collections & Curator, The Morton Arboretum, & Chair, USDA Woody Landscape Plant Crop Germplasm Committeecape

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

Lorimer encouraged gardeners to think about what matters most to them—ecology, appearance, or maintenance—while trying to balance plant diversity and abundance. He also stressed the importance of location when choosing plants. Gardens near natural areas should use locally sourced, seed-grown species to avoid introducing plants that could spread or

REGISTRATION INFORMATION

EARLY BIRD FEE: STANDARD FEE:

$50/person until Jan 10, 2025 $60/person starting Jan 11, 2025

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

The second speaker of the day was landscape architect and RainScapes manager English, who discussed the importance of implementing Resilient RainScapes in home gardens. She explained the significant role that water transport plays in climate change, emphasizing that carbon shouldn’t be the sole consideration when trying to fix the problem. Rain and stormwater runoff are having an increasingly impact on the environment and gardeners.

“If you don’t control that stormwater, it will control what happens,” English said. What if we don’t rethink gardening? English discussed the likelihood of plants being unable to establish themselves, plant death, and wildlife being harmed. To minimize these effects, she urged participants to create climateready gardens, with an emphasis on soil health, structure, planting strategies, and becoming familiar with plant behavior. Healthy soils are more likely to be more resistant to both drought and excess rainfall. To keep the soil healthy, English recommended not letting it dry out, keeping disturbances to a minimum, reinforcing natural flow paths of water, and planting densely.

She presented structural inventions to support these strategies, including check dams, micro berms, and reinforced bioswales. Synthetic fabrics aren’t recommended in rain gardens due to the high prevalence of plastics in them. Fallen lumber can be useful when laid horizontally on a slopeside where runoff is high. When choosing plants, it’s key to include a mix of competitors, stress tolerators, and ruderals to create a balance between plant communities. For those living in dryer climates, rain gardens can still benefit plants by intercepting runoff and detaining it. Even a simple rain garden, English explained, can catch a parking lot’s worth of runoff.

Norris discussed new naturalism, beginning with the importance of trace acts like landing, finding, grounding, and founding. Most other organisms that plant do so as a form of provisioning, Norris explained, but humans plant like no other organism on the planet. We plant with a psychological intention to engage with the world around us.

“That is a novel and unique feature of the human species,” Norris said. He explained how this relates to many gardeners’ idea of home and “place,” although the average gardener’s immediate identity with place is relatively shallow.

The development of an agrihood in Cumming, Iowa, in the 1930s set out to challenge this, but gardeners are still discovering their relationship to “place.” The best way to combat this: Know your land and interact with it. Human

disturbance in the environment around us now plays a crucial role within natural systems. Each species of plant and wildlife follows a spatial pattern to produce a naturally inspired result, Norris said. These spatial patterns can be set by natural gardens, which Norris said are ever-changing and meant to be experienced by both humans and other living organisms within it. When creating a natural garden, Norris said it’s important to prioritize the native plants of a gardener’s area. In the same way that these native plants grow, live, and die in the wild, natural gardens aren’t meant to stay the same forever.

Shearer, director of collections and curator at the Morton Arboretum and chair of the USDA Woody Landscape Plant Crop Germplasm Committee, spoke about “Responding to a Rapidly Changing Climate: The Case for Diversity & Plant Palette Expansion in Urban Landscapes.” She focused on the importance of increasing plant diversity to help landscapes adapt to climate change. She noted that as of 2018, 82 percent of the U.S. population lived in urban areas, making it essential to create environments that benefit both people and nature.

Trees play a major role in making cities livable by improving health, supporting cognitive development, boosting local economies, and providing habitat. However, climate change is making it harder for plants to thrive, leading to more frequent droughts, flooding, and competition from invasive species. “Since we are all experiencing drought conditions and higher temperatures than normal, one solution is to plant diversity,” she said.

Shearer explained that the built landscape presents unique challenges for trees. American elms, for example, have adapted to extreme temperatures, drought, and poor soils, but many other species struggle. “The combination of salt and high pH levels can be stressful for plants,” she said, emphasizing the need to choose species that can handle tough urban conditions. She also warned against monocultures, where a single type of tree is planted over a large area. This practice makes landscapes more vulnerable to pests and diseases, as seen with Dutch elm

disease wiping out vast numbers of American elms. To reduce this risk, researchers are working to develop disease-resistant trees and study how different species respond to pests. One example is the lingering ash, where scientists propagated surviving trees to test their resistance to disease. They found that trees with a quantitative resistance response, meaning a range of tolerance rather than a simple yes or no, were the most promising.

Shearer stressed that climate change is already affecting plants in multiple ways, including shifts in pollination timing, nutrient imbalances, and increased exposure to saltwater from rising sea levels. Because plants cannot move on their own, conservation efforts must focus on expanding genetic diversity and developing new strategies to protect vulnerable species. Researchers are working on breeding programs to create more adaptable native shrubs, such as buttonbush, which can be used in both natural and urban landscapes. “Trees take a really long time to breed,” she said, so efforts made today may not be fully realized for another 20 years. The goal is to produce plants that are more compact, drought-tolerant, and suitable for small spaces, making them ideal for cities.

At the end of her presentation, Shearer encouraged attendees to think critically about plant selection and longterm sustainability. Keeping detailed plant records, exploring new species, and expanding genetic diversity are all key to preparing for an uncertain climate future. She emphasized that increasing plant diversity is not just about aesthetics but about securing the future of urban landscapes. “You need smaller plants that can fit into smaller spaces,” she said, urging people to consider how their choices contribute to a more resilient environment. o

Skylar Drew is an intern with Washington Gardener this spring semester. She is a senior journalism major at the UMD College Park. She is from Bel Air, Maryland, where she watched her mom grow her garden.

Madison Korman is an intern this spring semester with Washington Gardener. She is a recent journalism graduate of UMD College Park. She has enjoyed gardening and cooking from a young age.

Red-winged Blackbird: Marshal of the Marshes

By Rick Borchelt

There’s a small pond along the Metro tracks at the eastern edge of our little neighborhood, a remnant of the floodplain on which College Park, Maryland, was built. The main feature of the pond is an old willow tree that leans over it from the far bank, much splintered, with many dead branches that attract a rotating cast of avian visitors through the seasons. In winter, a mockingbird holds forth there and keeps a close and ravenous watch on nearby berry bushes; in summer, there’s often a yellow warbler nest in one of the branches high in the tree, or even an orchard oriole with its pendulous nest overhanging the water.

But now, in the earliest days of spring, there’s a new sheriff in the willow branches, his presence announced by a ringing o-conquer-eeeee! from one of the topmost perches. This most reliable singing harbinger of spring is the red-winged blackbird (Agelaius phoeniceous). The male’s loud song is the soundtrack for spring in our marshes, swamps, roadside ditches, slow streams—practically anywhere there is standing water with cattails or shrubbery to nest in and a tree or telephone wires to sing from. Or our yards and gardens.

Red-wings are with us in the Washington area all year long; they spend the winter in huge roosts of thousands

of birds, often with other dark flocking birds like grackles, starlings, and cowbirds. These flocks sometimes number in the millions, especially in the extensive marshes along the coast. (The genus name Agelaius takes note of this fact, translating roughly as “of a flock.”) At sunrise, the flocks leave their packed roosts and may fly up to 50 miles away to feed lots, grain silos, and harvest gleanings. Or our backyard bird feeders.

Red-wings are named for the male’s scarlet shoulder patches bordered with a yellow stripe; this also distinguishes them from other blackbirds. On an otherwise somber black body, the shoulder patches give every impression of a military officer’s dress epaulettes. Even the Latin species name phoeniceous means deep-red, reflecting the red wing patch. The amount of red you see at any given time varies because the males can control how much of the red color shows by

rearranging the black feathers over the patches.

The bright colors are a signal of aggression to other males and of mating readiness to females; to keep peace in the winter flocks, they seldom display the full red patch.

Red-winged blackbirds are sexually dimorphic, meaning females look nothing like males. Throughout the winter, when these birds regularly visit backyard feeders or farm lots, bird identification websites are deluged with requests to help figure out what they are. Many observers are frankly astonished that such a brown, shy, streaky bird is related at all to the confident marshal of the summer marshes, let alone are its female counterpart. Both birds are roughly the size of robins; males average a little larger than females, The cohesiveness of the winter flocks breaks down as spring approaches, and males are the first to leave the teeming masses behind to start setting up individual territories and attract females. Their preferred nesting habitat is cattail marshes, and they may nest almost communally in this prime real estate, squabbling the entire time over the close confines. Red-wings will, however, make do with a retention pond, slow

Male blackbird in flight showing off its full epaulettes.

Photo credit: Jonathan Eckerson/Macaulay Library

The more cryptically colored female red-wing. Photo credit: Jake Peters.

stream, riverbank, a wet roadside—even a nearby garden—as long as there is low, shrubby vegetation in which to build their nests.

Red-winged blackbird nests are wellcrafted affairs woven of grass and reed, placed near the ground or the surface of the water; a cup of coarse reeds and stems on the outside attached to a couple of strong stems or branches, wet leaves and mud inside the cup; the interior finished with fine grasses or fibers pulled from larger leaves and stems. In this cup, the hen will lay two to four eggs, each pale greenish-blue with chocolate markings, especially around the wide end.

If he’s found a really good patch to defend that has space for a couple of nests, a single male can attract a harem of three to six females (a practice ornithologists call polygyny). On rare occasions, the number of hens in a harem may be even higher: a dozen or more to a single blackbird cock. Keeping track of all these blackbird hens is no mean feat, however. While males may claim multiple females in their harems, up to half of all the chicks can turn out to be fathered by a different male!

It’s no exaggeration that red-winged blackbirds are among the most numerous of America’s songbirds; a census in the 1970s logged nearly 200 million red-wings in the country. They have adapted so well to human-altered environments, especially our agricultural landscapes, that their numbers still seem to be growing.

In fact, it’s likely that the breedingage population outstrips quality nesting habitat every summer, pushing redwings far from preferred cattail haunts into areas like our suburban yards and fencerows, giving us another chance to spot them in our gardens throughout the summer.

Or in that old willow at the edge of a neighborhood pond. o

Rick Borchelt is a local naturalist and science writer, who writes and teaches about natural history, gardening, and the environment. Reach him with questions about this column at rborchelt@gmail.com.

Red-winged blackbirds lay two to four greenish-blue eggs with chocolate markings. Photo credit: USFWS.

Students Explore Better Ways of Removing Ubiquitous Honeysuckle

When Griffin Paul started working on his University of Cincinnati (UC) senior capstone project about Amur honeysuckle, he started noticing the invasive, nonnative shrub everywhere.

“Going up and down back roads, you see it lining the roads. It’s a very difficult task removing it, and it seems almost hopeless because there’s just so much of it,” he said.

Paul is a fourth-year biology student in UC’s College of Arts and Sciences. For his capstone project, he is working with Professor Denis Conover to study more effective ways to eliminate honeysuckle without using pesticides.

He and his classmates have been removing honeysuckle from a patch of woods at the Evergreen Holistic Learning Center near Winton Woods. Paul uses a chainsaw to cut honeysuckle bushes at their base. Then he covers their bare stumps with a black plastic bag held down by garden staples to rob the honeysuckle of life-giving sunlight that would help it regenerate new shoots.

Paul hopes to compare 100 covered stumps to 100 stumps that aren’t covered to demonstrate the efficacy of the plastic bags.

“Our hypothesis is that if it’s covered, it will not regrow, but if you leave it uncovered it will regrow,” he said.

First introduced to the United States from Asia in the 1890s, honeysuckle was imported by horticulturists as a popular ornamental bush. The plants produce copious red berries that birds eat, spreading seeds that help honey-

suckle escape cultivation. Today, it’s considered one of the most widespread invasive species in the United States.

Honeysuckle outcompetes many native plants because it leafs out earlier in the spring and stays green longer into the winter, shading out other plants, Conover said. Its allelopathic properties wage a sort of chemical warfare in the soil that discourages competitors from growing nearby, he said.

In place of the removed honeysuckle, Conover and his students are planting dozens of native plants, including redbud, oak, and chokecherry. Honeysuckle has been a scourge to Eastern forests, Conover said.

“If you lose your native plants, you lose the base of the food web. Then you lose all your native caterpillars feeding the birds. It’s really devastating,” he said.

UC environmental studies student Tierney Shafer said she took part in the project to learn more about ways to eliminate honeysuckle without using chemicals such as the common herbicide glyphosate.

“I was really interested in that because I have a lot of honeysuckle in my own yard that I’m trying to remove, and the idea of doing that without dumping a lot of chemicals on the soil was appealing to me.” she said.

Shafer said the project gave her a greater appreciation for the impact of nonnative honeysuckle.

“Seeing so much honeysuckle is really intimidating, but it’s also exciting to tackle it and see how much space you can take back,” she said. o

Celebrate Tulip Time

After a long, gray winter, we often start to crave color; lots of color. Tulips can bring a cheerful explosion of colors into a home with a bang.

The ultimate spring flower comes in many shapes and colors, each with its own appeal. Use them as part of a large bouquet or enjoy them as a gorgeous eye-catcher on their own.

If your tulips have gone limp when you get home, not to worry! Tightly wrap the flowers in a newspaper and leave them upright in water overnight.

Tulips combine beautifully and easily with all kinds of flowers. Daffodils are

the exception to the rule: This flower gives off a certain mucus that tulips cannot stand.

Tulips will continue to grow in the vase, because of cell elongation in the stems. This makes the growth and flowering of these harbingers of spring even more magical. If you don’t want your tulips to grow, you can stop the growing process by piercing them with a needle just below the bud.

If you want to enjoy your tulips for as long as possible, follow these tips to get the most out of your bouquet of spring delight:

• Buy fresh tulips. The deeper the flower bud is still in the leaf, the fresher they are.

• Make sure your tulips are properly wrapped before taking them home, to avoid damage or exposure to temperature fluctuations.

• Cut off the bottom of the stems diagonally with a clean, sharp knife, to allow the tulips to soak up as much water as possible.

• Start by putting the tulips in a dark place in water, so they can fill up with water and acclimatize.

• Give your vase a good clean before use, so bacteria do not get a chance to contaminate the tulips.

• Fill the vase with fresh, room temperature tapwater and change it daily.

• Add cut flower food or a scoop of sugar to the water to make sure the water stays clean for longer.

• Use a vase with plenty of room for the stems.

• Put a fun bouquet in the kitchen, because you probably spend a fair bit of time there. Be careful, though: Don’t put the flowers next to a bowl of fruit. Ripening fruit emits ethylene, an ageing substance that speeds up wilting. You want to be able to enjoy your tulips for a long time.

More information is available at www. flowerbulbs.com. o

University of Cincinnati biology student Griffin Paul uses garden staples to cover a bare honeysuckle stump with black plastic to block photosynthesis that could allow the plant to sprout new shoots. Photo by Kallista Edwards.

New Plant Spotlight

Epimedium ‘Hugs and Kisses’ PPAF CPBRAF

‘Hugs and Kisses’ has bicolor pink flowers with light pink backs and deep-mauve centers. Burgundy flecks appear on spring foliage. Leaves have slightly wavy margins for additional interest.

Epimedium from the Walters Garden breeding program are selected for large flowers and long, wellbranched scapes to increase the length of flowering. Like other Epimedium, ‘Hugs and Kisses’ is semi-evergreen and does not need to be cut back. Dead foliage can be cleaned up in spring.

Epimedium (also known as Barrenwort) are one of the few plants capable of surviving in dry shade. Although slow to establish, mature plants will not be missed in the landscape, particularly when in flower. These plants are appreciated for their durability and critter resistance, and loved for the long sprays of jester hat-like flowers in spring.

Plant Facts:

Height: 8–12 inches

Spread: 18–24 inches

Hardiness Zones: 5–8

Pests: Deer- and rabbit-resistant

Seasonal Interest: Evergreen

Bloomtime: Mid- to late spring

Sunlight: Part to full shade

Uses: Border plant, groundcover, mass planting

Available through the Proven Winners Perennials program. For more information, visit https://www.waltersgardens.com/. o

Quick Links to Recent Washington Gardener Blog Posts

• Good Garden Fences

• Got the First Seeds In

• Are Biosolids Safe?

• Florist’s Cyclamen Plant Profile

See more Washington Gardener blog posts at WashingtonGardener.blogspot.com o

March–April Garden To-Do List

• Avoid walking on and compacting wet soil in the garden.

• Prune grapevines.

• Put up trellises and teepees for peas, climbing beans, etc.

• Plant peas, potatoes, beets, turnips, radishes, cabbage, mustard greens, onion sets, carrots, and kale.

• Set out traps for mice, moles, and voles.

• Get a soil test.

• Do soil preparation—add lime, compost, etc., as needed.

• Mulch beds with a light hand.

• Start or update your garden journal.

• Clean out any old debris from last season from your growing beds.

• Turn your compost pile.

• Repot root-bound houseplants and start fertilizing them.

• Clean leaves and debris from your water garden.

• Do not be alarmed if your pond turns green from algae bloom—this is natural until your water plants fill the surface area. Add a barley ball to combat it for now.

• Cut back ornamental grasses.

• Water during dry spells.

• Cut your daffodils for indoor bouquets, but do not combine daffodils with other flowers in one vase. They give off a toxic substance that may kill off your other blooms prematurely.

• Weed by hand to avoid disturbing newly forming roots.

• Walk your garden to look for early signs of fungal disease.

• Divide perennials and herbs.

• Fertilize new growth.

• Plant and prune roses.

• Transplant small trees and shrubs.

• Buy or check on your stored summer bulbs (such as dahlias and caladiums). Pot them and start to water to give them an early start on the season.

• If you started seeds last month, thin them and start the hardening-off process.

• Start some more seeds—try flowering annuals like impatiens and petunias.

• Prune fruit trees as their buds are swelling. Check for dead and diseased wood to prune out. Cut a few branches for indoor forcing, if desired.

• Build a raised bed for vegetables. Add lots of manure and compost.

• Buy an indoor plant to liven up your office space. Try an orchid or African violet.

• Cut back and clear out the last of your perennial beds.

• Feed birds and provide nesting materials (try dryer lint), as well as houses, for the start of their family season.

• Plant a tree for Arbor Day, which falls on different dates in different states. In our area, it is the first Wednesday in April for Maryland, second Friday in April for Virginia, and last Friday in April for DC. Many local groups and towns have their own celebrations.

• Read a good gardening book or magazine.

• Cut some branches (Forsythia, Quince, Bittersweet, Redbud, etc.) for forcing into bloom and enjoying indoors. o

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 Biosolids, Fencing, Buttercups, and Lilacs.

You can listen online at https:// washingtongardener.blogspot.com/ or on Spotify, Apple, etc o

Classes, Events, and Plant Shows/Sales

• Saturday, March 29

Native Plant Sale at the 38th Annual Lahr Native Plant Symposium

Learn from experts about native plants, pollinators, and ecosystems at this day-long symposium hosted by the U.S. National Arboretum. The symposium includes a Native Plant Sale, where you can shop from a small number of local native plant vendors. This event is hosted by Friends of the National Arboretum (FONA) and held in conjunction with the arboretum’s Lahr Symposium. Details at FONA.org.

• Saturday, March 29

Plot Against Hunger Spring Garden Kickoff

At Marymount University’s Ballston campus (1000 N Glebe Rd., Arlington, VA). This year’s theme is Thinking Globally & Acting Locally: Growing Food for Our Community. The kickoff will begin at 10am, with doors opening at 9:15am for chatting and meeting with other gardeners and event partners. The event is free, but registration is required at https://arlingtonurbanag.org/2025spring-garden-kickoff/.

• Sunday, March 30, 12n–1:30pm Seed-Saving and Swap Session at the Spring 2025 Natural Living Expo

A seed-saving talk by Kathy Jentz will be followed by a mini seed swap. Bring your extra seeds to trade, but no worries if you don’t have any; we’ll have plenty to share. At the Hilton McLeanTysons Corner, McLean, VA. Details at https://www.pathwaysmagazineonline. com/expos-and-events/.

• Friday, April 4, 10am–12n Memorial Arboretum Spring Native Plant Tour

Come out and get inspired by the many native plants, rain gardens, and tough urban trees that enhance the Arlington National Cemetery Memorial Arboretum. Learn first-hand about some of best-performing native plants, how they support our native wildlife, and are easy to maintain. Meet the ANC Horticulturist at the Welcome Center Kiosk. Wear sturdy shoes and consider bringing a

bottle of water. Tour may be cancelled for inclement weather. For more information, visit the ANC website at https:// www.arlingtoncemetery.mil/.

• Friday, April 11 to Sunday, April 13 Mid-Atlantic Bonsai Annual Spring Festival 2025 (MABS) MABS 2025 will be held at the Holiday Inn Harrisburg-Hershey, 604 Station Rd., Grantville, PA. Professional bonsai artists will present lectures/demonstrations, workshops, and critiques of bonsai. A wide range of bonsai vendors will be on site, offering a large selection of bonsai, bonsai-related plants, containers, tools, books, and other supplies.There will be eight bonsai demonstrations. Each bonsai creation will be raffled off after the completion of styling by its respective artist. Activities also include silent auctions and a live auction of donated bonsai materials at the Saturday night banquet. Details at https://midatlanticbonsai.org/.

Looking Ahead

• Saturday, April 26

Garden Fair & Plant Sale

Celebrate spring at the National Arboretum. Shop from thousands of plants, browse dozens of local vendors, and enjoy free family activities. FONA members get early admission to the Plant Sale. Details at FONA.org.

• May 20, 2025

Second Annual

Reduce Your Lawn Day!

Register your pledge to reduce your turfgrass lawn and be automatically entered for a chance to win a prize package. See reduceyourlawnday.com.

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 April 5 for the April 2025 issue, for events taking place after April 15. o

Persian Buttercup

By Kathy Jentz

Persian buttercup (Ranunculus hybrid) is a beautiful cool-season flower. The blooms look like a small peony or rose (without the thorns). The Persian Buttercup was crowned 2025’s Bulb of the Year. It comes in a wide range of colors, from pastel pinks and peaches to deep reds and purples.

Persian buttercups make a great cut flower and are very attractive in mixed bouquets.

Ranunculus are cold-hardy in USDA Zones 8 to 11 and grown as annuals in colder zones.

You can purchases Ranunculus tubers In late fall or early spring. Store them in a cool place (around 50 degrees) until you are ready to plant them.

Plant them in well-drained soil in full sun.

To give them a bit of head start, soak the tubers in water for 3 hours and then pot them up in containers about 6 weeks before you plan to put them outside with other cool season annuals, such as primroses, violas, and snapdragons.

Give them a bit of liquid fertilizer and keep them deadheaded for continual blooming. o

Kathy Jentz is the editor of Washington Gardener

How Gardening Changed My Life

By Savannah Scollar

I remember being the only kid at the annual Washington Gardener Seed Exchange—it must’ve been close to a decade ago by now. I was quiet but enthusiastic, listening to presentations and excitedly picking out what I’d plant next. My parents were super-supportive of my interest in gardening, with my mom being the one who got me started. When I was a baby, she’d have me outside with her, in one of those circular baby stands with all the toys attached. As soon as I could walk, I was digging in the dirt alongside her. I took a major interest in bugs and spent a lot of time exploring our small suburban backyard, Brookside Gardens, and the creek a few blocks from home. I grew to love the nonfiction section at Friends of the Library sales—with books about plants being my favorites.

This interest culminated in seventh grade, when I decided I wanted to be a farmer. The local farmer’s market had a young entrepreneurs program, allowing me to have a table for free. Since selling produce involved permits, I grew cut flowers instead. Each week, I’d get up early and create flower arrangements in thrift store containers ranging from salt shakers to mason jars. My mom or dad would take me to the market and I’d set everything up. I called it “Dahlia Delights,” naming it after my favorite flower. Of course, everyone assumed my name was Dahlia. Oops!

My parents were the ones to introduce me at these events. I was still super-shy, but I really enjoyed listening. At this point, I’d already been diagnosed with social anxiety. It would be years until I’d discover the other reason for my shyness.

Autism isn’t something I talk much about publicly. I worry people will think less of me—that I don’t understand them and that I can’t be included or treated the same as everyone else. I don’t want to be looked down on or seen as some sort of alien.

Now, looking back, I know that my autism both challenged and empowered me. I didn’t understand the reason for my shyness when I was a kid, but autism was definitely a major factor. For people with autism, social skills can take a lot longer to learn. As a kid who’d always wanted to be seen as good, I’d stay quiet unless I knew what to say. This meant I was quiet a lot, including at the farmer’s market. That was, until I learned what to say.

Hearing my parents introduce me over and over again, and watching them talk

to people in general, I gained a better understanding of how those conversations worked, and the confidence to try it out myself. Now, I was the one to tell people about my garden, my flowers, and everything they wanted to hear. It felt great!

Fast-forward all the way to adulthood, just after high school. I ended up with a job at a plant store in Bethesda, MD. I had my social skills down for the most part by then, but my confidence had taken a bit of a blow. I’d gone through a few unhealthy relationships, with people who didn’t want to share my enthusiasm or hear about the things I cared about. I was there for them, but not the other way around, and I was always trying to prove that I was normal, that I wasn’t annoying, and that I was worthy of love. The things that can do to a person’s self esteem...

Working at the plant store was an unexpected source of recovery. It made me feel human again. I wasn’t some annoying little creature. I was helping people. When I talked about plants, they called me smart, they thanked me. It was entirely unlike what those old relationships had gotten me accustomed to. Here, I could exist and be supported and appreciated. All my nerdiness was a strength. My enthusiasm excited people. They wanted to be a part of it. It was the perfect mix of challenge and comfort. The plant shop was a cozy place for me to try my best and pick up on patterns, while using my gardening knowledge to make people smile. Over time, I developed a sort of catalog of conversation topics in my head, along with the ability to quickly choose the ones that fit best. I learned the questions people liked to answer, and overcame the fear of being nosy. I came up with phrasing for things that were difficult to explain. I learned that my vulnerability, openness, and even occasional clumsiness were endearing to people. I learned how the way I dressed could shape people’s impression of me and worked towards discovering what exactly I wanted that impression to be. In an indoor garden, I found myself.

Now, a week away from turning 23, I’m nearly two years into running my own houseplant shop in Olney, MD, where again, I’m able to use my love of plants as a way to connect with people. The more I share, the more I grow, the more I learn, and the more I feel at home. Now, I find it wild that people compliment me on my social skills.

They say I’m so good at talking to people and they wonder how I do it. I’m able to work with kids and to host events!

I’ve come so far, and I think that quiet past version of me, sitting at her flower stand and listening to people’s stories, would be very excited to hear that I’ve finally become that “cool, confident lady” that I’d always wanted to be. I think it was that drive—recognizing my social challenges and being determined to overcome them—was what got me to where I am today. It was something I focused on.

It sucks being the weird kid or the weird adult. It sucks when your brain is a garden of wildflowers and your neighbor insists they’re all weeds. For me, it’s invigorating to have people who get it. You know the autism stereotype of the person who’s super-interested in trains, getting really invested into that interest, beyond what’s typical? That’s called a special interest. There are more than a handful of historical figures who historians believe were likely to have had autism, special interests, and all. Charles Darwin obsessed over evolution, while being very quiet and reserved; Mozart got really into music and would often rock back and forth or tap his feet; Van Gogh spent his time focused on painting, but struggled with self care. Although I may not be a historical genius, I think I find some solace in their company. People like Emily Dickinson, Leonardo da Vinci, and Abraham Lincoln shared similar struggles in the “possibly having had autism” department and were still extremely successful.

For me, gardening is my language; it’s the way I’m understood, the way I’m able to connect with the world, despite my challenges. It’s that initial branch that helps me to reach further into the world. Sure, I might get overwhelmed by noise and need a little time by myself, but, if we’re going to a plant event, count me in!

If someone acts a bit odd or quiet, or maybe seems a little too into their hobbies, be patient, be inclusive, and assume they’re trying their best. It takes time for all of us to grow. Even if we’re off to a strange start, don’t cut us down. Like everyone else, we’re reaching for light. Treat people with kindness and give us the chance to get where we’re growing—quirks and all. o

Savannah Scollar opened Easy Little Plants (easylittleplants.com), a houseplant shop in Olney, MD, in July 2023. She loves doing research, teaching private workshops, decorating with houseplants, and arranging adorable terrariums

A New and Improved Fire Ant?

By Carol Allen

In the Mid-Atlantic states, only 12 counties in the southeast region of Virginia are under the federal quarantine for imported fire ants (Solenopsis invicta and Solenopsis richteri). The APHIS USDA quarantine map is available online at: https://www.aphis.usda. gov/plant-pests-diseases/ifa/ifa-quarantine-map.

The black imported fire ant (Solenopsis richteri) arrived in Mobile, Alabama, around 1918. It is now found only in regions of Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia, and Tennessee. The red imported fire ant (Solenopsis invicta) was introduced in Mobile, around 1930 and has now spread throughout the southeastern United States. Both invasive species are native to South America and were transported to Mobile in cargo ships.

Since 1989, it has been reported only sporadically in Maryland. The Maryland Department of Agriculture has been both vigilant and aggressive in removing reported nests of the invasive species. Mounds have been reported in both Howard and Prince George’s counties. Sightings seem to follow where tropical plants have been brought from the quarantine areas

and have been planted in mostly commercial sites. There are no naturalized populations in Maryland.

Still, it would be wise to be able to recognize a possible mound. Mounds can be flat or large and dome-shaped with a hard, weather-resistant crust. In sandy soils, they are typically 10 to 24 inches in diameter and 6 to 18 inches high. The mounds can be much larger in clay soils, and may reach 2 to 3 feet in height.

Regardless of the above ground size, the mounds can reach 4 to 6 feet underground and contain thousands of ants.

Fire ant workers are polymorphic, and can range in size from 1.5–4 mm (1/16"–1/4"). Workers and queen ants have a shiny, reddish-brown head and thorax. The gaster (the last rear segment) is black. Fire ant species reproduce like other ants by having spring nuptial flights of virgin queens and males. Swarms can also occur anytime the temperature is above 72˚F.

Fire ants are omnivores and feed on flea larvae, chinch bugs, cockroach eggs, ticks, and other pests, as well as buds and fruit of many plants. If you suspect you have found a fire

A hybrid fire ant typical of those seen in Lee County, VA. Photo courtesy of Cole Shoemaker and iNaturalist.org.

ant mound, report it to the Maryland Department of Agriculture (or, if outside the state of Maryland, to your local agricultural department) for accurate identification. Their aggressive behavior and their ability to sting multiple times makes them very dangerous for wildlife, small children, pets, and livestock. Fire ant bites are especially a medical emergency for people who may be allergic to their bites. Entomologist Mike Raupp demonstrates a fire ant mound disturbance in a YouTube video posted at: https://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=UbEGuKNdM7M&t=5s.

Hybrid fire ants can be transported and spread via bales of hay, vehicles, trailers, farm equipment, or firewood. The Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services and the U.S. Department of Agriculture have set up state and federal fire ant quarantines in southeastern Virginia, where the red imported fire ant is prevalent, but this quarantine has yet to expand to Lee County or any areas in southwest Virginia. According to Scotty Yang, assistant professor in the Virginia Tech Department of Entomology in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, the ants’ current spread has “far outpaced past predictions.”

As our climate warms, will fire ants spread northward? That is a good question. In the meantime, a fire ant hybrid is spreading from East Tennessee, parts of Kentucky, and North Carolina into southwestern Virgina.

Hybridized fire ants are the result of interbreeding between the red imported fire ant and the black imported fire ant, resulting in a more aggressive and resilient species. Will the combined traits of both species result in a coldtolerant fire ant? Scientists can only speculate. 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.

For further details, visit the Virginia Cooperative Extension’s publication on “Hybrid Fire Ants in Virginia,” https://www.pubs.ext. vt.edu/ENTO/ento-593/ento-593.html.

Snug as a Bug in a Rug: Early-Spring Native Plants

By Barry Glick

I thought of that expression the other day while I was describing how happy all of the dormant plants (and weeds!) must be, tucked in under the blanket of snow that magically appeared on the East Coast in mid-January after about a five-year snow famine. My mother used that very expression during my toddlerhood as she was tucking me in at night. It was coined in 1769 by Shakespearean British actor, David Garrick, to honor the Bard, but I’m sure you already knew that, didn’t you?

The beautiful early-spring native wildflowers that we are blessed to have in abundance in this botanical paradise that we live in serve more than the job of being “eye candy” for us humans. They are an early source of nectar and pollen for all of the beneficial insects that we co-exist with, as well as producing berries and seeds for wildlife.

The earliest of the early is Mertensia virginica; we call them Virginia Bluebells Why? Because they have campanulate (bell-shaped) flowers that are blue. But they are native to a lot more places than Virginia. They are extremely ephemeral, meaning that they poke through in late February through early March, show off their lovely flowers, then produce, disperse their seed, and die back shortly thereafter to make

room for other plants, like Polystichum acrostichoides, the Christmas Ferns that start unfurling their new fronds about the time that the Mertensia is retreating, This makes for a great combination in your garden, since both plants transplant easily.

Let’s see. What next? How about Bloodroot? Let’s start out with the reason that we call Sanguinaria canadensis “Bloodroot.” If you dig up a rhizome of this extremely attractive plant and snap it in half, it will exude a red substance the color of blood, hence the name Sanguinaria Sanguinaria is an extension of the word sanguine, the Latin name for blood or blood-like. Native Americans used this substance as a skin paint and for wound healing, among other uses. You’ll find it growing happily on roadbanks, enjoying the dappled sunlight in well-drained soil. The large, white, multi-petaled flowers that it sports are long lasting.

Erythronium americanum has three common names. The first is Trout Lily because its spotted foliage is said to resemble the coloration of a Rainbow trout, Next is Adders Tongue, because the tips of the attractive, brilliant-yellow flowers are said to resemble the tongue of a snake (the Adder Snake is the common European Viper). Finally,

the Dog Tooth Violet, again because of the shape of the flower resembles the fangs of a canine. In fact, the West Coast counterpart to our East Coast native’s scientific name is Erythronium dens canis—dens for tooth and canis for dog.

Arisaema triphyllum is our native Jack in the Pulpit. Believe it or not, it is a plant in the same family as the popular houseplant Philodendron, and the food plant Tapioca, along with many other tropical foods. This is a naturally varmint-proof plant (now that I think of it, all of the plants that I’m sharing in this column are virtually 100% varmint-proof). By way of explanation, many Aroids (Aroids are members of the Araceae family) contain oxalic acid crystals and when you bite into one of these plants, the crystals burn your tongue so badly that you can’t speak for a while. A popular houseplant in this family, Dieffenbachia, carries the common name of Dumb Cane because when you bite into the stem, the effect is also so numbing that you can’t speak.

If I had to answer the question “What is most folks’ favorite wildflower?,” it would have to be Trilliums, with Virginia Bluebells a close second. Here in the Greenbrier Valley of West Virginia, we have six species of Trillium, the most ubiquitous being Trillium grandiflorum, and there couldn’t be a better example of the phrase: “The name says it all” because it is a grand plant! The “tri” in the name alludes to the fact that it has three of each part of the flower: petals, sepals, etc. Trillium grandiflorum flowers are pure, icy-white and age slowly to a dreamy soft pink.

Well, we’ve barely scratched the surface here, but it’s time to go dream about all of the color and excitement resting underneath the soil, waiting for spring sun and warmth. o

Barry Glick, a transplanted Philadelphian, has been residing in Greenbrier County, WV, since 1972. His mountaintop garden and nursery is a mecca for gardeners from virtually every country in the world. He writes and lectures extensively about native plants and Hellebores, his two main specialties, and welcomes visitors with advance notice. He can be reached at barry@sunfarm.com, www.sunfarm.com, or 304.497.2208.

Bloodroot ( Sanguinaria canadensis )

Where Are They Now? A Look Back at Past Profiles...

By Skylar Drew and Madison Korman

Over the past 20 years, Washington Gardener Magazine has published more than 100 profiles of area gardeners, horticultural professionals, and local green celebrities. We thought we’d catch up with a few for this anniversary issue and share some updates about them.

Drew Asbury (originally profiled in February 2017)

A lot has changed since Drew Asbury was profiled for Washington Gardener, but one thing that has remained a constant over the years is his love for gardening. In 2018, he was accepted in a master’s program at George Washington University and studied Sustainable Landscape Design. “I wasn’t prepared for how the program would drastically change my thoughts on how I garden and, in particular, the importance of my role as a public garden professional when it comes to the ability to influence and educate others on the principles of sustainable gardening.”

He is now a firm believer that every gardener and homeowner has the opportunity to make a positive contribution to the health of the planet and to help preserve biodiversity by removing invasive plants, planting native plants, and maintaining their gardens under a sustainable maintenance regime. After graduation and excited to share his new passion of native plants, Asbury started his own business, Drew Asbury Garden Design LLC, whose mission is to help others maximize the ecological potential of their properties. Fortunately, he has found there is a growing demand for such ecological landscaping services.

As the horticulturist and volunteer manager at Hillwood Estate, Museum & Gardens in Washington, DC, Asbury is very proud of converting the 25-row cutting garden to a fully organic space that welcomes garden visitors and wildlife alike. “There’s no reason why a cutting garden…can’t also be a highly effective habitat garden.”

Most recently in early March of this year, Asbury left Hillwood and started a new posi-

tion as a horticulturist at Brookside Gardens in Wheaton, Maryland, where he manages the Gude Garden, a six-acre Japanese-style garden. While his time so far at Brookside has been brief, he’s received a very warm welcome and is “absolutely loving getting my hands dirty in a whole new garden! I look forward to what this next adventure will bring to my life and career in public horticulture.”

The Carriers (originally profiled in December 2015)

A lot has happened since Leon and Carol Carrier were profiled in 2015. Their son Leon Carrier has joined their team and now runs the daily operations at his five-acre farm, 10 minutes from his parents’. This has tripled their combined grow space for field crops, along with this year’s new greenhouse, which allows them to offer cut flowers all winter. They recently grew their best crop of anemones and ranunculus (and the tulips look great as well). Having more space has made it possible to offer an expanded variety of flowers, particularly peonies, dahlias, and heirloom mums. Their woody selections also span the seasons, with quince, lilacs, foliages, and evergreens for winter wreaths. They still count farmers markets as their biggest sales outlets. Visitors can stop by any Saturday all year at Kensington, The Montgomery Farm Women’s Cooperative Market; on Sundays at Olney and Bethesda Central; and Columbia Heights in DC from April to December.

stunning presentation that was captured by photographers Audra Wrisley, Joy Michelle, and Kristen Smith. Debra Prinzing from Slow Flowers brought it all together in an article for the Florists Review January 2017 issue. The Carriers are looking forward to more projects in collaboration with Prinzing. “Plant Masters is in good hands with the next generation, so we are optimistic that the future is blooming!”

Melanie Choukas-Bradley

(originally profiled in Winter 2009-10) City of Trees author Melanie ChoukasBradley has had a busy and rewarding past 15 years, authoring five new books, writing and publishing poetry, and becoming a certified nature and forest therapy guide. She also became a grandmother last year!

A Year in Rock Creek Park—the Wild, Wooded Heart of Washington, DC, a nature memoir illustrated with photographs by garden author and photographer Susan Austin Roth, was published in 2014 and won an IPPY (Independent Publisher) award. The Rock Creek Conservancy celebrated the book’s 10th anniversary at the Writer’s Center in Bethesda last November during a panel moderated by Congressmember Jamie Raskin. Since the book’s publication, Choukas-Bradley has led countless nature walks in Rock Creek Park for Nature Forward, Politics & Prose, Smithsonian Associates, and the Maryland and Virginia Native Plant Societies.

The biggest change since Carol and Leon’s profile was their role as founding members of the Chesapeake Flower Exchange, a cooperative of local flower farms selling to the trade, headquartered at Savage Mill. Orders are collected there and then delivered the next day. They are now in their third year and grateful for the support from their local florists and designers.

An exciting project in 2017 was their collaboration with Kelly Shore from Petals by the Shore to showcase locally grown flowers through all four seasons. A Year of Local Flowers showcased their blooms and Shore’s vision and expertise. Shore made a

Her second nature memoir, Finding Solace at Theodore Roosevelt Island, illustrated by Tina Thieme Brown, was published in 2020. Choukas-Bradley has led many nature walks and paddling trips on and around the island for Smithsonian Associates, Nature Forward, Casey Trees, and Friends of Theodore Roosevelt Island. She has also led five trips to Theodore Roosevelt National Park in the Dakota badlands for Smithsonian Associates. Finding Solace at Theodore Roosevelt Island won numerous awards.

When Choukas-Bradley heard about a Japanese practice called shinrin-yoku or forest bathing in 2015, she was intrigued enough to fly across the continent to California to go on a forest bathing walk with Amos Clifford, founder of the Association of Nature & Forest Therapy Guides & Programs. She enrolled in a training program, and became

Photo courtesy of Drew Asbury.

Photo by Ana Ka’ahanui (Capital Nature).

Photo credit: Beth Caldwell.

the first certified nature and forest therapy guide in the DC area. (There are now 40!) In 2017, Choukas-Bradley accompanied Clifford, his wife, and a small group of North American guides to Japan, where they traveled from Yakushima Island to the Japanese Alps, participating in walks led by Japanese shinrin-yoku guides. Highlights of the trip included a stay in Kyoto, where they visited Zen Buddhist Temple gardens and Shinto shrines.

Since then, Choukas-Bradley has published three books on forest bathing, most recently Wild Walking—A Guide to Forest Bathing Through the Seasons (June 2024). She has also led many forest bathing walks in and around DC—not only in Rock Creek Park and on Theodore Roosevelt Island, but also at the Tregaron Conservancy, Brookside Gardens, and the Enid A. Haupt Garden behind the Smithsonian Castle. She describes forest bathing as “the simple process of slowing down, breathing deeply, and experiencing the wonder of nature through all your senses in an open-hearted way.” She encourages everyone to adopt a “wild home” where they can develop an intimate relationship with nature, whether a garden, backyard, or local park.

During the pandemic, Choukas-Bradley authored a book titled Resilience—Connecting with Nature in a Time of Crisis. This month, she’ll publish an essay titled “Let Nature Be Your Superpower.” She encourages everyone to garden, walk, hike, paddle, and just sit and soak up the beauty of nature during these challenging times. She is currently on an event sabbatical while working on her ninth book.

Cintia Cabib (originally profiled in Spring 2010)

Since Cintia Cabib was profiled in Washington Gardener for her documentary “A Community of Gardeners,” she has continued to produce documentaries that focus on our region’s people, places, and history. The garden is a recurring theme in three of these documentaries: “Labyrinth Journeys,” “Kindred Spirits,” and “Bird Walk.” “Labyrinth Journeys” presents the stories of adults, teenagers, and children who use seven Washington, DC-area labyrinths as tools for healing, meditation, stress reduction, and rehabilitation. One of the labyrinths featured in the film is Vickie Baily’s Cretan-style, seven-circuit garden labyrinth in Garrett Park, Maryland, which draws neighborhood residents and passersby who enjoy walking the circular path.

“Kindred Spirits: Artists Hilda Wilkinson Brown and Lilian Thomas Burwell” explores the lives and work of two accomplished but unsung Black women artists—both native Washingtonians—who forged careers as artists and educators during the era of segregation and developed a special bond as aunt and niece. The film showcases Burwell’s abstract expressionist paintings, many of which were influenced by her love for gardening, a passion shared by her aunt, Hilda Wilkinson Brown. “I always loved gardening—watching the whole cyclical process of things as they grow, and all my work started looking like things that had to do with that unfolding of nature,” Burwell said. “Everything was an abstraction of something floral, of growing, roses that were opening. Aunt Hilda loved the earth, planting things and seeing them grow. That love of the earth is in my bones, too.”

In May 2024, Cabib’s latest documentary, “Bird Walk,” premiered to a full house at Brookside Gardens in Wheaton, Maryland. The film features the birds and birders that have flocked to Rockville’s RedGate Park, where more than 160 bird species have been sighted, and follows the grassroots campaign that helped preserve this defunct golf course as a public park and avian oasis. The park’s meadows, ponds, trees, and shrubs provide birds with food, water, nesting sites, and shelter. The film shows the Rockville Weed Warriors removing invasive plants that threaten the growth of native plants and trees that benefit birds. Screenings of the film have sparked discussions about creating habitats in home gardens that attract birds.

At home, Cabib’s sister is the gardener in the family. Cabib cares for 17 houseplants and helps weed their outdoor garden. She enjoys using their summer harvest of cucumbers, tomatoes, and basil to prepare fresh salads, pesto, and homemade pizza.

Jon Traunfeld: (originally profiled in July/August 2007)

Jon Traunfeld has spent his career advancing home and community gardening efforts, breaking down barriers to food access, and promoting climate-resilient gardening. As a leader in the University of Maryland Extension (UME) Master Gardener program, he has helped shape initiatives that empower residents across the state to grow their own food.

In response to the Great Recession, UME launched Grow It Eat It in 2009, an initiative that has since flourished, with master gardeners teaching and promoting food gardening in communities statewide. The program saw a surge in interest during COVID-19, further reinforcing the need for accessible food gardening education.

In 2024, Traunfeld took a six-month sabbatical to explore the barriers preventing low-income and marginalized residents from growing their own food and to develop solutions through UME. His research led to the launch of Seed to Supper, a pilot program debuting in four counties this spring, that teaches low-cost food gardening skills to underserved residents. Based on the lessons learned this year, UME plans to refine and expand the program.

Traunfeld’s sabbatical also deepened his understanding of world crops that thrive in Maryland’s increasingly hot summers. He studied nutrient-rich, heat- and droughttolerant greens like callaloo, jute, leafy hibiscus, and waterleaf, which have great potential for local gardens as the climate continues to warm. Under Traunfeld’s leadership, the Home & Garden Information Center (HGIC) has become a recognized leader in climate-resilient gardening education over the past five years, ensuring that Maryland gardeners have access to research-based guidance on sustainable growing practices.

Since 2013, HGIC has answered all resident gardening questions through the national Ask Extension platform. Traunfeld has been part of a dedicated team that has expanded HGIC’s reach through digital education. He credits team members like Miri Talabac, who leads the Ask Extension team and writes gardening columns for the Baltimore Sun and Washington Gardener; Christa Carignan, who, as Digital Horticulture Education Coordinator from 2017 to 2024, launched the Maryland Grows blog and strengthened HGIC’s digital presence; and a host of other talented specialists and educators who have contributed to the program’s success.

With a strong team and a passion for innovation, Traunfeld continues to drive efforts that make gardening more accessible, climate-smart, and community-focused. Whether through policy initiatives, direct education, or program development, his work ensures that Marylanders—regardless of income or background—have the tools and knowledge to grow food sustainably. o

Skylar Drew and Madison Korman are both interns with Washington Gardener this spring semester. Skylar is a senior journalism major at the UMD College Park. Madison is a recent journalism graduate of UMD College Park.

Photo Credit: Leila Cabib.

Daffodils: Beautiful Varieties for Home and Garden

Author: Naomi Slade

Publisher: Gibbs Smith

List Price: $24.99

Order Links: https://amzn.to/4kyJW5T and https://bookshop.org/ a/79479/9781423668060

Reviewer: Jim Dronenburg

This book is an overview of daffodils, highlighting some of their varieties and their popularity. It is a coffee table book, filled with not only photos of the varieties specified, but also “group shots” of varieties not labeled and not part of the varieties named, which (to me) is a flaw. A clue to this is in the Photographer’s Acknowledgements: “Michael de Waard…sent me off with buckets of gorgeous blooms… to photograph”—so, unlabeled. Quite a few of the individual blooms in these “group shots” would be worth tracking down, if the names were provided.

Some of the information in the “Introduction” and “History and Botany” sections, is an invitation to further reading about the daffodil collectors, hybridizers, and growers. Other information “believed to be first cultivated around 300 BCE,” seems to conflict with “the mummy of Ramses II from 1213 BCE was found with bulbs that have been identified as Narcissus tazetta.” The author does go into the daffodil entries of past garden writers, from Pliny on through the English herbals and Miller’s Gardening Dictionary, and goes through daffodil myth, distribution, and history, but these parts of the book are only a few pages long.

There is a classification system for daffodils, and the author mentions and explains this, but the narcissus/daffodil varieties mentioned, while stating the division of each cultivar, are not in division order. There seems to be a distinct tendency to show double varieties—18 of the 58 cultivars shown are doubles. The gamut ranges from the “usuals” such as ‘Dutch Master’ (think ‘King Alfred’), ‘Thalia’, ‘Tete-a-tete’, ‘Topolino’, ‘Cheerfulness’, ‘Yellow Cheerfulness’, and ‘Ice Follies’ to “newer” varieties; in particular, the species Narcissus viridiflorus and its hybrid ‘Mesa Verde’, both of which are essentially green and sent your reviewer on a chase to source them. ‘Pheasant’s Eye’ narcissus, a species, and ‘Actea’, a hybrid, looking (in the photos) essentially the same.

The text does say that ‘Actea’ is larger and blooms a month earlier, but given that one page is one to four paragraphs about any given cultivar, and then lists time, division, height, color, etc., while the facing page is one magnificent picture of that cultivar, often followed by a two-page overview photo of that cultivar, the similarity seems strange, given how few out of the thousands of daffodil cultivars are in this book.

The pictures by Georgianna Lane are in fact absolutely beautiful. There are a few pics of “arrangements” and quite a lot of group shots of mixed flowers, but overall, you could not want better photography, in the abstract and of each subject.

Sources are listed, not very completely for us Americans (it’s a British book), and in the back is a good set of cultural instructions for garden use and for forcing. One endearing remark is that if you see remnant bulbs or have forgotten some you have bought, and they are alive at all, plant them; it may take two years to bring them back up to full vigor, but they will survive.

That is a recurring subtext here: Daffodils/narcissus are essentially bombproof and total survivors. They will thrive in the British climate (and in ours): easy to grow, easy to divide, and they give so much.

Frankly, I don’t think the book is worth buying for the information given, but it is a spectacular coffee table book. You can do far, far worse than marching down to your local library or independent bookstore and asking for it.

And, of course, sending off for bulb catalogs for planting this fall. If this book doesn’t have you frothing and slavering for daffodils (or more daffodils), you must be, essentially, dead from the neck up. o

Jim Dronenburg is a retired accountant and now gardens full-time in Knoxville, MD.

The Book of Garden Flowers

Authors: Angie Lewin and Christopher Stocks

Publisher: Thames & Hudson

Order Link: https://amzn.to/4iyaFhq and https://bookshop.org/ a/79479/9780500027073

List Price: $24.95

Reviewer: Skylar Drew

The Book of Garden Flowers by Angie Lewin and Christopher Stocks is a 151page plant guide that beautifully merges the worlds of art and nature. Each plant is accompanied by one or more incredibly detailed artwork that immediately places the reader into a whimsical fantasy garden, but the pages aren’t just pretty. Stocks profiles 19 species of plants chosen by painter and printmaker Lewin, each with their own quintessential place in any British garden, although these plants are beloved by gardeners globally as well.

A relatively quick read, this book is as artistic as it is knowledgeable. If the cover art isn’t already enough to pull you in, you’ll be inspired by Stocks’ anecdotes of seeing these very plants in his own home garden. For artists like myself, who know more about paint and less about plants, the different mediums used to create the 64 illustrations throughout the book are refreshing and unique. A book full of plant facts could risk being monotonous, but the authors’ works complement each other very well. My favorite plant profiles in this collection are the dahlias, cyclamen, and tulips.

For those with a keen interest in history, Stocks provides an in-depth look at how

these plants ended up in the home gardens we grow today. Even if you aren’t interested in tracing the history of cyclamen back to the Oxford Botanic Garden in 1648, Stocks juxtaposes historical lessons with simple fun facts for the everyday gardener.

The Book of Garden Flowers would make a great coffee table book because it’s equal parts interesting and fun to look at. If you happen to know a gardener or artist who will be traveling to gardens anytime soon, this guide would make a great gift to accompany them on their journey. o

Skylar Drew is an intern this spring semester with Washington Gardener. She is a senior journalism major at the UMD College Park. She is from Bel Air, Maryland, where she watched her mom grow her garden.

Plants with Superpowers: 75 Remarkable Plants for your Garden and Home

Author: David Domoney

Publisher: Quarto Group

List Price: $24.00

Order Links: https://amzn. to/3DPJijO and https://bookshop.org/ a/79479/9781836001171

Reviewer: Madison Korman

In Plants with Superpowers, horticulturist and gardener David Domoney explores the extraordinary abilities of 75 different plants, making a compelling case for their essential role in both home gardens and the wider environment. This visually rich guide not only provides stunning photographs of each plant, but also offers detailed descriptions, growing tips, and fascinating facts that highlight their unique “superpowers.”

Domoney, an English Chartered Horticulturist, is best known as a copresenter on “Love Your Garden” and the resident gardener on “This Morning.” His expertise and enthusiasm for plants shine throughout the book, making it an engaging read for both beginners and experienced gardeners.

The opening chapter introduces Earth’s original botanical superheroes, such as marimo moss balls, garlic, and thrift—plants that have played a crucial role in sustaining life for centuries. Domoney emphasizes their importance in oxygen production and climate regulation through carbon sequestration.

The book then delves into plants with practical benefits, including those used for food, medicine, and natural habitats.

Domoney showcases edible plants with remarkable properties, such as nutrientdense superfoods and medicinal herbs long valued for their healing potential. He also highlights plants that serve as natural pest repellents and those that enrich the soil by fixing nitrogen or improving water retention.

The book also explores plants that provide essential shelter and sustenance for wildlife, from pollinator-friendly flowers to trees that serve as vital nesting sites for birds. Domoney’s insights into how these plants interact with ecosystems underscore their importance in maintaining biodiversity and supporting sustainable gardening practices.

Later chapters explore how plants contribute to environmental health by improving air quality, preventing erosion, and cooling urban areas. Domoney also highlights plants featured in contemporary garden designs, showcasing their aesthetic and ecological value.

With its informative plant profiles, striking visuals, and thoughtful approach to sustainability, Plants with Superpowers is an excellent resource for plant lovers looking to deepen their appreciation of the natural world.

Madison Korman is an intern this spring semester with Washington Gardener. She is a recent journalism graduate of UMD College Park. She has enjoyed gardening and cooking from a young age.

A Year Full of Pots: Container Flowers for All Seasons

Author: Sarah Raven

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing

List Price: $35.00

Order Links: https://amzn.to/3DE3Hsd and https://bookshop.org/ a/79479/9781526667472

Reviewer: Teri Speight

Sarah Raven pivoted from her dream of being a doctor to pursue her garden journey as a career. She teaches, has a vigorous online presence, gardens year-round in greenhouses, and loves container gardening. Although she gardens in England, the information shared in this book is useful here in the United States. A Year Full of Pots demonstrates how her love of container plantings helped create a playbook of sorts.

The author shares a month-by-month prescription for container possibilities to liven up the garden. Container placement is key. Proper container placement is one of the best visual ways to observe the garden seasonally evolving. Raven designs her pots with the change in seasons in mind. Encouraging the reader to use a journal, the author advises about the best way to keep track of bloom time, where there is a gap, what color combination was eyecatching, and more. Keeping nature in mind, Raven tries to make certain there is always a plant or two that will provide fuel for the active bees throughout the season.

During the month of Match, most gardeners are quite busy. Raven takes the reader into her world of sowing seeds, potting up dahlia tubers, and planting the bulbs of summer. One tip that was quite intriguing was about bulbs in pots: The author encourages the reader to carefully deadhead the finished bloom, dig the bulb up, and move it to a place where the foliage can absorb the sun and multiply. This is a tip that I will use this year. Raven has provided the reader with a list of plants she calls “Best of.” These are plants that have proven their reliability in containers and in-ground plantings. Even though she gardens in a bit warmer climate across the pond, the reader will notice the common plant material grown in the United States.

This is a delightful book, filled with useful information for beginning as well as seasoned gardeners.o

Teresa J. Speight is a native Washingtonian, mother, grandmother, steward of our land, and history lover. She is the author of Black Flora: Profiles of Inspiring Black Flower Farmers + Florists and co-author of The Urban Garden: 101 Ways to Grow Food and Beauty in the City.

Orchids Masters of Deception

By Madison Korman

The U.S. Botanic Garden’s 29th annual orchid exhibit, in partnership with Smithsonian Gardens, is now open. This year’s display highlights the tactics orchids use to lure pollinators, with thousands of blooms arranged throughout the conservatory.

The exhibit takes a closer look at how orchids manipulate pollinators. Some species offer the illusion of nectar without providing any, while others trick insects into laying eggs on their blooms. “What’s the difference between offering a food reward but not

actually providing any food versus offering a place to lay your eggs?” said Amy Highland, curator for the United States Botanic Garden plant collection. “It’s just a little bit of deeper diving.”

The “Orchids: Masters of Deception” exhibit uses a variety of techniques to showcase these unique adaptations. More than 20 lampposts are wrapped in chicken wire covered in moss to display about 700 orchids, while smaller, harder-to-spot blooms are arranged in display cases that explore the plants’ deceptive strategies. An 8-foot-tall cur-

tain of orchids creates a striking visual centerpiece, and at each end of the exhibit, two 9-foot-tall trees with pink and white flowers mimic D.C.’s iconic cherry blossoms.

According to Joy Columbus, director of Smithsonian Gardens, the goal was to balance the beauty of individual plants with an engaging visitor experience. “We thought carefully about how to balance the individual plant and the features that we want to have really shine,” she said, “and how we can get it closest to our visitors to enjoy.”

Pulling off an exhibit of this scale required collaboration among multiple teams, with staff from education, horticulture, and custodial services working alongside Smithsonian Gardens to bring the display to life. The blooms are swapped out every few weeks to keep the exhibit fresh and dynamic.

With its intricate displays and thoughtprovoking theme, “Orchids: Masters of Deception” offers visitors a closer look at the fascinating ways these plants have evolved to survive.

How to Visit

The exhibit is free to the public inside the U.S. Botanic Garden’s conservatory. It runs through April 27 and is open daily from 10am to 5pm. It features orchid-themed educational programs, demonstrations, live Q&A sessions, and live orchids for sale in the gift shop. o

Madison Korman is an intern this spring semester with Washington Gardener. She is a recent journalism graduate of UMD College Park. She has enjoyed gardening and cooking from a young age.

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YOU CAN REQUEST A SINGLE COPY OF PRINT BACK ISSUES FOR $6 EACH OR ANY 6 BACK ISSUES FOR $24, OR ALL 40+ PRINT BACK ISSUES FOR JUST $100. PRICE INCLUDES POSTAGE AND HANDLING. PLEASE SPECIFY THE ISSUE DATE(S). ORDER MUST BE PREPAID BY CHECK OR MONEY ORDER. SEND ORDERS TO: WASHINGTON GARDENER, 826 PHILADELPHIA AVE., SILVER SPRING, MD 20910

MARCH/APRIL 2005

• Landscape DIY vs. Pro

• Prevent Gardener’s Back

• Ladew Topiary Gardens

• Cherry Trees

MAY/JUNE 2005

• Stunning Plant Combinations

• Turning Clay into Rich Soil

• Wild Garlic

• Strawberries

JULY/AUGUST 2005

• Water Gardens

• Poison Ivy

• Disguising a Sloping Yard

• Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens

SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2005

• Container Gardens

• Clematis Vines

• Sponge Gardening/Rain Gardens

• 5 Insect Enemies of Gardeners

NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2005

• Backyard Bird Habitats

• Hellebores

• Building a Coldframe

• Bulb Planting Basics

JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2006

• Garden Decor Principles

• Primroses

• Tasty Heirloom Veggies

• U.S. Botanic Garden

MARCH/APRIL 2006

• Top 10 Small Trees and Large Shrubs

• Azaleas

• Figs, Berries, & Persimmons

• 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

JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2007

• Indoor Gardening

• Daphne Care Guide

• Asparagus Growing Tips and Recipes

• Houseplant Propagation

MARCH/APRIL 2007

• Stormwater Management

• Dogwood Selection & Care Guide

• Early Spring Vegetable Growing Tips

• Franciscan Monastery Bulb Gardens

MAY/JUNE 2007

• Roses: Easy Care Tips

• Native Roses & Heirloom Roses

• Edible Flowers

• How to Plant a Bare-root Rose

JULY/AUGUST 2007

• Groundcovers: Alternatives to Turfgrass

• How to Pinch, Prune, & Dead-head

• William Paca House & Gardens

• Hardy Geraniums

SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2007

• Succulents: Hardy to our Region

• Drought-Tolerant Natives

• Southern Vegetables

• Seed Saving Savvy Tips

NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2007

• Gardening with Children

• Indoor Bulb-Forcing Basics

• National Museum of the American Indian

• Versatile Viburnums

JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2008

• Dealing with Deer

• Our Favorite Garden Tools

• Delightful Daffodils

MARCH/APRIL 2008

• Patio, Balcony, Rooftop Container Gardens

• Our Favorite Garden Tools

• Coral Bells (Heuchera)

MAY/JUNE 2008

• Growing Great Tomatoes

• Glamorous Gladiolus

• Seed-Starting Basics

SUMMER 2009

• Grow Grapes in the Mid- Atlantic

• Passionflowers

• Mulching Basics

• Growing Hops

FALL 2009

• Apples

• How to Save Tomato Seeds

• Persimmons

WINTER 2009

• Battling Garden Thugs

• How to Start Seeds Indoors

• Red Twig Dogwoods

• Unusual Edibles to Grow in Our Region

SPRING 2010

• Community Gardens

• Building a Raised Bed

• Dwar f Iris

• Broccoli

SUMMER 2010

• Fragrance Gardens

• Watering Without Waste

• Lavender

• Potatoes

FALL 2010

• Vines and Climbers

• Battling Stink Bugs

• Russian Sage

• Garlic

WINTER 2010

• Paths and Walkways

• Edgeworthia

• Kohlrabi

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

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SPRING 2011

• Cutting-Edge Gardens

• Final Frost Dates and When to Plant

• Bleeding Hearts

• Onions

• Flavorful Fruiting Natives

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

MARCH/APRIL 2009

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

• 40+ Free and Low-cost Local Garden Tips

• Spring Edibles Planting Guide

• Testing Your Soil for a Fresh Start

• Redbud Tree Selection and Care

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• Squash Vine Borer

SUMMER/FALL 2013

• Miniature/Faerie Gardens

• Beguiling Abelias

• Best Viewing Spots for Virginia Bluebells

MAY/JUNE 2009

• Top Easy Summer Annuals for DC Heat

• Salad Table Project

• Grow and Enjoy Eggplant

• How to Chuck a Woodchuck

• Growing Great Carrots

WINTER/EARLY SPRING 2014

• Ferns for the Mid-Atlantic

• Chanticleer Gardens

• Beet Growing Basics

Jentz Prints

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

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