Washington Gardener May 2016

MAY 2016 VOL. 11 NO. 3

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ggardener

the magazine for gardening enthusiasts in the Mid-Atlantic region

Edible, Beautiful Amaranth Your Monthly Garden Tasks To-do List Enviro-friendly Landscape Design Trends

8 Great Strawberry Growing Tips Local Gardening Events Calendar Stopping a Slug Invasion

Helping Sickly Pepper Plants Meet Dr. Amen of Purple Mountain

Dirty Secrets:

Gardeners Share Their Tips and Tricks for the Best Ways to Haul Plants Home

GoGardeners Garden Coaching

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

www.gogardeners.com

GARDEN HELP WANTED

Upscale landscape design/garden maintenance firm in DC Metro area seeks talented, artistic gardener to assist with container planting, plant grooming, pruning and watering.

PT or FT. Excellent compensation www.newdawngardensdc.com Please email marketingmarvels@aol.com or call 301-251-9603.

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RESOURCESsourc

Need a Garden Club Speaker?

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

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

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

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

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Green Spring Gardens

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WASHINGTON GARDENER

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

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

MAY 2016

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INSIDEcontents

FEATURES and COLUMNS

Sharee Solow of Solow Horticultural Designs, Elkins Park, PA, packs her plants on a protective tarp for the drive home.

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Nazirahk Amen, ND, L.Ac. at the research farm of the College of Agriculture, Urban Sustainability & Environmental Sciences of the University of the District of Columbia in Beltsville, MD. Photo by Dan Weil.

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ASKtheexpert 8 Slug Control, South-facing Plants, Sickly Pepper Plants BOOKreviews 18–20 Bee Book, Grow Your Own Cake, Cocktail Hour Gardens, Seasons to Taste, Fireflies HORThappenings 21 Earth Day, GardenMart, Flower Mart, Flourish, Arbor Day Fest, Public Garden Day NEIGHBORnetwork 22–23 Dr. Nazirahk Amen NEWPLANTspotlight 11 Three New Edibles for Seed PLANTprofile 6–7 Amaranth GREENliving 16–17 Enviro-friendly Landscapes TIPStricks 10 Great Strawberry Growing Tips, Sprinkler Maintenance, Avoiding Pests and Pesticides in the Yard

DEPARTMENTS

ADVERTISINGindex BLOGlinks EDITORletter GARDENcontest LOCALevents MONTHLYtasklist NEXTissue RESOURCESsources

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ON THE COVER

Joseph’s Coat (Amaranthus tricolor ) at Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello in Virginia.

In our June 2016 issue: Daytrip to Seneca Park’s Peony Fields Native Lyre Leaf Sage and much more...

o The new gabion walls at Brookside Gardens were created from the old concrete parking lot and meet the stated project goal of repurposing existing materials.

If your business would like to reach area gardeners, be sure to contact us

by June 10 so you can be part of the next issue of our growing publication.

Be sure you are subscribed!

Click on the “subscribe” link at

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Win passes to Brookside’s Wings of Fancy Exhibit! See how on page 5.

MAY 2016

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EDITORletter

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

Ruth E. Thaler-Carter Proofreader Daisy-Nelly Nji Seema Vithlani Interns Cover price: $4.99 Back issues: $6.00 Subscription: $20.00 Address corrections should be sent to the address above.

Least Favorite Plants?

Fellow garden writer Marianne Willburn recently admitted in her blog, “The Small Town Gardener” http://smalltowngardener.com), that she had an irrational aversion to Rhododendrons. Simply shocking! I have heard other garden writers and professional gardeners over the years also admit to hostility towards whole classes of plants, ranging from “too garish” Forsythia to ”too common” Daffodils.

Now, I can understand if a plant has behaved like a thug and caused you aggravation, toil, and grief, but I just don’t get hating it simply for its looks or because it appears in “too many” gardens. I mean, what did that plant ever do to you?

I find myself arguing with horticultural friends and trying to convince them to try a new introduction or a different blossom color from the ones regularly available in the trade. I think, though, I should save my breath and realize that plant tastes are as subjective and illogical as taste in food, clothing, and romantic partners.

One plant prejudice I can admit to is against any that produce blooms the color of a Band-Aid. While I love peach and pink, the flesh-colored flowers just make my skin crawl. Even in that antipathy, though I have come around and can almost tolerate the flesh-hued Bearded Iris since they are so fleeting in the garden and really—what did they ever do to me?

Happy gardening (and reading)!

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

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

Volume 11, Number 3 ISSN 1555-8959 © 2016 Washington Gardener All rights reserved. Published quarterly.

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

All uncredited photos in this issue are © Kathy Jentz.

READERcontt

Reader Contest

For our May 2016 Washington Gardener Magazine Reader Contest, Washington Gardener is giving away the five sets of passes to the Brookside Gardens Wings of Fancy live butterfly exhibit in Wheaton, MD (each set has two passes and is a $16 value).

Running daily through September 25, from 10am to 4pm, Brookside Gardens South Conservatory features live butterflies. Come witness the butterfly life cycle as tiny eggs hatch into crawling, chewing caterpillars, which then encase themselves in jewel-like chrysalides and emerge as sipping, flying adult butterflies. Learn about the best annual and tropical plants, and hardy shrubs, that are used as nectar sources, to attract butterflies to your own garden. See more details at http://www.montgomeryparks.org/brookside/wings_of_fancy.shtm.

To enter to win a set of passes, send an email to WashingtonGardener@rcn.com by 5pm on Monday, May 31, with “Wings” in the subject line and in the body of the email. Tell us which was your favorite article in this issue and why. Please also include your full name and mailing address. The pass winners will be announced and notified on June 1.

Caption Contest We asked our Facebook page followers to caption this photo. Here are the winning responses. How would you caption this dinosaur swinging/dangling in a local Takoma Park, MD garden? Look for more monthly caption contests at the Facebook.com/Washin gtonGardenerMagazine page.

Winning Captions:

“I’m not waiting to evolve. Watch me fly like a bird.” ~ David Hobson “Are you sure King Kong started this way?” ~ Eddie Chang “Jurassic Park Amusement Ride—Wee!” ~ Ric Pyper “George, George, George of the Jungle, Strong as he can be. (Ahhhhhhhh) Watch out for that tree...” ~ Melanie Bliss “And they say only humans evolved from swinging in the trees!” ~ Gary C. Jones MAY 2016

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PLANTprofile

Amaranth

By Judith Mensh Imagine this: Amaranth Chex! Number one in lysine, protein, and taste!

Amaranth Flakes are now a breakfast cereal on a local food chain shelf. As we approach into third decade of the 21st century, this exceptional plant is now more available in its various forms than it has been since Aztec culture was brought low over 500 years ago.

It could have been on our grocery shelves by the end of the 1970s, when a Mid-western college professor conducted a study of world food security. When he looked at the staples humans have depended on over the ages, one plant genus stood out for its superfood qualities: Amaranthus.

When approached for investment in the research and development of Amaranth as a modern food, the big grain and cereal companies were content to stay with wheat, oats, and corn. The research component of the Rodale Institute, a nonprofit dedicated to organic gardening, took up the challenge. Thus began the steady march into our lives of an accessible, healthful, beautiful, drought-tolerant, heat-loving, tasty, ancient grain, vegetable, oil, and decoration in its modern reincarnation.

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Wild and Weedy Family

The Amaranthaceae family includes both weeds and wonders. Along with grain, leafy greens (like spinach but better), ornamental annuals, long-lasting table-top dried flower decor, and traditional medicine use, there are the pigweeds. Pigweeds are the dark side of Amaranthus. They are native to the Americas, but that does not excuse them from being pests in the garden.

Spiny amaranth (Amaranthus spinosus) is painfully familiar to many local gardeners. Another common local weed is Redroot Pigweed (Amaranthus retroflexus. Note to urban foragers: Both have edible leaves. Tumbleweed is also an Amaranth (Amaranthus albus).

Pigweed seeds are dark-colored, while cultivated Amaranth seeds are a light sandy color. The Native Plant Database of the Lady Bird Johnson Native Plant Center includes 11 species of native Amaranthus.

Flavorful Foliage

The flowers of the Amaranth family are small and insignificant. It’s hard to call them flowers, because they have no petals, yet they can create an inflores-

Love-Lies-Bleeding (Amaranthus caudatus) at Monticello, Charlottesville, VA.

Edible and Beautiful

cence that is striking and bold. Wind-, insect-, and self-pollinating, Amaranth is also a food source to at least one Lepidoptera. All are warm-season, lateblooming, summer annuals, and prolific seeders, with various degrees of red on their stems.

The most beautiful and colorful of the ornamental amaranths is Amaranthus Tricolor. It is also the tastiest leaf. It does contain oxalic acid, an inhibitor of calcium use, so it may not be right for all. Other vegetable cultivars include A. gangeticus, A. cruentus, and A. mangostanous. Common names for these popular greens around the globe are: Chinese spinach, callaloo, tampala, and hon-toi-moi.

Easily identified, even without labels, by its distinctive red splotches on green leaves, leafy amaranth can be found for around $3.49/pound at local Asian markets. A Chinese friend relates that his mother often cooked Amaranth greens at home. It turns the cooking water pink, which is then used to dye a child’s bowl of rice pink to entice a fussy eater. It worked for him, he says.

Remember that vegetable Amaranth is grown to eat and ornamental Amaranth is grown to look at. If you have purchased your Amaranthus Tricolor at a nursery, in the annuals section, consider it an ornamental. For edible Amaranth leaves, grow from seed, readily available from heirloom and organic seed companies online such as Baker Creek and Salt Spring Seeds, as well as some local Asian markets.

Amaranthus cultivars (Tricolor and other species) shine in the sun, just as the plethora of new and colorful Coleus (now called Plectranthus) cultivars light up the shade garden. The traditional yellow, orange, and red leaves have yielded a rich genetic potential to be mined for new colors and combinations through selection and hybridization.

Plant breeders have begun to explore and exploit this attribute.

Quite a few of the new cultivars have won the Award of Garden Merit from the Royal Horticulture Society, including: Autumn Palette Group (Amaranthus cruentus), ‘Velvet Curtains’ (Amaranthus cruentus), ‘Green Thumb’ (Amaranthus hypochondriacus), and ‘Marvel Bronze’ (Amaranthus paniculatus).

PLANTprofile Ask your local garden centers about the availability of these cultivars. Look for Iresine spp., a family member. It includes Bloodroot, an intense burgundy-leaved plant, also beginning to appear for sale locally. With colors ranging from yellow to burgundy to pink, green, chartreuse, and red, an explosion of choices of Amaranth annuals offers up a radiant plant palette.

Circuitous History

Amaranth are originally a Mesoamerican plant, and as central to the Aztecs as corn. They knew it, grew it, developed it, harvested it, and used it in myriad ways, including as an edible, sculptable material; color agent; tasty leaf, and all things we expect from grains. Only it isn’t, it’s a seed—a seed that serves the same purpose as the grains (Poaceae), and is identified as such in the marketplace.

The attempted suppression of all things Amaranth by the Conquistadors in the 16th century left its cultivation and use retreating to remote areas of northwest Mexico and southwest America. It arrived in Europe in the 16th century as an ornamental annual garden flower. Consequently spreading to India, Africa, and Asia, Amaranth greens in particular quickly became a traditional food.

Around the same time that Amaranthus lost its connectedness to subsistence and became a member of the flower garden, it returned to American soils from European gardens as Love Lies Bleeding (A. caudatus), Joseph’s Coat (A. tricolor), Prince’s Feathers (A. hypochondriacus), and a close family member, Globe Amaranth (Gomphrena globosa). These four garden flowers, often fondly called “old-fashioned” in garden books, are experiencing a resurgence of availability and interest. At the 2016 Philadelphia Flower Show, the use of Amaranthus caudatus inflorescences was noticeable, hanging from every conceivable scenario, both the natural red and green varieties and some that appeared bleached white or colored pink.

Optimal Conditions

Amaranthus uses a particularly efficient sequence of photosynthesis, called the

“C4 carbon-fixation pathway.” This process, found in some tropical plants, is particularly efficient in typical Amaranth conditions: hot, bright, and dry.

Full sun, heat, a long season, and water to establish are the necessities.

The leaves of A. tricolor may wilt in the afternoon heat, only to revive after sundown. Extra water in the morning will help them through the day, if they are exhibiting this tendency.

These are warm-season annuals, so, after the first frost in fall, or before the last frost in spring, the whole plant can be pulled and composted. Seeds that fall during this final harvest have a good chance of reseeding.

For the genus Amaranthus, our climate is a good fit. It thrives in our heat, sun, humidity, and long summer season. Soil needs are flexible, but welldrained soil with plenty of leaf mulch or manure in the spring is perfect. The wide range of not-so-perfect soils here also seems to work well.

Amaranth grain (A. hypochondriacus, A. cruentus, A. caudatus, and hybrids) can be cultivated in home gardens, and harvested on a small, but useful, scale for home use.

Companion Plants

Amaranth equal drama in the garden.

No, not shouting and arguing like the presidential debates, but derived from showy color, shape, form, texture, and novelty. Selections like ‘Molten Fire,’ ‘Early Splendor,’ ‘Hot Biscuits,’ ‘Hopi Red Dye,’ and ‘Red Spike’ all provide contrasts with vibrant reds, garish pinks, and pale yellows and greens.

Good neighbors include other plants that thrive with southern or western sun. In the fall, when the Amaranth are still going strong and are at their height, Pansies, and Alyssum, and other shadetolerant annuals, may be tucked in around them.

Partner the ornamental amaranths with sun-loving perennials, consider creating an heirloom cutting garden, or a native garden with Echinacea, Rudbeckia, and Helenium; for annuals, try Snapdragons, Lantana, and mixed Zinnias. If you are growing your Amaranth in the kitchen garden, corn, onion, and potatoes are considered good companion plants.

Sources and Information

The edible Amaranth are easy to sow outside and will germinate with warmth and water. By allowing self-seeding and open pollination, you get endless varieties. If you have the space, establish seed beds by scattering seed lightly when the soil has warmed and providing consistent moisture until the seedlings are established. They may start slowly, but, once past seedling stage, they grow fast and become quite drought-tolerant.

Look for Amaranth in pots at local garden centers in June, when the heat arrives for good. Gomphrena is available and seen in public and private gardens. In dry spots, its everlasting qualities keep it colorful. New hybrids with color variations have expanded the field. Love Lies Bleeding will have to be home-grown from seed, but may be available at historic plant sales.

Today, Amaranth is an economically important plant family. The Amaranth Institute, (AmaranthInstitute.org) in Columbia, MO, is dedicated to advancing the integration of Amaranth into American culture and diet. The Whole Grains Council (WholeGrainsCouncil. org) has declared Amaranth to be the May Plant of the Month. The website offers information and links for further investigation.

Popular garden plants up through the Victorians, after the turn of the 20th century, the popularity of ornamental Amaranth dwindled down to use in historic gardens, perhaps because of the use of the long, weeping A. caudatus pendants for funeral wreaths. A latesummer walk through George Washington’s Upper Garden, at Mount Vernon Estate, will have flowering plants on display appropriate for the 18th century, including Love Lies Bleeding, Joseph’s Coat, and Globe Amaranth.

As morning porridge, popped and puffed snacks, cooking greens for numerous cuisines, traditional dessert (Alegria), and back-of-the-border height and color, Amaranth offer us a wealth of opportunities to enjoy it. o Judith Mensh is a local horticultural consultant. She is available to walk your yard with you and identify plants and possibilities.

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

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KNOWitall

Ask the Expert

by Debra Ricigliano

Stopping a Slug Invasion

Last year, my garden was attacked by slugs. They were a problem in both my vegetable garden and my perennial bed. With all the rain we have been having, I assume they will be bad again this year. What can I do to protect my gardens from these destructive pests?

Slugs can be a troublesome pest in the garden since they chew large, ragged holes in the leaves of many plants. Primarily night feeders, they hide during the day in cool, dark, and moist spaces in the garden.

Wet conditions do increase their population. There are many chemical and non-chemical tactics to help decrease their numbers. First, try to minimize hiding places by reducing mulch and thinning out any thick groundcovers. Also, keep garden areas clear of weeds, rock piles, boards, plant debris, and leaves.

Many people are familiar with using small cans filled with beer to trap and drown slugs. Overturned flowerpots and citrus rinds can also be used as traps. Trapped slugs should be placed in a container of soapy water and then disposed of. An inch-wide band of diatomaceous earth dusted around susceptible plants also provides protection.

This will need to be reapplied after a heavy rain.

There are also many commercially available slug control products on the market. Look for baits that contain iron phosphate. They are usually labeled for both ornamental and vegetable gardens and the iron phosphate degrades naturally into the soil.

Sickly Pepper Plants

I planted my pepper transplants that I grew from seed in my vegetable garden about two weeks ago. They were very healthy when I planted them.

The plants don’t seem to be growing and the leaves are turning purple and becoming spotted. Do they have some type of disease?

Peppers are warm-season vegetables.

Planting when air and soil temperatures are chilly slows root development and limits the uptake of phosphorus, causing the foliage of young transplants 8

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to turn purple. They grow best when daytime temperatures are between 70°–90° F. Cold, windy, wet weather can also damage the leaves. Small bumps on the leaves are edema, caused by excess water being taken up by the plant during cool, cloudy weather. When air and soil temperatures warm up, these plants will outgrow these early problems. Be patient and the plants will produce; next year, wait a bit longer before planting outdoors. Don’t forget to pinch off early blossoms to develop stronger plants that can produce high yields.

South-Facing Plant Picks

We are ready to plant in an ornamental bed that we prepared last year that faces south. It receives hot, direct sunlight in the summer. Do you know of plants that will do well without having to be watered extensively throughout the summer? I am not able to do much supplemental watering. The plants should also provide color as long as possible.

What suggestions do you have for me?

A combination of drought-tolerant shrubs, ornamental grasses, perennials, and annuals will provide the color you are looking for and use less water in the landscape.

However, all plants need water, especially when they are young and becoming established. Watering is essential during dry periods for at least the first two years.

Before planting, incorporate organic matter such as compost, leaf mold, or

composted manure into the bed. This will improve the water-holding capacity of sandy soils; lighten clay soil and encourage the beneficial activity of soil microorganisms. Do not just amend individual planting holes, but incorporate the soil amendment throughout the potential root zone of the plants.

Crape Myrtle, Potentilla, Glossy Abelia, Junipers, and Osmanthus are shrubs that can handle full sun. Perennials and annuals include Euphorbia, Black-eyed Susan, Sedums, Coreopsis, Heliopsis, Gaillardia, Coneflower, Vinca, Portulaca, Russian Sage, and Pentas. o Debra Ricigliano is a Certified Professional Horticulturist. She has worked as a horticulture consultant for the University of Maryland Extension Home and Garden Information Center since 1997. Debra enjoys gardening at her home in Highland, MD. She is a graduate of the Institute of Applied Agriculture at UMCP and a talented, all-around horticulturist. To ask a gardening or pest question, go to http://www.extension.umd.edu/hgic and click on “Ask Maryland’s Garden Experts.”

You can also attach a digital photo.

Got a gardening question you need answered? Send your questions to wgardenermag@aol.com and use the subject line “Q&A.” Please also include your first name, last initial, and the city and state you are writing from. Then look for your answered questions in upcoming issues.

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TIPStricks • Don’t underestimate the power of your two hands. Wrap plant stems with aluminum foil near the soil line; this can shield tomatoes and peppers from cutworms. Pick off insects by hand. Set traps for slugs. Remove infected leaves and dispose of them outside the garden. Clear out any vegetative refuse at the end of your gardening session. o

8 Great Tips for Growing Delicious Strawberries

Strawberries are cold-hardy and very adaptable, so they’re really easy to grow. You can grow them in-ground or in containers, hanging baskets, or raised beds.

There are two main types of strawberries: “June-bearing,” which bear all at once over around a three-week period, and “Ever-bearing,” which bear all season long. Pick a strawberry variety that suits your geographic region for best results. Try ‘Earliglow’ and ‘Allstar’ here in the Mid-Atlantic.

Here are some tips for growing great strawberries from Bonnie Plants: • Be sure crowns are above soil level and the uppermost roots are a quarterinch beneath soil level. Buried crowns rot and exposed roots dry out.

• Plant approximately 14 to 18 inches apart in neat rows separated by two to three feet each. Let runners fill in until plants are seven to 10 inches apart.

• Use mulch to keep berries clean, conserve moisture, and control weeds.

• Strawberries like well-drained, fairly rich soil, so add compost or other organic matter when preparing the pot or patch.

• Strawberries need six to eight hours of sun and frequent, deep soakings.

• Control slugs and snails by handpicking them off plants. Prevent theft from birds by covering your patch with netting as the first berries ripen.

• Harvest when berries turn red. Avoid leaving ripe berries on the vine because they rot quickly.

• Pick strawberries in the morning when the fruit is cool and immediately put them in the refrigerator. Wait until just before you eat or cook them to rinse the berries thoroughly with cool water. o 10

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7 Tips to Keep Garden Pests and Pesticides Out

Here are seven tips from Virginia Tech experts for a less toxic and more natural garden.

• Insects are your friends. So-called beneficial insects, including lady beetles, lacewing larvae, praying mantises, ground beetles, robber flies, assassin bugs, and others eat the pesky sixlegged creatures that feast on your veggies and fruits. Spiders are also excellent at keeping unwanted insects at bay.

• Don’t forget the stakes. Trellises, cages, and stakes keep plants and leaves from trailing on the ground, where they become vulnerable to diseases and insects. Also, mulch keeps soil off your plants.

• Water your plants in the early morning. Dew clings to plants in the morning, so that’s when they’re accustomed to being wet. That way, they won’t be drenched later in the day when they’re sunning themselves. Practice drip-irrigation if you can.

• Try a beneficial fungus called Trichoderma. Using Trichoderma as a soil amendment reduces harmful microorganisms and can give roots a boost, leading to more bountiful harvests.

• Invest in floating row covers. Floating row covers can discourage marauding insects and even small rabbits or chipmunks. Place the lightweight fabric – anchored against the wind – directly over plants, protecting them from pests for at least the first three or four weeks or until flowering. Use short hoops when netting or other covering is employed to protect transplants such as tomatoes and peppers.

• Practice interplanting. Instead of grouping plants together, vary the rows to slow the spread of insects or disease. Also, marigolds attract beneficial insects, but don’t expect miracles.

Add Sprinkler Spruce-up to Your Summer Task List

Experts estimate we lose as much as half of the water we use outdoors to evaporation, wind, or run-off caused by inefficient irrigation methods and systems. Before you add water to your newly planted garden this spring/ summer, do a little “sprinkler spruceup” to boost water savings outdoors. It just takes four simple steps: inspect, connect, direct, and select.

• Inspect your system for clogged, broken, or missing sprinkler heads.

• Connect points where the sprinkler heads connect to pipes and hoses. If water pools in your landscape or you have large soggy areas, you could have a leak in your system. A leak about as small as the tip of a ballpoint pen (or 1/32 of an inch) can waste about 6,300 gallons of water per month.

• Direct sprinklers away from your driveway, house, or sidewalk so water goes only on your landscape.

• Select a seasonally appropriate watering schedule that meets your landscape’s minimum needs. Better yet, select an irrigation controller labeled WaterSense, which uses local weather data so your system waters only when necessary, to replace a traditional clock-timer scheduling system.

Not the do-it-yourself type? Find a professional certified by a WaterSense labeled program on the Environmental Protection Agency’s website at https:// www3.epa.gov/watersense/findapro/ index.html. o Seema Vithlani is a Washington Gardener intern for spring 2016. She is a junior multiplatform journalism major and French minor at the University of Maryland.

GARDENnews

New Plant Spotlight Three new edible plant introductions courtesy of EZfromseed.org.

Quick Links to Recent Washington Gardener Blog Posts

• Turning Black Thumbs Green • White Radishes Ready • Strawberries: You Can Grow That!

• Top Local Azalea Viewing Spots • DIY: Eggshell Seed Pots See more Washington Gardener blog posts at: WashingtonGardener.Blogspot.com o

May-June Garden To-Do List

• New from Neseed.com: ‘Bush Sugar Baby’ is a small plant that delivers big flavor. Plants grow only 3-4 feet long, and each one bears two 7 to 12pound fruits that ripen in 70 days. A good choice for small gardens.

• New from Hartseed.com: ‘Veggie Confec’ comes in three blends: Sweet & Savory, Fiery Radish Fusion, and Sweet Beet Greens.

Each combo offers two cuttings of flavorful micro-greens that make any salad special.

•New from Territorialseed.com: If you want to experience the distinctly rich and aromatic flavor of a hot pepper without the flame, try ‘Zavory.’ This heatless habanero has a lot of taste with just the tiniest bit of zing. o

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

• Cut back spent Tulip and Daffodil blooms, but not the foliage!

• Divide and replant crowded Daffodils.

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

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

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

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

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

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

• Weed regularly.

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

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

• Check pots and containers daily for water needs.

• Plant dahlias, gladioli, caladiums, and cannas.

• Direct-sow annual flower seeds.

• Thin vegetable seeds sown directly in the garden.

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

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

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

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

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

• Sow squash and melon seeds.

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

• Fertilize azaleas and rhododendrons, if needed.

• Divide crowded perennials and share them.

• Turn your compost pile.

• Start a water garden or renew yours for the season.

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

• Keep a sharp eye out for fungal diseases and pests.

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

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

• Plant tomatoes and peppers. To start them off right, put cages/stakes in at same time as you plant them, so you do not disturb their roots later.

Place a collar (cardboard tube or cat-food can) around the tender plants to prevent cut worms. Put crushed eggshells first in the planting hole of tomatoes for extra calcium and mix lime in the soil you surround the plant with to prevent blossom-end rot. Fertilize with kelp extract or fish emulsion.

• Hand-pick cabbage worms from cabbage and broccoli. o MAY 2016

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TOP AREA GARDENING EVENTS DC-Area Gardening Calendar ~ Upcoming Events ~ May 16–June 15, 2016 • DC Parks and Rec (DPR) Summer Garden Workshop Series DPR is offering 50+ free garden workshops this summer every Monday, Wednesday, and various Saturdays through September 28, focused on practical urban gardening and taught by leaders of DC urban garden movement.

On Wednesday May 25 is a repeat of the popular talk on “Dealing with Deer and Other Mammal Pests in Your Garden.” Registration and details at: http://bit.ly/UrbanGardeningPrograms.

• Friday, May 20 & Saturday, May 21 Volunteer at BioBlitz at Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens Come help find and identify all the amazing plants and animals that live in Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens. The park will take part in the National Parks BioBlitz, a citizen science event where scientists, families, individuals, students, teachers, and other community members work together to get an overall count of the plants, animals, fungi, and other organisms that live in a place. See details and release form at www.friendsofkenilworthgardens.org.

• Saturday, May 21, 10am—1:30pm Herb Garden Container Workshop Tour Hillwood’s kitchen garden before building your own luscious herb garden.

Fee: $65, $55 member. Note: All materials are included. Payment is required in advance due to materials fees, and is non-refundable. Held at 4155 Linnean Avenue, NW, Washington, DC. See: www.HillwoodMuseum.org.

•Saturday, May 21, 10:30am—12noon Beneficial Insects Talk Beneficial insects play triple roles as pollinators, predators and parasites to help you maintain a healthy yard and garden. Learn how to distinguish friend from foe and how to attract beneficial insects. Hosted by the VCE Master Gardeners of Arlington/Alexandria. Held at Burke Library, 4701 Seminary Rd., Alexandria, VA. Advance registration is requested at mgnv.org. Questions?

Call 703-228-6414 or send an email to mgarlalex@gmail.com.

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• Saturday, May 21, 9am—12n Container Garden Mania!

Learn some new ideas for successful container gardening. Tips will be presented on planting, irrigation, cut-and-come-again vegetables and ornamentals. Pick up some new plants at the Master Gardener Plant Sale.

Taught by VCE–Prince William Staff and Master Gardener Volunteers. Held at the Teaching Garden at St. Benedict Monastery, 9535 Linton Hall Road, Bristow, VA. All programs are free. Registration is requested to ensure adequate handouts and weather cancellations; call 703-792-7747 or email master_ gardener@pwcgov.org.

• Wednesday, May 25, 7:30pm Greening Your Garden Talk Hosted by the Beltsville Garden Club.

This session will cover small-scale stormwater best management practices from concept to installation.

The session will also cover the Montgomery County Rainscapes and the Prince George’s County Rain Check programs that are available to fund the small-scale stormwater project of your dreams. Refreshment donations are always appreciated. Bring a plant or plant-related item for the door prize table. Held at Duckworth School, 11201 Evans Trail, Beltsville, MD. • Every Friday evening May 27– September 2, 5:30—8:30pm Jazz in the Garden Jazz in the Garden takes place in the Sculpture Garden on the grounds of the National Gallery of Art. An eclectic mix of jazz is performed by top Washingtonarea artists. During jazz concerts, the Pavilion Café offers a special menu of creative American cuisine and refreshments. Alcoholic beverages may not be brought into the Sculpture Garden but may be purchased at the café. Admission is free.

NOTE: Concerts may be cancelled due to excessive heat or inclement weather.

For up-to-date information, click on www.nga.gov/jazz, call 202-289-3360, or check the Gallery’s Twitter and Facebook feeds at http://www.twitter.com/ ngadc and www.facebook.com/NationalGalleryofArt.

• Thursday, May 26, 12n–12:45pm Mighty Alliums A cooking demonstration with the Cook Sisters. Garlic and their scapes, onions, shallots, and leeks all are part of the large onion family. Sample recipes using a mix of these healthful and flavor-packed vegetables. Free. U.S. Botanic Garden, 245 First Street, SW, Washington DC; 202- 225-8333. http:// www.usbg.gov.

• Saturday, May 28, 9:30am–3pm Baltimore Herb Festival Plant vendors, talks, educational exhibits. Admission is $7 for adults, children 12 and under free. Parking is free. See: http://www.baltimoreherbfestival.com/.

• Saturday, May 28, 11am–12n Thyme to Grow Your Own Herbs!

You don’t need to cultivate an entire backyard plot to grow enough herbs to use in meals; a simple container on a deck or patio can provide herbs all season, as you need them. This class provides you with the information you need to grow herbs in a container garden.

You’ll discover which herbs are best started from seeds and which are best bought as seedlings. You’ll also get tips on different sources for herbs and how to care for them. Attendees will sample, smell, and taste a variety of herbs. Presenter: Kathy Jentz, editor of Washington Gardener. Free. Registration opens on 8am on May 20 and fills fast. Held at the Mt. Pleasant Farmers Market.

See http://knowledgecommonsdc.org.

• Saturday, May 28, 8am—12n Mum Sale Potomac Chrysanthemum Society annual sale of mum plants. Most plants are $1.50 each. Plant sales are an opportunity to purchase certified rooted garden/landscape and large footballtype chrysanthemum plants. Many colors and bloom types will be available.

Chrysanthemum experts will be at all locations to answer questions. Bring boxes for your purchases.

Held at White Oak/Silver Spring, near the Bank of America parking lot located north of New Hampshire Ave and White Oak Shopping Center in Silver Spring, MD. Turn right at first traffic light on

TOP AREA GARDENING EVENTS DC-Area Gardening Calendar ~ Upcoming Events ~ May 16–June 15, 2016 Route 29. Point of contact: Carmen Keister, 301-345-6178 or e-mail at carmen.keister@mums.org.

Also, one at Gaithersburg Commuter’s parking lot, Fulks Corner & Rt 355, across from the Gaithersburg Police Station in Gaithersburg, MD. Enter off of Old Towne Ave (Route 117 West).

Contact: Warren Pfeiffer, 301-253-5947 or e-mail at Potomac@mums.org.

• Saturday., June 4, All Day Behnkes 2016 Garden Party Buy raffle tickets to support Friends of Brookside Gardens—garden party games, garden hat contest, plant swap, and a keynote speaker sponsored by Espoma: Kerry Ann Mendez. See the full list of the day’s events at http:// behnkes.com/upcoming-events/.

• Saturday, June 4, 10am—4pm Forest Garden Design & Care This class focuses on the plants, relationships, and design of forest gardens.

The day includes tours of the forest garden, design materials and exercises, coaching sessions, discussions, and networking. The goal is to help students succeed in their forest garden projects. Lead Instructor: Lincoln Smith.

Location: Forested in Bowie, MD. Cost: $100. Details and registration at http:// www.forested.us.

• Saturday, June 4, 9:30—11am Container Water Garden Workshop You can still have a beautiful water garden even if you are short on space.

Green Spring horticulturalist Judy Zatsick provides inspiration and advice as she guides you through building your own container water garden with a pump and plants to take home. Please register for both program and supply fee. $35 for program plus $50 supply fee. Green Spring Gardens, 4603 Green Spring Road, Alexandria, VA 22312.

Register online at www.fairfaxcounty. gov/parks/greenspring using code 290 283 3201 for the program and code 290 283 3202 for the supply fee or call 703-642-5173. Ages 16-Adult.

• Saturday, June 4, 8am—3pm Master Gardeners’ Garden Fest 2016 Garden Fest, the Northern Shenandoah

Valley Master Gardener Association’s annual celebration of plants and gardening will be held at Belle Grove Plantation in Middletown, VA. The free event is open to the public. A large selection of plants, grown by Master Gardeners, will be for sale with wagons on hand to transport purchased plants to vehicles.

Master Gardeners will be available to answer any plant questions. A free garden tool-sharpening service will be offered and Second Hand Rose will again offer great bargain purchases.

Activities include hands-on workshops and much more. For more information: www.nsvmga.org, info@bellegrove.org, or 540.869.2028.

• Wednesday, June 1, 2–4pm Art in the Garden—Pastels Find inspiration in the historic gardens with Tudor Place’s director of gardens and grounds Kellie Cox, a professional botanical artist and muralist. Explore a variety of subjects, media, and garden locations, monthly on first Wednesdays through October 2016. Registration required. Monthly classes in paints, pastel, and pencil for artists of every level at Tudor Place, age 16+, $65/ class (members $50). See: http://www. tudorplace.org/programs/4/art-in-thegarden/.

• Wednesday, June 8, 6:00pm Non-native Invasive Plant Removal Come learn about non-native, invasive plants and how they are threatening our native landscapes. Participants will learn how to identify and control species of non-native invasive plants found in the Washington, DC, area, including Porcelainberry (Ampelopsis glandulosa), Japanese stiltgrass (Microstegium vimineum), and Mile-a-minute (Persicaria perfoliata). Native alternatives to common and incoming invasive plants will also be discussed. Free. Hosted by Casey Trees at their headquarters in Brookland, WDC. A second part of this class takes place in Rock Creek Park on June 11. See: http://caseytrees.org.

• Saturday, June 11, 11am 9th Annual DC Plant Swap Details Hosted by Washington Gardener Bring and receive free plants to expand

your garden. Swap starts promptly at 11:30am. Do not be late as the swap goes fast and can be over in a matter of minutes! Meet at the U.S. National Arboretum’s R Street parking lot—if it storms, we will move inside to the headhouse. Free to attend. All are welcome.

RSVP: https://www.facebook.com/ events/1039472452786550/ • Wednesday, June 15, 6–9pm; VIP admission at 5pm Paca Girlfriends’ Flower Power Party Join the Paca Girlfriends for the 8th Annual Paca Girlfriends’ Party, a night of food, fine wine, friendship, flowers, and fun. Experience the charm of the William Paca House and indulge in culinary creations donated by the area’s premier chefs while you stroll through the reconstructed 18th-century garden, filled with beautiful rose bushes, holly, summer blooms, an endearing fishshaped pond, and other garden features—all while you enjoy sipping a signature Pacatini. Proceeds benefit Historic Annapolis’s educational programs and activities. William Paca House and Garden, 186 Prince George Street, Annapolis, MD. Cost: $50 to $1,000.

See: www.pacagirlfriends.com.

SPECIAL NOTE: What to Do if You See Honey Bee Swarms This Spring Contact DC BeeKeepers Alliance as soon as possible and they will immediately come save the swarm. PLEASE DONT SPRAY THE SWARM!!! Call 202-255 4318 or email dcbees-atdcbeekeepers.org. See http://www. dcbeekeepers.org/do-you-have-swarmhoney-bees.

Still More Event Listings

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

How to Submit Local Garden Events

To submit an event for this listing, contact: Wgardenermag@aol.com—put “Event” in the subject line. Our next deadline is June 10 for the June 15 issue and events taking place from June 16–July 15. o MAY 2016

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GARDENbasics Plant-hauling photo courtesy of Dawn Pritchard of Silver Linings Lavender.

Dirty Secrets:

Gardeners Share Their Tips and Tricks for the Best Ways to Haul Plants Home

by Kathy Jentz

SheBuysCars.com recently asked me to share ideas on hauling your landscaping home, I rarely have a car-full myself these days as my garden is pretty mature now and I am in that giving-stuff-away stage of the gardening bell curve, so I asked several fellow gardener communicators—many are also professional garden designers—to share with me how they get their plants hauled home with minimum damage to their vehicles and to their green passengers.

Professionals Prefer a Pick-up Truck

Dan Vierria of Carmichael, CA, says, “A small truck is really just another gardening tool. I’ve hauled bark mulch, wood chips, compost, large containers, and straw bales in the truck bed.

Plants ride in the back, too. I put them inside plastic and metal milk crates to prevent them from falling over. You also 14

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can use cardboard boxes for plants.

Clean-up is a matter of hosing or sweeping out the bed. Easy-peasy. And, my passenger area needs no cleaning and vacuuming.”

“I have driven a truck for the last three decades!” enthused Carol Allen of Germantown, MD. “I bought a mesh cargo tarp to cover plants and other loads that I carry since Maryland is a ‘covered load’ state by law. The mesh tarp lessens the effects of the dehydrating air on the plant leaves, keeps things from falling out, and keeps the state troopers from pulling me over!”

One drawback, though, to pick-ups, Cenya Eichengreen of Eugene, OR, notes, is “it can be hard on the knees, crawling in there to get to the farthest pots in the back of the truck bed.”

Rent a U-Haul

“U-Haul is your friend,” preaches David Marciniak of Culpeper, VA. “You cannot

find a better-balanced trailer anywhere, and it’s only $19.95 a day to rent a decent-sized, open utility trailer. We have a cap on our truck, which really limits what we can carry, so it’s stupidcheap money at U-Haul. Their 12-foot enclosed trailers are also perfect for hauling plants that you don’t want to get wind-burned.

“You can also rent a dump trailer, if you have something big enough to tow it. Just be careful since your vehicle may be rated to pull the trailer, but that’s only half the issue. You need to stop the trailer as well.”

SUV are Super-usable (Gardening) Vehicles

“Our last two Subaru Outbacks came with removable cargo liners,” says Lois J. de Vries, a garden writer in northwestern New Jersey. “Just pull them out and dump out the mess. Sweeping generally does the trick; it rarely needs

GARDENbasics hosing down. I drew the line at bags of cement, however, and insist that ‘the Undergardener’ [also known as Lois’ husband] put a tarp on top of the liner for that. We don’t get small loads of anything, so we generally have a truckload of whatever delivered and keep a stockpile in an out-of-the-way spot. The independent garden centers around here deliver trees and shrubs. You can fit a lot of perennials in the back of a Subaru!”

Minivan Manuevers

Mia Knight Nichols explains, “In my MommyMobile (a Sienna minivan), we keep a roll of trash bags in the trunk for covering that area or putting around tree balls/buckets. I also have an extralong plastic under-bed box that I can set smaller pots in, along with a bucket for stuff that needs roots to stay wet.

If my kids aren’t in them, the seats will fold down to hold lots of lumber and bags of garden goodies.”

Haul in a Hatchback

“Hatchback for sure!” exclaims Linda Lehmusvirta of Austin, TX. “I’d love to have a truck, but need a car too, and this works for me. When I found mine, the woman told me it could haul 10 bags of mulch at a time!”

For most home gardeners, a passenger vehicle is just the “right size.”

Beth Botts of Chicago, IL, told me, “On a Honda Fit, you can flip up the rear seats and have a good-size shrub or small tree standing up on the floor, which is nifty. I keep a tarp in the back of my 2010 model to spread on the floor of the hatch, although personally, I’m not that tidy and I think a dusting of potting mix or compost adds character to a car.”

Botts further noted that, “For those without cars, there is Zipcar or another car-sharing outfit. Most of them have hatchbacks or small SUVs you can rent by the hour. Paying by the hour might be good for your garden—it forces you to plan your shopping trip and not keep dropping by garden centers to impulsively buy unsuitable plants.”

Ah, but Botts knows well that most gardeners come to a garden center with a shopping list in mind, that we never, ever obey! Do we?

“I just had to give up my old Volvo station wagon and I had two main criteria when buying a new car,” says C.L. Fornari of Sandwich, ME. “1) really dependable in snow, and 2) large rear area for plants. The Subaru Outback satisfied both requirements.”

Transport Tricks

Here are some additional tips for taking home your plant and landscaping materials: • “I cut a mat that goes under desk chairs to fit the back of my Trooper,” says Jacqueline Soule of Tucson, AZ. “So easy to slide the flats of plants, plus just shake it out if there are spills.”

• “I cut a board to fit over the wheel hubs and made a shelf so I could fit more plants in,” explains Dawn Pritchard of Sikesville, MD. (See her photo on the opposite page.)

• “I never leave home without an old bed sheet under the deck on my Taurus wagon,” says Pat Munts of Spokane, WA.

• “Get a Cargo Bar for both trucks and cars,” recommends Megan Boone of Temecula, CA. “Keep those plants in place if you don’t have a full load, which rarely happens—LOL!” • Phil Reilly in Ontario, Canada, suggests you “lay the pots of plants and shrubs on their sides with the foliage and flower stalks cradled between the tightly packed pots. I get about three times the number of pots on each layer in this way. The soil stays in the pots (well, most of it!) and the foliage and flower stalks are in good condition after their day-long journey.”

•Ellen Zachos of New York, NY, says, “I use bulb crates to create shelves in the back of my car. You can fit a flat underneath an upside-down bulb crate, then another flat on top under another crate, and so on and so on. Stacking really helps when you’re hauling in a Prius!” o Kathy Jentz is editor of Washington Gardener Magazine and a long-time DC-area gardening enthusiast.

Visit DCGardens.com for: Photos of 16 Major Public Gardens by Month and Where to Buy Plants Where to Connect Local Garden Media Where to Volunteer Youth Gardens

Where to Find Designers

Tours and Events

Where to Learn to Garden MAY 2016

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GREENliving

Environmentally Friendly Landscape Design Trends

by Sue Hauser

“We need gardeners more than ever.”

So says Thomas Rainer, local landscape architect, teacher, author, and energetic speaker. Rainer gave one of the most popular of the presentations at the Green Matters Symposium 2016, held April 8 at Brookside Gardens in Wheaton, MD. He and his firm are responsible for the bold multi-season design of the Connecticut Avenue median strip south of Dupont Circle, which I have admired many times, so I was eager to learn what wisdom he could impart.

Rainer debunked our common notion of “landscaping” and urged us to adopt designs that mimic the given environment rather than change it. In particular, we should design our gardens as complex communities of plants. He prefers native plants, because they are resilient and naturally interact with each other and with their larger environment; sometimes he is okay with substitutes that fill the same niche.

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These communities consist of vertical layers: tall structural plants, a middle layer of color, and, most important, says Thomas, the ground layer or what he calls “green mulch.” Rainer said that if we take home only one thing, we should go home, look at our mulch, and ask ourselves if we can replace it with an underplanting. His logic and enthusiasm, accompanied by gorgeous examples, made me want to rush home and re-do all my beds. But alas, the reality of the humble home gardener soon kicked in: not enough time, money, space, or energy to transform them all at once. I will, however, try to keep his principles in mind as I invariably, move, divide, remove, and add plants.

Inspired by Garden Art

The day’s program opened with an inspiring public garden success story, If you need a reason to go to Atlanta, consider the Atlanta Botanical Garden

(ABG), located near the city center. If you go between May and October this year, you can see giant Chihuly sculptures in the garden as well.

Mary Pat Matheson, director of the garden, presented several examples of the ABG’s re-design over the past decade, which has transformed it from a collection of collections to a diverse, vibrant, and much-visited space. Although the garden continues to emphasize conservation and sustainability, it is using permanent and visiting art to attract people who might not otherwise visit.

She showed examples of kinetic exhibits using moss and straw, light (lots and lots of LEDs), water, and mosai-culture. There are also static, but energetic, sculptures by Niki de Saint Phalle. Matheson said “Great engineers create great art.” Being an engineer, although maybe not a great one, I found that especially gratifying. Among many other highlights, the ABG includes an amphitheater of plantings (so people won’t eat the vegetables), a 600-footlong canopy walkway, and a kitchen. A new “cocktails in the garden” evening has been a huge success—as if anyone is surprised!

Although the entrance fee is hefty, Matheson thinks it was the right business decision: Membership and visitation are up, with 25–30% of the visitors being tourists. It’s not clear that all of the exhibits that caught my eye will be there, if and when I next pass through Atlanta, but I will definitely make a point of planning a visit to the ABG soon.

Living Buildings

Jumping back to the afternoon, our last speakers for the day were Lori Arguelles, executive director of the Alice Ferguson Foundation (AFF), and Sandy Wiggins, principle of Consilience LLC. Their talk was about meeting the “Living Building Challenge.” When they achieve their goal, they will be in a distinguished club with only eight other American members.

Of course, the first question from the audience was “What is AFF?” AFF is a 330-acre working farm along the Potomac River in Accokeek, MD, in southern Prince Georges County. It serves the school children and teachers

GREENliving of that county with hands-on environment-focused activities and training.

Their current project is to create a “Living Building” for those activities.

Wiggins discussed some of the technical issues they have addressed to meet the extremely rigorous standards for certification, such as net-zero water and energy, and no harmful chemicals in any of the building materials. Wiggins said energy is the easy part, which surprised me, but is good to know. He said solar will pay for itself in 12–14 years, and geo-thermal will pay for itself in five to six years. Wiggins said the most expensive process is determining the “embodied energy” of building materials, which is the sum of all the energy required to produce the material, including its sourcing distance. It will never pay for itself. The process involves tracing back through many suppliers and manufactures for each material.

The AFF has occasional special days to visit the Hard Bargain Farm environmental center, but is generally not open to the public.

the QBG lost its funding in 2008, they decided to install a fence and charge admission. Gurman said the community initially resisted, but visitations have rebounded as more people come to the QBG to “recharge.” The local community has even raised money to pay stipends for volunteers to work at the garden.

The QBG also maintains on-site systems for neighborhood waste composting.

Gurman thinks that, as government and commercial support shrinks, more public gardens will have to turn to charging.

It makes me realize how fortunate we are here to have so many free-access gardens like Brookside.

Managing Stormwater

The second morning speaker was Gennnadyi Gurman, head of interpretation at Queens Botanical Garden (QBG) in New York City. Gurman presented us with a case study of water management with respect to maintenance and aesthetics. The 39-acre Queens Botanic Garden is a former wetland, sewer system, ash landfill (the sight of the infamous Valley of Ashes described in The Great Gatsby), and waterway—the Flushing River.

They have water issues, including a high water table and frequent flooding. The QBG has installed bioswales, a green roof, a rainwater loop, and a garden around the parking area.

These have been generally successful in retaining the stormwater, although Gurman shared a few of their ongoing issues: They had to replant a seeded area with plugs, and there is a constant battle against invasives such as the Common Reed (Phragmites australis).

The current plan is to phase out the wetland grasses and flowers, and replace them with native shrubs. They are also looking into goat grazing. When

Garden Gateway Preview

Now back to the morning speakers.

Following a welcome from Brookside’s Visitor Services Supervisor Ellen Hartranft, a short overview of the scope of the Montgomery County Park system by Montgomery M-NCPPC director of parks Mike Riley, a pitch for more funding from Planning Board chair Casey Anderson, and a coffee break so the audiovisual system could get up to speed, we finally heard Brookside’s director Stephanie Oberle review the new Garden Gateway project.

The project, started in 1999, is nearing completion of phases 1 (main entrance) and 2 (parking and access).

The project impetus is to accommodate the increasing popularity of Brookside Gardens, by making it even more welcoming, safe, and accessible; to provide additional parking and pathways; to provide something for everyone, every day of the year.

New art has also been added, like

the Fern Gate and the Ginkgo Canopy.

The third phase will address the aging infrastructure and large facilities; for example, the leaking conservancy. I found the clever new (to me) structural materials interesting: permeable paving, pin pile foundation blocks, and SmartSlope vegetative retaining walls. These are products I might be able to use in my home garden projects. Oberle gave us a glimpse of the long view necessary to plan and implement a large, publicfunded project.

Green Matters

Following the day’s talks, we had the opportunity to join Brookside Gardens’ staff members for a tour of the new parking lot and surrounding gardens. I joined Brookside’s director Stephanie Oberle’s group and was interested to hear more about the thinking behind some of the decisions that were made about features, materials, and design.

The approximately 120 symposium attendees seemed to be heavily slanted toward horticulture professionals: designers, landscapers, gardeners, parks management, community leaders, conservancy volunteers, writers, and artists. Even so, I think it is important for us home gardeners to be linked to that community. We learn directly from their experience, and indirectly through the public gardens, meridians, parks, even parking lots that catch our eye. These are the people who will influence plants that are available from our local nurseries, plantings along our highways and streets, and possibly the design of our home gardens.

All in all, it was an interesting and inspiring day. In addition to the talks and tour, information was available from tables set up in the lobby, including a table featuring our own Kathy Jentz. Even the food was far above average for this sort of gathering—and all of the plates, cups, and napkins were recyclable! Hurray! My only disappointment is that not one speaker mentioned the topic that is foremost in our suburban gardening minds: dealing with deer. o Sue Hauser gardens in Kensington, MD, and is the recording secretary of the Silver Spring Garden Club. She can be reached at shauser@ieee.org.

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BOOKreviews

The Bee Book

By Fergus Chadwick, Steve Alton, Emma Sarah Tennant, Bill Fitzmaurice, Judy Earl Publisher: DK Publishing List Price: $25.00 Reviewer: Martha Sykora If my bees and I were marooned on a deserted island with access to just one bee book, I hope it would be this one.

The Bee Book is a comprehensive, yet comprehensible, single volume, as clearly illustrated as one expects from a Dorling Kindersley publication (DK Publishing) and filled with well-researched information. It is as delightful to browse as it is informative to read in depth.

The five accomplished authors share a wealth of expertise in four chapters.

“An Amazing World of Bees” presents the evolution of bees, the types found in various parts of the world today, and an introduction to bumblebees. More in-depth information on honeybees follows, including their habits, their role in pollination, the challenges they are experiencing, and how individuals can help.

“Attracting Bees” starts with an explanation of how bees and flowers interact, and proceeds with methods to encourage a variety of bees to live in or visit your garden. From informed plant choices to nesting materials, bee “houses” to bee “hotels,” there is a lot of practical information presented.

“Caring for Bees” presents in just one chapter the introductory beekeeping topics that fill other entire books.

While comprehensive, the authors wisely encourage new beekeepers to 18

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find and join a local beekeeping group for mentoring as well. First published in England, The Bee Book includes information on hive styles more popular in Britain, but also shows the Langstroth hives more common in the United States. Management techniques seem similar. My one complaint is there is no mention of the differently managed topbar hives, but unfortunately the omission is common in other beekeeping books, too.

The final chapter is “Enjoying Bee Bounty.” The authors show how to extract honey from the hive frames and how to process the harvested beeswax.

There are no recipes for foods containing honey, other than a “cold soother” beverage. Their focus is more on crafting with beeswax, and using both the wax and honey in natural beauty products. The honey and ginger cough drops, various balms, lotions, and scrub recipes all look appealing. The garlic chest rub and mustard plaster recipes maybe not so much, but are still interesting to read.

It is hard to say what is my favorite part of this book. I have read widely on the topics covered, but found lots more to learn in these lavishly illustrated pages. This book will appeal not only to beekeepers and gardeners, but to anyone interested in the natural world. The recipes can be made and enjoyed by everyone. The Bee Book is a wonderful resource.

Martha Sykora works for the Anne Arundel County Public Library system, but has been lucky enough to get to try gardening in locations as diverse as Colorado and England. She currently lives in a LEED-certified “homestead wannabe” overlooking Broad Creek in Annapolis, MD, with husband Bill and assorted kids who keep coming back to the nest. This is the first year their top-bar beehives made it through the winter! Over the past winter the family were also successful “oyster gardeners” for the Chesapeake Bay Foundation.

Grow Your Own Cake: Recipes From Plot to Plate

By Holly Farrell Publisher: Frances Lincoln List Price: $24.99 Reviewer: Erica H. Smith Grow Your Own Cake will appeal to the

(probably quite large!) subset of gardeners who appreciate both edible plants and “The Great British Baking Show.”

It’s more a recipe book with gardening advice than the reverse, but the gardening information is solid. The only caveat—and it may not be one for those PBS-tuned viewers—is the British origin of both recipes and horticulture, meaning that ingredients are mostly weighed rather than measured (a better way to bake, according to most experts), and some of the gardening language will be unfamiliar. Also, pest and disease information is not always locally relevant.

Holly Farrell has written this book as a bridge between the garden and the kitchen, and as a reminder that fruits, vegetables, and herbs can make baking better (and more healthful, although, as she points out in the introduction, more because you are laboring to produce the ingredients than because the resulting baked goods are low in calories).

She is encouraging to novice bakers— the recipes are fairly simple and the ingredient lists fairly short—but there’s scope here for more experienced cooks as well.

Two introductory chapters, “In the Garden” and “In the Kitchen,” provide basic information about their respective realms. Later on, while perusing specific plant guides or following recipes, readers can refer back to discover what exactly is meant by rootstocks or organic matter, folding, or baking blind.

It’s probably a good idea to read these chapters in their entirety before pro-

BOOKreviews ceeding, especially if you are a beginner at gardening or baking. All techniques are well-explained and illustrated with clear and beautiful photographs, and you’ll gain a good sense of what equipment is required to get started.

The subsequent chapters showcase recipes and plant information side by side. For example, the first plant you’re shown how to grow is gooseberry, and a recipe for Gooseberry and Elderflower Cake follows immediately. In case you then become curious about how to grow Elderflowers, a note points you to the appropriate page (under Edible Flowers). Plants are not listed in any order but vaguely seasonally, but you can use the index to find them, should you happen to have rhubarb or currants or courgettes (a.k.a. zucchini) already producing in your garden. The table of contents lists only recipes.

Growing advice includes variety choices that will work best for baking, e.g., using smaller-size blueberries or only the edible types of lavender. Most, but possibly not all, of these varieties are available in the U.S. You are also advised how to plant, maintain, and harvest your ingredients.

The cake recipes all look lovely, and some of them are simple enough for me to try, but I was more drawn to the cupcakes, brownies, small tarts, and so forth in the Afternoon Tea section; the cheesecakes, pies, and related dishes in Puddings (British meaning thereof); and the savory bakes at the end. I made particular note of Strawberry and Basil Cupcakes, Beetroot Brownies, Currant Friands (little almond cakes), Pesto Potato Scones, and Pea Cheesecake, as well as Tomato Cupcakes and Chocolate and Raspberry Bean Cake, because I am all about the unexpected ingredients.

Gluten-free, wheat-free, and dairy-free recipes are noted (but there are only a few of each). Vegan recipes are not noted, and I doubt there are many of them; you’d need to find your own substitutes for dairy and eggs.

If you think you’d enjoy this book, I advise you to acquire a kitchen scale, get a second opinion from your local Extension service about growing some of the plants (especially tree fruit, since we have many pests here that aren’t as

prolific in the U.K.), and be ready to look up a few terms you may not recognize.

I myself plan to use the phrase “ericaceous compost” frequently, perhaps to describe my own writing or other productions! (It’s otherwise known as the stuff you want to plant blueberries in.) If you trust my advice, you’ll let this book guide you into new kitchen creations and new adventures in the garden.

The Cocktail Hour Garden

By C.L. Fornari Publisher: St. Lynn’s Press List Price: $19.95 Reviewer: Erica H. Smith This book delivers exactly what the title promises, although also—depending on your point of view—both something less and something more. If you’re looking for a book full of garden-related cocktails and information about the plants that supply their ingredients, then you want Amy Stewart’s The Drunken Botanist, and many designers and seed catalogs will help you make a garden with those plants. Fornari’s book is about creating a setting in which to experience cocktails, or rather in which to spend “the green hour” absorbing the beauty of plants (which are not necessarily cocktail-related). The focus is on the evening hours, but the concepts here are adaptable if your leisure time happens to occur in the morning instead; just consider the sunrise rather than the sunset, or flowers that are at their best early in the day: coffee, not gin.

Oh, and there are cocktail recipes in this book, some of which don’t involve alcohol. There could be more; they could be a little easier to find; and they could incorporate more garden ingredi-

ents—but they look fun.

If you’d like to spend more time outside enjoying drinks, nature, and the company of others in the evening, you’ll enjoy browsing through this book for ideas. The organization is by general concepts, so, for example, if you’re primarily interested in creating an evening garden for fragrance, you could skip right to that chapter and read about flowering shrubs, vines, perennials, and annuals that may work in your situation, along with hints about how to use them.

The lists are not very long, but they’re good choices and get you thinking about how to find additional selections.

(This is not a book that beginning gardeners could use on its own, though.)

You can also find plants that attract butterflies and birds, and there are two chapters—the best, in my opinion—that explore the use of light in gardens. The “Illumination” chapter discusses the angled light of the sinking sun and the plants that work best with its warm backlighting effect, and “Sunset” talks about after-twilight plants, silver and white coloring, moon gardens, and artificial lighting to spotlight particular plants.

The “Conversations with Earth, Air, Fire, Water and Sky” chapter is full of good ideas about working with natural elements and the five senses.

There are also short chapters about edibles—vegetables, herbs, and edible flowers—and a single page about berries. The plant choices (particularly for vegetables and fruit) are very abbreviated and, while the selection principle of attractive appearance makes sense to me, there are many other edibles that both look nice and make better cocktail snacks or ingredients—and could be grown right alongside the ornamentals.

I really enjoyed this book and am looking forward to adopting its basic principles in my garden. Along with more recipes and a greater emphasis on edibles, I would have liked more concession to small-space gardening: how do you create a lovely evening garden if you only have a balcony or a deck, or at least not the large properties most of the photographs illustrate? There are some nice patio photos, but they seem to be the patios of people who have lots Book Reviews continued on page 20 MAY 2016

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Book Reviews continued from page 19

of space for plants elsewhere. Some container-appropriate varieties are mentioned, and many of the ideas here are adaptable to smaller areas. I also would have liked to see more about methods for keeping mosquitoes and other insects from spoiling the evening’s enjoyment.

A theme that works well throughout is the idea of bringing together plants, places, and people in perfect matches, just as you would while planning a cocktail party for fascinating conversations. There are some lovely vignettes and excellent writing here—I particularly loved the bit about the tulip-beheading squirrel—though in places the digressions are extraneous to the main point.

It’s interesting that milkweed fluff was used for stuffing life vests in World War II, but not really relevant to the book’s themes—except perhaps as a bit of cocktail hour chat!

Erica H. Smith is a Montgomery County Master Gardener, runs the Grow It Eat It blog for the University of Maryland Extension, and grows vegetables in her own community garden plot and in the MG Demonstration Garden in Derwood, MD. She is the author of several novels; visit her web site at ericahsmith.wordpress.com.

Seasons to Taste: Farm-Fresh Joy for Kitchen and Table

By Jonathan Bardzik Publisher: Story Farm and Tarnów Entertainment List Price: $40.00 Reviewer: Seema Vithlani 20

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With the summer approaching, Jonathan Bardzik’s Seasons to Taste is a must-have in the kitchen to explore new culinary delights. (I don’t know about everybody else, but the long summer days have always inspired me to try new things.)

The cookbook provides recipes for all four seasons, and cooking and ingredient tips to guide readers.

Bardzik kicks the book off with the hook, “I want you to feel joy. Real joy.

Not the fleeting, easily replaced, brightly wrapped pleasure of selfies and the flavorless strawberries that fill grocery stores in February …” And he achieves this endeavor, offering one colorful recipe after another, all of which seem to be carefully selected rather than used as page fillers.

Some of my favorites include Mushroom Spaetzle, Strawberry Pancakes with Rhubarb Syrup, Vegetarian Tortilla Soup, and Calvados Zabaglione. Much like Bardzik recalls in a brief anecdote, the first time I made zabaglione (for Thanksgiving dessert, with most of my family), it was an absolute disaster. I used the cheapest cooking wine on the grocery shelf, and too much of it for good measure. I may have put in too much sugar, and I think I added in the eggs incorrectly. Still, I’m excited to try again with this recipe.

From the summer section, I can’t wait to make Summer Squash Goulash, Fresh Herbed Tomato Salad, and Sweet Corn Tomato Gazpacho (which actually had me scrambling to mentally catalog the ingredients in my fridge as I read it). I am a vegetarian, so this was, of course, a large consideration in my selections here, but the book has plenty of recipes for meat lovers, too.

It is also filled with touching and humorous anecdotes about food and cooking, adding the perfect dose of personality. Bardzik takes readers through a lifetime—his lifetime—of exploring, experimenting, and discovering the richest ingredients and recipes, cultivated by a true and deep love for food. I highly recommend this book for home gardeners and food lovers alike.

Seema Vithlani is a Washington Gardener intern for spring 2016. She is a junior multiplatform journalism major and French minor at the University of Maryland.

Silent Sparks: The Wondrous World of Fireflies

By Sara Lewis Publisher: Princeton University Press List Price: $29.95 Reviewer: Daisy-nelly Nji In Silent Sparks: The Wondrous World of Fireflies, Sara Lewis answers any and every question readers might have about fireflies. Lewis’ passion about these luminous insects is clearly shown as she examines them in a critical manner. She writes about everything relating to fireflies. Some of the information she includes is the history of fireflies— all fireflies can trace their roots to a common ancestor that lived 150 million years ago. Lewis also elaborates on the diversity within fireflies—there are nearly 2,000 fireflies species sprinkled across the globe.

Lewis shares her various experiences with fireflies to explain more about the insect. She uses descriptive details in her stories and anecdotes. This is an interesting approach because, if she just wrote a strictly informational piece about fireflies for 170-plus pages, I, as a reader, would find it tedious to read and would lose interest in the book. By incorporating different literature elements within the book, such as songs and plays, Lewis was able to keep my attention and continuously add a fresh element. She includes photos that pretty much show every aspect of fireflies’ anatomies, habitat, mating rituals, and life stages. I believe insect fans would definitely love this book’s intense, fanatical examination of fireflies. o Daisy-Nelly Nji is a senior journalism student at the University of Maryland. She is a multiplatform journalism major at the Philip Merrill College of Journalism. This spring, she is an editorial intern at Washington Gardener.

HORThaenings Before the festival, preregistered volunteers may participate in an Earth Day garden project.

75th Annual GardenMart

Flourish: Inside and Out at U.S. Botanic Garden Celebrates Plants’ Positive Effects on Human Health The U.S. Botanic Garden will have a new exhibit, “Flourish: Inside and Out,” from May 21 to October 2. The indoor and outdoor exhibit, developed with consultation from Chicago Botanic Garden, showcases proven health benefits of interacting with nature.

Research shows when people garden or otherwise spend time with nature, they experience increased productivity, better physical and mental health, healing, and improved test scores.

The indoor gallery will feature vignettes of growing plants indoors, including related ongoing programs.

Outdoors, “Flourish: Inside and Out” will feature plants to stimulate the senses of smell, touch, sound, and sight. It will also include a display of organizations that use horticulture and gardening in a therapeutic manner.

The garden will also offer programs, workshops, lectures, tours, and cooking demonstrations to showcase gardening at home and ways plants and nature can enrich daily life.

Earth Day at Brookside

Brookside Gardens hosted a free Earth Day festival on Sunday afternoon, April 24, that included Earth-friendly interactive activities, a plant sale, and a “green” craft and vendor fair, featuring reused, recycled, upcycled, responsibly harvested, organic, plant-related, or sustainable products from local crafters. There also were walks and tours of the grounds.

For children and families, the festival offered a tree scavenger hunt, facepainting, games, and music by Nature Jams to educate listeners about the environment.

The 75th Annual Silver Spring Garden Mart was held Saturday morning, May 7, at Brookside Gardens.

Sponsored by the Silver Spring Garden Club, the event offered vegetable plants, annuals, perennials, shrubs, native plants, and more for sale outside the Visitors Center. Proceeds from the sales went to Brookside Gardens and to keeping the garden club’s meetings free to the public with low member dues of $10 per year.

The Garden Mart also had unique Mother’s Day gifts for sale and a garden raffle.

which featured carefully curated offerings, including rare and hard to find plants as well as tried-and-true favorites. FONA volunteers offered expert advice on-site to guide shoppers through selecting interesting plants for their gardens.

Public Garden Day 2016

Smithsonian Gardens celebrated National Public Gardens Day on Friday, May 6, by holding its 10th Annual Garden Fest. Due to heavy rains, the festival took place under Enid A. Haupt Garden, inside the Ripley Center. The Bay Jazz Project performed relaxing music.

Smithsonian Gardens’ horticulturists provided tips on how to cultivate home gardens. National Public Gardens Day is an annual celebration of the nation’s public gardens to raise awareness of local, regional, and national leadership in environmental stewardship.

National Cathedral Flower Mart 2016 Arbor Day Fest 2016

The Washington Youth Garden held its first Annual Arbor Day Fest on April 29 at the U.S. National Arboretum. The event celebrated environmental awareness and stewardship, with panels that discussed a variety of issues such as urban sustainability, agriculture, health, gardens, and community development.

This event commemorated 45 years of Washington Youth Garden making school gardens as well as young minds grow. Festivities for the event included local musicians and performances curated by Washington Performing Arts and Art Soirée. Attendees also participated in the Farmer Olympics and enjoyed food, music, beverages, and good company.

On the same weekend, was the Friends of the National Arboretum (FONA) Garden Fair and Plant Sale,

The 77th annual National Cathedral Flower Mart was held on May 6 and 7.

Garden enthusiasts who visited the outdoor festival saw different flowers and landscape exhibits. They were given tours around Olmsted Woods and other gardens. There was musical entertainment, a book sale, and children’s activities such as a rock wall, moon bounce, mini-Ferris wheel, and a century-old restored carousel. The Flower Mart was sponsored by the volunteer organization, All Hallows Guild. The festival had more than 80 booths and tents offering gardening items, handbags, jewelry, and more. o Compiled by Seema Vithlani, a junior multiplatform journalism major and French minor at the University of Maryland, and DaisyNelly Nji, a senior journalism student at the University of Maryland. Both are Washington Gardener interns for spring 2016.

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NEIGHBORnwork

Meet Nazirahk Amen

Interview by Daisy-Nelly Nji Photos by Dan Weil Dr. Nazirahk Amen dedicates his life helping his patients with naturopathic care. He founded the Purple Mountain with Scott Lastrapes, MD, in 2004, looking for a way to provide better health to patients while supporting local agriculture systems. We got a chance to meet up with Amen and learn more about his journey as a gardener and his business, Purple Mountain Organics.

Tell us about yourself and your personal background. How did you get into gardening?

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What we curse in life may one day turn out to be the biggest blessing ever.

The mothership landed for me in this life in rural Louisiana. Some of my first memories are picking figs and pecans and helping in the huge gardens “in the country” on the family land outside town. We ate fresh meals and my mother preserved just about everything.

We raised our own animals, hunted and fished, and bartered food with neighbors and relatives. I was taught these things were “country” and I must study hard to get an education, and get

away from that rural life, which held no great future. It did not take long in life to come to appreciate the beauty that was there.

Today, as a practicing naturopathic doctor, homeopath, and Oriental medicine practitioner, I see a correlation between the disappearance of the small farm and the rise of so many chronic illnesses. As agriculture experiences ever-increasing degrees of industrialization, we are eating more and more foods coming from soils that have been depleted of their life and minerals through the use of petroleum-based chemicals.

These diseases are treated by pharmaceuticals produced from the same petroleum industry. Food and medicine for profit are standard fare. This nutrient-less diet has left those who partake overfed and undernourished. America spends the most on health care while its health care system is ranked number 37 by the World Health Organization.

Not only do we recommend that patients to buy organic, eat locally, and know their farmer, we suggest they start growing some of their own food.

My family practices a vegan lifestyle and we practice sustenance farming.

For the last 25 years, I have grown as much food as I could wherever I may have been. We grow and preserve as much food as we can. With the introduction of small-scale grain and bean production in the last few years, we have drastically increased our sustainability potential.

What made you create Purple Mountain sustainability and why did you find this issue important?

Purple Mountain (www.purpletools.net) started in 2004 as a result of patients asking us how to grow food. We began selling starter plants and gardening supplies. Perhaps overly optimistic at the time, I thought we could get the local community involved in growing more food. Well, with Takoma Park, MD, being known as “Tree City,” that didn’t go too far. Eventually, we found a niche in helping out with various urban farming projects and supporting regional organic farmers with tools and supplies. I have come to the conclusion that it doesn’t matter how much

NEIGHBORnwork knowledge I have about growing food or how much I can grow for my family and community, the greater service should be toward helping achieve a greater degree of regional sustainability and food security. Purple Mountain Organics represents that effort and service.

herbs or salad. If you have a yard, rip out the grass and grow some veggies. We have great community gardens in the region. Do what you can handle. Find plants and fruit trees that will grow in the area. You can get out and volunteer with an urban farm project or take a garden class. There is a really beautiful urban gardening and farming scene happening out there.

Become a local foodie in whatever way you can.

Can you explain to our readers how Purple Mountain supports local agricultural systems and services?

As an urban dweller with smallfarm inclinations, the repertoire of Purple Mountain has grown from selling starter plants, tools, fertilizers, and walk-behind tractors to offering custom farming services.

For the past few years, we have worked with Bread for the City, a DC food pantry, to grow fruit and vegetables for the low-income residents of the city.

We work with USDA and SARE grants for specialty crops and innovative research through UDCCAUSES at their Firebird Farm in Beltsville, MD. From caring for a tew-acre orchard with 550 apples, 120 Asian pears, and a host of berries to growing dryland rice and dried beans and ethnic crops from around the world, we service about 10 acres of crops and growing each year.

In 2015, we worked with a local organic farmer, Henz Thomet of Next Step Produce, on a regional rice variety trial. Our newest exciting project is a USDA-funded grant for exploring agroforestry and polyculture systems suitable for this region.

From our view, there is no one prevailing model or philosophy in farming except promoting organic techniques and reducing the negative environmental impact of farming. It is all being worked out and there are roles for everyone. From scaling down unsustainable production systems that involve tillage to biointesive small-scale plots to no-till farming, agroforestry, and permaculture, the goal is to help add life to the soil through adding compost, organic matter, and minerals, and allow that life to remineralize the plants and keep them healthy. Helping create sen-

What plants are your favorites to use in the greater DC area?

I like persimmons, paw paws, and figs. I have fallen in love with growing rice and beans. I can’t name any plant that I haven’t liked growing if somebody will eat it.

Looking back at your career, what has been the most rewarding experience?

sible and sustainable food systems that increase food nutrient density is our service.

What is the typical workday like for you?

I see patients Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays, and every other Saturday. I farm every other waking hour. In the spring, we adjust our patient schedule to get all the planting in. In the winter, we spend our weekends travelling to organic farm conferences from the Carolinas up to Vermont. As part of the holistic medicine practice, we offer nutrition consults and vegan cooking classes to teach people how to be creative and make a healthy plate enjoyable. Most days in the office, we have fresh food produce available for patients.

What advice would you give to beginner/amateur gardeners in the greater DC area?

DC is just as good a place as any to be.

We have to start where we are. If you have a windowsill or balcony, grow some

To come to know that the journey itself is the goal brings the most contentment. To know that things come full circle and that those skills that I learned early on, which may have been perceived as backward or “country,” have become some of the greatest assets in life. To be in the moment, while doing what I love; to sit for a meal with my family and know we grew everything on the plate—these bring bliss and satisfaction.

Any final thoughts?

I believe that cities have to become regionally sustainable and provide local food security, if humanity is to endure.

It is time for big farms and big pharma to go. We must transition away from a petroleum-based culture to something much more sustainable. And we must all play our parts in that process. Climate change is real, and being proactive in addressing the future needs of humanity begins where we are. o Daisy-Nelly Nji is a senior journalism student at the University of Maryland. She is a multiplatform journalism major in the Philip Merrill College of Journalism. This spring, she is an editorial intern at Washington Gardener.

MAY 2016

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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 • Dwarf Iris • Broccoli SUMMER 2010 • Fragrance Gardens • Watering Without Waste • Lavender • Potatoes FALL 2010 • Vines and Climbers • Battling Stink Bugs • Russian Sage • Garlic WINTER 2010 • Paths and Walkways • 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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