Washington Gardener May 17

MAY 2017 VOL. 12 NO. 3

WWW.WASHINGTONGARDENER.COM

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ggardener

the magazine for gardening enthusiasts in the Mid-Atlantic region

A Visit to Union Mills Homestead Your Garden Task List Butterfly Larvae: Flower Garden Friend or Foe?

Fritillaries:

From Dainty to Flamboyant

Growing Golden Raspberries U.S. National Arboretum’s New Mobile App Who You Gonna Call for Swarming Bees?

Local Gardening Events Calendar

Cultivating Chives

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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 KathyJentz@gmail.com for available dates, rates, and topics.

RARE AND EXCEPTIONAL PLANTS FOR THE DISCRIMINATING GARDENER AND COLLECTOR

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Barry Glick Sunshine Farm and Gardens 696 Glicks Road Renick, WV 24966, USA Email: barry@sunfarm.com

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www.sunfarm.com

Green Spring Gardens

www.greenspring.org

Your Ad Here

Contact kathyjentz@gmail.com or call 301.588.6894 for ad rates. The ad deadline is the 10th of each month. Please submit your ad directly to: KathyJentz@gmail.com.

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WASHINGTON GARDENER MAY 2017

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.

INSIDEcontents

A powerful thunderstorm raced across the DC-area on Friday, April 21, downing trees and dropping hail up to the size of ping pong balls in some areas. Hardest hit were gardens inside the beltway between Connecticut Avenue and I-95.

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Win passes to Brookside’s Wings of Fancy.

See contest details on page 5.

May is the month for plant sales and garden tours in the Mid-Atlantic region. What could be better than an event that combines both offerings?

Union Mills Homestead offered a barn full of plants as well as several outside vendors at their recent sale and tour.

‘Double Gold’ Raspberry was introduced

by Cornell in 2012.

It offers small-scale growers two harvests per season. Photo courtesy of Stark Bro’s Nurseries & Orchards Co., www.starkbros. com.

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FEATURES and COLUMNS ASKtheexpert 22 Peach Tree Problems BOOKreviews 12-13 Big Dreams, Small Garden; Monarch and Milkweed DAYtrip 6 Union Mills Homestead EDIBLEharvest 18-19 Golden Raspberries HORThappenings 17 Earth Day; Flower Mart INSECTindex 7 Are Butterfly Larvae Pests?

NEWPLANTspotlight 11 Fairy Magnolia Bush NEIGHBORnetwork 20-21 Kellie Cox, Tudor Place PLANTprofile 14 Fritillaria SPECIALfeature 15 Hail Storm Pummels Gardens TIPStricks 10 USNA Mobile App; Growing Chives; Honey Bee Swarms

DEPARTMENTS

ADVERTISINGindex BLOGlinks EDITORletter GARDENcontest LOCALevents MONTHLYtasklist NEXTissue RESOURCESsources

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ON THE COVER

Fritillaria (Fritillaria imperialis) ‘Rubra Maxima.’ Photo by Brent Heath, Brent and Becky’s (brentandbeckysbulbs.com).

In our June 2017 issue:

Sea Holly (Eryngium)

Edible Native Tree Fruits Garden Tour Round-up and much more...

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 http://washingtongardener. blogspot.com/ MAY 2017

WASHINGTON GARDENER

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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 kathyjentz@gmail.com www.washingtongardener.com Call today to place your ad with us!

Ruth E. Thaler-Carter Proofreader

Your editor using plant props at a neighborhood garden talk. Photo by Alan Bowser.

Adventures in Garden Speaking

It was a dark and stormy night. Well, the storms hadn’t started yet when I began

my talk for the Anacostia Watershed Society at their historic headquarters in Bladensburg, MD—a former tavern that was a favorite socializing spot of George Washington’s. I set up my laptop and projector in the upstairs meeting room and everything started off smoothly, when all of a sudden, a tremendous wind blew in and all the windows slammed shut with a bang. We were plunged into darkness and I was only a quarter-way through my slide show describing local native plant choices. Luckily, my laptop battery was fully charged and I was able to turn the screen around so the small crowd could gather round to see the plant photos while I completed my talk. But what if it hadn’t been charged? Would I have been able to continue on without it?

From that day forward, I promised myself to always be prepared to give any talk with or without audio-visual (A-V) assistance. That vow has been a lifesaver when I have found myself in situations that ranged from challenging to sublimely ridiculous. For instance, I once was assured that a garden club’s host had a projection screen in her home, only to arrive and find that not only was there no screen, there was also not one blank wall available! I ended up giving the talk while projecting onto the surface of a large Turkish brass serving tray!

If you speak enough, you will have many similar stories to share. Here are some of my tips for being prepared for all speaking emergencies: • Have back-ups. Even if the host says they have all the equipment, bring your own laptop and projector along with extra cords and save your file to a USB drive.

• Print out your PowerPoint slides and notes. Always have one set in your bag that you can refer to should your A-V display fail.

• Use props. I give a talk on garden tool selection and maintenance that is purely me talking and doing show-and-tell; the same with my talk on basic flower arranging. There are many times when you are much better off doing a live demonstration rather than using a PowerPoint slide-show. Always have one or two of these talks prepared and ready to go as a substitute just in case you arrive at your venue and Murphy’s Law has prevailed.

By the way, I’m part of a speakers’ bureau called GreatGardenSpeakers.com. Our goal is to make it easier for garden clubs, botanical gardens, and other groups to find the kind of high-quality speakers they are looking for. If you know about groups that are looking to book quality garden speakers, please let them know about it.

Happy gardening (and reading)!

Kathy Jentz, Editor/Publisher, Washington Gardener, KathyJentz@gmail.com 4

WASHINGTON GARDENER MAY 2017

India Hamilton Intern Cover price: $4.99 Back issues: $6.00 Subscription: $20.00 Address corrections should be sent to the address above.

• 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 Facebook Page: facebook.com/ WashingtonGardenerMagazine • 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 12, Number 3 ISSN 1555-8959 © 2017 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

Smithsonian Gardens and Smithsonian Libraries request the pleasure of your company at A Gilded Age Garden Party Friday, June 9, 2017, 6:30-8:30pm An evening celebrating American gardens + culture of the Gilded Age Come celebrate the glittering American garden of the late 1800s with live music, Instagram-worthy crafts, and food and drink inspired by the era in the Enid A. Haupt Garden, with exclusive access to the historic Arts and Industries Building.

Enjoy the splendor of early summer at the Garden Party of the season with us!

The Enid A. Haupt Garden, East Terrace Walk and the Arts and Industries Building 900 Jefferson Drive, SW, Washington, DC. Enter the Haupt Garden via either of the east entrances nearest the Arts and Industries Building.

Gilded Age-inspired attire encouraged!

General Admission ($45) and VIP tickets* ($75) are now available! Each ticket purchased includes two drink tickets. To purchase, click here. *VIP tickets include a curator-led tour of our new exhibition, Cultivating America’s Gardens; a behind-the-scenes tour of the Dibner Library of the History of Science and Technology, one of Smithsonian Libraries’ rare book and manuscript collections; and a champagne toast. VIP guests should arrive at 5:00pm at the National Museum of American History’s Constitution Ave. entrance, and be prepared to walk across the National Mall to the Enid A. Haupt Garden for the continued festivities.

For questions, contact us at silrsvp@si.edu, or 202.633.2241.

Dubbed America’s ‘Gilded Age’ by Mark Twain and Charles Dudley Warner, the period between 1870 and 1900 was a time of both great opportunity and extreme economic disparity. Fabulous fortunes were made. The rich displayed their wealth in ornate mansions and grand gardens, and the era saw a surge in philanthropic support for libraries, museums, and public gardens. Garden parties, both extravagant private affairs and public festivities, were a hallmark of the age.

On June 9, we invite you to step back in time to celebrate this important time in American garden history with us.

Reader Contest

For our May 2017 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 17, 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.

Note: The exhibit is located inside a greenhouse, which is usually 10 degrees warmer than the outside temperature and more humid.

See more details at http://www. montgomeryparks.org/brookside/ wings_of_fancy.shtm.

To enter to win passes, send an email to WashingtonGardener@rcn. com by 5pm on Wednesday, 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.

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DAYtrip

Union Mills Shriver Homestead

by Kathy Jentz A chilly, rainy day is not the ideal weather for a garden tour, but we hardy souls won’t let that get in the way of a day filled with gorgeous flowers and local history. This year’s Maryland House and Garden Pilgrimage featured a day of touring in Carroll County, centered around the town of Westminster.

The tour highlight for me was the Union Mills Homestead. We hit the timing just right for our visit, since it was also the weekend of their annual Flower and Plant Mart. Who can resist loading up with a few new plants?

Helen R. Hecht, a professional gardener, was on-hand to answer plant questions and to discuss her maintenance of the Shriver-era gardens.

She showed us the impressive stone work of Elizabeth “Bessie” Shriver Kemp, who lived and gardened on the property from 1869–1957. Shriver hand-sculpted and designed a water garden, pathways, terrace with stone bench, and a birdbath.

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Union Mills is a historic landmark and the homestead of Maryland’s Shriver family for six generations, Union Mills was built in 1797 as an “American Dream” business enterprise by two brothers who combined their resources and respective skills in a venture involving the construction of two mills: a grist mill and a saw mill. The union of the two mills inspired the name “Union Mills.”

In addition to the mills, the business included a tannery and a variety of supporting trades, including a blacksmith shop, cooper’s shop (where they made barrels), and wheelwright.

This historic country estate, including the family homestead with original furnishings, multiple outbuildings, and a working mill, maintains a distinctive character and atmosphere, capturing a

significant view of an important portion of Maryland history.

The site is now a museum operated by the Union Mills Homestead Foundation and is open to the public from May to September.

Guided tours (highly recommended) are $5 per person. The tour takes you through 12 of the 23 rooms of the rambling home. In the small gift shop, you can purchase stone-ground whole wheat flour, corn meal, and other grain products produced by the working grist mill museum.

Union Mills is 7 miles north of Westminster on Route 97 and 17 miles south of Gettysburg. Go online to www. unionmills.org for further details. o Kathy Jentz is the editor of Washington Gardener magazine.

INSECTindex

What is a Pest?

by Carol Allen

When I was growing up in Alexandria, VA, my family and I lived in a lovely wooded neighborhood located between Mt. Vernon and the city. The George Washington Parkway was a couple of miles away and we enjoyed the benefits of the huge trees shading our yard. We even had a 200-year-old black gum that dominated the back yard!

Then, one spring, Fairfax County started aerial spraying for gypsy moths. My mother and I rapidly came to the conclusion that the spraying would negatively affect the birds and butterflies that we enjoyed watching. A trip to the library soon enhanced our knowledge of butterfly life cycles and preferred larval host plants. After she discovered two caterpillars on her pot of parsley, Mom decided that she would lend a hand in ensuring that at least the black swallowtails would survive this crisis.

She started by planting a row of parsley along the only sunny bed at the edge of the patio. In this endeavor, the trees were both our friends and our foes since their shade prevented our planting many of the preferred host plants. After that, she transplanted Queen Ann’s Lace from nearby roadsides to a bed in the side yard.

Undaunted, my mom started asking our neighbors with sunnier yards if they would plant parsley, dill, and fennel in their flower beds. She taught them

how to recognize the tiny caterpillars. If they found these, she would come and remove them! Very soon, my mother had mastered the art/science of gently removing the tiny first and second instar larvae with a small camel’s hair artist’s brush and transferring them to sprigs of parsley secured in baby food jars of water. My father, ever the handyman, built screen cages to protect the growing caterpillars from predators.

Soon, Mom and her neighbors were rearing and releasing hundreds of swallowtails a year.

As Mom’s notoriety spread, she was asked to give talks at schools. She expanded her butterfly repertoire with tiger swallowtails and monarchs, and once was given an injured and gravid Prometheus moth, which laid a clutch of eggs. Several neighbors came to admire the release of those moths to the evening light. She inspired the teachers at the nearby elementary school to plant a butterfly garden. Over the span of more than four decades, my mother, neighbors, and friends captivereared and released thousands of butterflies. She is pictured above with two monarch butterflies last summer.

Now, 50 years later, planting a butterfly garden is very popular and schoolchildren raise and release commercially produced butterflies. The monarch butterfly now has endangered species

status and butterflies are admired, but their larvae can still be an issue if they prefer our treasured garden flowers or vegetables.

The black swallowtail, in particular, is one of those—is it a pest or is it a beneficial insect? If you are a farmer, it is a pest and the crops of parsley and dill are sprayed to be able to come to market pest-free. If you are a vegetable or herb gardener, you have the option of hand-picking, spraying, or covering your plants with a protecting floating row cover. If you are creating a pollinator garden, you plant enough for both you and the caterpillars!

Black swallowtails over-winter in the chrysalis stage and emerge in May to mate and lay eggs. Males emerge before females and will stake out a territory to defend. Females can mate with more than one male and that ensures their eggs are fertile. Eggs are laid one per host plant (members of the carrot family, Apiaceae) and a female can lay about 30 eggs per day, up to hundreds during her lifespan. The small caterpillars look like bird droppings for the first three instars. Later instars have the characteristic green, black, and yellow pattern. Both the “bird-dropping” look and the bright stripes are defensive coloration that protects the caterpillars from being eaten. From egg to pupa can take 14–40 days, depending on temperature. The butterflies emerge from their chrysalises after about 20 days, again temperature-dependent.

There are two broods in the Mid-Atlantic states.

No matter what style and orientation your gardening takes, education is the key to making an ecologically correct decision as to what action if any, you take when you find a strange caterpillar on your plants. Check it out! You may find that you are hosting a beautiful butterfly temporarily camouflaged in a caterpillar’s body. 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. *Please use pesticides safely! Read and heed all label directions!

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TOP AREA GARDENING EVENTS DC-Area Gardening Calendar ~ Upcoming Events ~ May 16–June 15, 2017 • Now through August 2018 Cultivating America’s Gardens: A Smithsonian Libraries and Smithsonian Gardens Exhibition The exhibit surveys garden history in America from colonial times to the present. It features several images from the Archives of America Gardens and it showcases numerous holdings from the Smithsonian collections. On display at the National Museum of American History. For further information, go to: http://library.si.edu/exhibition/cultivating-americas-gardens.

• Saturday, May 20, 9am–3pm Spring Garden Day at Green Spring THE BIG PLANT SALE More than 40 local garden vendors descend on Green Spring Gardens with beautiful and unusual plants to fill your spring gardening needs. Growers and Master Gardeners are on hand to help with plant selections and advice.

FROGS members receive 10% off plants in the Garden Gate Plant Shop.

Free admission. For more information, call Green Spring Gardens at 703-6425173. Green Spring Gardens, 4603 Green Spring Road, Alexandria, VA 22312 (www.fairfaxcounty.gov/parks/ greenspring).

• Saturday, May 20, 10am–4pm Sandy Spring Garden Tour The Sandy Spring Museum Garden Club invites you to immerse yourself in local flora, food, and fine art by touring five fabulous gardens in the New Hampshire Avenue Corridor. Then celebrate over wine and hors d’oeuvres at a special sixth garden from 4–6pm.

Tickets are available at www.sandyspringmuseum.org/gardentour or at The Sandy Spring Museum on May 20 from 9-11 am.

• Saturday, May 20, 8am–2pm 8th Annual Hyattsville Native Plant Sale Looking to make your garden or yard more beautiful, interesting, and inviting to birds, bees, and butterflies? Do you want to plant fruit-bearing shrubs? Or, maybe you want to replace some English ivy that’s smothering your garden.

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You can find all the plants you need to make these changes and more at the Hyattsville Native Plant Sale, 5311 43rd Ave., Hyattsville, MD (Hyattsville Elementary School). Learn more and look for updates on our website at http:// hyattsvillees-pta.org/native-plant-sale/.

• Saturday and Sunday, May 20-21 Around the World with Gesneriads The National Capital Area Chapter of the Gesneriad Society will be having a gesneriad show and sale. Held at the Community Room, Springfield Town Center, 6500 Springfield Mall, Springfield, VA. • Sunday, May 21, 9am–5pm Late Bloomers Sale at White’s Nursery This event provides an opportunity to enjoy later-blooming azaleas and rhododendron. Enjoy an afternoon mingling with other plant lovers while taking a leisurely stroll admiring the many varieties of azaleas and rhododendrons in our greenhouses. The evergreen azalea inventory has grown to over 300 varieties. White’s also has one of the largest collection of deciduous and native azaleas. Bring your camera for some great photographs. White’s Nursery is located at: 22531 Wildcat Road, Germantown, MD. See: www.whites-nursery.com.

• Saturday, May 21, 10am–6pm Mount Vernon Historic Plant and Garden Sale Gardening experts will be available to answer your plant-related questions.

Mount Vernon, 3200 Mount Vernon Memorial Hwy., Alexandria, VA. See: mountvernon.org. Free to attend the plant sale.

• Every Wednesday, 7–8pm Arlington Central Library Garden Talks May 24: Garden Structures: Supports, Going Vertical, Rabbit & Deer Control.

May 31: Top 10 Vegetable Diseases June 7: Insects: Pests & Beneficials June 14: Pollination, Pollinators, & Flowers Held at the Arlington Central Library, 1015 N. Quincy St, Arlington, VA. Free.

Download the entire 2017 Gardening Talks schedule here: https://afac.org/.

wp-content/uploads/2013/04/GardenTalks.Central.2017.pdf.

• Monday, May 22, 4pm The Practice of Biophilia in DC Biophilia is defined as a “love of life” and recognizes the human need to connect with the natural world. Biophilic design and planning increases access to nature, light, and biodiversity to reduce stress, promote healing, foster creativity, and improve cognitive function. Held at the University of the District of Columbia Student Center, 4200 Connecticut Avenue, NW, Ballroom A, WDC. Details and register at: https:// districtbiophilia.splashthat.com.

• May 27 to June 4, 10am–4pm Azalea Bonsai Exhibit: Putting on the Glitz In Japan, it is said that the beauty of an azalea bonsai in bloom is like the beauty of a courtesan dressed in her finest brocade kimono. Breathtaking blossoms cover these late-blooming Satsuki azaleas, miniature in form, but covered with full-sized flowers. This annual spring exhibit showcases the most spectacular examples. Free. At the National Bonsai & Penjing Museum Exhibits Gallery, USNA, WDC. • Tuesday, May 30, 7:30pm Fabaceae (Pea Family) of Our Region Speaker: Rod Simmons, Natural Resources Manager & Plant Ecologist, City of Alexandria, VA, will take us on a tour of the diverse regional members of this fascinating family and their habitats. Held at the Kensington Park Library, Kensington, MD. Free. The Maryland Native Plant Society meeting is open to nonmembers. See https:// mdflora.org/.

• Wednesday, May 31, 6:30–8:30pm Dealing With Deer & Other Mammal Pests in Your Garden Bambi may be cute, but the rest of the herd are very hungry and would love to make a feast of your garden. This talk will cover proven and humane tactics for gardening with deer, rabbits, rats, groundhogs, and other creatures that are attracted to both edible and orna-

TOP AREA GARDENING EVENTS DC-Area Gardening Calendar ~ Upcoming Events ~ May 16–June 15, 2017 mental gardens. Taught by Kathy Jentz, editor and publisher of Washington Gardener Magazine. Held at Raymond Recreation Center, Raymond Computer Lab, WDC. Register at https://dcdpr. asapconnected.com/ClassDetail. aspx?pk=813620.

• Friday, June 2, 6:30–9:30pm

Garden Fiesta City Blossoms’ annual fundraising celebration at DC Bilingual Public Charter School, 33 Riggs Road, NE, WDC. For tickets: http://cbartinthegarden. brownpapertickets.com/ • Saturday, June 3, 11am 10th Annual DC Plant Swap Details Hosted by Washington Gardener Bring and receive free plants to expand your garden. During the first half hour, plants arrive and are sorted ,then the swap itself starts promptly at 11:30am.

Do not be late—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/ WashingtonGardenerMagazine/.

• Saturday, June 3, 1–5pm Potomac Rose Society’s 2nd Annual Mid-Atlantic Symposium on Disease Resistant Roses Learn about gorgeous, easy care roses that thrive in the DC Metropolitan area.

Gaye Hammond is speaking on Easy Care Roses, American Rose Society’s President, Pat Shanley will highlight the importance of the American Garden Rose Selection program, and a panel on Growing Roses without Chemicals in the DC Metro area and Resources for Disease Resistant Roses ends the day.

Held at the Silver Spring Library, 900 Wayne Avenue, Silver Spring, MD. Registration is free at https://potomac-rosesociety-2symposium.eventbrite.com.

• Thursday, June 8, 5:30–9pm Great American Gardeners Awards Ceremony and Banquet Enjoy an outdoor reception and dinner overlooking the Potomac River with the

2017 recipients of the American Horticultural Society’s awards. See details at www.ahsgardening.org/awards.

• Thursday June 8, 2017 7–9pm Hometown Habitat: Lecture and Screening Learn how and why native plants are critical to the survival and vitality of local ecosystems with author, landscape designer, and documentary filmmaker Catherine Zimmerman. Talk will be followed by a screening of her latest documentary, Hometown Habitat, featuring Doug Tallamy, entomologist and author of Bringing Nature Home. Fee: FREE; registration required at http:// www.montgomeryparks.org. Brookside Gardens, Visitors Center Auditorium 1800 Glenallan Ave., Wheaton, MD. Sponsored by Friends of Brookside Gardens and offered in partnership with Maryland Native Plant Society.

• Friday, June 9, 12:30–2:30pm Art in the Garden Beginning and advanced artists alike will find inspiration in the historic gardens of the Tudor Place estate in the heart of Georgetown. Join Director of Buildings, Gardens, and Grounds Kellie Cox, an award-winning botanical artist, to explore a variety of subjects, media, and locations in the historic garden.

Students will learn tips and techniques for working in pencil and pastels or penand-ink, creating their own unique art piece during each class. No art experience required. Members: $45 per class; nonmembers: $50 per class. Register at http://www.tudorplace.org.

• Saturday, June 10, 10am–4pm You Can Grow It! Festival Come help us celebrate this year’s summer exhibit, “You Can Grow It!” Highlighting gardening tips and tricks for novice and expert gardeners alike, the You Can Grow It! Celebration will showcase activities for people at all gardening comfort levels. Come join the fun at the National Garden (Rain Location: Conservatory) of U.S. Botanic Garden.

FREE: No pre-registration required. See https://www.usbg.gov.

Save These Future Dates • Saturday, June 17 from 10am–4pm School Garden Planting & Urbana Happy Hour Join Slow Food DC and Snail of Approval Winner, Urbana, at the School Without Walls (2425 N St., NW, Washington, DC) as they plant seedlings at the nearby School Without Walls at Francis Stevens, and later celebrate with good food and libations. Purchase tickets at: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/schoolgarden-planting-urbana-happy-hour-tickets-34443777265.

• Saturday and Sunday, June 24–25 Regency Ladies’ Weekend Escape the hustle of modern life and escape to the Regency era as you explore fashion, food, amusements, and more. Enjoy the rare opportunity to spend the night at Riversdale. Period attire admired but not required. To register: riversdale@pgparks.com.

• Sunday July 9, 2–3:30pm Garden Photo Show Reception Come view the 17 winners of the DC Garden Photo Contest Meadowlark Botanical Gardens in Vienna, VA. • Saturday, July 15 Annual Water Lily & Lotus Festival The kickoff of Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens’ signature summer event. They’ll have music, cultural arts and crafts, live animal exhibit for kids, and more.

The lotus and lilies will be in full bloom throughout the seven acres of the National Park Service’s only site dedicated to aquatic plants. Information: www.friendsofkenilworthgardens.org.

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 kathyjentz@gmail.com — put “Event” in the subject line. Our next deadline is June 10 for the June 2017 issue, for events taking place from June 16—July 15. o MAY 2017

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TIPStricks

Do You Have a Swarm of Honey Bees in DC?

Growing and Using Chives

U.S. Arboretum Mobile App A comfortable pair of walking shoes is a smart choice when planning a visit to the U.S. National Arboretum (USNA) in Washington, DC. Now, there’s a new smart phone “app” that’s available to help you get around better.

On Wednesday, April 19, Arboretum staff demonstrated how to use the new app to navigate the vast grounds of this historic botanical garden, which is operated by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Agricultural Research Service (ARS).

Visiting an arboretum or public garden can be a peaceful and informative experience, but it can also be overwhelming if the arboretum covers a large area, said horticulturalist Scott Aker, who heads the USNA’s Garden’s Unit. The U.S. National Arboretum is no exception, he added. It encompasses 446 bucolic acres with exhibits and collections connected by nine miles of paved roadway.

To make visits there even more enjoyable, Arboretum head botanist Kevin Tunison and Arboretum IT specialist Stefanye Washington led a team in developing a mobile software application that’s compatible with iOS and Android platforms for smartphones and other mobile devices.

The Arboretum staff demonstrated the app’s functions and provided an app-assisted tour of the blooming azalea gardens there. The app complements existing signage and is programmed to give visitors a “real-time” idea of what tours, exhibits, events, and gardens they can check out during a visit. Other features include a digital map and search function that visitors can use to explore the collections, learn about available visitor services, and locate a memorial bench or tree with greater ease. o 10

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Chives (Allium schoenoprasum) come in several forms, but the most common one has roundish leaves that are used for their onion-like flavor. This perennial member of the onion family is hardy in Zones 3-10. In spring, it has lovely purple flowers made up of masses of florets. Chives are cool-season, coldtolerant perennials that are planted in early spring. Be mindful when planting this herb, since it will take over your garden if the flowers are left to ripen (the flowers scatter the seeds). However, this plant is easy to dig up and move if it overwhelms your garden.

From seed, sow indoors and cover lightly with a medium about 6 to 8 weeks before the last frost. Plant in potting soil in a deep container or flat.

Sprouting will occur in about 10 to 14 days at 60 to 70 degrees F. Set seedlings in clumps in the garden. Outdoors, seed can be sown in furrows or broadcast to grow in clumps. Chives like full sun and rich soil. They can take partial shade, but will not grow as fully erect.

The leaves will die back in the summer heat but may return in the fall. Clumps should last four to five years before they should be divided.

Chives can be harvested fresh for use in salads and recipes. Cut a few leaves to the base, but don’t shear the whole plant down to the base or it won’t be able to manufacture food for the roots.

The flower heads can be used to make chive vinegar and the flowers can also be dried. To dry the flowers, put them in a paper bag, but leave the mouth of the bag open. Don’t tie the stems together or they may rot instead of dry. Chives can be dried by snipping the leaves as you would for a salad, and then placing them on a fine screen or nylon mesh in a warm place, out of direct light. Stir regularly for several days. When dry, seal in jars. Leaves can also be frozen in airtight bags.

Read more about growing herbs at the National Garden Bureau (http:// ngb.org). o

Honey bee swarms are blobs of hundreds, if not thousands of homeless, helpless, and harmless pollinators looking for a new place to live. Only the strongest colonies of Apis mellifera, which have survived the winter and outgrown their last-year’s hives, will swarm.

The DC Beekeepers Alliance (http:// www.dcbeekeepers.org) wants to catch them and give them the homes they are looking for. When that happens, the bees have a chance to contribute to a healthier, more-sustainable future for urban honey bees.

But swarms can land in lots of different places. As daunting as this seems, they are usually easy for a trained beekeeper to collect (if the trainee can safely get access to the bees). The alliance has more than a dozen local beekeepers who are anxious to build experience in getting bees in this manner.

At any time of the year, the DC Beekeepers get calls about bees (both honey bees and others) that are living inside houses, garages, sheds, or hollows in trees. This is a different kind of project, and one that requires more expertise and planning. If you have honey bees inside a structure, you need to find a beekeeper with special expertise, carpentry skills, and several hours of time. This help is not free, but reasonable agreements can be worked out in advance, and expert removal is the only way to deal with your problem. (If you spray insecticide into a cavity, you are unlikely to kill all the insects, and will leave a reservoir of honey and wax inside your wall that will prove a delight to ants and mice, as well as an ongoing source of moisture and leakage.) It is also illegal for pest control contractors to spray honey bees, and most don’t want to anyway.

For bee trees, the DC Beekeepers Alliance is delighted to work with your professional arborist to cut away and remove a section of trunk containing a wild colony, and move it off of your premises. They do this a couple of times a year as an educational activity.

You can email dcbees@dcbeekeepers. org, call 202-255-4318 or tweet to @DCBeekeepers if you have a swarm and they will try to collect it. o

GARDENnews

Quick Links to Washington Gardener Blog Posts

New Plant Spotlight Fairy Magnolia Bush

Doltsopa x yunnanensis x figo cross Introducing the Fairy Magnolias®, Michelia hybrids, bred by renowned New Zealand breeder Mark Jury and offered by Anthony Tesselaar International (www.tesselaar.com).

Fairy Magnolia® is a new hybrid of Michelias bred to produce masses of beautiful fragrant flowers blushed with lilac-pink in early spring. These plants are so free-flowering that they have a flower bud at each leaf axil and have been known to provide a light flush of flowers during summer, too.

The plants are bushy with rich evergreen foliage, which makes them ideal in the garden as a flowering hedge or specimen plant.

They perform best when given moderate moisture levels over summer, but can handle drier conditions once established. Occasional deep watering recommended.

Key Features: • Hardy in USDA zones 7b–11.

• Beautifully fragrant blooms • Masses of russet-colored buds opening to lilac-pink flowers in spring • Medium dark-green foliage • Compact and bushy growth habit o

• Oodles of Flower and Garden Photos • DIY: Chalkboard Watering Cans • Growing ‘Crimson Crunch’ Radishes • How to Prep for the DC Plant Swap • Seussian Bloom Day See more Washington Gardener blog posts at: WashingtonGardener.blogspot.com o

May-June Garden To-Do List

• 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 2017

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BOOKreviews Stuff Every Gardener Should Know

By Scott Meyer Publisher: Quirk Books List Price: $9.95 Reviewer: India Hamilton Author Scott Meyer is semi-local, hailing from Buck’s County in Pennsylvania, and the author of eight other books about gardening. This small, pocketsized book is great as a gift or to keep for yourself and tuck in the back pocket of your jeans to take with you on your next trip to the garden. It’s a handbook full of plenty of tips and tricks to maximize your gardening experience.

With sections on food, flowers, landscaping, and general problem-solving, Stuff Every Gardener Should Know is a go-to resource for quick answers the next time you’re stumped in the garden. You’ll also find a compact list of websites in the back of the book to use as resources for your next gardening endeavor.

from California and now residing in Lovettsville, Virginia, has been a Master Gardener for over 20 years and has an award-winning blog, “The Small Town Gardener.” Big Dreams is organized into four sections (Visualize, Achieve, Maintain, and Enjoy) as steps for helping troubled gardeners complete a project from start to finish. Pleasantly designed, Willburn’s book includes a ton of personal experience, photos, and useful information that beginner or intermediate gardeners might not think about. Profiles of small space and limited-resource gardens are sprinkled throughout the book, complete with pictures and advice to recreate what is shown. Big Dreams is the perfect addition to your gardening library.

India Hamilton is a junior multi-platform journalism major and black women’s studies minor at the University of Maryland. This winter/spring, she is an editorial intern at Washington Gardener Magazine.

Big Dreams, Small Garden

By Marianne Wilburn Publisher: Skyhorse Publishing, Inc. List Price: $17.99 Reviewer: India Hamilton This is the great book for gardeners who may be both passionate and experienced, but not able to create their ideal garden because of limited resources. Willburn, originally 12

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Monarchs and Milkweed: A Migrating Butterfly, a Poisonous Plant, and Their Remarkable Story of Coevolution

By Anurag Agrawal Publisher: Princeton University Press List Price: $29.95 Reviewer: Kathy Parrent This is the story of the evolutionary “arms race” between Milkweed, a plant that emits toxins to protect itself from harm by insects, and the colorful and iconic Monarch Butterfly, which eats only Milkweed. The butterfly has developed the ability to consume and store those toxins within itself. As a side

benefit, the toxins protect the Monarch from predators like birds.

Monarchs and Milkweed reads like an article for a scientific journal, perhaps one on entomology or lepidopterology. The author, Anurag Agrawal, is a professor in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and the Department of Entomology at Cornell University. The book is jammed with interesting facts, but is written in dense technical language. If you lack a science background, you might be tempted to skim. I relied heavily on the photos, their captions, and the illustrations.

The book covers a wide range of facts about the plant and the butterfly— their continuing coevolution; how the plant defends itself with toxins (cardenolides); the butterfly’s mating, reproduction, and development from egg to caterpillar to chrysalis to butterfly; and the fascinating story of the Monarch migration. We learn that Monarchs actually fly from different locations in the north, all funneling into the same general overwintering sites in a cluster of mountain peaks in central Mexico smaller than the size of New York City.

Agrawal also explores why Monarchs prefer a particular tree, the Oyamel Fir. It’s not until the last chapter that we learn the author’s most controversial position. (Spoiler alert!) Agrawal rejects the idea that Milkweed habitat loss is the cause of Monarch population decline. Planting Milkweed, he believes, will not halt the “serious, persistent, long-term decline” of the Monarch but-

BOOKreviews terfly.

While many experts disagree with Agrawal and a whole movement has sprung up to save Monarchs by planting Milkweed, he has studied the causes of Monarch loss and believes the main cause (or confluence of causes) remains debatable. He has good company in his camp. A May 2016 National Academy of Sciences report has also said there is not enough evidence to support Milkweed loss as the cause of Monarch decline.

Says the author, “Here is where the ‘pin-headed scientist’ in me who wants more data clashes with the ‘concerned environmentalist’ in me who panics as a crisis is brewing. I sometimes feel like both of these caricatures—wanting to be rigorous in the basis of our conclusions, but not wanting to wait to act until disaster occurs.”

Other known and possible threats to the Monarch include logging and ecotourism at the overwintering sites in Mexico, predators and parasites, use of herbicides and insecticides, genetically modified crops, the introduction of invasive species, dramatic weather events, climate change, car accidents, and possibly even electromagnetic fields.

I was interested to learn that the research on Monarch migration was the first to enlist citizen scientists. For 30 years, volunteers tagged butterflies, helping to follow the trail of the butterfly and find the end point of the autumn migration. They were led by scientists Fred and Nora Urquhart, who conducted intense research, rejecting theories that Monarchs hibernated under logs or spent the winter flying freely in Florida or the Gulf Coast. Nor did they fly from Texas to California and back east in the spring.

The trail to Mexico was finally established in 1973. In 1975, with the assistance of citizen scientists Ken Brugger and Cathy Brugger, the overwintering colonies were discovered, the largest with some 300 million butterflies. If you’ve never seen photos of the butterflies massing on the trees, it is a mesmerizing sight and a little surreal.

You can see those photos in the book. There is also stunning macro photography of the caterpillar on the

plant that you could never view in real life. The cover design of both Milkweed and Monarch is gorgeous. And the lavish illustrations are especially helpful in understanding the science.

Kathy Parrent is a writer, gardener, and amateur photographer in Silver Spring, MD. She runs a Facebook page, “Green Thumb to the Rescue.”

Cheval Force Opp lives in Dunn Loring, VA, with her husband Dana and corgi Marzipan.

Visiting gardens all over the world is her favorite activity. Her own gardens are in constant change to meet the challenges of too many deer and not enough time.

Next Book Club Meeting A Short History of Gardens

By Gordon Campbell Publisher: Oxford University Press List Price: $16.95 Reviewer: Cheval Force Opp I was at best dubious about the history of the garden in a palm-sized book of 144 pages, but I loved it. Sitting in the car, as my husband listened to an action thriller, it held my attention.

I have read much of Europe’s garden history, but Campbell refreshed my memory of specific gardens and threaded through the historical antecedents as he leads the reader through garden examples.

He serves up fun trivia tidbits that satisfied my data-driven brain. Did you know the Kamasutra documents wee early Indian gardens? The photos are sparse but do not detract from the enjoyment of the garden descriptions.

I used the glossary more than once for unfamiliar garden terms. I recommend this little book to anyone as a starter book or a refresher on garden history. o

For our next Washington Gardener Magazine Book Club selection, we will be discussing The Triumph of Seeds by Thor Hanson. “A fascinating scientific adventure, it is essential reading for anyone who loves to see a plant grow.”

Please join us on Tuesday, May 23, from 6:30-8:00pm at Soupergirl, located right next to the Takoma Metro stop.

Plan to come a bit early to purchase and eat your dinner with the garden book club.

RSVP to washingtongardener@rcn. com or at the club’s event page at facebook.com/WashingtonGardenerMagazine by May 22.

The Garden Book Club is free and open to all. We meet quarterly on a weekday evening near a Metro-accessible location in the DC-area.

Your Ad Here

Contact kathyjentz@gmail.com or call 301.588.6894 for ad rates.

The ad deadline is the 10th of each month. Please submit your ad directly to: KathyJentz@gmail.com.

MAY 2017

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PLANTprofile

Tips for Growing the Prettiest Fritillaries

Fritillaries:

From Dainty to Flamboyant You might not be familiar with the name “fritillary,” but you are already acquainted with the Checkered Lily and the Crown Imperial. Actually, these are the two most familiar fritillaries. The Latin word fritillus means “dice cup” in reference to their cup-shaped flowers. In addition, the markings on a Checkered Lily look something like dice. Almost all fritillaries bloom in April and May.

Fritillary Varieties

Fritillaries are endemic to various parts of the world: China, central and southern Europe, and North America. Over the years, various species have found their way into gardens. Here are just a few species from this highly varied genus: • Checkered Lily (Fritillaria meleagris) This plant produces dainty purple flowers that resemble the eggs of lapwings.

It reaches a height of 12 inches. ‘Alba’ produces white flowers.

• Fritillaria michailovskyi Its refined reddish brown flowers with bright yellow margins sway like skirts in the breeze. It reaches a height of 8 inches.

• Crown Imperial (Fritillaria imperialis) Their flamboyant flowers can be yellow, orange-red, or red. Since moles 14

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dislike the smell of Crown Imperials, this makes these bulbs a good way of repelling these little creatures from your garden. They reach heights of 40 to 48 inches. ‘Maxima Lutea’ produces large, lemon-yellow flowers followed by eyecatching seed pods.

• Persian Lily (Fritillaria persica) Their pearls of aubergine-colored flowers adorn a stem reaching 36 inches in height. The greenish-white flowers of ‘Ivory Bells’ display an ivory glow.

• Fritillaria raddeana These enchanting cream-colored flowers with conspicuous yellow stamens often appear as early as the end of March.

So Many Uses

Fritillaries are shown to good advantage either in groups of the same or more than one species in their genus. They also combine attractively with other bulbous plants or perennials. Imagine a grouping of late-flowering daffodils and the purplish-red bells of Fritillaria persica. Most fritillaries will also thrive in pots. Nice on the patio or next to the front door! Take a look at them at www. bulb.com, where you will also find a lot of information and inspiration about flower bulbs.

Like other spring-flowering bulbs, fritillaries should be planted in October or November.

The bulbs have no protective skin, so they will dry out quickly. This means you should plant them as soon after purchase as possible.

Plant them in a moist, well-drained location that provides either sun or partial shade.

Plant them deep in the soil: small bulbs at a depth of 2.5 to 4 inches and larger ones at 8 inches.

The bulb of Crown Imperial (Fritillaria imperialis) has a hollow center at the place where last year’s stem emerged.

This is at the top of the bulb. To keep water from standing in this indentation, plant these bulbs at a slant.

Provide some extra water during and after flowering. Give taller fritillaries some support. The plants will die back in the autumn, but the bulb will survive beneath the soil surface.

Some fritillaries will need a bit of special pre-winter care. Fritillaria imperialis will survive a winter more easily if covered by a mulching of leaves or compost. Fritillaria persica should actually be lifted and then replanted in the autumn. Fritillaria meleagris naturalizes easily, so you can simply leave those undisturbed in the ground and watch them pop up spontaneously in all kinds of places the next year.

Fun Fritillary Facts

Crown Imperial (Fritillaria imperialis) was one of the first plants to be cultivated. Botanist Carolus Clusius planted them in Leiden as early as the sixteenth century.

The name ‘Crown Imperial’ refers to the shape of the seed pods that turn upward and together create the shape of a crown.

Checkered Lily (Fritillaria meleagris) occurs in the wild in wet grasslands and along streams in the Netherlands, but is on that country’s list of endangered plant species. o For more information about fritillaries and bulb growing in general, go to: www.bulb. com. Checkered fritillary photo by Wouter Koppen.

SPECIALfeature

Hailstorm Pummels Local Gardens

by Kathy Jentz

A mid-afternoon thunderstorm arrived on Friday, April 21, with two rounds of quarter to dime-sized hail hitting inside the Beltway from downtown Silver Spring to Cheverly, MD, and south into Washington, DC. The balls coated every surface in the landscape. Drivers with zero road visibility pulled over and reported harrowing commutes home. There are many reports of trees down and damaged wires. The localized weather event was the worst hailstorm in recent memory.

Miraculously, this unusual and dangerous storm did not cause any personal human injury.

My own home garden looked like it went through a blender, with leaf parts strewn everywhere. Tulips and Iris were decapitated and my tender Spinach plants lay practically lifeless from the ice-cold shock.

I asked other area gardeners to let me know how their gardens fared after the storm. These are some of their responses: • Liz Crafford said, “I live on Kalmia Road in Shepherd Park, Washington,

DC. My Hostas definitely look like they went through a Cuisinart! My Crepe Myrtle really took a hit—those tender green new leaves are mostly on the ground. Thankfully, my Bearded Iris hadn’t opened yet and are doing just fine! Mother Nature always wins!”

• “I lost a few tomato plants and pepper seedlings along with a couple of kale seedlings,” reported Dan Odess on Ethan Allen Avenue in Takoma Park, MD. “Peas seem unaffected, though I caught a deer eyeing them last night.”

• Over on Park Crest Drive, Kit Gage shared that her Beech tree’s leaves look like Oaks now with all the tears. “The Clematis stems were all broken about 8–10 inches from the tops and half the Azalea flowers were knocked off.”

• “We here on Valley View were lucky that the huge tree in back of us came

down between the houses facing Philadelphia and Valley View,” said Melissa Smith of Silver Spring, MD (see her photo, below.) “It looks to be over 70 feet and came down with a crack. Sue, our neighbor behind us, had her car squashed flat and there was damage to the yards of the next two houses going up the hill.”

• The saddest report comes in from Takoma Park’s City Gardener Mike Welsh. He said, “I lost all of my pond’s Koi and carp fish; probably a total count of fifty (50). At this time, all of my frogs including tadpoles appear to have survived and their activity appears to be normal.”

Thankfully, plants are generally resilient. The Prince George’s County Master Gardeners said, “For those of you who had hail last week, the good news is that it occurred early in the growing season and the trees have time to grow more leaves—although it may be little consolation to you this year.”

The Maryland Home and Garden Information Center said that: “The Mayapples and Trilliums will die back for this year (as normal), but their established roots will be fine and they will grow back—the Hostas too. If there is any foliage remaining on the Daffodils and Alliums, do not cut it back. The foliage enables photosynthesis, which feeds the bulbs. If the foliage is severely damaged, it may cause a decline in the vigor of the plants next year, but they will come back.” o

Kathy Jentz is editor of Washington Gardener Magazine and is a long-time DC area gardening enthusiast.

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HORThaenings

Leesburg Flower Festival

On April 22 and 23, Leesburg hosted the 27th annual Flower and Garden Festival, including more than 150 vendors in landscaping, garden supplies, outdoor decor, live music, children’s activities, and food. The festival featured a landscaping competition, craft exhibits, and a beer garden. Barry Glick, a nationally recognized speaker and native plant columnist for Washington Gardener, helped kick off the festival on Friday night with his presentation on “Woodland Wonders from the Wild.”

Montgomery County Master Gardeners: Grow it, Eat it Open House Virginia Garden Week: Reston Tour

On April 25, Washington Gardener staff attended the Reston tour in Fairfax County as a part of the Garden Club of Virginia’s Historic Garden Week. Every year in April, the club hosts more than 26,000 visitors to its 30 home and garden tours in Virginia. Started in 1929, the tours aimed to raise money to preserve some of the historic gardens and landscapes. Since then, Historic Garden Week has earned more than $425 million for garden restoration.

Montgomery County Master Gardeners hosted their annual Grow It, Eat It Open House on April 29 at the Agricultural History Farm Park in Derwood, MD. The event featured classes on vegetable gardening in small plots, preserving seeds, hydroponics, tomato grafting and growing small fruit and herbal teas.

Representatives from Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts were also there to earn the plant science merit badge.

Earth Day Festival at the Old City Farm and Guild

Located at Rhode Island Avenue NW in DC, Old City Farm and Guild is a “garden oasis in an urban environment.”

This Earth Day, they teamed up with ECO City Farms to put on a small festival. “We wanted to celebrate cross-pollination and thought ‘What better way to do that than by having two urban farms come together on Earth Day?’” said Old City Farm and Guild owner Frank Asher.

ECO City is an urban nonprofit organization and production partner with Old City Farm. They also specialize in nutrition education and agriculture training.

ECO City Farm volunteers worked to clean out some garden beds at Old City Farm on Earth Day. Participants could also partake in activities such as listening to a live band, attending a wellness talk, planting in the pollinator garden, or shopping for herbs, perennials, and annuals.

Spring Garden Market Sale at the AHS River Farm

The American Horticultural Society hosts an annual plant sale known as the Spring Garden Market in Alexandria, Virginia. This year the sale was on Friday and Saturday, April 21–22.

Attendees could find plants, garden supplies and decor, food tents, a petting zoo, and an art show.

metro DC area. This year’s theme, A New Century Begins, celebrated 100 years of All Hallows Guild and its contributions to the cathedral. In addition to shopping clothing, food, and flower vendors, attendees could tour the beautiful grounds and gardens of the Cathedral as well. o Compiled by India Hamilton, an editorial intern at Washington Gardener Magazine.

See many more photos from events listed here, as well as many more photo albums of recent local garden events, at the Washington Gardener Facebook Page: facebook. com/WashingtonGardenerMagazine. Recent albums include: • Georgetown Garden Tour 2017 • Maryland House and Garden Pilgrimage 2017: Westminster, MD/Carroll County • Falls Church VA House and Garden Tour • McCrillis Gardens • Historic Takoma House and Garden Tour • DuPont Gardens in Delaware • Tulip displays at the Dutch Ambassador’s DC residence Click on the PHOTOS tab, then select from the ALBUMS.

Cathedral Flower Mart

The 78th annual Cathedral Flower Mart was held May 5–6 at the Washington National Cathedral. With more than 100 tents and booths, it is a widely recognized family festival in the greater MAY 2017

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EDIBLEharvt

Raspberries Are Golden

by Ramona Winkelbauer ‘Anne’ Yellow Raspberry. Photo courtesy of Stark Bro’s Nurseries & Orchards Co., www.starkbros.com.

While most people believe raspberries (and roses) are red, there are a number of yellow cultivars. Most commonly seen for purchase is the ubiquitous ‘Anne,’ but the author has had success with ‘Double Gold’ and ‘Kiwi Gold’ (in DC) and (in Prince Georges County, MD) ‘Fall Gold.’

Unlike their red forebears, the yellow raspberry is a drupel of liquid sunshine (without the razz/tart taste). Few (home) fruits last to be shared or preserved, since almost all are immediately eaten from the garden. Yellow raspberries can be purchased at some farmers’ markets.

Historical records of red raspberry cultivation date to Palladius (the fourthcentury Roman agriculturalist). Seeds have been found in Roman forts on British sites. Yellow raspberries are actually “albino” red raspberries with altered fruit color and taste.

Raspberries (whether black, red, purple, or yellow) are frequently found in gardening resources (along with blackberries or the hybrids like tayberries) as “brambles” among the so-called small fruits.

Unlike their “cousins”—the blackberries that propagate by layering their 18

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aerial growth—the raspberry spreads via underground stolons (adventitious buds) in all directions. These root systems are fairly shallow, with 70% of the growth within the first 4" of soil; thus, they are drought-sensitive. The gardener planting yellow (or red) raspberries will need to curb the (invasive) growth to preferred areas—unless s/he wishes to allow a bramble patch to develop!

Frequently called aggregates, raspberries are fruits where each ovary develops separately on the receptacle, which stays on the cane after picking; while the blackberry ovary detaches with the rest of the fruit. Raspberry flowers are small (about an inch across) and attractive to bees; raspberries are also windpollinated. The gynoecium consists of 60–100 ovaries, each ovary developing into a drupelet. There are 60–90 stamens, five sepals, and five petals.

Most cultivars are self-fruitful; they take from 30–50 days from pollination to ripening. Flowers appear in early to mid-summer in primocane fruiting types; ever-bearing varieties can be cut to ground in winter for summer-fruiting

(and less trellising).

Most of the raspberry varieties being sold are disease-resistant to viruses but it is still recommended that gardeners allow a three- to five-year “fallow” period before planting raspberries, where any of the Solanaceae family of plants (tomatoes or potatoes) have previously grown.

Depending on your plant source, you’ll be sold either bare roots or potted plants. In the DC-area, raspberries can be planted in either spring or fall, with the latter preferred since cooler temps require less plant watering.

Raspberries should be grown in full sun, with good drainage (amending clay soil with compost) and good air circulation; plants in dappled sunshine produce less fruit. Rabbits can eat the canes in winter, but chicken-wire fencing reduces the potential grazing damage.

Raspberries are often planted in rows, with plants 2–3 feet apart, but they can also be planted in a circular area. Dig your holes large enough to contain the entire root mass without wrapping (trimming them, if necessary) with the crown 1–2 inches above ground level. Due to their drought-sensitivity, raspberries need 1 to 1.5 inches of water per week from flowering until harvest. Use a rain gauge or check on reported rainfall, and irrigate accordingly.

Support your canes with trellising as simple as twine between posts or as elaborate as your wallet can afford.

Canes that lack support can sustain wind damage and are prone to bending over, cracking, and getting out of control. Planting herbs or other flowering plants in your raspberry “patch” will attract bees and other beneficial insects. Weed, feed (compost), and mulch your patch for best results—raspberries are heavy feeders that do not compete well against grasses for nutrients. Cutting down your canes will also reduce potential diseases.

Sources of Cultivars

• American Meadows; http://www. americanmeadows.com/perennials/ berries/; Anne; Kiwi Gold • Arbor Grove Nursery; http://www. agnursery.com/summer-bearing-raspberries.html; Cascade Gold • Berries Unlimited; https://www.ber-

EDIBLEharvt riesunlimited.com/honeyqueen-yellowfloricane-12cm-pot.html; Amber Yellow (F), Anne (P), Honey Queen (F) and Double Gold (P) • Edible Landscaping; http://ediblelandscaping.com/products/berries/ Raspberries/; Anne; Double Gold • Indiana Berry & Plant; https:// indianaberry.com/products/1/2/ Plants/Raspberries; Anne; Double Gold; Fall Gold • Nature Hills; http://www.naturehills. com/fruit-trees-and-plants/raspberries; Fall Gold; Kiwi Gold • Nourse Farms; http://noursefarms. com/raspberry-plants/anne/; Anne • Prairie Tech Propagation ($200 min order); http://prairietechpropagation. com/index.php/price-list-and-orderforms; Honey Queen • Stark Brothers Nurseries; http://www. starkbros.com/products/berry-plants/ raspberry-plants/anne-yellow-raspberry; Anne; Double Gold • Urban Seedling; https://www.urbanseedling.com/product/raspberry-kiwigold/; Kiwi Gold

References

• Blackberry and Raspberry Rubus spp.; http://www.fruit-crops.com/blackberry-and-raspberry/ • Cascade Gold; https://www.researchgate.net/publication/265378216_ ’Cascade_Gold’_Raspberry • Raspberries for the Home Garden; http://www.extension.umn.edu/garden/ yard-garden/fruit/raspberries-for-thehome-garden/ • Raspberry Cultivar Evaluations; http://www.ridgetownc.uoguelph. ca/research/documents/zandstra_ rasprt00.pdf • Raspberry Plant Types and Recommended Varieties; http://www.fruit.cornell.edu/berry/ipm/ipmpdfs/ raspplanttype.pdf. o Winkelbauer works at the National Science Foundation as an IT specialist and is transforming her tiny urban lot into an edible landscape. Her yard now features yellow raspberries, paw paws, hazelnuts, chestnuts, blueberries, and bush cherries.

She has gardened since childhood and is a Master Gardener (UDC) and Master Naturalist (MD). She presented “From Evergreen to Edible” at Rooting DC 2017 and writes a weekly blog on Govloop.com. She can be reached at ramona.winkelbauer@gmx.com.

Cultivar

Fruiting type

Zones* Description

Anne

Primocane

4-9

Widely adapted plants produce paleyellow, very sweet, mild berries.

Heat-tolerant.

Cascade Gold

Floricane

n/a

Large, firm, early-season fruit with excellent flavor; retains good flavor even when picked at firm stage

Double Gold

Primocane

5-8

Orange-yellow (peachy) fruit, nice flavor, conical shape. Two harvests per season keep this variety very popular. Diseaseresistant and heavy producer. Lateseason Primocane and early-midseason floricane

Fallgold

Primocane

3-9

Produces large, golden, firm, sweet berries. Very hardy.

Kiwi Gold

Primocane

4-8

Known for its extremely sweet flavor, this yellow raspberry Kiwi was developed in New Zealand but is now a favorite worldwide

Honeyqueen

Floricane

3-7

Honey-sweet, peach-colored soft berries produced on arched, spiny canes.

*USDA cold hardiness zones. Most of our region falls in zones 6–8.

Bonus tip: Do not plant red, gold, or purple raspberries within 75–100 feet of black raspberries. Black raspberries may be more susceptible to viral diseases carried by aphids to and from nearby raspberry plants.

Y ou Can Make a Difference. . . by

Sharing Your Harvest

Plant an extra row in your garden and deliver the harvest to a local food bank or shelter. The need is great!

With your help, PAR can continue to make a difference for America’s most vulnerable.

Call our toll-free number (877.GWAA.PAR) or visit our website at www.gardenwriters.org/par for more information.

MAY 2017

WASHINGTON GARDENER

19

NEIGHBORnwork

Meet Tudor Place’s Kellie Cox

By India Hamilton

Washington Gardener recently met up with Kellie Cox, the director of buildings, gardens, and grounds at Tudor Place in the Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, DC. Tudor Place is the former home of Martha and George Washington’s granddaughter. The estate is now open as a museum and public garden. Cox is in charge of maintenance of the historic gardens, as well as some restoration projects. In our interview with her, Cox talked about her own background in gardening and horticulture, and how she arrived at Tudor Place. For more information about the grounds, visit tudorplace.org.

Tell me about your background and interest in horticulture.

My parents owned a floral business, so even at a very young age, I became interested in gardening. At five years old, I used to make little [garden] beds 20

WASHINGTON GARDENER MAY 2017

in the backyard. I’ve always been so fascinated with horticulture and learning about plants. There are so many different areas you can dive into. In high school, I started working at a gardening center and that’s where I started to get more into public gardening.

I grew up learning about painting and drawing from my parents and grandparents, so I originally thought I was going to be an artist, but maybe I’ll be much better at horticulture! I worked at a wholesale nursery farm in upstate New York, where I ran a large farm, and it was such a fantastic experience. When I moved down to DC, I learned more about the historic gardening aspect. I’ve come full circle; now I do my art with botanical illustration on the side to combine the two.

How was the transition from farming to gardening?

It’s definitely different. With farming,

you’re operating really heavy equipment and it was a wholesale green plant nursery with large-scale orders for plants to go on green roofs, so it was a lot more labor-intensive. There’s a certain creativity to it, but it’s mostly not.

With gardening, there’s more creativity, research, and history. We do a lot of projects here (involving) figuring out what used to be grown on the grounds.

It’s really such a fantastic opportunity to be in touch with nature.

What has been the most rewarding part about working at Tudor Place?

One of the most rewarding aspects is the people I meet and work with. The staff are so incredible and we work so hard as a team. Every department, from education to development to the executive director—we all really have the same idea in mind for Tudor Place. And the support I’ve been given here—we do seed collecting on-site, and I was

NEIGHBORnwork Place, I do large-scale painting and mural installations around the city. I’ve done a few 20 to 30-foot tall murals focusing on oversized botanicals. I actually have a show next year with the U.S. Botanic Gardens.

What advice would you give to beginner gardeners?

I’d say to really explore, work different jobs, and figure out what you like because that’s how you find your way.

There are so many different things you could do.

able to actually draw the seed packets.

I teach art in the garden here once a month, so they’re really supportive of my art background, which is incredible.

What projects are currently ongoing at Tudor Place?

Starting next week, we’re restoring all the windows in the garage area. We’ve been working with a preservation consultant on that and also with the executive director to keep that project moving forward. Currently, we’re doing a lot of maintenance, but in the summer, we’re going to be installing coldframes in the orchid area. We found photographic evidence, working with our curatorial department, that there used to be hotbeds in the North Garden where they grew various vegetables. We always read about it in the second-to-last owner’s writings, Armistead Peter, Jr., but we never saw evidence until then and now we can recreate those. It’s such an amazing opportunity for education.

We just had a Plant Day Sale picnic and we’re hoping by next year, we can start selling some of our vegetables!

What do you like to do when you’re not working with plants?

I do art in the garden here at Tudor Place. Once a month, we focus on a different area in the garden, and draw the plants and learn about the different techniques in art media. We also host art shows here. Separate from Tudor

What’s the best piece of gardening advice you’ve ever received?

Always ask if it’s a weed or not. And bend with your knees! o India Hamilton is a junior multi-platform journalism major at the University of Maryland. This winter/spring, she is an editorial intern at Washington Gardener Magazine.

What’s a typical day like for you?

Some of the day-to-day things are maintenance, weeding, mowing, clean-up, and pruning. Another big project we’re working on, which is going to be such a great impact, is the restoration of the entire perimeter. It’s a 10,000 square foot perimeter that is all overrun by invasive plant material. We’ve started by installing about 30 oakleaf hydrangeas to really enhance the place. Some people walk by and have no idea what it is.

MAY 2017

WASHINGTON GARDENER

21

KNOWitall

Ask the Expert

by Debra Ricigliano

Peach Tree Problems

We planted a peach tree in 2015 and it has been doing fine. However, this spring, the leaves are discoloring, curling, and deformed. What can I do now to solve the problem?

This sounds like peach leaf curl (Taphrina deformans), a fungal disease that causes defoliation and fruit loss.

This is a common problem that infects peach trees during bud swell and as buds begin to open. Once symptoms are present, it is too late to treat.

Anticipate the problem again next spring and spray preventively. Apply a fungicide such as liquid lime sulfur or Bordeaux mixture sometime between the late fall and early spring, when the leaves are off the tree but before the buds being to swell. Thorough coverage of all bark and bud surfaces is important.

You are not too late to enjoy flowers this summer. Sow your annuals now according to packet instructions. The zinnias and marigolds will be up and blooming in six to seven weeks. Sow the perennial seeds in early to midSeptember to give the plants a chance to get established before winter. They should bloom next spring and summer.

Keep seed beds moist to encourage rapid germination.

Planthopper Invasion

My garden is under attack by some type of insect or a disease. I am not quite sure what it is. I see this white, fluffy coating on the stems of a lot of my perennials and even on many of my shrubs. What is this and what can I do to stop this from ruining my plants?

Tomato Watering Tips

My tomatoes are planted in full, baking sunlight. What is the proper way to water them? Oh, and last year, many of the tomatoes were rotting on the bottom. Can I prevent that from happening again?

Starting Flower Seeds

I need some help getting a little flower garden started behind my townhouse.

The seed packet instructions have me confused. Some of the annuals, like zinnias and marigolds, say to sow the seed after danger of frost. Am I too late? The seed packets for the perennials (poppies and daisies) say to sow the seeds indoors six to eight weeks before frost. Can I plant them now?

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WASHINGTON GARDENER MAY 2017

to the bottom leaves. Also, at planting time, mix a handful of ground limestone or gypsum into each planting hole to help prevent blossom-end rot.

Deep, regular watering is essential to grow healthy plants and to be able to harvest delicious, vine-ripened tomatoes. As the plants grow and develop fruit, the need for water increases; a mature, fruiting plant requires 1-2 gallons of water twice a week during dry periods. Consistent watering helps to prevent blossom end rot which is what the problem was with your tomatoes last year. Water slowly at the base of the plant so the water seeps into the soil around the roots; avoid overhead watering which promotes diseases.

Raised beds and containers dry out faster, check them on a daily basis and water as needed. Mulch around your plants to keep the soil moist and to prevent soil from splashing up onto

This is an insect called a planthopper.

The nymphs (or immatures) produce a white, waxy covering on plant stems to protect themselves. The adults are wedge-shaped, flattened, and pale green. Planthoppers are sucking insects that insert their piercing mouthparts to feed on plant juices. They feed on a wide variety of herbaceous and woody ornamental plants. Typically, control is not warranted. If necessary, to reduce the population, spray with an insecticidal soap or horticultural oil.

Read the label directions for application rates, temperature restrictions, and frequency of application. 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.”

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Jentz Prints

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

Jentz Prints can be purchased on most Saturdays at the Eastern Market, and most Sundays at the Georgetown Flea 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, to make a private appointment, or to get a detailed show schedule, please contact Jentz Prints by email at UllrichJ@aol.com. You can also find Jentz Prints on eBay.com under the seller ID: printyman.

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WASHINGTON GARDENER MAY 2017