The gardening gals over at Garden Rant have arranged for a series of guest rants while they are about other business, and it is worth stopping by to hear the ranting opinions of others.

Today, Stacy Moore writes about xeriscaping and the misconceptions gardeners have about gardening without much water. That is doesn't mean a big Yucca plant and a lot of gravel. Considering the current Mid-Atlantic hot spell, it is a timely read!.

In another guest rant, Tom Alexander makes the point that cultivating marijuana is gardening no matter what the powers-that-be think of the crop.

Posted by Susan Reimer at 11:27 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Garden blogs
        

Photo credit: Ellen Nibali

Butterfly weed

Asclepias tuberose

Butterflies, hummingbirds, and bees flock to this midsummer perennial flower. Besides brilliant orange, its clusters of tiny flowers come in yellow or red-orange, and leaves are a favorite food of the monarch butterfly caterpillar.

After blooming, flowers turn into long seed capsules like small milkweed pods which are attractive in dried arrangements. Left on the plant, they split open and release feathery white fluffs blown away on the wind, each carrying one seed.

Long-lived, this native of meadows and plains prefers full sun and tolerates drought and most soils except very wet ones. Butterfly weed is slow to emerge in spring, so mark its location to prevent accidental damage.

--Ellen Nibali, University of Maryland Extension

Posted by Susan Reimer at 7:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
        

Graphic rendering of the future Ground Zero Memorial site.

This weekend at Ground Zero in New York City, planting of the first 16 of a planned 400 trees began, bringing life back to a place of sorrow after nine years.

The trees, swamp white oaks, were selected for their beauty and their ability to withstand Manhattan's cold, snowy winters and steamy summers.

The were grown in New York, Washington and Pennsylvania, and cultivated over the last four years in New Jersey. All places that were impacted by the 9-11 attacks.

Plans for Ground Zero call for it to become essentially a rooftop garden. Pools will mark the foot prints of the two World Trade Center buildings, and the trees will offer shade and comfort for those who come to mourn loved ones, whose names will be inscribed around the pools.

Posted by Susan Reimer at 1:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Garden news
        

Photo credit: Baltimore Sun/Susan Reimer

This weekend was all about tomatoes.

Homestead Gardens in Davidsonville hosted its second annual Tomato Festival, with a chili cookoff and a salsa contest.

There was tomato tasting, too, and you could buy pounds and pounds of your favorites! I left with Brandywine Pink and Cherokee Purple. Even the names "match."

Meanwhile down the road, Washington Gardener magazine hosted its third annual tomato tasting competition. And the winner, by a single vote, was Lemon Boy. Sungold was second and Cherokee Purple (my fav) was third.

There is no food that deserves more celebration that the tomato. But these weekend events serve as a reminder that this delicious season is coming to a close.

Indeed, recent rains have caused so many tomatoes to split and rot that my favorite farmers don't have the "seconds" I had counted on for soup.

Rats.

Posted by Susan Reimer at 11:43 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Garden events
        

Photo credit: Michael Lemmon

Crinum Augustum
 
The Crinum Augustum or “Queen Emma” is a majestic perennial that will stand out in any garden, and it is blooming right now at Baltimore's Rawlings Conservatory in Druid Hill Park. 

It is native to the tropical areas of southern Asia and will need to grow in a frost-free area.

Its green and purple strap-like leaves can reach 5 to 8 feet tall and emerge from a bulb weighing up to 20 pounds.

The large fragrant flowers are white and purple and grow on long purple stalks.
 

Posted by Susan Reimer at 10:54 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Baltimore's Rawlings Conservatory
        

Most of us look like Pigpen of the Peanuts comic strip when we work in the garden. Sweaty, dirty, old clothes, old shoes.

But we don't always look that way.

I found these lovely garden T-shirts painted by Annapolis artist Luke Mays, and I bought three and sent them to my sisters with a note, "Happy Birthday. Whenever it is. You need this T-shirt now."

Luke paints jeans and jackets and posters. But I love the sunny optimism of his garden T-shirts.

He is now working on a series featuring native plants, like this one of the gallardia pulchella, and he will paint your favorite perennial to order!

If you'd like a T-shirt, too, you can reach Luke at Froggwood@gmail.com or 410-570-6505

Posted by Susan Reimer at 10:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Garden art
        

Bulb-buying season approaches, so let us recommend an appropriate book.

 We reach back in time to the garden writing of the late Elizabeth Lawrence for this week's selection, "The Little Bulbs: A Tale of Two Gardens."

In 1957, she published this delightful and informative introduction to bulbs. Out of print for many years, it is available in paperback from Amazon.com.

 In it, Lawrence talks about a wide variety of plants, including crocuses, species daffodils, hardy cyclamen and lily-family members such as Brodiaea, Bessera, and Calochortus.

The book springs from her years-long and heart-felt correspondence with Mr. Krippendorf who lives in Ohio and grows tens of thousands of bulbs in contrast to her "few" in the garden of her Carolina home.

This is a delightful introduction to the writing of Elizabeth Lawrence.

Posted by Susan Reimer at 7:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Garden books
        

This is the time of year when fall gardening means either mums or lettuces.

We are putting in some fall ornamentals to give the flower gardens some late season color or, if we are ambitious, we are planting a second crop of leafy vegetables that will carry us through to Thanksgiving.

There's another choice, according to Amy Jeanroy, who writes about gardening for about.com: herbs.

Like spinach and chard, herbs thrive in the cool, moist air of fall and, if you are lucky, some will last you the winter.

Here are some of her suggestions, and mine.

Basil loves the warm days and cool nights. But bring it inside or cover it when frost threatens as it is a very tender plant.

Cilantro is another herb that likes the warm days and cool nights of fall. But, unlike basil, it might survive a light frost.

Dill, too, loves cool weather. And parsley doesn't require the heat of the sun to grow well. I will plant a few seedings in pots (the older plants are root-bound and yellowing) and keep them close to the house, and I might have parsley until the snow falls!

I would add to Jeanroy's list oregano and rosemary. Rosemary will winter over in the Mid-Atlantic garden. And I keep my oregano close to the house, too, to prevent frost damage.

Fresh herbs make the summer last a little longer.

Posted by Susan Reimer at 7:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Weekend Chores
        

File photo/Baltimore Sun

Michael Tortorello, who writes for the New York Times about his adventures as a rookie gardener, had a fun story this week that will be familiar to us all.

Dogs in the garden. (Lulu? I am talking about you!)

He tells of Bertie, who dug a hole in the garden into which his owner stepped, twisting her knee badly enough to require rehab.

Dogs look at gardens and have two questions, he writes. "Can I pee on it?" and "Can I chew it."

And they can also deliver parasites they pick up in the garden to their owners.

In an accompanying piece, Tortorello offers tips from the experts on how to get your dogs to behave in the garden.

The best advice seems to be, don't let them in the garden at all. And, he adds, an exhausted dog is a well-behaved dog.

Posted by Susan Reimer at 1:20 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Garden humor
        

Photo credit: Baltimore Sun/Amy Davis

Are you a balcony gardener? A high-rise gardener? A porch gardener?

Fern, who blogs at Life on a Balcony, is writing a book about balcony gardening, and she is looking for pictures and stories from different parts of the country, including from us here in the Mid-Atlantic.

She has created a Facebook page for her book, My Balcony, My Garden, and a Flickr group, where you can post pictures.

But Fern is asking for a little more than pictures: a description of where you live, details of how the weather and the sunlight impact your apartment or condo garden, as well as other issues you deal with.

So, Baltimore balcony gardeners, get on it! We have to represent!

Posted by Susan Reimer at 12:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Garden books
        

Homestead Gardens, Davidsonville: 2010 Annapolis Tomato Festival: noon - 6pm. Featuring the first annual Chesapeake Chili Cook-Off

Tickets: $10; family of 4, $25; children under 10, free

Tickets may be purchased at Homestead Gardens or call 410.798.5000 for more information.

Continue reading for a schedule of events.

Schedule of Events

12-6pm: Tomato Tastings

12pm-3pm: Chesapeake Chili Cook Off - Sampling of the Chili Entries

12-4pm: Salsa Contest - Sampling of the Salsa Entries

12:30pm: Live Music from The Andy Poxon Band

1-2pm: Chesapeake Bayhawks meet and greet! Head Coach Brendan Kelly will be signing autographs and taking pictures with the MLL 2010 Championship Trophy.

1:30pm: Roasted Tomato Salsa Cooking Demo with Homestead's Own Sustainable Cooking Expert Rita Calvert

2-3pm: Vegetable Carving Demo by Chef James Parker of Veggy Art and The Food Network

3pm: Fastest Pizza Eating Contest, Sponsored by Ledo Pizza (Edgewater, MD)

3:30pm: Live Music from Rock Holiday

3:30pm: Mediterranean Ancient Farro Salad by Tastings Gourmet Cooking demo with the caterer Sheila Hayden

4pm: Chili Cook off Results Announced

4:15pm: Salsa Contest Results Announced

Plus, cooking demonstrations, kids activities and local vendors and more!

$35 cook-off contestant fee. Proceeds from the cook-off will go to the Annapolis Flower Program to help pay for the beautiful hanging flower baskets and flower pots located in downtown Annapolis.

For information on entering any of the contests, go to the Homestead Gardens website.

Posted by Susan Reimer at 7:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Garden events
        

Today we begin a weekly garden question and answer session with the experts at the University of Maryland Extention.

Do you have garden questions? Send them to the University of Maryland Extension Home and Garden Information Center. Click on the tab "Send a question" on the left.

Q:  My lawn is a mess of crabgrass and burned up spots.  When do I reseed:  fall or spring?

A:  This summer was brutal on lawns, even the drought and disease tolerant tall fescue well adapted to Maryland. If your lawn is more than 50 percent weeds, we recommend starting over so you don’t waste money and time on a lost cause. Early fall is the very best time to reseed because your young seedlings will have three seasons to establish roots before they are hit by a Maryland summer. Beginning in late August, kill your existing weeds and turf by tilling it under or, when temperatures are below 90 degrees, spray your lawn with a glyphosate herbicide. Rake perennial weeds and debris out of tilled soil. After seeding, be sure to keep seeds moist until they germinate.  Spring is the second best time to seed, but young seedlings may not make it through a tough summer. We have two publications on lawn renovation on our website: www.hgic.umd.edu.

Q:  Stinkbugs are already congregating on my house--but not my neighbors’ houses! They were between a window frame and a spot light. I had a terrible time with them inside last winter. Help!

A:  The brown marmorated stinkbug that overwinters indoors is probably attracted to your outdoor light.  Outdoor lights that are left on all night attract many other pests, too.  Keep all outdoor light turned off unless necessary. To prevent stinkbugs from overwintering in your home this autumn, caulk and weatherstrip your doors, windows, any crevices, cracks, or where utilities enter your home.

Posted by Susan Reimer at 7:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

Fiscus carica

Yes, with care you can grow figs in Maryland.

This subtropical grows 15 to 30 feet tall in average soil and full sun. Hardy to 15-20 degrees, it will spring back if killed to the ground.

However, to produce ripe fruit reliably, figs need a long hot growing season and protection from freezing temperatures. A protected southern exposure is recommended. Avoid low spots where cold air settles.

Brown Turkey and Celeste are two reliable cultivars here.

Figs pruned to a shrub are easier to protect than a tree shape.

In fall, pin pliable branches to the ground and cover, or encircle the fig with chicken wire or bubble wrap and fill with leaves or straw.

Alternatively, plant in a container and overwinter in a garage. In spring remove winter protection after danger of frost.

-Photo and text by Ellen Nibali

Posted by Susan Reimer at 9:49 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Plant_of_Week, University of Maryland Extension
        

Today, Garden Variety welcomes her new partners in gardening, the University of Maryland Extension staff!

Every Tuesday here on Garden Variety, beginning today, we will feature Ellen Nibali's "Plant of the Week," complete with photos and growing information.

And each Thursday, the Extension staff will answer your gardening questions. Visit the Home and Garden Information Center website and submit your questions in the "Send a Question" feature and we will get an answer for you. There's is plenty of gardening information there, too.

And there's more!

Check out the left-hand side of Garden Variety, called the "rail" in the blogosphere, and you will find a link to the Extension's Grow It, Eat It program. Just click the "Growing Great Gardens" logo and you will find lots of food gardening tips, news and information.

Also under that logo, you will find links to an archive of "Plant of the Week" and an archive of gardening Q&A's.

Garden Variety is incredibly grateful for the expertise of the University of Maryland Extension. It is where I have always gone to get my gardening questions answered. Now you can, too.

Posted by Susan Reimer at 9:23 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Plant_of_Week, Q_and_A, University of Maryland Extension
        

Photo credit: Michael Lemmon

Hymenocallis Americana

Hymenocallis are a distinct genus of plants that have large beautiful white flowers and are commonly known as the spider lily. The sepals are long and curve outward giving them a "spider-like" look, and they are blooming now at Baltimore's Rawlings Conservatory in Druid Hill Park.

Native to Mexico, South America, and the southern portion of the United States,  they prefer partial shade and moist conditions like swamps and bogs.

Spider lilies can be grown in containers and do nicely as indoor plants. Keep them in a well-drained soil such as an African violet mix and provide bright indirect sunlight.
During the winter months reduce watering.

Posted by Susan Reimer at 8:57 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Baltimore's Rawlings Conservatory
        

Gardeners are forever being told that if they shear old foliage to just about ground level, they may get a second bloom.

This tool, from Gardener's Supply, is up to that task. It is a 6-inch version of the larger hedge shears that would be too big for the garden.

The added advantage? It comes with an interchangeable set of 4-inch grass clippers. Instead of squeezing handles over and over, you just push the button and go.

It is rechargeable and sells for $64.95. And it comes with an extension handle to save on your back. That sells for $24.95

Just click on the Gardener's Supply button on the right and order.

Posted by Susan Reimer at 7:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)
Categories: Garden tools
        

Don't kid yourself! It isn't fall yet!

There are plenty of 90-degree, 90-percent humidity days left. So when you head out into the garden to take up your August chores, drink plenty of water and watch out for the heat and the bugs.

Here's what should be on your list of things to do:

• Now is a good time to evaluate your garden and make notes for changes in the fall or next spring.
• It is also time to order garlic and spring bulbs.
• Stop fertilizing and pruning shrubs. You don't want to encourage new growth now.
• Divide and transplant poppies, iris and daylilies.
• Water, water, water. And check for signs of pests.
• Deadhead perennials and cut back spent foliage so your garden can continue to look good.
• Add some fall-blooming perennials to the garden now.
• Plan now to aerate, fertilize and seed your lawn this fall.
• Learn how to harvest and save seeds for next year's garden.
• Plant fall crocuses and colchicums as soon as bulbs are available.
• Cut back herbs for a second flush of growth or harvest them and dry them for storage.

Posted by Susan Reimer at 2:38 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Weekend Chores
        

New York Times garden writer Anne Raver tells the story of the garden of Joan Dye Gussow, a pioneer in the eat-locally, think-globally food movement, whose gardens were destroyed by the flooding Hudson River five months ago.

Friends and students alike rallied to help her rescue and restore her gardens, allowing her to make changes she'd been thinking about for a long time.

Ms. Gussow, by the way, is 81.

Make sure you see Randy Harris' photos of the garden.

Posted by Susan Reimer at 2:25 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Garden news
        

Photo credit: Baltimore Sun/Susan Reimer

Saturday, Annmarie Garden, Solomons: Are you a bay-wise gardener? 10 a.m. Learn how you can mitigate your impact on the Chesapeake Bay by using native plants, reducing lawn area and changing other gardening habits. While you are there, visit the new butterfly garden and the new art exhibits in the gallery: Green and Green, Too. Admission is Annmarie Garden is $3 for adults, $2 for seniors and $2 for children.

Sunday, Cylburn Arboretum, Baltimore: Cylburn Highlights Tour, noon and 2 p.m. Walk the grounds with a docent to discover the natural beauty and history of the arboretum.

Daily, U.S. National Arboretum, Power Plants; 8:00 am – 5:00 pm. (Adjacent to the National Herb Garden.) Walk through Power Plants to discover the wide variety of plants that offer alternative energy possibilities. This garden exhibit showcases living plants and provides educational signage about how they can serve as sustainable agriculture-based energy sources (note that during the winter, most of the crops are dormant or, if annuals, gone for the season). A scavenger hunt activity available at the information desk in the administration building will help school-aged children explore the exhibit. Free. No registration required.

Wednesday, Cylburn Arboretum, Baltimore: Wednesday Weeding, 5 p.m. Meet head gardener Jennifer Forrence by the gardening shed to spend an evening weeding and learning about invasives.

Wednesday, Cylburn Arboretum, Baltimore: Cylburn Sounds: Jazz on the Lawn. 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.

Posted by Susan Reimer at 1:33 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Garden events
        

Tony Avent, proprietor of Plant Delights Nursery in Raleigh, N.C., has just issued the latest in his politically incorrect plant catalogs.

The theme this time, for the renegade plant collector, is a Gardener's Tea Party.

I can spot Nancy Pelosi as the Red Queen, Sarah Palin as the Cheshire Cat and Michelle Obama as Alice, plus Massachusett's new senator, Scott Brown, in Playboy bunny ears.

Can you figure out the rest of the characters?

The cover was again drawn by commercial cartoonist Jack Pittman.

 Some of his previous covers are available, for $20, on a T-shirt. 

Avent's politics can obscure the fact that he is an extraordinary plant collector and offers a tremendous variety of plants.

Posted by Susan Reimer at 7:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)
Categories: From the catalogs
        

Photo courtesy of Dorothy Wells/Baltimore City Master Gardeners

Baltimore celebrates its community gardens Saturday with a bike or bus - pick your favorite form of transportation - tour.

The Charm City Garden Tour begins at 2 p.m., and will be followed by a celebration at Duncan Street Miracle Garden, 1800 Duncan Street,  from 5 to 7 p.m.,  with food donated by four restaurants and three bands.

The Baltimore City Master Gardeners have been sponsoring this veggie garden tour for 25 years, so residents can see the transformative power of community gardens.

This year, you can bike (bring your bike or rent one) to the gardens, but you must reserve a spot by calling 410-448-5663, ext 128, in advance. The cost is $15.

If you'd like a spot on the bus for the tour, you must make a reservation by calling Dorothy Wells at 410-529-4692, or mailing Betsey Heuisler at betsheuis@aol.com. The  cost is $20. Meet at Cylburn Arboretum at 4915 Greenspring Ave. to board the bus.

Shuttles will return you to Cylburn from the Duncan Street Miracle Garden celebration.

(There is a $5 suggested donation for those just attending the party.)

What gardens are on the tour?

There is a garden in Ferndale that has been in existence for 15 years. Divided into 23 plots, it supports 12 families.

Carmine Gardens also in the Linken Park area, was begun by Christina Kirkland, who works with the Girl Scouts and tries to encourage young people to garden.

Radnor-Winston is a brand new garden, supporting 20 families. The gardeners send their excess produce to Cares Pantry in Govens.

The Hoop Houses at Lake Clifton High School will also be on the tour. They include three all-season unheated hoop houses where students grow vegetables and flowers for sale.

The final stop is Duncan Street, a very large community garden that brings the community together under Lewis Sharpe.

Posted by Susan Reimer at 12:57 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Garden events
        

Staff Photo/Nanine Hartzenbusch

Scientists are reporting that playing in the dirt does more than make you dirty. It makes you smarter.

The Washington Post reports that a pair of biologist at Sage College in Troy, N.Y., found that mice who ingest a harmless bacteria found in dirt everywhere were able to negotiate a maze faster - and they retained that knowledge, too.

The scientists are suggesting that this, as much as learning to appreciate vegetables, is good reason to encourage children to get into gardening.

They also found that the bacteria stimulated the brain to produce serotonin, a brain chemical that contributes to feelings of well-being.

So, it appears that we gardeners get more out of gardening than we thought.

Posted by Susan Reimer at 11:21 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Garden news
        

After the rain.

Photo credits: Baltimore Sun/Sarah Kickler Kelber

Posted by Susan Reimer at 7:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Wordless Wednesday
        

Photo credit: Michael Lemmon

The plumeria is an exotic beauty recognized most as the welcoming “lei flower” in Hawaii where it is called “melia.”

Native to the Pacific Islands, the Caribbean, and Mexico, this tropical has delicate blooms that come in a range of yellows and pinks and have a strong, sweet fragrance.

It is named after Charles Plumier, a seventeenth-century French botanist.

Another name for plumeria is frangipani, named after an Italian noble family that created a plumeria-scented perfume.

In Asia the plant is believed to shelter ghosts and is widely planted in cemeteries.  It is blooming now at Baltimore's Rawlings Conservatory in Druid Hill Park.

Posted by Susan Reimer at 12:55 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Baltimore's Rawlings Conservatory
        

(AP Photos/Bebeto Matthews)

A year after a summer storm devasted New York City's Central Park, destroying 500 trees and damaging hundreds more beyond survival, the New York Times reports that the park's keepers are using this as an opportunity to restore the overgrown park to more closely resemble the 1858 designs of Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux.

It is a chance, said Adrian Benepe, New York parks commissioner, to open up vistas that have been closed off to visitors by overgrown trees as well as invasive trees that were never in the original designs.

Posted by Susan Reimer at 12:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Garden news
        

So, what exactly is a native plant?

Irvine Nature Center plant sale is free and open to the public from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Fee for morning seminars is $60 for Irvine members and $70 for non-members.

For the afternoon workshops from 2:30 to 4:30, the fee is $25. ($35 fee for Creating a Bog Garden, including materials.)

Native Plant Seminar and Sale Schedule.

7:30 a.m. Registration and Early Bird Plant Sale*
for Seminar Registrants
(free plant-sitting during the seminar)

9:00 a.m. Plant Sale Open to the Public

9:30 a.m. Welcome (at Garrison Forest School)
9:45 a.m. Dr. Donald Leopold
Natural Communities as Templates for Native
Plant Selection …for Gardens, Urban Plantings
and Restoration Projects

10:45 a.m. Ned Tillman
From Trees to Fungi... The Role of the Natives in
Saving the Bay

11:45 a.m. Break

12:00 p.m. Claire Sawyers
The Authentic Garden

1:00 p.m. Seminar Concludes; Lunch and Shopping
(at Irvine)

Enjoy lunch, shop at the region’s best native
plant nurseries, purchase native plant books at
Irvine’s Nature Store.

2:30 p.m. Workshops (at Irvine)
Pre-registration required, space limited,
additional charge

1. Invasive Plant Identification and Control –
Sylvan Kauffman

2. Fern Identification – Dwight Johnson

3. Adding Natives to your Existing Garden:
Shifting the Balance – Chris Upton

4. Creating a Bog Garden – John Mark Courtney
(ends at 4:30 p.m.)

4:00 p.m. Workshops Conclude (except #4)
Native Plant Sale Ends

Posted by Susan Reimer at 11:09 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Garden events
        

If you are like me, you forgot to plant for August.

Sure, I still have blooms in my garden, but most are fading fast, having been at their peak weeks ago.

At this time of year, I always regret not having planned better. (I will have the same regrets in September and October - and even January, when I realize I haven't planted for "winter interest."

I am taking the opportunity of this month's Garden Bloggers Bloom Day - a regular photographic event on the 15th of every month -- to make a plant list.

And here are some of the blogs where I am looking...

Freda Cameron, at Defining Your Home, Garden and Travel, is writing about agastache, and she has plenty of pictures.

Susan Harris is showing off the border combinations in her yard on the Homestead Gardens Blog.

Dee Nash at Red Dirt Ramblings has an eviable patch of garden phlox and some brightly colored lantana, just for starters.

Boonnie Lassey's garden is "in the pink," but take note: She lives in Washington state.

For more, check out Carol's May Dreams Gardens. At the end of her post on what is blooming in her garden this month, she has links to nearly 100 other blogs that also participate in Garden Bloggers Bloom Day.

Posted by Susan Reimer at 12:41 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)
Categories: Plant Wish List
        

A wet spring and a hot summer have managed to cook up a bumper crop of poison ivy, according to news reports.

And if you are like me, you can never remember what the stuff looks like!

Another theory is that the increase in carbon dioxide in the air that encourages all plants to grow has also increased poison ivy's toxicity. 

This summer, the sale of over-the-counter treatments is up and so are doctor's visits - and repeat doctor's visits - for people who have come in contact with the irritating weed.

Gardeners and people with pets are particularly vulnerable, because both can stumble upon it in the yard without knowing. People can develop the rash after contact with animals who have been exposed to poison ivy's oil.

Some poison ivy facts for you:

• Clothing - long sleeves and long pants and gloves - are the best protection against the plant secretions that cause the red rash, the blisters and the itching.
• That rash can either appear immediately, or within a couple of days.
• Poison ivy is stubborn and the reaction can take as long as four weeks to clear.
• Calamine lotion and oatmeal baths - the same things your grandmother recommended - can sooth the itching.
• Poison ivy can appear in a clump, or as a vine.
• You can't spread poison ivy by contact with another person or another body part as long as you have washed the area of initial contact and removed the irritating chemical.
• Among the products you can use for cleansing your skin of poison ivy oils are Tecnu Extreme Medicated Poison Ivy Scrub and Zanfel Poison Ivy Wash.
• There are landscaping services that will remove poison ivy for you.

Posted by Susan Reimer at 11:15 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)
Categories: Garden news
        

Photo credit: Baltimore Sun/Jed Kirschbaum

It has been a hot summer in the Mid-Atlantic, and everywhere else.

Seventeen nations have tied or broken summer temperature records, and the humans aren't the only ones suffering.

The hot weather is causing leaves to change color far ahead of schedule as the trees in our region fight to survive the heat and lack of water.

The stress can cause trees to produce pigments called anthocyanins, which turn the leaf red. The chemical helps leaves deal with stress and remain on the tree longer, allowing the tree to absorb nutrients.

In addition, the heat causes trees to redirect resources to its most vital parts, conserving water and energy by redirecting them to the trunk and causing the leaves to dry out and fall.

Be kind to your trees. Water them slowly and deeply.

Posted by Susan Reimer at 10:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Garden facts
        

Sunday, Aug. 15, Cylburn Arboretum, noon and 2 p.m.: Cylburn Highlights Tour. (This is a regular Sunday event.)

Wednesday, Aug. 18, Cylburn Arboretum, 6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.: Early Evening Photography Walk.

Thursday, Aug. 19, Cylburn Arboretum, 10 a.m. to 11:30 a.m.: Children's Workshop: Build a cactus dish garden.

Thursday, Aug. 19, 11 a.m. Cylburn Mansion: Nature Story Hour. (This is a regular Thursday event.)

Thursday, Aug. 19, 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. William Paca House, Annapolis: Summer Concert Series. Barnes-Queene Ensemble. Bring a blanket and a picnic dinner. Cash bar. No outside beverages. $10 in advance, $12 at the door.

Posted by Susan Reimer at 7:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Garden events
        

I do just about as much gardening on my computer as I do outside.

I search for places to purchase plants that I like and I search for the best prices. I look up information about diseases and insects. And I read the advice of other gardeners.

If it is just too hot to work in the garden, travel to these websites.

Carrie Engel, in her blog for Valley View Farms, is talking about heucheras, or coral bells, and their delicious new foliage colors. They'd be a terrific addition to the garden for fall or in containers. And she has posted photos of the varieties that Valley View has on hand. 

Susan Harris, blogging for Homestead Gardens, relates Gene Sumi's expert advice for getting through this long hot summer.

Photo courtesy of Terra Nova

And, just in time for August, September and October in the Mid-Atlantic, perhaps the driest months of the year, the University of Maryland Extension website has great watering instructions.

Also at the Homestead website, there is a list of all the trees, shrubs, plant material and extras that are on sale right now.

(Note to other garden centers: Everybody should be posting their sales on their websites, so gardeners like me don't have to drive all over the countryside looking for bargains.)

Posted by Susan Reimer at 1:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)
Categories: Gardening on the Internet
        

Remember the terrible pumpkin harvest of 2009? Poor weather during the growing season and rainy harvest conditions resulted in what growers called the worst harvest in 35 years.

Enough pumpkin was garnered to get us through the holiday season last year, but Libby's, the canned pumpkin giant, warned that there would not be enough surplus canned pumpkin from the 2009 harvest to fill grocery shelves in the fall of 2010.

We will have to wait for this year's harvest to hit grocery store shelves. The good news is, weather conditions have been so good this summer that canning is already underway -- two weeks early.

However, a spokesperson for Nestle, Libby's parent company, says it will be mid-September before that canned pumpkin makes it to the supermarket.

Libby's grows most of its pumpkin on 5,000 acres near Morton, Ill. This year, the company added more acreage in order to increase production.

If you can't wait for Libby's pumpkin to reach your neighborhood grocery, I hear you can buy it on Ebay.

Posted by Susan Reimer at 11:14 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Garden news
        

Photo credits: Baltimore Sun/Susan Reimer

Posted by Susan Reimer at 7:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Wordless Wednesday
        

Photo courtesy of Longwood Gardens

Longwood Gardens, just across Maryland's border and into Pennsylvania, is a delightful garden destination. Now it is a destination on the web, too.

Longwood, about two hours from Baltimore in Kennett Square, Pa., has introduced a plant database which allows gardeners to search for plants, find out which plants are in bloom at Longwood at the moment,  scout out garden tours for a future visit and  find out more about particular garden features, such as the Acacia Passage, at Longwood.

I spent some time on the new Plant Explorer and my thought is, like most of these databases, you need to have a lot of information at your fingertips to narrow the search results. Otherwise, you might pull up a list of more than 100 plants through which to sort.

But if you know plant's scientific or common names, you are in better shape. Very often, there are excellent pictures of the plants - up close and in the garden - and plenty of information about bloom times and care.

The plant lists appear to be limited to those grown at Longwood, which is just fine for the Mid-Atlantic gardener. And Longwood grows, literally, hundreds and hundreds of varieties.

And the "Discover What's In Bloom" feature allows you to pull up a photographic list of what is blooming both indoors and outdoors at Longwood, in real time.

And the plant tour element allows you to see what is on staff recommended tours, or create a tour of your own that allows you to see just the plants you want to see.

Posted by Susan Reimer at 2:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Garden destinations
        

Maryland residents are invited to turn in their old gas-powered lawn mowers on Saturday at Camden Yards for discounted electric mowers at The Great Maryland Lawn Mower Exchange event.

Participants at the Mower trade-in event, who must register in advance, will receive up to 66 percent off a new Neuton CE 5 or CE 6 battery-powered mower for trading in their old gas-powered mower.  The Neuton CE 5 mower is normally priced at $399, and will be $135 with the trade-in.  The Neuton CE 6 is normally priced at $499 and will be $175 with the trade-in.  

Lawn mowers and other outdoor gas-powered equipment account for much of Maryland’s air pollution and impact public health.

According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, a conventional, gas-powered lawn mower can spew more pollution into our air in a year than a car driven more than 20,000 miles. That is why these organizations have come together to help homeowners and gardeners explore “green” gardening. 

The trade-in event will take place at Camden Yards parking lot C in Baltimore from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Saturday. At the event, Maryland residents can drop off their old mower and pick up their electric mower at one convenient location.

Since there are only 1,000 mowers, people are asked to pre-register for the event at  www.cleanairpartners.net.

The Great Maryland Lawn Mower Exchange is sponsored by the Maryland Department of the Environment, Clean Air Partners, and Neuton Mowers.

Posted by Susan Reimer at 10:38 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Garden events
        

 Photo credit: Baltimore Sun/Barbara Haddock Taylor

Garden Variety was busy last week working on a fun piece for The Sun's new home section.

It is about designers, and how they don't travel like the rest of us. They travel with purpose!

Among those I interviewed were Pierre and Nancy Moitrier of Designs for Green Gardens in Annapolis, a free-spirited couple who decribe themselves as "gardeners" not "landscapers." They are not about manicured lawns and perfectly groomed hedges.

Pierre and Nancy travel often to France, where his family lives, and they love to visit the old villages there. The ancient castles and monasteries inspired Pierre's love of "ruin gardens," and he carried that vision to one of his recent clients, building a whimsical garden gate of stone and installing a mirror that makes the garden seem to go on forever.

Read all about them, and interior designers Mona Hajj and Rita St. Clair. Then visit the photo gallery of their creations.

And then you can take a tour of one of Pierre and Nancy's favorite places, Jardins du Prieure d'Orsan, a bed and breakfast established in a 900-year-old monastery and the extraordinary garden "rooms" around it.

(For a look at the garden before the new installation, keep reading.)

Posted by Susan Reimer at 11:20 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Garden design
        

My friend Angela over at Plants Nouveau, who writes The Weeding Gnome newsletter here in Baltimore, had the right idea.

Like me, she found Swallowtail Butterfly caterpillars in her garden. But she brought them indoors to share the metamorphosis process with her kids.

Her caterpillars are safe from birds now, which is probably what happened to mine when they disappeared from the parsley on my deck.

I had thought to put some kind of canopy over the little ones, but I didn't act fast enough.

Stay tuned. Angela promises pictures of the chrysalis tomorrow.

Photo credit: Angela Treadwell-Palmer

Posted by Susan Reimer at 11:27 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Insects
        

Photo credit: Baltimore Sun/Algerina Perna

It is Farmers' Market Appreciation Week. Visit a farmers' market, appreciate your farmers, and the markets where they bring fresh, local produce to us.

Posted by Susan Reimer at 7:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)
Categories: Wordless Wednesday
        

At this time of year, when tomato lovers put tomatoes on everything but their breakfast cereal, it is hard to believe that there was a time in its history when the tomato was considered poisonous and too dangerous to eat.

Author Arthur Allen paid a visit to NPR this weekend to discuss the history of the tomato and his new book, "Ripe: The Search for the Perfect Tomato."

Remarkably, the consumers' desire for tomatoes that taste great are changing the way the tomato is farmed. With the popularity of heirloom tomatoes and the general dissatisfaction with anything that can be found in winter in the grocery store, the tomato business is changing.

Posted by Susan Reimer at 2:28 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Garden books
        

The bloggers over at Clean Air Gardening, who write a lot about garden gadgets,  have posted a list of their Top 10 gardening apps for the iPhone or iPod Touch.

Most of the apps help you identify plants, of course, and pests. And give you growing instructions.

But there is also an apps for your garden to-do list, which includes a way to take pictures of your garden and assign them to tasks.

There is Flower Garden, by Snappy Touch, which doesn't help you in your real garden, but allows you to plant, water and grow "virtual" flowers then clip and send bouquets to friends.

My Garden, by Perceptive Designs, might make the most sense for most of us, although there appear to be some "bugs" in it. It allows you to keep track of the plants in YOUR garden, with all the information you need through the season.

The prices for the apps range from $9.99 to $1.99.

I am thinking about an app called "Dialing for Flowers." I just don't have any idea what it would actually do.

Posted by Susan Reimer at 2:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Garden apps
        

I decided to take some of my own advice this weekend, and went looking for bargains at the lawn and garden retailers in my neck of the woods.

And did I luck out!

At Homestead Gardens in Davidsonville, I found good-sized Knock-out roses, in white and yellow, on sale for half price at only $16 each. (All their roses are on sale half off.)

I know what I have said about roses. And it is still true that they are a lot of trouble for me. But one Knock-out seems to be doing very well under my front windows and so I will replace shrubs I lost in the snowstorms with two more and see that happens.

And I bought echinecea "Harvest Moon" and "Sundown," also on sale for 50 percent off. And I picked up a gorgeous sedum "Limelight" for $5.

While the roses took some trimming and dead-heading, the Echinecea were perfect specimens: Full, heathy and blooming. So was the sedum.

I also purchased some fresh Italian parsley and basil seedlings. About this time of year, mine are root-bound, yellowed and struggling. And the basil has gone woody and is flowering. These new ones, with some fresh potting soil, should get me to the first frost.

Went up the highway to Davidsonville Nursery where they are having a buy two, get one free sale and all the pottery is 30 percent off.

I got two creeping Jennys, which I have been looking for for a while. Healthy and robust! And, ok, another garden phlox, "Nora Leigh," which will no doubt become infected with mildew the minute I plant it.

I am telling myself the phlox was the free one.

I also got a couple of pretty glazed pots for 30 percent off. I will simply put those away for next season.

Further up the street, at Riva Gardens, there was also a buy two, get one free sale for gallon-sized perennials.

The pickings were slim, but I found three things that I thought I would try, including a new gallardia, which I admit, was ragged, and a geum, that looked terrifically healthy.

I don't have much luck with gallardia for some reason. But I keep coming back to it, just as I do the garden phlox.

Now, of course, the trick is to get them planted and nurse them through the heat and drought of the next couple of months.

Posted by Susan Reimer at 11:57 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Garden tips
        

Photo credit: Baltimore Sun/Amy Davis

 

 

Posted by Susan Reimer at 8:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)