Photo credit: Baltimore Sun/Kim Hairston

“Mums, Mischief and Merriment,” the fall garden show at the Rawlings Conservatory in Druid Hill Park, opens Saturday and runs through Sunday, Nov. 21.

The medieval theme includes a lady dragon made of mums and her glittering mosaic egg, knights, and towering castle walls. There are shields and banners and a stockade.

Oh. Right. And 40 varieties of mums, including 1,300 in pots and hundreds more in the body of the dragon and in the hanging mum "balls."

Baltimore Sun photographer Kim Hairston put together a photo gallery from the show.

Enjoy them, but make sure you see the show in person.

The Conservatory is open Wednesday to Sunday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Admission is free, but a $5 donation by adults is suggested

Posted by Susan Reimer at 5:45 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Flower Shows
        

Photo credit: Baltimore Sun/Jed Kirschbaum

A sneak peak at Saturday's AT HOME section in the Baltimore Sun. Randy Woods of Wicked Willow in Catonsville shows us how to create a fall bouquet from what we can find in our backyards. Dennis Hockman wrote the story for us.

Take a look at Jed Kirschbaum's step-by-step photos.

Posted by Susan Reimer at 11:07 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)
Categories: Garden how-to
        

Photo credit: Baltimore Sun/Kim Hairston

“Mums, Mischief and Merriment,” the fall garden show at the Rawlings Conservatory in Druid Hill Park, opens Saturday and runs through Sunday, Nov. 21.

The medieval theme includes a lady dragon made of mums and her glittering mosaic egg, knights, and towering castle walls. There are shields and banners and a stockade.

Oh. Right. And 40 varieties of mums, including 1,300 in pots and hundreds more in the body of the dragon and in the hanging mum "balls."

Kate Blom, general manager of the Conservatory, has made lots of "friends" in Baltimore. Thus the shields are on loan from Centre Stage and the banners and knights came from the Renaissance Festival.

If the castle walls and balcony look familiar, it is because "we recycle everything," Kate said. They were once the walls of China, Mexico, the Emerald City and Victorian England in previous garden shows.  "We just put a new face on them."

Squeezed by city budget cuts, the Conservatory is now closed on Mondays and Tuesdays - an extra day each week - but Kate still expects several thousand visitors for the flower show.

"Our shows are as good as ever and the numbers get better every time," she said.

The Conservatory is open Wednesday to Sunday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Admission is free, but a $5 donation by adults is suggested.

Posted by Susan Reimer at 11:01 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Baltimore's Rawlings Conservatory
        

A: Use their natural instincts against them.  When threatened, they drop.  Hold a flat-sided container with about one inch of soapy water under them. If they don’t drop in, brush or nudge them in.  They’ll die in a minute.

For stinkbugs on the ceiling or up high, attach a container to a pole or tangle them in a mop head to get them down.  When you get a number of drowned ones collected, flush them or throw them in a garden bed to add to the organic material.

Caught gently, they rarely feel threatened and release their stinky odor. They cannot bite, spread disease, eat, or reproduce indoors.  Eventually they will die, because at this time of year they should be resting in diapause (like hibernation), not using up their energy wandering around your house. Don’t spray insecticides indoors.

Much research is being devoted to this pest. Contact us for updates next year. For huge indoor stinkbug populations, give us a call.

Q: My potatoes had some green skin when I dug them.  I know you’re not supposed to eat the green part, but why is that?

A: Potatoes turn green when they’re exposed to light. The green color comes from chlorophyll, but the green is not the problem.

Another response of potatoes exposed to light is production of solanine, a colorless alkaloid that can cause illness or even death if a person consumes enough of it, in spite of its bitter taste.  The highest concentration of solanine occurs in the skin and the sprouts, so removing green skin and sprouts will remove most of the toxin and make your potatoes safe to eat. Consider the green chlorophyll a good warning sign.

Posted by Susan Reimer at 8:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

Jenny Peterson, of J. Peterson Designs, explains the difference between a labyrinth and a maze and provides a photo gallery of some fabulous labyrinths, including one of fire!

In addition, you can see what all the members of the Roundtable had to say on the topic by follow the links to their blogs.

As Jenny says, a labyrinth is a flat surface containing an intricately designed pathway, while a maze is a left-brained puzzle, full of different pathways containing tricks and turns.

Mazes are "fun, but not therapeutic," she writes.

"A labyrinth has only one pathway that moves back and forth from side to side until you reach the center–no need to figure out where you’re going; you just walk and the pathway will lead you. In fact, a favorite quote of labyrinth enthusiasts comes from the philosopher and theologian St. Augustine (345-430 A.D.) who said, “Solviture ambulando. It is solved by walking.”

I tend to think that all garden spaces are healing, therapeutic and spiritual. But that's just me.

Posted by Susan Reimer at 12:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)
Categories: Garden design
        

And there is the Venus fly trap and the pitcher plant. Carnivores both. But they have nothing on Audrey, from "The Little Shop of Horrors." She was the scariest plant of all time.

If you are looking for more plants suitably scary looking for Halloween, check out this photo gallery from Garden Design magazine.

P.S. This photo is from the 1930s, the decade that brought you Dracula, Frankenstein, The Mummy, King Kong and The Bride of Frankenstein.

Posted by Susan Reimer at 8:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Garden photography
        

Cornus florida

Photo and text by Ellen Nibali

Indulge in a dogwood. Today’s Appalachian series of dogwoods is highly disease resistant. Heralds of autumn, dogwoods are the first to adopt plum, rose or salmon hues. 

Plant your dogwood so you can enjoy seasonal interest up close.  In fall red berries are lacquer-shiny and gobbled by birds. 

When leaves drop, gray “flower buds” have already formed, like tiny flattened turbans, at twig tips. 

Prized for its early spring flowers (technically bracts) that appear even before leaves, this beloved native tree is also one of the rare woody plants whose blooms appear in horizontal festoons. 

Keep in mind that dogwoods are forest understory trees, preferring semi-shade and acid woodsy organic soils.

Mulch the root area and avoid baking sun.

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

With a sitting governor, a wife who's a judge and four kids, you could certainly say Government House in Annapolis is a "hive" of activity.

And you'd be more right than you know.

There is a new bee hive tucked under the trees on the side of the governor's mansion, and it's a busy place, too

The hive was installed and is maintained by volunteers, but there won't be any honey until next year. So first lady Katie O'Malley won't have any honey to give as gifts, as Michelle Obama has done with White House honey.

But the bees earned their keep in their first season by pollinating, a job that is essential for the production of food, and one that there are fewer bees to do with the mysterious collapse of so many bee colonies.

Photo credit: Baltimore Sun/Susan Reimer

I can rerport that the bees are very very active, but very calm. Not the least bit aggressive. After all, they have jobs to do and spend no time dealing with the media.

Posted by Susan Reimer at 1:47 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)
Categories: Bees
        

It is election season and passions run high, so for those of you ready to complain about the costs to the taxpayers of the vegetable garden at the governor's official residence in Annapolis, relax.

It is pretty much free.

The seeds for the vegetables were donated, and the residents and students at the Providence Center germinated them and tended them until it was time for transplanting.

The work of planting and weeding the garden is done by volunteers from the University of Maryland Extension Master Gardeners program, who spend several hours at the beginning and end of each season to set the garden and then take it down, but who only have to drop by for 15 minutes or a half an hour a week during the season to keep it weeded.

The seed for the cover crop of rye and oats that will protect and improve the garden this winter was donated as well.

All that's left to pay for is the water, and the Government House staff collects rain water in rain barrels. So whatever water travels through the soaker hoses is certainly offset by the water collected from the sky.

And then, of course, there are all those free vegetables.

Master Gardener Sarah Findlay of Crownsville volunteers her time to tend to the vegetable garden at the governor's mansion in Annapolis

Photo credit: Baltimore Sun/Susan Reimer

Posted by Susan Reimer at 1:41 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)
Categories: Vegetable gardening
        

Sue du Pont, spokesperson for the Maryland Department of Agriculture,  volunteers her time at the Government House vegetable garden. She holds the rye/oat seeds that were planted Monday as a cover crop on the garden.

Photo credit: Baltimore Sun/Susan Reimer

Volunteers from the University of Maryland Extension Master Gardeners program were at Government House in Annapolis Monday, putting first lady Katie O'Malley's vegetable garden to bed after a successful season.

The garden battles shade and drainage issues, but some careful planning for the second year produced many more tomatoes and peppers, plus the usual bounty of greens and herbs.

Monday, Lisa Winters, Sarah Findlay and Carole Fullagar were tearing out the last of the tomato and pepper plants, cutting back the herbs that will overwinter, including sage, lavendar, mint and oregano, and tending to the chard, kale and parsnips that will continue to produce for weeks.

"We're mindful that this is a historic building," said Winters, "so we have pansies to put on the front row."

Behind the pansies, the Master Gardeners will plant a cover crop by scattering handfuls of rye and oats in the planting rows. The grains will grow to about two feet high and prevent wind and water erosion over the winter.

Next spring, the gardeners will cut the grains to the ground, leaving them in the garden to provide mulch and to amend the soil. And the roots will remain in the soil, breaking it up and then decomposing to return more nutrients to the soil.

(Have you planted your cover crop yet? You still have time.)

Chefs from Government House harvested the vegetables and greens as needed, so no record was kept of how much the garden produced in its second year, but the general opinion is that it did much better than the first year.

That may be due to the use of drip hoses. They were laid around the plants in the garden and the water was turned on for an hour each morning by Government House staff, providing the garden with a consistent source of water.

The produce was used for official functions as well as for family meals for Gov. Martin O'Malley, his wife and four kids.

Of note is the fact that both his daughters are vegetarians.

Posted by Susan Reimer at 1:17 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)
Categories: Fall gardening
        

Raking leaves is one of those projects that everyone is always trying to invent a tool for. Anything to make the job easier and faster.

Gardener's Supply offers a pair of plastic leaf scoops that, worn on each hand, allow you to grab lots more leaves -- or grass clippings or weeds -- every time.

They will fit any size hands, and they cost $14.95.

You can visit Gardener's Supply by clicking on the button in the rail to the left.

Posted by Susan Reimer at 8:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Garden tools
        

The National Weather Service at BWI-Marshall Airport has issued a freeze warning for Friday night in Baltimore County, Northern and Western Maryland.

Temperatures dipped Thursday night to 39 degrees, the lowest we've seen since May 11.

Earlier, the NWS had issued a freeze "watch." The "warning" makes it more likely that temperatures will drop into the low 30s.

Bring in your houseplants and cover tender annuals and herbs. Your cold weather vegetables are actually going to like this! Cold temperatures make them sweeter and more tasty.

Posted by Susan Reimer at 2:45 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Weather
        

Photo credit: Mark Dennis

Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake and Baltimore County Executive Jim Smith teamed up to plant trees along Chesley Avenue in Overlea Thursday as part of the Growing Home Campaign to plant more trees.

The city and the county, as well as watershed and community organizations, are cooperating in an effort to expand the region's tree canopy and, therefore, improve water quality in urban areas.

Since Growing Home began in 2006 more than 7,000 grees have been planted. And there are $10 money-off coupons available to homeowners who purchased trees worth $25 or more at particpating retailers.

Citizens can learn more about great trees for our area and get $10 Growing Home coupons online at two sites:  www.growinghome.info  and also at http://baltimorecity.gov/Government/AgenciesDepartments/RecreationandParks/TreeBaltimore/Programs.aspx 

In addition, brochures with the coupons are widely available in public libraries and senior centers. 

Posted by Susan Reimer at 10:47 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Garden news
        

Lynn Hunt, AKA "The Rose Whisperer", writes for the Christian Science Monitor's garden blog, Diggin' It.

She says -- and I agree -- that while mums and pumpkins dominate the fall garden scene, roses are making their last -- and perhaps sweetest -- appearance of the season.

Enjoy the show, says Lynn, who writes from Maryland's Eastern Shore, because there is less to do to put your roses to bed for the winter than you think.

Her advice?

Don't cut your roses back now. Wait until the forsythia bloom to do that chore.

Having said that, she recommends cutting back ramblers now, so you don't prune off blossoms in the spring. Trim about a third of the growth now and cut out any dead canes.

She also says you should trim bushes that have extra-long canes. This will prevent them from whipping around in the winter wind and injuring themselves, or their neighbors.

Don't trim the rose hips either, she says. They turn lovely colors, and they signal the rose that it is time to stop putting out blooms and rest.

Remove and destroy any leaves that show signs of disease and insect damage. DON'T compost those leaves and DON'T leave them on the ground to infect the soil.

If you have roses that might need extra winter protection -- or if you aren't sure -- you can play it safe and mount soil, compost, mulch or leaves around the crown to prevent heaving.

Your local American Rose Society Consulting Rosarian will be able to give you additional winter tips.

Posted by Susan Reimer at 8:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Weekend Chores
        

* Dig up tender bulbs for storage until next year

* As perennials quit blooming or die back, trim the dead foliage. You can compost the healthy trimmings.

* But some perennials, if left alone, look great as winter interest and/or provide winter food for wildlife.

* Clean away any and all diseased plants and dropped leaves.  It will make next year's gardening that much easier.

*  If you live in an area with cold winters but not much snow as protection, mulching in the fall will protect your plants.

* Vegetable gardens are best completely cleared up to prevent any disease or pest overwintering.

* Move your indoor plants back inside before even the first light frost.

* And, don't forget your gardening tools.  A thorough cleaning and sharpening now will save valuable time next spring. That goes for your lawn mower, too.

Posted by Susan Reimer at 8:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)
Categories: Weekend Chores
        

My column in today's Baltimore Sun is about my attempts to impart my new knowledge of lawn care -- courtesy of my Master Gardening classes -- to my reluctant husband.

As any woman will tell you, it is harder to talk a lawn-loving man about his grass than just about anything else, including sex and money.

Take a read, and let me know what you think!

Posted by Susan Reimer at 3:03 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Garden humor
        

Photo credit: Reuters

It was harvest time at the White House vegetable garden this week, and first lady Michelle Obama munched a baby turnip, dug up giant sweet potatoes and snipped pumpkins off the vine as she worked alongside local schoolchildren and world-class chefs.

One sweet potato weighed in at 4 pounds, drawing an admiring stare from the first lady.

"You guys have witnessed the first White House pumpkins," she told the children as they loaded up wheelbarrows and weighed in their haul.

Students from Tubman Elementary and Bancroft Elementary harvested broccoli, pumpkins, sweet potatoes and other fall crops, and later, White House chefs demonstrated how to pickle vegetables.

The Associated Press also reports that Mrs. Obama  posed for a group photo with the harvest team, and at first prompted the children to smile and say "cheese." But then she had a better idea, declaring, "Let's say 'veggies!'"

Photo credit: Reuters

After the kids finished their harvesting, they were put to work once again, washing the produce and then slicing and dicing vegetables for a fresh garden salad made just for them.

The White House kitchen team got some help from world-renowned chefs Daniel Boulud and James Kent.

Boulud quizzed the schoolkids on what to do with turnips and then told them, "We can make a good soup with that."

The garden has produced 1,600 pounds of food this year, used to feed the first family and White House guests and for donations to shelters such as Miriam's Kitchen in Washington.

Posted by Susan Reimer at 11:39 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)
Categories: White House Vegetable Garden
        

Calling all rookie vegetable gardeners?

Steve Bogash, a former University of Maryland Extension educator who now works for Penn State Extension, has put together an easy on-line survey for vegetable gardeners, and he is asking vegetable gardeners across the country to report back.

He wants to know how things are going, especially for the newcomers to vegetable gardening.

Jon Traunfeld of the University of Maryland Extension promises to share the results of the survey on the Grow It, Eat It network and Garden Variety will let you know, too.

Here’s Steve’s message with a direct link to the survey.

Photo credit: Baltimore Sun/Doug Kapustin

Have you just started growing vegetables in the last 3-5 years? We’d like to know more about your experiences and the direction you are heading with your vegetable gardening.

Whether you grow a few herbs in some containers or have created a large patch, we want to know how things have gone and where you are heading. Please use this link:  http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/VS62KR2 and complete a simple 15 question survey.

If clicking on the web address does not work, please copy it and paste it into your browser. This will only be active through November 19, 2010.

Thank you for sharing your experiences.

Posted by Susan Reimer at 11:13 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Garden news
        

Photo credit: Baltimore Sun/Jed Kirschbaum

Just when you thought there could be no more subjects worth blogging on....

Meghan Shinn, the editor of Horticulture magazine, is blogging about her leaf-raking strategies this fall, and she is asking readers to share theirs: bit-by-bit? or all-at-once.

Here's mine, but please don't tell my husband....

Each fall, I ask my husband to bag and save most of the grass clippings and leaves he collects as he mows. I encourage him to leave some on the ground to feed the lawn soil, but most of the leaves end up in garbage bags in my garage.

When it looks as if the last leaf has fallen from the linden trees that hang over my gardens from my neighbor's yard, I ask him to gently blow the leaves out of my perennial beds and vacuum them up with his mower. These leaves, too end up in bags in my garage.

Then I hope he doesn't notice when I put them all back.

After the frost, when the last of my perennials has faded, I clean their debris out of my flower beds and gently cover them with the ground-up leaves and grass clippings I have been saving.

There is never enough to go around, but I do my best to get some fresh organic material on the beds that didn't receive any last season.

My dear husband is focused on his lawn, not on my perennial beds, so it is possible he doesn't realize that I am, essentially, undoing all his hard work.

I kind of count on that, actually

Posted by Susan Reimer at 8:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Garden tips
        

Q: Saw your alert about Thousand canker disease on Facebook.  How can I protect my black walnut trees?

A: Thousand canker disease was introduced from its natural habitat west of the Rockies into Tennessee. Now, citizens must help to keep it out of Maryland.  DO NOT bring firewood into Maryland.  Diseased and dying trees are often the first ones cut for firewood.  Also, be alert for diseased black walnut wood or lumber shipped in (illegally) for use in building or crafts. 
For additional information on the disease go to http://www.ext.colostate.edu/pubs/insect/0812_alert.pdf.

If you suspect you see the disease, notify the Home and Garden Information Center and send us photos, so that we can contact the Maryland Department of Agriculture which will work to stop the spread of Thousand canker disease.

Q: My garden is a mess.  A white fungus spead from the peonies to the lilacs to the cucumbers.   Then the black spots on my roses spread to the Black-eyed Susans, too. How can I keep these contagious diseases under control?

A: These plants all have different diseases.  Disease organisms generally specialize and attack only one plant or family of plants. Though the fungi may look similar and even have the same common name, such as the whitish powdery mildew fungus you saw, they are all different disease types and incapable of spreading from one plant species to another.

Remove the disease spores in your garden this fall to reduce the risk of infection next year. Cut off, rake up, and dispose of all infected foliage, either now or as soon as frost browns it. Next year, keep a sharp lookout for the first sign of disease and call HGIC right away.  Each plant will require a different treatment for its particular disease.

Posted by Susan Reimer at 8:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
        

Any fresh food served in school cafeterias there must meet specific and certifiable growing practices that are pretty strict -- but which do not apply to food purchased from contracted suppliers.

As a result, most of the produce the kids grow is sold or given away.

In Chicago and elsewhere in the country, school vegetable gardens are not getting the quick acceptance you might expect.

Objections range from cultural --  gardening sends the wrong message to minority students whose parents might be farm workers or whose ancestors might have been slaves -- to educational -- time is better spent on math and reading.

I recognize the safety issues here -- as well as the liability issues. But with a first lady committed to reducing childhood obesity and setting an example by growing her own vegetables, school officials everywhere should find a way to bring the produce their children grow into the lunchroom.

Posted by Susan Reimer at 12:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (6)
Categories: Garden news
        

Those of us in the news business often say that "if there are three, it is a trend."

Well, here are two. Trend reports, that is. For the 2011 gardening season.

The first is by Clint Albin, who is often on the front end of things. He writes in Garden Chic, a magazine for garden retailers, that these trends are the ones to watch for in spring:

• Specialized outdoor lighting, as we continue to make the outdoors another "room."
• Vintage garden furniture, including metal chairs, rattan porch sliders and gem-encrusted tables.
• Water-conscious landscaping options, rain gardening, xeriscaping and installing rain barrels.
• Mixed veggie and herb containers, pre-planted for customers new to the grow-your-own movement.
• Food coaching: consumer instruction on natural pest and disease contols for those new to vegetable gardening. Plus cooking classes to show how to use the produce of the day.

Meanwhile, the folks at Garden Media Group outside Philadelphia have issued their 2011 predictions.

• Gardening with a purpose: The notion of greening urban communities has taken hold in a way that "Save the Rainforest" did not. Look for lots more gardening initiatives at schools, plus curbside gardens, rooftop gardens and gardening in other urban spaces.
• Eco-scaping: Gardeners are also much more aware of conservation issues and that is translating into a greater use of native plants. Grasses are easy to maintain and offer shelter to wildlife. "Biodiversity" and "sustainable" will be key words. Gardeners will start to pay more attention to building their soil, too
• Edible ornamentals: Look for berries and tomatoes in the perennial garden. Herbs and lettuces among the border annuals.
• Sustainable containers: Annuals seem a luxury when you can grow food in containers -- and have them still be beautiful.
• Succulents: Dry gardening is taking hold as more of the country battles drought.
• Indoor gardening: Vertical is the word! Wall gardens of edibles for homes and restaurants.
• Plus: Urban farming and CSAs, and "parklets"  in an around rest stops and other parking lots.

Stay tuned, and we will see which of these trends takes hold in spring, 2011!

Posted by Susan Reimer at 11:40 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Garden news
        

Chelone lyonii, Chelone glabra

Photo and text by Ellen Nibali

Terps fans should like this native plant that blooms during football season in the shape of a turtle’s head.

White turtlehead Chelone glabra is the primary host plant for the endangered Baltimore checkerspot butterfly, a black, gold and white beauty. The leaves provide food for the caterpillar stage.

A bit of a misnomer, white turtlehead may also be pink or purple. Chelone lyonii, common name pink turtlehead (pictured above) is true to its name however, with pink flowers protruding from stalks with handsome glossy leaves.

Turtleheads bloom from July well into fall. They are easy to grow in sun to part shade and moderate to well-moistened soil, though pink turtlehead has been known to put up with a surprising amount of drought.

Height is usually between 1 ½ to 3 feet, depending on growing conditions. They spread by rhizomes to make a nice patch.

Posted by Susan Reimer at 10:52 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

Photo credit: Baltimore Sun/Nanine Hartzenbusch

I have a confession to make.

I have been a serious gardener for almost 20 years and, I am ashamed to say, I have never had my soil tested.

It is the very first thing a gardener is supposed to do, and yet I bet only a handful of gardeners ever do it.

That's because. I think, most of us don't know how to sample our soil.

I never understood how taking a sample from one spot in the garden was going to tell me anything about the rest of the garden. And I had no idea what I was going to do with the information.

Thanks to the advice of Chuck Schuster of the University of Maryland Extension in Montgomery County, I think I can actually do this. And I now understand that I should.

Here is his advice.

First, draw a rough map of your yard: grass here, shade here; perennial bed here, vegetable garden here. And give each area a letter, number or word designation.

Go to the grocery store, and ask for a handful of the bags that you would use when grinding your own coffee. (Never use bags that had actually contained any coffee!)

Take a spade and a plastic bucket (Never an aluminum one. It will leave trace elements) and go to one of your designated areas and take six or eight spade-fuls of dirt -- from six or eight different spots in the area -- and put it in the bucket.

Mix well. Allow the soil to dry out in the garage, but NEVER in the oven.

Take a cup of the dry soil, put it in the coffee bag, seal it and mark it with the appropriate designation.

Do the same for all the areas of your yard, gardens and lawn included. You can sub-divide you areas, too. Shade lawn. Full sun lawn. High traffic lawn. Full sun perennial bed. Shade perennial bed.

Six or eight samples from across the entire area will give you a broad look at the nutrient and pH needs of that bed or area of grass.

Check with your local entension service [In my case, the University of Maryland] for a recommended soil testing lab.

It might cost a few dollars to mail your samples, but the information you get back will tell you whether you need to lime your lawn in the spring, or if the pH is good for your azaleas under the front windows or whether the perennial bed has been sucked dry of nitrogen.

Doing it now will give you plenty of time to learn what your lawn or your gardens need next spring   to give them a good start on the season.

Posted by Susan Reimer at 8:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Soil
        

There is nothing like free plants, and that's why I am such a fan of verbena bonariensis, that tall, purple-topped spike that self-seeds so abundantly in my garden.

If some pop up where I don't want them, I have no qualms about pulling them out because there will be plenty growing where I do want them. Right now, they are doing what they were designed to do, according to my Dave's Garden newsletter -- create a kind of screen.

I have always butchered the pronounciation of this verbena, and it comes out sounding like the last name of David Boreanaz, the hunk who starred as Angel in "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" and now plays the dumb, strong guy opposite the smart woman in "Bones."

But it is actually pronounced bon-ar-ee-EN-sis and it is named after Buenos Aires, the capital of Argentina, a reference to its native habitat, according the Dave.

This particular plant was discovered in the 1700s and named by [Carl] Linnaeus [the founder of taxonomy]. It recently caught the attention of the gardening world when some intrepid gardeners realized its airy growth could be used to create an interesting "screen" effect. Placed in front of other plants, the delicate flowers allow the background plants to peek through for a charming effect.

I actually use it as a backdrop for smaller plants. But to each, his own.

A word of warning: It is vulnerable to powdery mildew.

PS Dave's Garden is an excellent source of plant information and gardening reviews, as well as insect and bird info. Visit the site and sign up for his newsletter, if you haven't already.

Posted by Susan Reimer at 3:08 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Garden history
        

One of the complaints, if you want to call them that, that I often make about garden writing is that it can be a very costly area of reporting.

I once wrote about daylilies. And I bought 30. I once wrote about garden clubs, went to their plant sales to interview members and purchased enough plants to require a whole new bed.

I wrote about turning your yard into a wildlife habitat, and it cost me a fortune.

So, when I interviewed Debra Lee Baldwin about her new book, Succulent Container Gardens, I had to have a succulent container garden.

Apparently, that happened to more gardeners than just me, because since she starting taking questions about succulents, Debra has been getting queries from Maui to Greece.

If you, like me, jumped on the bandwagon and planted succulents this year (the perfect year for it, considering the drought), but you still have plenty of questions, Debra may have all your answers.

And if you, like me, were completely unimpressed with the selection available at your local nursery, Debra has links for purchasing succulents, too.

Finally, if you are wondering what all the fuss is about, Debra's book is available at a discount at her site.

Posted by Susan Reimer at 1:56 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
        

Photo credit: Susan Harris

My friend, fellow garden blogger and pretty-decent photographer Susan Harris had tickets for the White House Fall Garden Tour, which took place Saturday and Sunday in splendid sunlight, and she is sharing her pictures.

Susan, with your permission, I will snag one for here, to tempt Garden Variety readers to see the rest of your photos.

Susan posted more photos at her usual haunt, Garden Rant. Make sure you see those, too.

Nicely done, my friend.

Posted by Susan Reimer at 12:56 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)
Categories: Garden events
        

Photo credit: Baltimore Sun/Barbara Haddock Taylor

At Valley View Farms in Cockeysville.

Saturday, 1:00 pm-3:00 pm: Kathy Woods is a Raptor Rehabilatator with The Phoenix Center for the Rehabilitation of Wildlife. Meet Kathy and a real Great Horned Owl. Be sure to bring your camera.

Saturday,  11:00 am-7:00 pm and Sunday 11:00 am-7:00 pm: Local artist Paul DeRemigis will sign his regional prints and demonstrate his work. The subject matter of his prints include skip jacks, light houses, Ocean City, M & T Bank Stadium, Camden Yards, Memorial Stadium, Rehobeth Beach, and Fells Point to name a few.

At Homestead Gardens in Davidsonville.

Saturday, Oktoberfest:
12 pm: Reptile World
12-3 pm: Sparks, Raymond and McCoy
2 pm: Reptile World

Sunday, Oktoberfest
12-3 pm: Sparks, Raymond and McCoy
1 pm: Magic with Jack Julius

At Greenstreet Gardens in Lothian

Fall Festival, every weekend in October: Corn maze, hayrides, underground slides. Satuday: Three Kings catering and Doug Segree music 12:30 to 3:30 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, professional portrait photography for the family. Call 443-822-5743 to schedule an appointment.

At Behnke's Nursery in Beltsville.

Saturday, 11:30 to 1:30, Pumpkin and gourd carving workshop; 12-2, Face painting.

Sunday, 11-12, Bulb-forcing workshop; 12-2, Pumpkin painting.

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Categories: Garden events
        

Photo credit: Baltimore Sun/Nanine Hartzenbusch

Q: My 130-year-old oak tree is dropping a tremendous number of acorns, more than I’ve ever seen. An arborist told me that acorns are a sign of distress in the tree and not a prediction of a cold winter to come. Your thoughts? What can I do with all these acorns?

A: When oak trees produce massive acorn crops, it is called masting. This happens at intervals of about 3 to 5 years, and the same species tend to mast on the same years. The reason is uncertain. It may be weather related—e.g. summer 2009 was unusually moist and favorable to plant growth. Or it may be a survival strategy—i.e.by producing more acorns than acorn-eaters such as squirrels can eat. It is true that declining plants may hike up seed production in a last gasp attempt to reproduce before they die, but with oak trees this is not necessarily the cause.

You can shred your acorns and compost them for use in garden beds or as top dressing on your lawn. Or donate your acorns. The Maryland state tree nursery has a huge annual need for acorns from all native oaks. Citizens can donate collected acorns. Large quantities are preferred but a 5 gallon bucket is welcome and takes hardly any time or effort to fill. The only caveat is that the species of acorns be kept segregated.

Interested? Call 410-260-8583 or email DRider@dnr.state.md.us for more information.

Q: While bringing my house plants inside, I found an infestation of red and black bugs on the fern. I don't see evidence of damage.  I’m attaching a photo [on HGIC’s website.] What is the best way to get rid of these insects?

A: These are boxelder bugs; not a pest of ferns.  Here is our publication on boxelder bugs: www.hgic.umd.edu/_media/documents/hg10_000.pdf.

They won’t harm your fern but are congregating before finding a place to spend the winter. You can simply knock them off of your fern, either by hand or with a blast of water.

To avoid bringing other insects in on your plants, examine them carefully. Spray them with insecticidal soap if water spray doesn’t wash them off.

Posted by Susan Reimer at 12:27 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
        

Photo credit: Associated Press

The White House gardens will be open Saturday from 10 to 4 and Sunday from 9 to 3. Visitors can view the Jacqueline Kennedy Garden, Rose Garden, Children's Garden and the South Lawn of the White House. The Kitchen Garden will once again be accessible to tour guests.

The National Park Service will distribute the free, timed tickets at the Ellipse Visitor Pavilion located at 15th and E Streets on each tour day beginning at 8:00 a.m.

Tickets will be distributed -- one ticket per person -- on a first-come, first-served basis. If the weather is bad, the tours may be cancelled. Call 202-456-7041 to check. (Although this number didn't work for some callers last year.)

Also, during the garden tours, there will be no public tours of the White House itself.

The White House also posted a list of items not allowed on White House grounds. The list is a bit of a hoot, if you think about what is on it.

Aerosols of any kind
Animals (except guide dogs)
Backpacks (oversized)
Balloons
Beverages of any kind
Chewing gum
Duffle bags/suitcases
Any pointed object
Electric stun guns
Fireworks/firecrackers
Food of any kind
Guns/ammunition
Knives of any kind
Mace
Smoking

The U.S. Secret Service reserves the right to prohibit any other personal items. However, strollers, wheelchairs, and cameras are permitted.

Posted by Susan Reimer at 3:41 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Garden events
        

Kerry Michaels, gardener, blogger and photographer, is our guest poster today on Garden Variety's Wordless Wednesday.

She created the flower images we put up earlier this morning using a simple flatbed scanner. But the process captured her imagination.

Here are her thoughts.

Photo credit: Kerry Michaels

"I recently got hooked on using my scanner as a camera and now I'm completely obsessed. I love the vivid images scanning creates and the almost mysterious look the scans often have.

"The hardest thing about making a scan is that you have to imagine what the underside of the composition you create will look like and to remember that the only things that will be in focus are touching or almost touching the glass.

"To get a rich black background, I scan in a darkened room. To experiment with different backgrounds, you can also use fabrics or interesting papers draped over your composition. You can also close the top of your scanner, but that can squish delicate flowers.

"I only wish I had started scanning earlier in the growing season, so I would have more flowers and greenery to experiment with.

"There are lots of amazing scan artists. One of my favorites, whose work got me started with scanning, is Ellen Hoverkamp http://www.myneighborsgarden.com/.

"This is a great project for anyone to try. All you need to get started is a scanner (I'm using the one that is part of my printer) a computer and some imagination."

Thank you Kerry!

Posted by Susan Reimer at 9:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)
Categories: Wordless Wednesday
        

Photo credit: Baltimore Sun/Glenn Fawcett

Ok, you planted your early spring vegetable crop of peas, lettuces and broccoli, and then you planted your summer crop of tomatoes and peppers. When they were finishing up, you planted a fall crop of lettuces, spinach or garlic.

And, once you got your spring flower bulbs planted, you thought you were done planting for the season, didn't you?

Wrong.

You need to plant a cover crop.

Cover crops are especially good for vegetable gardens, which are subject to wind and rain erosion during the dormant months of winter.

Planting of cover crop - annual rye, oats or winter wheat - prevents that, and feeds the soil. The roots work the soil structure for you and, when you cut down the crop in spring, the roots remain in the ground as organic material.

The tops - greens, grasses, wheat or clover - can be mowed down and left to decay in the garden, perhaps under a fresh one-inch layer of compost. (You should be adding an inch of compost to your garden every year, anyway.)

If you cover crop dies off before spring, no need to remove it. Simply dig through the layer of desiccated material and plant your spring vegetables. The remains of the cover crop will act as both mulch and added organic material. Check out Maryland First Lady Katie O'Malley's kitchen garden at Government House in Annapolis. Maryland Master Gardener Lisa Winters will be planting a cover crop there in the days ahead.

 

 

 

Posted by Susan Reimer at 1:28 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)
Categories: Vegetable gardening
        

Catttail

Typha

Photo and text by Ellen Nibali

Cattails are as American as apple pie and edible, too.

Fond childhood memories include lighting them to make smoky punks, but cattails have been used for everything from baskets to boats by Native Americans and peoples around the globe.

The narrow leaves arise from reedy clumps. In late summer, beige flower spikes usually go unnoticed, but by early fall they become the velvety brown seedheads we know so well. 

Birds nest in the stalks and eat the seed. Wildlife feed on the fleshy rhizomes. 

Common cattails, Typha latifolia, are useful in sunny unmowable ditches or wet areas but too big and aggressive for small ponds.

Ornamental ponds can enjoy Typha augustifolia, narrow-leaf cattail, which reaches 4 feet, or Typha minima, Dwarf cattail which reaches only 12 to 18 inches.

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Photo credit: Michael Lemmon

Pitcairnia Sanguinea
 
Pitcairnia Sanguinea is a colorful tropical that is native to Columbia, Peru, and Brazil. Part of the Bromeliad family, they produce a branched bloom that is a bright red and have striking leaves that are deep green with a burgundy underside.

You can see them in bloom now at Baltimore's Rawlings Conservatory in Druid Hill Park.

The plant was named in honor of Dr. William Pitcairn, an English physician and gardener (1711-1791.)  They prefer shade and moist soil and do best in USDA zone 10

Posted by Susan Reimer at 1:41 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Baltimore's Rawlings Conservatory
        

Photo courtesy of Valley View Farms

This giant pumpkin, weighing in at a scale-busting 1,540 pounds, is on display at Valley View Farms in Cockeysville.

It is the largest pumpkin ever placed on display in the state of Maryland, and is one of the largest pumpkins ever grown anywhere in the world.

The record-setting pumpkin, as well as several other giant pumpkins, will remain on display at Valley View Farms until noon on Saturday, November 6th.

At that time, the largest pumpkin will be cut open, and its seeds will be counted. The first person to guess the correct number of seeds contained in the giant pumpkin will win a $300 Valley View Farms’ Gift Card.

Contest entries can be submitted at any time up until the seed counting begins.
 

Other weekend garden events:

Valley View Farms in Cockeysville

Saturday, 9 a.m. Winterizing the Water Garden: Tim McQuaid, Valley View's Water Gardens Manager, will provide tips to keep the pond healthy, the fish safe and the plants resting until the spring thaw.

Homestead Gardens in Davidsonville

Oktobertfest

Saturday

11-4 pm: Power Hawks Robotics Team
12-2 pm:  Maryland Musikverein
2-4 pm: Uncle Joe’s Kitchen

Sunday

11-4 pm: Power Hawks Robotics Team
1-3 pm:  Maryland Musikverein

Behnke's Nursery in Beltsville:

Beltsville Rotary Club 2010 Chili Cook-off, Saturday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tasting begins at noon.

Greenstreet Gardens in Lothian

Saturday: Fall Festival

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Categories: Garden events
        

If the library in a small upstate town could lend fishing poles, why couldn't it lend seeds?

That was Ken Greene's idea. The New York Times describes how the librarian in Gardiner, N.Y., adapted the lending model he knew best and established the Hudson Valley Seed Library.

Members, who have grown from 60 at the start to nearly 700 now, pay a $20 annual fee for 10 seed packs of their choice. The library offers 130 heirloom plant varieties, 50 of which come from locally produced seeds.

In turn, members are asked to return seeds after the harvest.

Sounds like a terrific idea to adopt in any community.

Posted by Susan Reimer at 11:47 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Garden news
        

Q: My newly sprouted grass is 3 inches tall. It’s very tender, should I mow now? Should I fertilize?

A: When tall fescue reaches the recommended mowing height of 3-3 ½ inches, allow it to grow another inch, then mow.  For good turf management, always try to remove no more than 1/3rd of the grass blade per mowing. Mowing turf too short is a top cause of poor lawns.  Short turf lets light get down to weed seeds, encouraging them to grow, and it stresses your grass by removing too much of the blade at once.
 
The starter fertilizer you applied when you sowed the grass seed should last 4 to 6 weeks, then a regular fall maintenance fertilization can be applied.

See the HGIC fact sheet, Lawn Establishment, Renovation & Overseeding: http://www.hgic.umd.edu/_media/documents/hg102.pdf.

Q: My neighbor saw a fox on my porch at dusk, and we saw one in the yard.  We’re worried about the dog and the kids. We don’t keep dog food outside.  Does he have rabies?

A: It’s not unusual behavior for a fox to be active at dusk or be found in the suburbs these days. Foxes are wary and will not attack unless cornered. 

Something is attracting him so close to your house, probably rodents.  Check your house foundation for the quarter or half-dollar size holes of voles or chipmunks.

If the burrows are slanted, it means voles. Voles can grow into large colonies and do great damage to bulbs, plant roots and bark. To get rid of them, use mouse traps baited with peanut butter or apple chunks.

Chipmunk burrows go straight down. For them, try to alter the environment to provide fewer hiding places. You can also call the Maryland Wildlife Hotline at 877-463-6497. 

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We are all about pumpkins at The Baltimore Sun. Check out my food story in TASTE and enjoy these photos by staff photographers Kim Hairston and Algerina Perna.

Posted by Susan Reimer at 12:29 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Wordless Wednesday
        

Rose-of-Sharon ‘Helene’

Hibiscus syriacus ‘Helene’

Text and photo by Ellen Nibali

Though you don’t think of rose-of-Sharon as a fall bloomer, this champ of the summer garden blooms its head off well into autumn.

‘Helene’ is one of four triploids named for Greek goddesses developed by the U.S. National Arboretum. 

These varieties are virtually sterile, unlike the old rose-of-Sharons whose unwanted volunteers always made them such a nuisance. The flowers are huge and dramatic compared to the old varieties, too.

Not fussy about soils, rose-of-Sharon grows in sun to part shade. ‘Helene’ reaches 8 to 10 feet in height.  Others are of similar size.

While no maintenance pruning is necessary, they may be pruned back heavily in early spring. Rose-of-Sharon foliage is shunned by deer.

Posted by Susan Reimer at 11:26 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

Talk about your glass ceiling....

The staff at Baltimore's Rawlings Conservatory in Druid Hill Park have had to remove a pane of glass in the ceiling to make room for a spire from an agave plant that should bloom any day now.

For the first time since the Conservatory was renovated in 2004, the huge agave, already impressive at over 8 feet tall and 10 feet wide, is expected to shoot a long spike of flowers through the roof, possibly reaching a height of 25 feet.

This dramatic plant started sending out its flower spike around September 17 and is growing fast, gaining almost 4 feet in less than a week. Conservatory staff removed a pane of glass from the greenhouse roof to allow the spike to continue growing toward the sky. William Vondrasek, Chief of Parks for Baltimore City, has described it as the park’s “own beanstalk.”
 
Agaves are native to Mexico but can also grow in the southern and western parts of the United States. In the wild, agaves can take up to 30 years to bloom. Most plants die after flowering. Not to worry though, because they send out “pups” or smaller plants that will grow from the crown of the original plant.

This particular variety, an americana marginata, has thick, green leaves with creamy yellow stripes that can grow to over 7 feet long.

Be careful. They are lined with razor sharp hooks.  The flowers will be a yellowish green and should last about three weeks.

Kate Blom, the greenhouse supervisor boasts "it's the opportunity of a lifetime for the plant and for our visitors.”

Operating hours are Wednesday – Sunday 10am to 4pm. The Conservatory is located at 3100 Swann Drive in Druid Hill Park at the intersection of McCulloh Street and Gwynns Falls Parkway. There is no admission but a small donation of $3.00 is encouraged. The phone number is 410-396-0008.

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Categories: Baltimore's Rawlings Conservatory
        

Saturday at Valley View Farms in Cockeysville:

Bonsai Designing, 9 a.m. Martha Meehan takes a look at how different designs are similar or distinct from one another, and how and why we choose particular styles.

Spring Bulbs with Fall Pansies, 11:00 a.m. Pansies and bulbs are wonderful companions in spring and fall gardens. Valley View's Cindi Fielder will teach us how to plant now for colorful gardens in autumn and again in spring.

The Fall Festival continues this weekend at Homestead Gardens in Davidsonville

Saturday

11-4pm: Chesapeake Woodturners demonstration
1-3pm: Boonetowne Stompers
11-2pm: YMCA Camp Letts

Sunday.

11-4pm: Chesapeake Woodturners demonstration
12-4pm: Chesapeake Cats & Dogs- rescue league
1-3pm: Boonetowne Stompers

Posted by Susan Reimer at 3:14 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Garden events