Fireflies or lightning bugs? (Emptying my notebook after writing a front page story in The Sun about lightning bugs.)

Actually, they are neither bugs nor flies. They are members of the winged beetle family. It is possible they got the name "lightning bug" from the fact that a burst of lightning seems to set them blinking.

Their larvae also produce light and they are often called "glow worms." The light is due to a chemical reaction called bioluminescence and it isn't "light" at all. There are no infrared or ultraviolet frequencies.

Each species has a particular flash pattern and that is how they attract the appropriate mate. But in the Smokey Mountains, there is lightning bug species that blinks in unison. They put on such a show that park rangers have to manage crowds and traffic.

The light is also a warning to birds and spiders, who find the bugs distasteful.

There is a predatory species of lightning bug in which the female will mimic the lighting pattern to attract a male. And then she will devour him.

Posted by Susan Reimer at 4:09 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Insects
        

Q: I’m concerned about my garlic's early demise. Last month, their stalks withered and fell early. Those I pulled showed no sign of a bulb below ground. Today I pulled some early withering ones to find the stem beneath the ground frail and limp with tiny bulbs. I know that normally I should wait until the stalks produce a bulb, and then fade.

A: There are several possibilities, but the most common cause for the situation you describe is a fungal disease known as white rot.  If you find a white growth on the leaves at the neck of the plant, and the growth is dotted with tiny black spots, the garlic has white rot.

On the other hand, if the neck tissue on the bulb becomes soft and brownish and shrivels, and if you find a gray to brown mold on the surface of the bulbs, the problem is botrytis rot.

The least likely problem is an infestation of nematodes.  Symptoms would be stunted plants with leaves yellowing prematurely or not surviving until maturity.
 
If you suspect white rot, remove and destroy all affected plants, and plant your garlic elsewhere for the next 3 or 4 years.  If you suspect botrytis, remove infected plants. Keep any harvested bulbs cool and dry in storage.

In any case, add 3-4 inches of compost this fall and rotate your garlic planting to a new location in the garden.

Q: I never want to pull a weed again. I plan to put down black plastic (or landscape fabric) and then put shredded bark mulch over that. All I’ll need to do it throw on some new mulch each year. Isn’t that a good permanent solution?

A: You’ll be creating a plastic mulch sandwich.  As the bark mulch decomposes to an organic material, you’ll end up with a layer of good “soil” on top of the black plastic. Weeds will grow quite happily in it.  Over the years, as you add more mulch, the organic layer will get deeper, and the black plastic will be buried deeper, rendering it useless. One option would be to remove the old mulch each year before you apply new mulch, though this robs your plants of all the good nutrients and benefits supplied by decomposed mulch. A better option is to simply use a 1-2 inch layer of mulch.

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

Common Thyme

Thymus vulgaris

Text by Lewis Shell

Photo by Ken Keefover-Ring

Please take the thyme to read this thymely article.

There are over 300 species of these small, evergreen, aromatic and extremely versatile perennials, and they have many uses in the landscape, providing attractive groundcovers, fragrant foliage, and colorful flowers.

It’s unfortunate that the wonderful herb, common thyme, carries such a mundane name.  After all, there is nothing vulgar or common about the many attributes of thyme.

Thymus vulgaris is a small, upright shrub, growing about one foot tall and two feet wide.  Its narrow to oval, aromatic leaves are gray-green and the flowers range from white to lilac in late spring and early summer.

Thyme is easy to grow in the garden, but does require well-drained soil and sometimes requires a light blanket of mulch in order to survive our winters. 

One draw-back however; if it survives for two or three years, it tends to become woody and scraggly.  At that thyme, its best to replace the plant with a younger specimen that will guarantee better quality leaves for culinary purposes.

With that, we’re out of thyme.

Posted by Susan Reimer at 11:54 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
        

What exactly did he have in mind?  A garden nome? A garden angel? An ornate birdbath?

How about an aluminum fish tail?

Tom and Ann, Annapolis residents, are both avid gardeners and Ann had envied the sculptures in her father's garden.

An employee for C&P Telephone for 40 years, Tom had always dabbled in art and in retirement started taking sculpture classes at Anne Arundel Community College.

The fish tail is made of the aluminum sheeting that is used on roofs and the scales are rivited to a metal frame in a cement block. Tom promised that there are more rivets in the sculpture than there are in the Brooklyn Bridge.

He chose the theme, which looks to me like a giant shrimp, because Ann's husband, Geoff, loves seafood. I was looking around for a giant vad of cocktail sauce.

By the way, sushi was served at the unveiling....

Posted by Susan Reimer at 11:25 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Garden art
        

When It Comes to Your Garden the Best Tools Are the Ones You Operate By Hand
A guest post from Lou Manfredini, Ace Hardware’s Home Expert

Most gardeners agree that the best part of working outdoors is getting your hands dirty. Feeling that soil on your skin, getting dirt under your fingernails - what’s not to love? Alas, our hands can only take us so far and sometimes you need a little help. While there are a myriad of power tools to make quick work of just about any job, I still prefer hand-powered tools to achieve garden nirvana.

To promote healthy growth in your flower or vegetable garden, it is important to turn the soil regularly. A sharp spade works well but requires extreme caution to ensure you do not damage your plants.

I recommend using “The Garden Weasel”. It started as a product only available on TV and developed into a go-to item for novices and professional gardeners alike. I’ve had one for about five years now, and use it often. It has a series of rolling spikes at the end of a long handle that enables you to easily roll it between your plants to turn the soil. This motion opens up the top layer of the soil and allows air to reach the root bed. It is just as easy as it sounds and really works! The Garden Weasel retails for about $30.00.

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

My garden

Photo credit: Baltimore Sun/Susan Reimer

Horticulture and DavesGarden.com are sponsoring a Garden Photo Contest and they want to see pictures of your garden.
 
The grand prize is $1,000. The winners and runners-up will be featured in print with Horticulture and online at HortMag.com and DavesGarden.com. And the winners will also receive one-year subscriptions to Horticulture and DavesGarden.com
 
You can submit photos here: http://www.hortmag.com/gardenphotos. There is no cost, you can submit as many photos as you like, but you have to send them electronically. In other words, no snail mail.

The 5 categories are:

Wildlife, Animals & Insects in the Garden
The Edible Garden
Garden Landscapes
Seasonal Gardens (Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter)
People in the Garden

The grand-prize winner will be selected by renowned garden photographer Rob Cardillo. The deadline for entries is Sept. 30.

Posted by Susan Reimer at 2:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Garden photography
        

The Native Plant Experience is set for Saturday in York County, Pa., and five homeowners will open their properties for a self-guided tour, showing how they are using native plants to conserve water, reduce pesticide and fertilizer use and create wildlife habitat.

The properties range in sice from a suburban lot to a 6.3-acre wooded area. The gardeners will be on hand to share their successes and challenges.

Tickets are $10 and will be available at each of the gardens on the day of the tour and the gardens will be open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. (Sunday is the rain date.) For a list of the gardens and their addresses, go to the website or call 717-840-7408.

It is an opportunity to learn how to make  your yard more enviornmentally friendly, and it is sponsored by the Penn State Cooperative Extension and Mid-Atlantic Landscapes.

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

Valley View Farms in Cockeysville

Saturday, 9 a.m.: Plants for Purgatory - Jimmy Turner, from the Dallas Arboretum, coined the above title while talking about plants that thrive in summer's heat and arid conditions. While the humans survived last year's 54 days over 90 degrees, some of the plants weren't so lucky. Learn which annuals and perennials can handle Maryland's hot summers. A slide presentation will include photos of the Dallas Arboretum gardens as well as the plant trials held in nearby Lancaster, PA

11 a.m.: Do-it-Yourself Irrigation and Watering Systems - Learn how to install a drip-irrigation watering system for your gardens and containers. The staff will explain how the rain drip irrigation systems work, relieving gardeners of watering by hand day-in and day-out. The garden shop will also show gardeners how to properly use timers, soaker hoses and other watering accessories.

Mt. Cuba Center in Greenville, DE

Mt. Cuba Center is offering summer twilight tours on Wednesdays and Thursdays at 5:30 through July 28. In the cool of late afternoon, take a stroll around the garden ponds and babbling brook. Relax, refresh, and rejuvenate as you enjoy the lilies, azaleas, coneflowers, and coreopsis. If conditions are right, birds will serenade you as they perch on the tulip poplar canopy.  The cost is $5 and you can reserve a spot by visiting the Mt. Cuba website.

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

When my son was little, he had a collection of frogs in a tank in his bedroom (no less), and I had to go to the pet store a couple times a week to purchase these disgusting little black worms to feed them.

You'd put some of the squirming mass on the tip of your finger and the frogs would literally jump at your hand to eat them.

Yuck.

You can see why I am not a fan of mealworms, despite how much birds love them.

Mealworms are dessert for birds, and like kids, the birds like dessert best. But unlike cookies, cake and pie, mealworms are a vital part of a bird's summer diet as he beefs up for migration in the fall.

The good news is, the ick factor has been removed and freeze-dried mealworms are available from companies like Coles.

High in protein, fat and potassium, mealworms help maintain energy in birds. Bluebirds, flickers, woodpeckers, nuthatches, siskins and chickadees love them.

You can serve mealworms is a dish-like feeder, or mix them in with the seed in your regular feeder.

And don't forget the suet. It isn't just for winter anymore. There are plenty of brands out there that won't "melt" or spoil in the summer heat.

Posted by Susan Reimer at 11:17 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Birds in the garden
        

Karen Macon Jackson takes a closer look at what is in her garden. Here? Astilbe.

A "ditch" lily.

Gaillardia

A wise old owl.

Hydrangea

Pokeweed

Spirea

St. John's Wort

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

The stink bug infestation in Maryland -- damaging crops and annoying homeowners -- has caught the attention of my colleagues in the editorial department of The Baltimore Sun and they are outraged -- outraged, I say!

Seriously, The Sun editorial writers make the excellent point that while we wait for the USDA to come up with a way to combat the stink bug, we are on our own and one of the best ways it to search for egg sacks on its favorite plants -- tomatoes, peppers, squash, fruit trees -- and crush them. The crushed eggs don't smell nearly as bad as the crushed stink bugs do, hence the name.

Stink bugs are such a scourge that they are now infested even the most cerebral sections of a newspaper....

Posted by Susan Reimer at 9:57 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Insects
        

Yogies and yoginis celebrate this day with sun salutations, while new-agers and "druids" celebrate at Stonehenge in England.

I always turn to my friend Teresa O'Connor, author of the blog Seasonal Wisdom, for the wonderful folklore surrounding the holidays and seasons, and she never fails me.

In her post on the Summer Solstice, Teresa writes that in ancient times, it was actually considered mid-summer, not the beginning of summer, and the night before was fearful because fairies and evil spirits would be about.

Folks used to build giant bonfires and bring family, friends and animals close to protect them. But some anxieties were real -- this time of year ushered in a season in which crops, humans and livestock were most vulnerable to disease and insect damage.

For more about the Summer Solstice, and other seasons of the sun and moon, check out Teresa's blog.

Posted by Susan Reimer at 9:35 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Garden history
        

Japanese Holly

Ilex crenata

Text by Lewis Shell

Photo by University of Arkansas

Sometimes called box-leaf holly, Ilex crenata strongly resembles boxwood in color, leaf shape, and over-all appearance but has some very basic, distinguishing characteristics.

Upon close inspection, the leaves and stems of I. crenata are alternate while the leaves and stems of boxwoods are opposite.  Also, the leaves of I. crenata have tiny spines near the pointed, tip end of each leaf, while the leaves of boxwood are entirely smooth with a slight dimple in the end of each leaf.

Their differences notwithstanding, Japanese holly is an excellent alternative to boxwoods. It has a slow to moderate growth rate, typically reaching 4 to 10 feet high and about 3 feet wide.

As a foundation plant, it can be maintained at just about any height by periodic pruning or shearing.

Preferring light, moist, well-drained, slightly acid soils, they tolerate city environments happily and adapt well to sun or shade.

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

Five years ago, the U.S. Senate’s unanimously set aside the last week in June to bring attention to pollinating creatures, n an effort to address the urgent issue of declining pollinator populations and habitat.

Today, Pollinator Week is an international celebration of the valuable ecosystem services provided by bees, birds, butterflies, bats and beetles.

Pollinators are vital to our delicate ecosystem, supporting terrestrial wildlife, providing healthy watershed, and more. In addition, perhaps three-quarters of our food supply requires pollination.

So get out there and hug a bee or bake a cake for a butterfly!

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

Q: Last year my cucumber plants looked good, then collapsed. Didn’t get a single cucumber! Saw a couple of cucumber beetles, that’s all. What did I do wrong?

A: Cucumber beetles transmit bacterial wilt disease to cucumbers, and that killed your cucumbers. Control cucumber beetles from season’s start.  In fall or spring, till soil to kill overwintering eggs and larvae.

Use floating row cover to shield young plants from beetle bites until bloom begins, then you must remove the row cover to allow insects to pollinate the cucumbers.  Older plants are less susceptible to the wilt.

Handpicking the beetles is difficult because they are fast and drop or hide when disturbed.  You can spray with spinosad, pyrethrum, or neem products—all organic. Planting late, after June 15, also helps plants voids the pest to some degree.

Q: We’ve lived in this house 22 years and never had a camel cricket problem until two years ago. They live around a basement entrance. We water-sealed the bricks and used sticky traps, but they keep coming back. The area is kept very clean. What else can we do?

A: All crickets are attracted to light.  Have you gotten in the habit of leaving on an outside light?  Many other pest insects are attracted to lights, including wasps, earwigs, sod webworm, codling moth, and the new brown marmorated stink bug, to name a few. So we really recommend not leaving outdoor lights on at night.

Crickets like moisture, darkness, and primarily feed on organic matter.  Is something making the area more moist? Tree shade increases, grades change (soil can sink or be washed away), and down spouts shift.  What else has changed in the past 22 years?  More shrubs and groundcover, mulch? Prune and pull back plants to dry soil and reduce organic debris. Here’s our website pub on crickets:  www.hgic.umd.edu/_media/documents/el50_000.pdf

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

Dena Cameron is the container gardening specialist at Homestead Gardens in Davidsonville, and she gets the funniest questions from gardeners.

"They ask me if houseplants can go outside," she says. "I tell them, well, houseplants started outside."

Dena has begun including houseplants in her container arrangements for customers, although she still mixes in annuals and some perennials.

The advantage is, the containers can be brought in doors during the winter to provide color and life and won't go dormant, as perennials do. But these arrangements aren't suited to hot decks or beside pools.

"Most houseplants do best in shade or bright shade conditions," she said. "Although they can usually handle morning sun."

She includes flowering annuals that bloom in the shade, such as impatiens or begonias, to add color.

When it is time -- by Halloween at the latest -- bring the houseplant containers indoors, she advises.

But two weeks before, spray the plants with a general pesticide to thwart pest that may be hiding in the leaves or the soil. And bring it close to the house to it can adapt to the indoor light conditions.

"Try not to set them near heat vents or drafty windows," she said. "And cut back on fertilizing in winter and begin again in early spring, around March."

Here is a list of plants Dena included in the container above, plus other combinations she likes.

This medium-sized container includes:  
purple plant – Strobilanthes, “Persian Shield”, (tropical but may make it through the winter)
green plant with little leaves – Radermachera sinica, “china doll” (house plant, more finicky)
green/white plant – Pteris cretica, fern, “silver ribbon”
New Guinea impatiens, “paradise light lavender” and “pure beauty white”
 

And in this one:
 
variegated green plant - Schefflera, “Trinette”
yellow spotted plants – Croton, “Sloppy Painter”
yellow flower – Begonia, “nonstop tuberous”, yellow
 

And finally, in this small container: 
 
variegated plant – Croton, “zanzibar”
fern – Fern, Asparagus densiflorus 'Sprengeri', “asparagus”
orange flower – New guinea impatiens, “paradise, electric orange”

Posted by Susan Reimer at 11:03 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)
Categories: Container gardening
        

Dill

Anethum graveolens

Text by Lewis Shell

Photo by Antoine McKinney

This is an herb that can do it all.  Where to start?

Wise gardeners know that having dill plants is like having a flotilla of aircraft carriers hovering around a war zone.  Dill umbels or ‘flat top’ flowers attract predator insects that rely on the dill flowers for energy-producing nectar and a vantage point from which to survey your garden for insects to predate.

Then, of course, dill leaves provide the gardener/chef with salad garnish and flavor, brightening numerous salads and dishes.  Can you imagine a nice fillet of salmon without a delicious tangy dill sauce? Furthermore, those flavorful seeds are used in pickling and longer-cooking recipes.

To top it off, the name dill comes from ‘dilla,’ a Norse word meaning ‘to lull.’  Dill tea may be just the thing for those who suffer from insomnia.

Plant dill seeds after danger of frost in spring and every three weeks during the spring and early summer in order to enjoy a constant supply of dill foliage.  Dill tolerates a wide range of soil conditions.  When allowed to flower during its second year, the plant produces seed and re-seeds itself.  Weeding is the only care required.

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

The extension service is trying to develop a comprehensive list of host plants. Right now, that list includes tomatoes, peppers, beans, corn, asparagus, raspberry, peach, pear and apple.

Let the extension know if the stink bugs are worse in your garden this year than last. Send him an email at jont@umd.edu

Also, check out the new floating row cover web page and photo gallery for some ideas on how to exclude pests, like the stink bug, from your garden plants. http://www.growit.umd.edu/ImproveGarden/FloatingRowCover/index.cfm

Posted by Susan Reimer at 2:54 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Insects
        

I’m playing experimental gardener for Susan, who had no room in her own garden for a newfangled grafted tomato plant and its non-grafted cousin.

One of the plants is a hybrid Big Beef tomato; the other is a Big Beef that has been grafted onto another, unidentified tomato variety that is said to be extremely vigorous.

Marketed under the name Mighty ‘Mato, the grafted plants are said to combine the best of heirloom and hybrid taste with better resistance to diseases, pests, drought and other environmental stresses.

The makers of the Mighty ’Mato have asked gardening writers (or their brown-thumbed surrogates, if need be) to try out the grafted and non-grafted tomato plants in side-by-side tests.

I’m afraid the plants I received were wilting by the time they got out of their shipping box and into my home. The Mighty ’Mato was the limper of the two, so I had to trim quite a few leaves. I got the plants in the ground just in time for a week of torrid weather. The good news: They’re still alive.

The grafted plant is supposed to have two to three times the yield of the regular Big Beef.
As the plants grow, I’ll report back here on their progress. Stay tuned.

Posted by Susan Reimer at 2:27 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Vegetable gardening
        

Behnke Nursery

Saturday, 10 a.m. in Beltsville

Talk:  All About Viette’s Annual Daylily & Wine Festival by Cheval Force Opps.

The gardens at Viette's

Learn about the upcoming bus trip to Andre Viette’s nationally renowned gardens, which just happens to be during their Wine Festival!

Garden writer, lecturer and garden tour guide Cheval Force Opps will have photos and a world of information about this exciting trip leaving by motorcoach from Behnke’s in Beltsville on July 16.

Cheval and Kathy Jentz, editor of the Washington Gardener magazine, will host this tour and impart their knowledge along the way.

Posted by Susan Reimer at 7:43 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Garden tours
        

Maryland's first lady, Katie O'Malley, has opened her  at the governor's house in Annapolis again this season.

Master gardeners from the University of Maryland and students from the Cedar Chapel Special School in Worcester County helped plant the first summer vegetable seedlings late last week from plants the students grew in their school greenhouse.

The garden is part of the state’s  “Grow It, Eat It" campaign to encourage one million state residents to eat healthy and to grow their own vegetables, fruits and herbs.

“Backyard gardening teaches young people the value of the work it takes to grow something, the perseverance to see it through to harvest, and the joy of tasting something delicious that they grew themselves,” said Mrs. O’Malley. 

“We look forward to growing out the seedlings and expanding the garden offerings as an example of what all Marylanders can do whether they have a patio with planters or a larger backyard garden to improve their health and fitness and to being a part of the State’s backyard gardening promotion.”

Planted in the garden are vegetable plants including tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, Swiss chard, and herbs.  Additionally, Sue Langley, beekeeper for the Government House bee hive, is raising bees for honey. Now, in its second year of production, the Government House hive will be harvested for honey this summer for the first time.   

 More information on the campaign and the University of Maryland’s Master Gardener program can be found at www.growit.umd.edu. The web site also provides a blog and list of vegetable gardening classes and events by county. 

Maryland is one of the first states in the nation to have a backyard food garden at the Governor’s home.  The vegetable garden sets a realistic example of what Maryland families can do in their own backyards. 

Cedar Chapel Special School is a unique, alternative learning environment, located in Snow Hill (Worcester County). The school prepares students with moderate and severe disabilities between the ages of 3 and 21 to be included in regular schools, to be gainfully employed, and to be self-sufficient at home and in their community.  www.cedarchapel.org/

At the event, the First Lady also announced that the signature kick-off event for the statewide Buy Local Challenge Week (July 23-31) will be held at Government House on July 21.  The campaign encourages all Marylanders to eat at least one local product each day of the week.  

Posted by Susan Reimer at 7:23 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Garden news
        

Photo credit: Baltimore Sun/Susan Reimer

This weekend at Valley View Farms in Cockeysville

Saturday

9 a.m.: The Succulent Container Garden -- Succulents thrive in containers with little care. Learn the best pots and planters to use and all about many different types of succulents for relatively care free container gardening possibilities.

11 a.m.: Butterflies and Hummingbirds (kid-friendly) We've become infatuated with butterflies and hummingbirds. Follow the metamorphosis of a butterfly captured through the lens on Marian Andelman and Jan Gannon's cameras and watch a short slideshow. Stroll through the butterfly idea gardens. Lastly, take a look at handouts and signs and learn some of the best practices to attract these petite flyers to the garden. Marian will share her experiences in providing the perfect habitat for hummingbirds and butterflies.

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

Tickets are $10 and can be purchased under the tent at the 1600 block of Park Avenue on the day of the walk. Visitors will be given a map and a companion booklet. There will also be some garden-related items for sale, including planters, gardening gloves, planting tools

 For more information visit boltonhillgardenclub.org

Posted by Susan Reimer at 9:21 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Garden events
        

This weekend's garden events include the Perennial Affair at Homestead Gardens in Davidsonville, and I am delighted to be among the line-up of speakers for the weekend.

I will be talking about "Gardening on the Internet" Sunday at noon. And then I am hanging around for Gene Sumi's advice on maintaining my perennial garden and the talk on solar-powered water features. I soooo want a water feature.

Here's a look at the rest of the weekend's events at Homestead.

Saturday

10 am: Wonderful World of Water Bugs: A kid’s guide to aquatic life with water gardening expert Dave Kemon.
($10 fee includes planter; pre-register by calling 410-798-5000)

10 am: If Not Ivy, Then What? Master Gardener Lisa Winters shows effective & attractive solutions using ground cover plants for every type of growing situation.

11:30 am: Native Perennials--Kara Crissey, CPH discusses using native plants. Learn why plants local to the area are an important part of your garden.

1:00 pm: Cooking with Daylilies--Garden designer Tasanee Mack uses the buds of this perennial favorite in a stir fry.

1:30 pm: Dividing & Repotting Aquatic Plants--Dave Kemon demonstrates how to keep your water garden plants healthy.

2:0 pm: Gardening in Small Spaces -- Presented by Washington Gardener Editor & Publisher Kathy Jentz.

Sunday

10:30 am: Low-Maintenance Gardening--Skip the extra work & let Lisa Winters teach you about the right plants & techniques for a beautiful garden that will only look like a labor of love.

12:00 pm: Gardening on the Internet -- Baltimore Sun Columnist Susan Reimer shows the best websites, blogs & online resources for creating a stunning landscape.

12:30 pm: Fires It Up -- Cooking demo with local author and chef Rita Calvert.

1:30 pm: Maintaining a Perennial Garden -- Education Coordinator Gene Sumi reviews a perennial gardener’s to-do list.

2:00 pm: Aquatic Solar Pumps -- Make your water garden come alive with fountains that use the sun’s power.
 

Posted by Susan Reimer at 11:45 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Garden events
        

A: We are getting many panicked calls and e-mails about American beech trees raining leaves.  The disease is anthracnose, a fungal disease that begins with brown spots and blotches on leaves, followed by yellowing and leaf drop.

This is a very specialized disease, and many trees such as sycamore, dogwood and oak get their own variety of anthracnose.  Beech rarely gets anthracnose, but this spring’s weather conditions created the “perfect storm” of conditions that it loves.

It should not kill your tree, because healthy trees can tolerate one season of partial defoliation and many can put out a new flush of foliage.

You can rake up the leaves to remove infected material from the site.  It is generally not economical to spray large mature shade trees for anthracnose nor is it effective once symptoms appear because fungicides can’t cure, only prevent, disease.

Next spring, only young trees or newly planted trees could use a fungicide spray to prevent excessive leaf loss until they become established.

Our website’s Plant Diagnostic has identification and control help.

Q: Would leftover bait worms be good in my compost pile?

A: No, please! No fishing bait of any kind, including crawfish, fish, or worms should be dumped anywhere into the environment.

Many of these non-native live baits have already established in Maryland ecosystems where they kill, infect, and outcompete our native marine life.

Even dead bait can introduce disease to a body of water. Although it may seem helpful to dump excess bait to feed fish or enrich the environment, instead it can be destructive.

Share your extra bait with another fisherman or save it for another trip. You can kill it by freezing it; then put it out with the trash. Never introduce any organisms from one body of water into another one. 

Posted by Susan Reimer at 9:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Q_and_A, University of Maryland Extension
        

Baltimore Sun photographer Kim Hairston had to make way for these Canadian geese and their babies at Loch Raven Reservoir.

Posted by Susan Reimer at 12:24 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Wordless Wednesday
        

Good morning Garden Variety readers!

First, my apologies to any of you who have attempted to post comments in the last week. Technical problems required that we shut down the comment phase of some of our blogs and Garden Variety was one of them!

I missed you all! And I felt like I was talking to myself...

And today I will be out judging the entries in The Baltimore Sun's garden contest (OPG=Other People's Gardens). With a heat index of 100-plus degrees no less. And in the days ahead, I will be posting some pictures of what we see.

Stay out of the heat, gardeners!!!

Posted by Susan Reimer at 7:18 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Garden contests
        

Cosmos bipinnatus

Text by Lewis Shell

Photo by Christine McComas

If you don’t already have Cosmos in your garden, it’s not too late to sow some seeds of this airy-leaved flower along the back of your flower bed. Alternatively, look for potted cosmos at your favorite garden center or nursery.

Cosmos belong to the daisy family, Compositae, and bear daisy-like flowers with yellow centers surrounded by petals of various colors. 

Plant the seeds about one foot apart in well drained soil--and do not fertilize!  Cosmos tolerate poor and dry soil. But water is essential for germination and establishment, so don’t let them dry out at least until they begin to produce flowers.

These annual flowers grow up to six feet tall in a good growing season and may require staking, but will continue to bloom well into fall providing you with flowers for show and for cutting.

Posted by Susan Reimer at 11:35 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

The Three Sisters made an appearance at the White House last week, and we aren't talking about an R&B group.

First Lady Michelle Obama was back in the White House kitchen garden with school children, this time planting the "three sisters:" corn, beans and squash.

Mrs. Obama and Native American children from tribes across the country used an ancient planting technique in which corns, beans and squash are planting in such a way as to use the corn stalks to support the beans vines and the squash vines prevent weeds.

The first lady and the children also harvested some spring crops, and a Native American prayer ceremony was conducted to bless the harvest.

The guests were invited as part of the latest component of Mrs. Obama's childhood obesity campaign, Let's Move in Indian Country, which encourages the use of "culturally proficient" strategies to create food and fitness projects to make tribal communities healthier.

"We’re working specifically with young kids in the Native American community all across the country," Mrs. Obama said during brief welcoming remarks. "And this planting is a special way to highlight that new initiative."

Jefferson Keel, President of the National Congress of American Indians, led the blessing ceremony before the gardening action began. He spoke in English and his native tongue.

"We always go to the Creator prior to planting," Keel explained.

Posted by Susan Reimer at 4:03 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: White House Vegetable Garden
        

Today is National Gardening Exercise Day and on this day, state garden clubs encourage people to substitute the phrase "yard work" with "yard exercise."

The theory is, with a little mindfulness, tending the lawn or garden will no longer be a "chore" but a great way to stay physically fit.

Now don't feel that you have to "go for the burn" or exercise in the garden aerobically every time. Modify the program to meet your individual needs. At the very least, using these techniques will help reduce back strain and muscle soreness so often associated with gardening.

Jeffrey Restuccio, an author and speaker on the subject of gardening and exercise, offers these pointers to get the most physical benefit out of gardening and to reduce the back strain and muscle soreness:

1) Warm up your muscles before you garden for five to ten minutes.

2) Stretch for five to ten minutes. Stretching will help relieve back strain and muscle soreness and avoid injury.

3) Plan  your gardening exercise session to include a variety of movements such as raking, mowing, weeding, pruning and digging and alternate between them often, perhaps every fifteen minutes.

Don't bend from the back as you rake or hoe. If you make just one change, this should be it. Bend from the knees and use your legs, shoulders and arms in a rocking motion. Also alternate your stance between right-handed and left-handed. Alternating stance balances the muscles used.

4) Ideally, you should stretch again after you have thoroughly warmed up your muscles with 15 to 20 minutes of steady raking, hoeing, weeding, planting or mowing.

5) Cool down after your gardening exercise session by walking, picking flowers or vegetables or just enjoying the fruits of your "exercise."

Posted by Susan Reimer at 3:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Garden news
        

Photo credit: Baltimore Sun/Susan Reimer

After leaving Nancy and Pierre Moitrier and their crew to work their magic on my garden, I returned a scant three hours later to find this: a wonderful mix of perennials, shrubs, roses, conifers and a few annuals...and three Happy Birthday balloons!

My new garden will have the hint of formality that I think you need in front of the house, but it will also have the colorful, unstructured look that perennials give.

Nancy will return this week to give me a rain gauge -- to help me keep up with the inch-a-week watering the garden will require --  and to introduce me to my new garden "friends."

Though I helped select the plants and know the habits of most of them, I do not know them all and I will be grateful for her advice.

I plan to invite a few garden friends to a "Garden Party" in a couple of weeks, to show off my new garden. Nancy and Pierre will be the guests of honor...after the new garden, of course.

Posted by Susan Reimer at 1:08 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: My Garden
        

My new garden: Out with the old

Photo credit: Baltimore Sun/Susan Reimer

It was my birthday Friday. The big 6-0. And the happiest part of that day was the installation of my new garden.

Faithful readers will remember that early this spring I decided to get "professional help," with the area underneath the windows in the front of my house.

After a half-dozen failed attempts on my part to create the eclectic mix of formal and informal that I thought that spot deserved, I asked Nancy and Pierre Moitrier of Designs for Greener Gardens in Annapolis to stage an intervention.

(Full disclosure: I have worked with Nancy and Pierre on a couple of gardening news stories for The Baltimore Sun, but I did not ask for and, I am hoping, did not receive any price breaks.)

The key to my choice was that I had met this lovely couple before, toured their own garden and had the kinds of conversations with them that let me know they take time to understand what their clients want, even if their clients can't quite explain themselves.

That's me all over.

In addition, Nancy offers garden coaching services and I had worked with her before with a new garden design that I installed myself.

Her design, instead, is a mix of perennials, small shrubs and a small conifer, and she "repurposed" the three euonymous and the three roses that had been there and moved a hellianthus from another part of the garden.

The transformation also included the removal of a giant miscanthus, which had spread and sunk its roots very deep. This was one installation I didn't think I could do myself.

So, Friday afternoon, I left Nancy, Pierre and their crew to their work and went to run errands....

Posted by Susan Reimer at 12:16 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: My Garden
        

Photo courtesy of Hammond-Harwood House

In Annapolis this weekend, the historic Hammond-Harwood House is sponsoring the 11th annual Secret Garden Tour.

This popular event will feature twelve to fourteen private gardens, seldom seen by the public, in the neighborhood along Spa Creek in the historic district of Annapolis. The featured gardens, each in a different style, will be open from 1 to 5 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday.

One of the gardens on the tour this year will be the historic John Ridout House garden at 120 Duke of Gloucester Street.  This garden will be only open to Hammond-Harwood members on Saturday. (The cost is $40 to become a Hammond-Harwood House member and visit the Ridout Garden.)

Tickets are $25 in advance and $30 on the day of the event and are good for Saturday, Sunday, or both days. The printed program for the tour serves as the ticket and it will be available at the will call table at the First Presbyterian Church, 165 & 171 Duke of Gloucester Street, the first stop on the tour.

Parking is available on the street, in the Bladen St. Garage on St. John’s St. (free on weekends but further away), at the Hillman Garage (not free) at 150 Gorman St. off of Duke of Gloucester St. and Gott’s Garage off of Calvert St. (not free).  Hillman & Gott’s garages are closer to the event.

Posted by Susan Reimer at 9:49 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Garden tours