Photo courtesy of U.S. Fish and Wildlife 

Faithful Garden Variety readers will remember that my daughter, Jessie, may or may not have been bitten by a bat during her sleep this summer and was forced to endure the rabies series of shots.

It was not clear that the bat had had rabies - or even that it had left its tiny bite somewhere on her skin. But you don't get do-overs with rabies. It is 100 percent fatal. The shots are a must

(Not nearly as painful as they once were, they are still hideously expensive.)

Not one to hold a grudge, Garden Variety was pleased to learn that Congress has approved $1.9 million in federal funding for research to identify the cause and seek solutions to the "white-nose syndrome" that is devastating bat populations in the Northeast.

This is on top of the $500,000 that had already been allocated for monitoring the mysterious disease, which has 90 percent mortality rates in some places.

White-nose syndrome is exactly that. The noses of the bats display a white dusty fungus during their hibernation. The fungus is just enough of an irritant to keep the bats from entering the deep slumber of hibernation, and they expend valuable energy reserves.

As a result, when spring comes and the bats emerge from their cave sleeping places, they don't have the strength to survive until the insect population arrives for supper.

(Maryland does not have the deep cave system bats require for hibernation. But Southwestern Pennsylvania and West Virginia do.)

Bats have a different kind of reputation at this time of year, but they are an important link in the agrarian food chain because of their appetite for insects.

And they are protective of humans as well because they are so good at eating mosquitoes, which carry the West Nile virus.

This appropriation is probably not enough to understand and irradicate this fungus. The Bat Conservation International urges gardeners and others to contact their congressmen to urge additional funding.

Hey bats. All is forgiven.

Posted by Susan Reimer at 2:59 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
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Photo credit: Baltimore Sun staff

I think I planted my first pansies in the fall five or six years ago.

A neighbor, who is a landscaper, gave me an extra flat of pansies left over from a job, and told me, to my amazement, that I could plant them and they would last the winter and bloom again in the spring.

They did. And I have been planting pansies in the fall ever since.

I was researching my garden column on pansies for The Sun, and I queried my fellow garden writers about them and got some thoughtful responses.

It is possible that pansies are not the innocent little flower faces that they appear to be, but a marketing ploy by growers to sell more product and to keep us gardening - and buying - into the winter, when sensible gardeners would be sitting by the fire.

That's kind of harsh, I guess. I don't like to think of anything I do in the garden as driven by the evil cast of "Mad Men."

But, to everything there is a season and I should be putting my garden to bed right now, not planting great swaths of pansies. I mean, I need to get a grip!

Nonetheless, as part of my research for the column on pansies, I learned that violas, with their smaller faces and their abundant blooms, might actually do better over winter than the giant pansies available now.

And so I bought two flats of violas to plant.

Posted by Susan Reimer at 8:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
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A very young vegetable gardener is one of People magazine's Heroes Among Us.

Katie Stagliano, an 11-year-old fifth-grader from Summerville, S.C., raised and donated 5,000 pounds of vegetables to soup kitchens and homeless shelters this season.

It began last year when Katie planted a cabbage seedling in her family's backyard. It grew to be an amazing 40 pounds, and Katie donated it to a homeless shelter.

Two days later, according to People, she returned to help serve some of  the 275  meals made with her giant cabbage (along with ham and rice.)

"I never felt so good in my life," she told People.

Working with donated land in her sub-division, outside of her town and at her school, and enlisting the help of volunteers, she and her crew supplied soup kitchens with squash, okra, cabbage and other vegetables.

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First lady Michelle Obama got a farmers market in her White House neighborhood this summer. And so did plenty of others.

According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the number of farmers markets has grown by 12.6 percent over last year - an increase of 589 markets from 4,685 in 2008 to 5,274 in 2009.

The growth is impressive. The last time the USDA did such a census, over a two-year period from 2006 to 2008, the increase was only 6.8 percent.

There were only 1,755 farmers markets when the USDA became keeping count in 1994.

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Remember the kerfluffle in Ocean City this summer over the City Council's decision to ban the sale of the herb salvia divinorum?

Seems kids were getting high, paranoid and a bit out of control by smoking or chewing this variety of sage, and the OC police, quite frankly, already have plenty to do in the summer sun capital.

The Washington Post takes a broader look at the plant today, outlining other legislative actions and quoting a Hopkins doc on its effects. It is legal inn D.C., but illegal in Virginia and parts of Maryland.

Hard for me to work up a lot of heat on this topic. The plant is legal, it is its sale that is under attack. It isn't addictive and its effects only last between 5 and 10 minutes.

It seems like just another attempt to ban "dumb."

Photo credit: Flicker/oceandesetoiles

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 File photo

The American Bar Association has pledged to plant one million trees across the United States in the next five years, and the first ones will go in the ground around Baltimore's Franklin Square Elementary School in West Baltimore.

Tuesday between 9 a.m. and noon, students, lawyers and voluntters will plant 10 to 15 trees at the Franklin Square schoolyard, surrounding streets and nearby park, as well as weed, mulch and install flowering bed as part if a campaign to beautify the Lexington Street neighborhood

The tree planting event will also serve as the launch for NeighborWoods Month, a community service campaign to heighten awareness about the value of trees in cities all around the nation.

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 Photo credit: Associated Press

Here is the "pool report" on Michelle Obama's visit to the new farmers' market in Washington Thursday. It has more detail that we were able to provide Thursday evening.

(Pool reports are written by a single, regular, reporter and distributed to all the news media. They use pool reporters when they can't handle a crowd. This was was written by Charles Hurt, Washington Bureau Chief of the New York Post. FLOTUS, of course, is short for First Lady of the United States.)

For a completely different and somewhat more partisan take on the first lady's visit, see Dana Milbank's report in Friday's Washington Post.

"In a steady light drizzle, FLOTUS arrived a little after 3 p.m. on Vermont Avenue at the northeast corner of Lafayette Park in front of the Veterans Affairs building.

A couple dozen produce stands were set up with fruits and vegetables, eggs, milk and cheese raised on mainly Virginia and Maryland farms.

Several hundred ecstatic FLOTUS fans gathered in the street amid the stands, including some of the vendors and other organic enthusiasts.

As part of her ongoing effort to focus on healthy eating, FLOTUS was there to celebrate the opening of the FRESHFARM farmer's market, aimed at selling healthy locally grown produce to people who work in the neighborhood.

"I have never seen so many people so excited about fruits and vegetables," she said to wild cheers.

Other speakers included USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack and DC Mayor Adrian Fenty.

During the event, several tasty looking mallards flew overhead but no one noted their potential as an excellent and healthy food source.

Afterwards, FLOTUS made her way along the bike rack barriers to the tunes of -- what else? -- U2.

Someone placed a small lei of flowers around her neck. It appeared to be made of marigolds.

Then she spent a few minutes perusing two of the produce stands.

 A certified member of the Eastern liberal elite media reported that, in fact, arugala was available for sale. But as your pooler hasn't the faintest idea what arugala looks like, it could not be determined if she placed any into her straw basket.

The White House later reported that the First Lady picked up some black kale, eggs, cherry tomatoes, mixed hot peppers, pears, fingerling potatoes, cheese and chocolate milk."

Posted by Susan Reimer at 12:25 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)
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Photo courtesy of Matt Lehman

In my garden column in The Baltimore Sun today, I talk with Matt Lehman, a 19-year-old college sophomore who carried a garden with him when he return to college in Kansas.

Matt's family owns Lehman's, an Ohio, hardware story and catalog outlet that caters to Amish and others who do not have or use electricity.

After working in the family store all summer - and contracting a bit of cabin fever - Matt said he found refuge working outdoors in his mother's garden when his shift was over.

Attracted to Mel Bartholomew's book on square-foot gardening, he decided to build his own (1 foot X 3 feet), cart it back to college, and place it under his dorm window. With the help of some extra lighting, he is growing some fine tomatoes, beans and cukes.

Matt said his little garden gave him the same kind of pleasure working in his mother's had during the summer - something constructive and contemplative to do during down time.

Matt discovered what we all know....gardening can be a refuge.

And a good source of fresh vegetables!

Continue reading "Dorm room gardening" »

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Photo of Michelle Williams and Heath Ledger/Associated Press

In an interview in the October edition of Vogue magazine, Michelle Williams talks for the first time about her grief over the loss of Heath Ledger, her ex and the father of daughter Matilda.

Williams owns a house in Brooklyn and one in upstate New York, and she has spent most of her time there, hiding out, healing and trying to find a way to move forward.

She talks in the interview about holding herself together with "a string and a paperclip" and wondering, when her daughter was playing with friends, how she was going to get through the rest of the day.

Here is what she said about the role of gardening in her healing process.

"One [friend] got me gardening in the spring, and that's when it started to turn around. I think it's something about being in nature that made it more possible. I remember being on my hands and knees. The ground was cold and muddy. I pushed back the dead leaves and saw the bright green shoots of spring. Under all this decay something was growing. Caring for the garden reminded me to care for myself."

It is a lesson, sadly, many gardeners have learned.

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Photo credit: Baltimore Sun/Susan Reimer

Carl Zimmer of the New York Times is writing about "the origin of the flower," with apologies to Charles Darwin, author of "The Origin of the Species."

In fact, Zimmer writes, the ancestry of flowers has baffled generations of scientists since Darwin. There was no good reason why the flower survived in the shadow - literally - of much larger shrubs and trees. And the incredible diversity is another mystery.

Here is something of what Zimmer wrote.

Darwin could see for himself how successful flowering plants had become. They make up the majority of living plant species, and they dominate many of the world’s ecosystems, from rain forests to grasslands. They also dominate our farms. Out of flowers come most of the calories humans consume, in the form of foods like corn, rice and wheat. Flowers are also impressive in their sheer diversity of forms and colors, from lush, full-bodied roses to spiderlike orchids to calla lilies shaped like urns.

The fossil record, however, offered Darwin little enlightenment about the early evolution of flowers....

...scientists are [now] finding a wealth of clues in living flowers and their genes. They are teasing apart the recipes encoded in plant DNA for building different kinds of flowers. Their research indicates that flowers evolved into their marvelous diversity in much the same way as [human] eyes and limbs have: through the recycling of old genes for new jobs.

Amazing stuff.

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Continue reading "Bats? You always suspected she was" »

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Continue reading "Bats? Yes, I am" »

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Photo credit: Baltimore Sun/Susan Reimer

It was hard to believe.

The vacant lot in the East Baltimore neighborhood of Oliver - which early Thursday morning was crawling with volunteers and earth-moving equipment - had become a gem of a garden in just a single day. 

Eight raised beds held clean soil and vegetable seedlings. Around the perimeter - where volunteers had pulled out hundreds of old bricks and chunks of cement left over from demolished houses - was a garden planted with perennials, herbs and trees.

Still to come? A decorative iron fence with a pair of gates, and benches.

The project, on a lot at the corner of North Central and Hoffman avenues, was the work of Fiskars, the Wisconsin garden tool maker, Home Depot and the city of Baltimore, which caught Fiskars' attention with its "Cleaner/Greener" programs. It is the sixth such garden in the nation.

The beds should produce a bounty of fall vegetables and salad greens. And the city has promised grant money to plant again in the spring.

Business, community groups and churches are "stake-holders" in the garden and are committed to keeping it weeded, watered and blooming.

Joe Lamp'l, known on television and the Web as Joe Gardener, designed the garden and supervised its installation, with the help of about 200 volunteers.

If he had taken a week to do this, the project might not have gotten noticed.

But to pull it off in a single day? That's impressive.

Continue reading "Finished! The Oliver neighborhood garden" »

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 Photo credit: Baltimore Sun/Susan Reimer

Just add water.

That's all the Baltimore neighborhood of Oliver is asked to do.

More than 200 volunteers from Fiskars, the garden tool company, Home Depot, the city of Baltimore and the neighborhood are working right now to create a garden sanctuary - in a single day.

They are building eight raised beds to hold 150 fall vegetable seedlings. Around the vacant lot on North Central Avenue they will plant 400 annuals, perennials and shrubs and more than 30 new trees. 

There will be benches for visitors and room for tents to hold revivals and community events just as they did here years ago.

All the community is asked to do is water the new garden. And the city installed a water line overnight to make it easier.

Master gardener Joe Lamp'l, who designed the project for Fiskars, said the project cost about $94,000 - half of what it might have cost without the corporate and city donations and the volunteer labor.

Baltimore Mayor Sheila Dixons is due at the garden at 5 p.m. today for a ribbon cutting. There is still plenty to do! 

Stop back here are Garden Variety for a look at the finished garden.

Posted by Susan Reimer at 11:27 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)
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Photo courtesy of Central Park

OMG. I was just there last weekend!

New York's Central Park, and its beautiful gem Conservatory Garden, were devastated by a powerful thunderstorm Tuesday night. This is the New York Times description of a storm described as more damaging than any in decades.

Scores of trees were toppled. One of the officials describes the smell of fresh wood that has been blown apart.

I returned Sunday night from a beautiful weekend in New York City, and I visited the Conservatory Garden for a quiet and heartfelt talk with an old friend, and we were comforted by the delicate beauty of this place.

The garden is a perfectly manicured six acres at about 106th Street, the only formal garden in Central Park. I don't think I can stand to see pictures of the storm's damage there.

Posted by Susan Reimer at 1:13 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)
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England imports almost 40 percent of its food. And the line for public garden plots on the tiny island country is something like 100,000 names long.

Read this story in the Christian Science Monitor about Todmorden, a little town north of London where gardening activists have taken to planting vegetables in every nook and cranny - including the local cemetery.

Mary Clear's campaign blossomed, as it were, into "Incredible Edible Todmorden" and much of the produce is given away to residents.

Posted by Susan Reimer at 11:54 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
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...but not in a bathing suit.

Newsday.com has a Q&A with the supermodel about her garden.

She apologizes for its state. Seems she's been busy designing her new jewelry line.

Brinkley, the only model to grace Sports Illustrated's swim suit cover three times, has 22 acres, a vegetable and perennial gardens, and gardens themed by color and style.

 And...she has help. A caretaker.

I have a garden caretaker, too. He's me.

Posted by Susan Reimer at 10:40 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)
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Mother Jones magazine, the source for the original scare stories about lead in the White House vegetable garden (since debunked and debunked and debunked) is cheerfully reveling in the New York Times story we told you about last week - that the addition of organic material to the veggie plot before planting had reduced lead levels to a remarkably low 14 particles per million.

Josh Harkinson is smirking because he says the MSM (main-stream media) hadn't had the nerve to report on the lead levels when MJ did. I don't know.  I did, and I'm pretty main-stream, if I do say so myself.

Anyway. He refers to the Washington Post clip file from the 1980s in suggesting that reconstituted sludge was used to fertilize the South Lawn more than once.

OK....and we are going where with this?

It was ComPRO that was used and it was a big deal in the 1980s. Thought to be a very green way to fertilize. But it faded from use. I am just guessing here, but I think the whole reconstituted sewage waste thing just didn't fly with the public.

Posted by Susan Reimer at 10:03 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)
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 In my op-ed piece today in The Baltimore Sun, I write about the stubborn Internet conspiracy theory that Michelle Obama's vegetable garden has "toxic" levels of lead.

 Just about every day, I get a Google alert that carries one more reference to the garden's pollution as a result of an application of "sewage sludge" during the Clinton Administration.

(That may, in fact, be true. It was not uncommon in the 1980s to promote treated sewage plant waste as a fertilizer. It has since fallen out of favor. Probably because of public perception issues, as opposed to environmental issues.)

Sheesh.

The National Park Service has reported a lead level of 96 parts per million, a level that is "ridiculously low" according to experts interviewed on the very credible Obama food blog, Obama Foodorama. The blog refers to those who persist in believing the garden is polluted as "leadites," not unlike the "birthers," who insist that the President's Hawaiian birth certificate is faked.

Just today, there was another Google alert for me: The White House vegetable garden will cause alzheimers.

I couldn't make this stuff up.

Posted by Susan Reimer at 12:36 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
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Photo courtesy of New America Today White House Photo Blog

In this White House photo, President Barack Obama receives a bowl of shamrocks from Irish Prime Minister Brian Cowen in the Roosevelt Room of the White House.

Rumor has it that newly appointed U.S. Ambassador to Ireland Dan Rooney, owner of the Pittsburgh Steelers, presented Irish president Mary McAleese with a Ben Roethlisberger jersey.

Posted by Susan Reimer at 10:44 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
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Kathy Lee Gifford and Hoda Kotb were talking about all the happiness a TickleMe plant could bring to your otherwise lonely life (?), but the plant refused to cooperate.

Hoda gently tickled the plant to demonstrate how it closes its leaves and drops its branches. When the plant didn't respond, she pinched it. Still no reaction from the plant.

The TickleMe Plant people quickly put out a release, with a link to the video of the lethargic plant and a link to a more tickle-friendly plant, and stated that the cold conditions in the NBC studio caused the problem.

I don't know about you, but purchasing a living thing that recoils at my touch is not likely to bring me much happiness. I can get my kids to do that for free.

Posted by Susan Reimer at 10:32 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
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Cartoon by Randy Bish, Pittsburgh Tribune-Review

When world leaders will arrive in Pittsburgh for the G-20 Summit in September, language differences could be a problem.

Posted by Susan Reimer at 11:15 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
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 Photo courtesy of Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Gardens

Anyone who knows me, or has been reading my columns in The Sun all these years, knows that I am a Pittsburgh girl.

Though I haven't lived there for more than 30 years, my children actually think they were born there. When they talk about going "home" for the holidays, they mean Pittsburgh and all the aunts, uncles and cousins who still live there.

This news, then, from the 'burg. The lovely and historic Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Gardens will host the G-20 Summit on Sept. 24.

The Phipps is where Pittsburghers have, for generations,  gone for an early spring flower fix at its wonderful Easter display. The G-20 leaders and their spouses will tour the botanical gardens and the leaders will remain for a working dinner.

The gardens were founded in 1893 by steel and real-estate magnate Henry Phipps as a gift to the city of Pittsburgh. Its purpose is to educate and entertain the people of Pittsburgh with formal gardens (Roman, English, etc.) and various species of exotic plants

The Victorian glasshouse is located in the rolling hills of Schenley Park, and its recent renovations have earned it a reputation as one of the "greenest" public gardens in the country.

Schenley Park itself has a scandalous history. It was donated to the city of Pittsburgh in 1889 by Mary Elizabeth Croghan Schenley, whose elopement at the age of 15 with an English captain many years her senior caused her father to faint -- and demand that the federal government send a ship after them.

Posted by Susan Reimer at 10:32 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
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It's official.

Members of Ocean City. Md. City Council voted overwhelmingly Monday night to ban over-the-counter sales of a hallucinogenic variety of the herb salvia. It must be gone from shops along the boardwalk by this morning.

The police and a majority of the council members threw their support behind the move to make possession and sale of salvia divinorum a misdemeanor with a possible penalty of six months in jail and a $1,000 fine. The final vote was 6 to 1 in favor of the ban.

Apparently, officials were under the influence of YouTube videos showing young people who smoked or chewed the herb acting strangely.

Posted by Susan Reimer at 9:55 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
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President Obama gets 65,000 paper letters and more than 100,000 e-mails a week, and he has asked his staff to go through them all and choose 10 for him to see each day that represent the concerns expressed in all those letters. He hand-writes responses to three or four of those letters each day.

In this behind-the-scenes White House video, the president says that most of the letters are about health care. But one letter writer described using the government's $250 stimulus check to plant a raised bed vegetable garden - inspired by the first lady's vegetable garden - and send the president a picture of the results.

Posted by Susan Reimer at 10:33 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
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This isn't your garden variety salvia.

It isn't the fragrant, purple-spiked border plant that is a staple of gardens - salvia "May Night" or salvia "Friedland."

This is a relative of that sage plant known as salvia divinorum, and it has hallucinagenic qualities if smoked or chewed. The folks in Ocean City, Md., are seeking to make it illegal because the kids in that resort town can get screwed up enough on alcohol.

Colleague Mike Dresser reports on the controversy in today's Sun. The herb can be purchased over the counter legally, but a vote Monday night could end that.

Medical professionals say the drug is not addictive or physically harmful, and one trip seems to be enough for those who use it --apparently they aren't fun.

Photo salvia "May Night" courtesy of White Flower Farms

Posted by Susan Reimer at 9:51 AM | Permalink | Comments (7)
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 Photo credit: Telegraph (UK)

President Barack Obama and his family will vacation this month - on a farm.

The First Family has rented the Blue Heron Farm near Chilmark on Martha's Vineyard for the last week of August, according to the Vineyard Gazette.

Of course, it isn't a farm the way you and I think of a farm. But it does come with an apple orchard and flower and vegetable gardens, not to mention a golf practice tee and a small basketball court.

The property is said to be near West Tisbury's town center, including a library, general store and farmers' market.

The 28.5-acre farm has four dwellings - apparently enough room for the family, the Secret Service and the press corps and White House staff that has to travel with the president.

The Vineyard Gazette also reports that the rent being paid for the property isn't known, but similar properties go for $30,000 to $50,000 a week. The property sold in 2005 for more than $20 million.

According to the Gazette, the search for a vacation spot began in the spring and more than 20 Vineyard properties were check and rejected.

Mrs. Obama, the Gardener in Chief, may head to the Vineyard early with her daughters and stay with other friends there, with the president to follow.

Of course, this news did not pass without comment. Several readers of the Gazette Web site posted complaints that it was a waste of money in these difficult economic times.

Posted by Susan Reimer at 7:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)
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 Photo credit: Matthew Appleby

The White House has one.

Buckingham Palace has one.

Now, 10 Downing St., home of Britain's prime minister Gordon Brown, has one, too.

A vegetable garden, that is.

America's First Lady, Michelle Obama, visited with the PM's wife, Sarah Brown, in April and reportedly encouraged her to plant a vegetable garden around her official residence.

She took the advice and built a couple of modest raised beds around the residence, planting beatroot, tomatoes, parsnips and peppers.

The Brown's sons, John, 5, and Fraser, 3, have been busy in the garden, too. And the word, via Mrs. Brown's Twitter, is they especially like the strawberries.

Photo credit: Associated Press

Mrs. Brown told guests during a tour of her garden, "The Downing Streeet garden is one of the secret pleasures of life at No. 10, and I thoroughly enjoy spending time among the beautiful shribs and flowers."

She said her vegetable garden was so abundant that it supplies lettuces to the No. 10 cafe where staff members eat.

The British press is calling vegetable gardens "the latest must-have accessor for official residences."

Posted by Susan Reimer at 7:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
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Smith & Hawken, the symbol of high-end gardening for more than 30 years, is going out of business. 

Founded in Marin County, Calif., as a garden tool importer, it was purchased in 2004 by Scotts Miracle-Gro.

"With the economy and the markets the way they are, this is just something we needed to do for the overall business," said Scotts Miracle-Gro spokesman Su Lok from company headquarters in Ohio.

There are no more on-line sales, but some 56 retail outlets - there is one in Chevy Chase - will be open until they finish liquidation.

Its two founders told reporters they are relieved because the business had long since become detached from its original values.

 While the original Smith & Hawken focused on high-end English gardening tools with a lifetime guarantee, the company branched into outdoor living products such as furniture, fire pits, lighting and garden decor.

"Scotts couldn't have been a worse corporate owner," said Paul Hawken. "Smith & Hawken had become just a ghost of itself."

Dave Smith, who lives in Mendocino County and owns Mulligan Books in Ukiah, said he had gone so far as to ask friends to boycott the company bearing his name.

"When Scotts bought it and Smith & Hawken was owned by the largest pesticide seller in the U.S., I suggested people boycott it," he said. "It had completely lost its roots."

Hawken, now head of engineering firm Pax Group, used the occasion of the closure to host a party Wednesday night.

"I couldn't be happier to see my name come down," he said

There is a lovely tribute to the company on Garden Rant. Check it out. 

Posted by Susan Reimer at 9:28 AM | Permalink | Comments (9)
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I knew it.

My colleague Laura Vozzella has a story in The Sun detailing the facts behind the "local" produce grocery stories tout. Like it came from the Eastern Shore, or something.

I have suspected for a while that the produce wasn't very local. When it seems to jump ahead of what's available from the local farmers' markets, I have suspected it came instead from the Carolinas.

But South America? New Zealand?

This is another reason why county-sponsored farmers' markets are such a good idea. The food they sell must come from the county.

Or, in the case of the Annapolis downtown market on Sunday mornings, the Chesapeake Bay watershed.

Photo credit: Baltimore Sun/Kim Hairston

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Baltimore's Cylburn Arboretum Association has begun its fund-raising bulb sale, offering a catalog of spring and fall bulbs chosen by volunteers from among those that do best in our climate.

 Visit the Arboretum Web site and print out the catalog and order form. The bulbs will be available for pick-up during the Arboretum's Bulb Bazaar, Oct. 9 and 10.

 Some, but probably not all, of the bulbs in the catalog will also be available for sale at the festival.

There is a 5 percent discount on orders placed before Aug. 5. All the bulbs are from Brent and Becky's Bulbs.

Posted by Susan Reimer at 8:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
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A revised version of the USDA Hardiness Zone map will be released later this year, according to Randy Schultz, who publishes Garden Cuttings newsletter.

The color-coded map, found on the backs of seed packets and in garden magazines and on web sites, shows the average annual minimum temperatures for the United States.

Across the country, those average minimal temperatures have been slowly rising.

For an interesting visual on how the zones and general warming patterns have changes between 1990 and 2006, take a look at the interactive map on the Arbor Day Foundation Web site.

Among other things, it shows that much more of Maryland has become Zone 7.

That still doesn't mean your dahlias can winter-over in the ground.

Posted by Susan Reimer at 7:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)
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The "green" blog Ecorazzi, which posts the latest in ecological gossip, is reporting that the White House will be installing a trio of compost bins to help amend the soil in the White House vegetable garden next year.

First Lady Michelle Obama's garden, which grew to Jack and the Beanstalk proportions this spring, was no doubt given a boost by the compost that was worked into the soil before the vegetable plants went in.

But that compost was trucked in - from New York celebrity chef Dan Barber, according the U.S. News and World Report.

As any gardener knows, it is easier to generate compost on site, and certainly there will be enough state dinner scraps (no meat, no dairy) and enough grass clippings and leaves to generate a heaping helping of compost for next year's garden.

Why three bins?

Gardeners with room often have three bins and move the compost from one to the next as it ages. (Check out the cute composite photo that Ecorazzi created to illustrate.)

No doubt, rumors will fly that it is fake compost.

Already, there is concern among Ecorazzi readers that the compost bins will draw flies and, since snatching flies out of the air is a new presidential sport, Mr. Obama will be too distracted to get to the business of running the country.

Photo credit: Baltimore Sun/Amy Davis

Posted by Susan Reimer at 3:55 PM | Permalink | Comments (7)
Categories: Garden news
        

Queen Elizabeth inspects her new vegetable garden with Prince Philip and garden manager Claire Midgely. Credit: PA/Telegraf UK

Photo of Mrs. Obama and Queen Elizabeth/AP

It looks like Britain's Queen Elizabeth and First Lady Michelle Obama have more in common than rank.

The new BFFs - they hit it off during the G20 Summit in the spring and the Queen gave Michelle and the girls a rare tour of Buckingham Palace on a return trip for Sasha's birthday - also share a new interest in vegetable gardening.

There's a new vegetable garden at Buckingham Palace planted with tomatoes, runner beans, onions, leeks and carrots. The garden measures about 33 feet by 13 feet and is being cultivated without chemicals. It is called "The Yard Bed."

 Claire Midgley, the palace's deputy garden manager, told reporters, "We're not only helping to keep old varieties alive, but we're also preserving heritage and history."

It's the first time vegetables have been grown at the palace since World War II.

For more details on the Queen's garden, check out the Obama Foodorama blog.

Continue reading "Queen Elizabeth's vegetable garden" »

Posted by Susan Reimer at 11:52 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)
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 Photo credit: AFP/Getty

There's a lot of chatter out there about Michelle Obama's choice of garden attire Tuesday when she harvested vegetables in the White House kitchen garden with her fifth-grader helpers.

She wore a pair of salmon-colored Levis and a striped top and flowered sweater from The Gap. And a pair of tennis shoes.

"Randy" wanted to know who wears a sweater in the garden in the summer. And where were her ratty old gardening clothes? He said she wasn't setting the right example.

Coupla things.

First. I was there. It was chilly and breezy. I wore a jacket. Sweater seems appropriate.

Second, if the national press was coming to my house, I wouldn't be caught dead in my old gardening clothes.

Third. She doesn't weed. Sam Kass, associate White House chef, told us he and the pastry chef and some White House volunteers do one big weeding every week to keep the garden in shape.

I am guessing Mrs. Obama doesn't do the housecleaning in the White House, either. But that doesn't mean she is somehow setting a bad example for the rest of us.

Posted by Susan Reimer at 10:02 AM | Permalink | Comments (5)
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Sheesh.

Matt Drudge, editor of the blog Drudge Report, has posted a pair of before-and-after photos of the White House kitchen garden which seem to suggest that the garden couldn't have grown so much between April and June.

Me? I think the First Lady is involved in a vast left-wing conspiracy to get people to eat fresh fruits and vegetables. 

Posted by Susan Reimer at 5:14 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)
Categories: Garden news, White House Kitchen Garden
        

 Photo credit/Associated Press

It is harvest time at the White House.

First Lady Michelle Obama and students from Bancroft Elementary, who helped her install the White House vegetable and herb garden this spring, will be collecting some of the results on Tuesday afternoon.

The kids will then help  White House chefs prepare a meal. A very healthy meal, I'm guessing.

Posted by Susan Reimer at 2:03 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)
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The Howard County Conservancy welcomes Wednesday morning drop-in gardening volunteers to help maintain the many thematic and native plant gardens on the Conservancy property.

Posted by Susan Reimer at 7:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
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My colleague, Gus Sentementes, writes today on his blog, BaltTech, about the attempt by science to produce "super" lettuce.

Steven Britz, a research plant physiologist at the USDA's Agricultural Research Service in Beltsville, is using ultraviolet rays to grow nutrient-rich lettuce.

Sounds great. But son would still say, "it tastes like wet grass."

 Photo of not-super lettuce by The Sun's Jed Kirschbaum 

Posted by Susan Reimer at 12:42 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
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 Photo credit: Lloyd Fox/The Sun

To paraphrase something from the Clinton campaign war room, "It's the weather, stupid. Not the economy."

If retail garden centers are having a tough time this spring, it is probably because the weather has been cold and rainy and the weekends have been lousy.

The predictions for this year's gardening season were dire. No one thought that there would be any spare cash for spending on silly things like plants.

"I kept saying," said Steve Castorani, owner of North Creek Nurseries, a plant breeder, and the Gateway Garden Center in Delaware, "what we really need to have is good weather in the spring, especially on the weekends in the Northeast.

"And we didn't have a stellar spring. All the rain was good if you are a grower, but if you are counting on pleasant weekends to bring in customers who want to start their garden work, March and April and the beginning of May weren't good."

Castorani's optimism was shared by those who believed that 1) people might not have money for vacations but they will find money to fix up their back yards and 2) flowers might be like alcohol. In bad times, they can lighten the mood.

It is still early. Plenty of time to get your gardens up to snuff before July 4th. And last weekend was a beauty. As this photo from Valley View Farms by Lloyd Fox suggestions, people are buying. That's good news for garden centers.

Posted by Susan Reimer at 6:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
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Lots of gardening news today....

The Baltimore Sun reports that Baltimore Master Gardeners harvested 24 crates of greens from the new vegetable gardens around City Hall. The food will go to Our Daily Bread to feed the needy.

And Andrian Higgins writes about the remarkable gardens of Pierre and Nancy Moitrier of Annapolis. The husband-and-wife garden design team own Designs for Greener Gardens, and the gardens around their home will be open Saturday as part of The Glory of The Garden tour. (Nancy consulted with me on my most recent garden installation. She was wonderful!)

And let me not forget....I am writing about how to make good dirt in The Sun today.

Posted by Susan Reimer at 9:03 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
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Happy Mother's Day from everyone at Garden Variety to all mothers, whether you garden or not.

I don't know about you, but I don't expect to be bowled over by the gifts my children lay at my feet today.

Jessie will make me a lovely brunch, but it is possible nothing will arrive from Joseph until, like, Tuesday.

However my children decide to honor me (cough, cough), it better not be with plastic flowers.

Popflowershop.com is advertising a "budget-friendly alternative to fresh flowers this Mother's Day."

There is no alternative to fresh flowers as far as I'm concerned. And "fragrance-free" is not a selling point. Neither is "hypo-allergenic" or "reuseable."

Give me those "high-maintenance flowers that wilt, fade and smell over time."

Plastic flowers for Mother's Day. Might as well but a $5 bill in a card.

(This arrangement from popflowershop.com goes for about $60.)

Posted by Susan Reimer at 7:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
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Photo credits: Susan Reimer/Baltimore Sun

Whole Foods opened its new store in Annapolis Tuesday, and it was the scent of basil that greeted hundreds of customers on the store's first day.

Just inside the door of the 56,000-square-foot store - among the largest in the Mid-Atlantic region and more than twice as large as the store it replaced - was a wall of basil plants, deep green and fragrant. Whole Foods has created quite a reputation for its selection of plants, fresh flowers and its skill at creating arrangements for special events. After all, one of the floral department managers is named Rose and another floral employee is named Lily. But the new store gives the five floral department flower arrangers more than two-and-a-half times the space.

In the underground parking garage, there were shade plants (of course), tropicals and bags of compost greeting customers heading to the escalator. Inside the main entrance were hydrangeas, bromeliads, orchids, and cut flowers, including delicious grape-colored peonies. Outside the front door there were daylilies, hanging baskets, roses, impatiens, Gerber daisies, mandevilla and hibiscus.

Whole Foods will be marking its flowers with the distance they traveled so customers can make a "green" choice. While there are flowers from Virginia, Pennsylvania and New Jersey, there will also be flowers from growers as little as 8 miles from the store.

Whole Foods flower arrangers Julie and Rose have gained quite a reputation in Annapolis and they now do the flowers for at least one or two weddings a week. They can work with a budget as small as $300 or one as large as $5,000.

Jen Thompson, regional manager for flowers, said flower sales might make up about 3 percent of the grocery store's sales. Except this weekend. Mother's Day will push flower sales to 10 percent of the store's gross.

For more flower pictures from Whole Foods in Annapolis, keep reading.

Continue reading "Flowers in your grocery cart" »

Posted by Susan Reimer at 2:13 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)
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Here's a celebrity gardening news update. (Never thought "celebrity" and "gardening" would appear in the same sentence.)

 I have it on the best authority that Britney Spears is gardening as part of the sprawling therapy package to get her head together.

It is called "flower therapy," and it uses plants to "balance physical and emotional disturbances."

Mitch Michaels writes on musicnews.com that Britney is eager to learn and is proud of what she has growing around her California house.

Britney has been spotted reading books about the spiritual aspects of gardening, including Jack Canfield's Chicken Soup For The Gardener's Soul, backstage during her Circus tour, he writes.

That's why I garden - to get my head together, that is. But Britney's got enough troubles for a 40-acre plot.

Posted by Susan Reimer at 3:36 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)
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Baltimore Sun photo: Susan Reimer

Maryland's first family planted a vegetable garden this weekend on one of the few sunny spots around Government House in Annapolis.

They put up a small wire fence around it to keep out Rex, the family cocker spaniel. But Rex is also the reason First Lady Katie O'Malley doesn't expect much trouble from rabbits.

Other news from the garden?

It will have soaker hoses to conserve water. It was mulched with shredded hardwood on top of newspapers (See? There is still a role for newspapers.)

And it looks like they will install rain barrels at the official residence, too. Very hip.

Posted by Susan Reimer at 9:41 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)
Categories: Garden news
        

 Sun photos: Susan Reimer

 It is the season for first families and vegetables.

Continue reading "First Lady Katie O'Malley's vegetable garden" »

Posted by Susan Reimer at 11:57 AM | Permalink | Comments (8)
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 Photo credit: Susan Reimer

This time of year, when the trees are still quite bare, they look like the work of giant tent caterpillars.

But they are not that at all. They are plastic bags. Windswept, ripped, grimey gray in color, caught in the branches of trees.

This is just one of the places the plastic bags land. They are also clogging storm drains and waterways and they are found in the nests of large birds and in the digestive tracks of fish.

But they are most noticeable when they are stretched across the barren trees, looking like mishapen sails.

Laws to ban plastic bags have been introduced in Baltimore City, Annapolis City and in the Maryland State Legislature. They have all failed.

Jeffrie Zellmer, legislative director of the Maryland Retailers Association, says his clients oppose any ban on plastic bags.

"The plastic bag doesn't jump up and litter," he said. "And these aren't bags from the large grocery stores. People take those bags into the house and unpack them.

"These are bags from the little convenience store on the corner. Somebody goes in, buys one thing and throws the bag down."

He says there is no evidence that the plastic bags take longer to decompose in landfills than paper bags. It isn't known how long it takes either one to disappear. 

And he says those that are recycled are refashioned by a company in Virginia into plastic decking material.

Soon enough, the trees will fill in with their canope of leaves, and the ghostly plastic bags in their branches will be invisible for another year, and maybe many more.

It isn't known how long it takes plastic bags to decompose in trees.

Posted by Susan Reimer at 7:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
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The sun is out today, but it has been raining steadily for most of the week here in the Baltimore area.

They call it "farmers' rain," a slow, steady soaking of the fields just as farmers are getting ready to plant their summer crops.

It has done much to reduce the rainfall deficit we are running,  according to my colleague Frank Roylance, who writes the Maryland Weather blog for The Sun.

But we aren't out of the woods, yet. Much of the state is still registering near-drought conditions.

More than 4 inches of rain have fallen this month. That's more than 2.5 inches over the long-term average, according to Frank, and the first surplus rainfall since September. He says we should know more next week when better calculations are available.

Me? I am glad I put off my mulch delivery.

My gardens were as dry as dust when I started cleaning them up in March. I didn't think it made any sense to "seal" the ground with mulch when it was so dry. I bet on rain in April (April showers, and all) and I seem to have won.

Still, I am guessing we are going to be behind all season, so I am planning to step up my watering schedule. Unless May produces more showers than flowers.

Photo credit: The Sun/Jed Kirschbaum

Posted by Susan Reimer at 11:42 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
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Photo credit: The Sun/Glenn Fawcett

 Well, the knives are out on the topic of the White House vegetable garden.

And they aren't being used to cut up carrots.

President and Mrs. Obama are attempting to set a good example by planting a kitchen garden on the South Lawn of the White House. The news was immediately greeted with the same enthusiasm as the new puppy. Everyone thought it was a lovely idea.

 But this week, a columnist for USA Today wrote that it is tougher to plant and maintain a vegetable garden than people think.

Next up, the Wall Street Journal suggests today that it may cost more to put in a vegetable garden than you will save on your grocery bill.

 And then Adrian Higgins, the esteemed garden writer in Washington, added his two cents - writing in an open letter to the First Lady that Washington's heat and humidity could defeat the rookie gardeners.

Sounds like a free press at work in a democracy to me.

Posted by Susan Reimer at 11:07 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)
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 Photo courtesy ASPCA.

Bo likes tomatoes.

That's the news out of the White House introduction of the First Family's new dog.

During Bo's first meeting with the press, the president told reporters that Portuguese water dogs like tomatoes.

"Michelle's garden is in trouble," the president said.

I warned them that puppies and gardens don't mix. But it wasn't because I thought the new puppy would eat the vegetables. I thought it more likely that he would just tear things up.

Now we hear that PWDs have a taste for tomatoes.

Let's hope it isn't a taste for tomato plants. The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Web site lists the plant as toxic to cats and dogs. It can make them pretty ill.

While we are on the topic, I wonder how PWDs feel about fresh mozzarella and a little basil? And perhaps a drizzle of balsamic vinegar?

After all, the dog does have Mediterranean roots.

Posted by Susan Reimer at 4:48 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)
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 Lulu, with garden glove. Photo credit: Susan Reimer

The Obamas have a new puppy, and they have a new vegetable garden.

What they don't know yet is, that's a tough combination. Ask me. I know.

I've spent a couple of sunny Saturdays babysitting Lulu, my neighbor Patty's new lab/golden puppy, while trying to work in the yard, and it was a complete comedy.

Continue reading "Warning for the White House: Don't garden with a puppy" »

Posted by Susan Reimer at 11:50 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
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If it's in People, it must be hip and a trend.

The popular magazine has a feature this week on edible landscaping. It's the story of a pair of Columbus, Ohio, neighbors who tore up their grass and planted vetetables - beans, herbs, sweet potatoes, cabbage, brcocoli and cantalope.

People sites the most common reasons for such a big change: food prices and a poor economy. The magazine quotes statistics from the National Gardening Association that 7 million U.S. households - including that of the first family - plan to convert some of their grass to garden space, up 19 percent from last year.

The magazine also features several other homeowners who, tired of watering grass or paying for produce, converted their lawns, too.

Posted by Susan Reimer at 10:51 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)
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Photo credit: AP Photo/Charles Dharapak

First Lady Michelle Obama and 25 students from Bancroft Elementary School went to work, planting the first crop of fruits and vegetables in the White House kitchen garden Thursday afternoon.

The First Lady told the students that during her and the president's recent European trip everyone "from Prince Charles on down," was asking about the garden, according to a White House pool reporter.

When the students were asked how much they thought the garden would cost to plant, one ventured the guess "$100,000." To which the First Lady responded that her husband "would go crazy" if it cost that much.

After a few more guesses, it emerged that the garden is going to cost about $200 to plant.

The work began with the First Lady saying, "Plant away, and get to work."

The work lasted about 40 minutes, with Mrs. Obama down on her hands and knees placing herbs in holes dug by a couple of students working with her.

Visit us on Garden Variety tomorrow, and we'll tell you what kinds of plants went in the ground ... and more facts about the First Family's vegetable garden.

Posted by Susan Reimer at 6:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
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At least pollination won't be a problem.

On the same day that First Lady Michelle Obama and her fifth-grader friends planted seedlings in the new White House kitchen garden, White House carpenter Charles Brandts, who is also a beekeeper, lent his skills after a swarm of honey bees was found near one of the front gates at the White House.

Brandts carefully put the queen bee in a cardboard box and the swarm followed her. The box was sealed and the bees removed from an area very near where television camera crews set up for live shots from the White House.

Brandts explained to MSNBC that the bees had been "cast off" by another hive that had grown too large and that the swarm was the beginning of a new hive.

Honey bees do the much of the pollination work needed by America's food crops, but they have been mysteriously disappearing. Hives, or colonies, are "collapsing" as a result of what scientists believe is a virus.

I talked about this situation - and what home gardeners can do to help - in a column in The Sun a couple of weeks ago.

Photo credit PAUL J. RICHARDS/AFP/Getty Images

Posted by Susan Reimer at 4:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
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There have been a lot of questions here on Garden Variety about dealing with vegetable garden pests, particularly squirrels and rabbits.

But our readers aren't the only ones asking those questions.

Mike Hendricks of the Kansas City Star, who describes himself as an avid gardener, actually called the White House press office and asked what the First Lady planned to do about the squirrels in her vegetable garden.

"I went on to explain that, by squirrels, I was not referring to the White House press corps or Congress," Hendricks writes.

Apparently, Washington has one of the highest squirrel populations per square yard - or however you measure such things - in the country.

The Very Transparent Obama Administration got back to the interpid Hendricks and said, by way of background, that natural pesticides would be used, along with very fine netting, to keep the squirrels out of the garden.

Photo credit: Baltimore Sun staff

Posted by Susan Reimer at 3:45 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
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Plant it, and they will come.

But they might not get to see it.

The White House says the First Lady's new kitchen vegetable garden will not be part of the official tour of the mansion's gardens next weekend.

According to Jeff Zeleny, who writes for the New York Times politics blog, The Caucus, the tour will include the Jacqueline Kennedy Garden, the Children's Garden and the South Lawn.

But the kitchen garden, the 1,100-square foot garden that is to be planted with 55 fruits and vegetables, will only be "viewable from a distance along the tour route," according to a White House announcement.

The tours are open to the public. The National Park Service will hand out free tickets at the Ellipse Visitor Pavilion, at 15th and E streets in Washington, at 8 a.m. on Saturday and Sunday mornings.

Jacqueline Kennedy Garden photo credit: The White House Museum

Posted by Susan Reimer at 2:21 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
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Word from the White House press office was that First Lady Michelle Obama and her grade-school friends were going to be planting some of the vegetables in the new White House vegetable garden today.

Stay tuned and we will let you know if it happened. It would be a shame if it was postponed for some reason...such a beautiful day for planting.

My guess is, the White House will be planting cold weather crops now. Lettuces, spinach, peas, chard. It will be a while before it is safe to plant peppers, tomatoes and eggplant. They can't take the cold.

Continue reading "White House Vegetable Garden" »

Posted by Susan Reimer at 2:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
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The news about the Chesapeake Bay last week wasn't good. The Bay and its fragile web of life is being choked to death by nitrogen and phosphorus pollution, toxic contaminants and oxygen depletion.

There is something gardeners can do about this. Become a Gardener for the Bay through the Chesapeake Bay Foundation.

You will receive two Gardener for the Bay stickers, a pledge card with useful information, a free pair of gardening gloves, automatic enrollment in an e-mail alert system for important Bay issues and discounts on merchandise from the Foundation's on-line store.

Here are some things that the foundation asks you to do to help the Bay return to health.

• Conserve water by diverting runoff downspouts and paved surfaces to rain barrels, rain gardens, or garden beds.
• Plant with native, non-invasive species that are adapted to conditions in your area.
• Enrich your garden beds and lawn naturally with compost, leaf mold, or other organic matter.
• Eliminate the use of toxic chemicals (synthetic chemical fertilizers, herbicides, pesticides, and fungicides).
• Reduce your lawn area by planting native trees and shrubs and enlarging garden beds.
• Encourage other gardeners to join the fight to protect and restore the waterways, farmlands and forests for the Bay Region.
• Speak out for decisive action to save the Chesapeake Bay, a national treasure.
• Remember to consult with your local garden center to find solutions that are environmentally best for your yard.

Photo courtesy of Chesapeake Bay Foundation.

Posted by Susan Reimer at 7:30 AM | Permalink | Comments (5)
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Guest blogger Joannah Hill on the White House vegetable garden:

As a longtime gardener, I followed the coverage of the announcement of the first White House vegetable garden in 60-plus years with a mixture of pride and envy. 

Proud that the First Family is giving a shout-out to fresh, local produce and sustainable gardening practices. Envious that first lady Michelle Obama could look so soignee while busting sod. I realize the ground-breaking was largely symbolic and a photo op, but I have a suspicion that Michelle will always look fresh and chic while gardening. Some people just have the knack -- like tidy painters. I don’t.  

I am generally covered from head to toe in dirt after a few hours in the garden. I have friends, though, who even in the height of summer, can peel off their gloves after an afternoon of weeding and look perfectly presentable. Simple chores like harvesting green beans leave my thumbnail stained green. Picking a fresh tomato results in yellow streaks of pollen on my clothes and skin. Watering leaves me mud-splashed. 

It will be fun watching the progress of the White House garden, and my only advice to the first lady is: Think earth tones.

Photo credit: Ron Edmonds/Associated Press

Posted by Joannah Hill at 11:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)
Categories: Garden news
        

First Lady Michelle Obama will break ground today, along with some Washington schoolchildren, on a vegetable garden to be planted on the South Lawn of the White House.

News reports say that the garden will include arugula, a fancy salad green that got the president in trouble with regular folks who thought he was being elitist. But it won't contain beets because he doesn't like beets.

The produce -- there will be 55 varieties of vegetables planted on 1,100 square feet -- will be used for family and formal White House dinners and the whole first family, plus the neighborhood school kids, will tend the garden.

Not everybody is entirely happy. There have been calls for the White House and Congress to compost their food scraps. And some want the garden's bounty shared with food banks and the poor in Washington.

The schoolchildren who help with the garden will have the bonus experience of helping White House chefs prepare them. Mrs. Obama says she hopes this will improve eating and nutrition in families "from the ground up," as it were.

Posted by Susan Reimer at 11:12 AM | Permalink | Comments (10)
Categories: Garden news