Hello Friends, Neighbors, Fellow Gardeners,
April Showers bring May Flowers! Hope you are enjoying the new flowers of the spring season! The last few months were busy for us with our Mill Creek Towne Garden Club events including our: Getting Ready for Spring Master Gardener Talk, Native Tree and Shrub Giveaway, Mill Creek Stream Extreme Cleanup, Easy to Grow Houseplants Master Gardener Talk, and our first Plant & Yard Sale! Whew! Now it’s time to work in the garden! In case you missed it or if you want a review of our past events, we’ve included some recap summaries on these events with resource guides and photos here. Here are some garden tips, educational opportunities, and videos for May. A lot of gardening events are announced on Facebook as well as on our website. Some upcoming events/resources include a Native Plant Sale to support Locust Grove Nature Center at Pope Farm Nursery, Volunteer Gardener Opportunities with Montgomery Parks for SSL Hours, Brookside Garden’s Landscape Design Programs, Montgomery Park’s – Flora & Fauna Program, Montgomery College’s Home and Garden Lifelong Learning classes, American Horticultural Society’s Great American Gardeners Webinar Series, and more! These events will be hosted as online or live events.
Planning Tips
- Mark and photograph your bulb plantings now, while they are still visible.
- Start or update your garden journals.
- Read a good gardening book or magazine.
- Select and order fruit plants. Decide on new tree/shrub locations.
- Plan landscape design projects.
- Decide where your plants from seed are going in your garden.
- Sharpen and replace tools as needed.
- Volunteer at a local public or historic garden.
- Plan for 2024 with these Free resources: Landscaping with Native Plants by the Maryland Native Plant Society, Plant Invaders of Mid-Atlantic Natural Areas by the National Park Service, Master Gardeners of Northern Virginia Reading Room. Visit our Online Gardening Resources page for more helpful online resources.
- Buy a good gardening book or magazine subscription for a gift for your favorite gardener.
- Have a question about gardening? Check the University of Maryland Extension’s New Maryland Grows blog for garden tips.
Thanks for Your Support at our Plant & Yard Sale, Saturday, April 27th!
Thanks to everyone who showed up and braved the rainy day to support us at our first Plant and Yard Sale yesterday! It was a successful fundraiser that helped us cover costs for our upcoming community garden-related events as well as for maintenance of the Mill Creek Towne entrances!
If you missed this event and want to contribute, we accept donations year-round. Please visit our Donations page for details on how to donate on our secure online site or how to make offline donations.
Mill Creek Towne Garden Club: Easy to Grow Houseplants, Tuesday, April 23 Recap
We enjoyed our special gardening presentation on “Easy to Grow Houseplants” with Bonita Condon, a master gardener with the Montgomery County Master Gardener Program on Tuesday, March 23rd.
In this demo/talk she discussed some common house plants with information on the tools required; the selection of plants, locations, and containers; the maintenance and propagation of your plants; and common pests and diseases.
Mill Creek Stream Extreme Clean Up – Earth Day, Saturday, April 20, 2024 Recap
Thanks to everyone that made our two-day Extreme Cleanup of Mill Creek Stream a success! We had a total of 22 people help with the stream clean up on both sides of Shady Grove Rd. We collected 24 bags of trash. See below for photos from our Extreme Cleanup. Hope you can join us next year to continue making this a successful venture to help keep our water clean! #LoveRockCreek #EarthDay2024 #earthmonth
Mill Creek Towne Garden Club: Native Tree and Shrub Giveaway Recap
On Friday, April 12, 2024, the Mill Creek Towne Garden Club gave away 100 FREE native trees and shrubs provided to us by the Maryland Department of Natural Resources.
Thanks for everyone who showed up at our Free Native Tree and Shrub Giveaway and made it a successful event! Enjoy your new Native plants! Below are instructions for care of your new trees and shrubs. 
Mill Creek Towne Garden Club: Getting Ready for Spring Recap
We enjoyed the “Getting Ready for Spring” gardening presentation by Betsy Kingery, a master gardener with the Montgomery County Master Gardener Program.
This talk addressed getting ready for the Spring landscape gardening season. We learned what to do at the end of Winter and early Spring and how to plan for later in the year. There is an overview on climate conscious gardening and diverse planting with native and non-native/non-invasive plants.
Maryland Grows Blog
In weekly posts on MD HGIC’s blog, learn about pollinator conservation, growing native plants and food, and how to solve plant pest and disease problems.
MD HGIC Video Tips
Our Extension experts are sharing one-minute video tips to help you in the garden this summer. We’re talking about pest management in the vegetable garden, tree and lawn diseases, native plants, mowing lawns, and more!
For more information, please visit:
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What can Master Gardeners do for you?
- Help you select and care for annual and perennial plants, shrubs and trees.
- Determine if you need to test your soil.
- Provide you with information on lawn care.
- Identify weeds, beneficial and noxious insects, and plant diseases and remedies.
- Teach you how to use pesticides, mulch and compost.
- Guide you in pruning trees and shrubs.
- Provide you with options for managing wildlife.
- Provide you with gardening resources.
- Help you submit a plant sample for diagnosis
Plant Clinics are held at several sites in the county on a weekly basis and at special events such as garden festivals and the county fair. Regularly scheduled Plant Clinics are located at public libraries and farmers’ markets throughout the county as well as at the Audubon Naturalist Society in Chevy Chase. There are also clinics three days per week at Brookside Gardens. The busiest season is April through September, but some clinics are open year-round. Bring your plant samples and questions to one of these locations in Montgomery County, MD (see link below to find a location near you):
https://extension.umd.edu/mg/locations/plant-clinics
UMD Home and Garden Information Center: Ask a Master Gardener
Do you have a gardening question? Our Certified Professional Horticulturists, faculty, and Master Gardener Volunteers are ready to answer – year-round!
See below to ask a master gardener a question on the UMD Extension website:
New Gardening Books
See our list with recently published books. This cumulative list for 2023-2024 has more than 120 titles and serves as a great resource for holiday gift ideas. Visit our Gardening Books Resources page for gardening ideas.
“The Garden Tourist’s Mid-Atlantic” is one of 11 books in our May 2024 garden books list.
Online Gardening Resources
Local Farms
#LocalIsTheNewNormal #BuyLocal
- Support Our Local Farmers – Join a CSA and have fresh local produce delivered to you!
- Visit a local farmers’ market.
How to Support Farmers and Safely Shop at Farmers’ Markets
Montgomery County MD Food and Beverage Guide
The 2024 MoCo Food & Beverage Guide is here! The Guide from the Montgomery County Food Council is available online – delicious baked goods, prepared foods, condiments and more. The craft beverage list grows each year and find two dozen local and amazing farms:
Download Montgomery County’s Office of Agriculture 2023 Farmers Market Flyer to find a farmer’s market near you.
Support Our Local Farmers – Join a CSA and have fresh local produce delivered to you!
CSAs are seeing record numbers of subscribers http://ow.ly/eiQT50zD5lW – find your farmer here: http://ow.ly/jbO250zD56M
CSAs can take many forms, but essentially they are community supported farms in which members contribute to farming projects, usually by way of membership fees, in exchange for fresh, local produce. The concept came to the United States from Europe in the 1980s. They are a great way to take advantage of fresh, locally grown fruit, vegetables, herbs, and more while supporting nearby farms. Each one is different, some offer pickup locations in urban areas, some offer only farm-based pickups.
There are multiple CSAs located around the County offering a wide variety of products. CSAs begin taking sign-ups for spring and summer seasons in the early part of the year, and they tend to fill up FAST! Know of another CSA not on our list? Let us know! Montgomery Countryside Alliance also maintains a list:
http://www.mocoalliance.org/community-supported-agriculture.html
Check out the revised list of Mid-Atlantic native plants for pollinators and beneficial insects, from the Xerces Society.
Flowers and Groundcovers
- Gently clean up the garden.
- After the last frost date, plant warm-season annuals and tender bulbs (calla lilies, cannas, dahlias, gladiolus) in the ground and in containers.
- Direct-sow annual flower seeds.
- Plant up containers.
- If you started seeds last month, thin them and start the hardening-off process.
- Fertilize transplants. Water transplants deeply.
- Transplant seedlings into individual 3″ – 4″ pots when crowded. Fertilize transplants with 1/2 strength houseplant fertilizer (every 2 weeks).
- Remove last of the spring flowers, replacing with transplants or seeds.
- Cut back spent tulip and daffodil blooms, but not the foliage!
- Divide and replant crowded daffodils.
- Feed your roses and new plantings with slow-release fertilizer sparingly.
- Check for black spot on your roses – remove and discard any affected leaves in the trash, never back into your garden or in your compost – apply fungicide with Neem oil every two weeks during the growing season.
- Plant summer flowering bulbs.
- Lightly fertilize bulbs when green starts to show.
- Pinch back mums, salvias, and other late-season bloomers to encourage bushy, not leggy growth.
- Provide supports for fast-growing perennials such as delphiniums, peonies, and lilies.
- Tie up clematis and other fast-growing climbing vines.
- Deadhead spent blooms on your annuals and perennials to encourage re-flowering.
- Weed. Especially look for fast-growing vines such as honeysuckle, autumn clematis, bittersweet, wild grape, Virginia creeper, and poison ivy.
- Avoid walking in planting beds.
- Leave old flower stems standing for nesting pollinators.
- Pests to watch for: Aphids, slugs, snails, deer
- Diseases to watch for: Damping off of seedlings
- See UMD’s HGIC Garden Tips for more details.
- For a list of native plant resources, visit: https://extension.umd.edu/hgic/topics/native-plant-resources
5 Million Trees Initiative
Maryland’s goal is to plant and maintain 5 million native trees by 2031. There are various ways you can get involved – plant trees and register them — or volunteer! A number of tree-planting assistance programs are available at the municipal, county, and state levels.
THIS is the SUPERPOWER of YOUR KEYSTONE NATIVE PLANTS.
- No exotic plant could ever achieve this.
- Want butterflies? Feed the caterpillars with keystone plants!
- Exotic plants will never support as many different species of caterpillars as the Keystone Natives can.
- Find your keystone native plants here by zip code.
If your zip code doesn’t give you enough information try zip codes of the nearest larger town or city. LINK: https://www.nwf.org/NativePlantFinder/
Trees and Shrubs
- Plant and transplant shrubs that have finished blooming.
- Directly after blooming, prune flowering shrubs and vines.
- Check often and water newly planted trees if they don’t pass the finger test (stick your finger deep into soil – dry? Water!)
- If you MUST mulch, remove old mulch then add 2″ – 3″ shredded pine or pine needles, keeping 3″ away from trunk.
- Prune crepe myrtle when you can still see what is still alive.
- Prune long shoots on shrubs to keep plant neat looking.
- Fertilize azaleas and rhododendrons, if needed.
- Fertilize plants not getting ready to bloom, if needed.
- Test soil pH on some hydrangeas and adjust: pH 5-5.5 = blue; pH 6-6.5 = pink
- Prune broken, dead, or diseased branches.
- Keep an eye out for bark damage from rabbits and deer.
- Prune stone fruit trees like cherries, plums, and peaches.
- Spray broadleaf evergreens with anti-desiccant to prevent dehydration.
- Use fallen leaves for mulch or compost.
- Prune foundation shrubs and trees to be no closer than 1 foot from the house.
- Look out for any Poison Ivy vines, which will turn crimson in the late fall and be easy to distinguish from other vines.
- Remove Ivy, Pachysandra, and other vine-like groundcover from under shrubs.
- Mulch or compost healthy leaves.
- Soil test established trees that have not been performing well.
- Put diseased leaves, pesticide-laden grass clippings and weed seeds out for recycling rather than the compost pile.
- Spray with dormant oil to decrease pest infestations.
- Remove dead and dying trees.
- Pests to watch for: Eastern tent caterpillar, voles, and deer.
- Diseases to watch for: Gypsy moths, sawfly, azalea lacebug, spidermites, leafminers, caterpillars, adelgids, scale, aphids, borers.
- For more tips, see UMD’s HGIC Garden Tips for more details.
Vegetable Planting Calendar
Download vegetable planting calendars from University of Maryland Extension, in English and Spanish. This page also has a link to a frost/freeze date calculator.
Herbs, Veggies, and Fruit
- After the last frost date, plant warm-season vegetables (squash, peppers, tomatoes, corn, beans).
- New fruit plants – keep watered their first spring, summer, and fall.
- Sow squash and melon seeds.
- Plant seedlings or direct-sow sweet potatoes, tomatoes, peppers, and eggplants.
- Plant tomatoes and peppers. To get them started off right, put cages/stakes in at the same time as you plant them, so you are not disturbing their roots later. Place a collar (cardboard tube or cat-food can) around the tender plants to prevent cut worms. Put crushed eggshells first in the planting hole of tomatoes for extra calcium and mix lime in the soil you surround the plant with to prevent blossom-end rot. Fertilize with kelp extract or fish emulsion.
- Hand-pick cabbage worms from cabbage and broccoli.
- Thin seedlings.
- Apply dormant oil spray to fruit trees.
- Pests to watch for: Asparagus beetle, aphids, cabbage worms, cutworms
- Diseases to watch for: Apple scab, Cedar-apple rust
- Here are some more UMD’s HGIC Garden Tips.
Lawns
- Mow grass at 3 inches and leave clippings on the lawn.
- Test soil if you haven’t already.
- Dethatch if necessary and plug aerate BEFORE applying weed control.
- To control crabgrass and/or broadleaf weeds, apply pre-emergent herbicide to lawn (when forsythia blooms drop).
- Start lawn seeding.
- Store your fertilizer and seeds in rodent-proof containers.
- Clean yard of all leaves and other debris.
- Turn your compost pile.
- Diseases to watch for: brown patch, and red thread
- Pests to watch for: Grubs
- See UMD’s HGIC Garden Tips for more details.
Indoors/Houseplants
- Begin hardening off prior to putting outside in shade for summer.
- Give your houseplants a quarter turn every few weeks.
- Keep all houseplants out of drafts and away from heat vents.
- Keep succulents and cacti on the dry side.
- Start new indoor plants from cuttings – try an easy one such as violets.
- Repot root-bound houseplants and start fertilizing them.
- Change water in cuttings started last fall and add 2-3 pieces of fish tank charcoal.
- Do not over water house plants.
- Check on your container plants daily and keep them well-watered.
- Remove old leaves, damaged stems.
- Pinch out growing tips of leggy cuttings and plants that are overwintering.
- Clean the leaves of your indoor houseplants to prevent dust and film build-up.
- Pests to watch for: aphids, spider mites, mealybug, scale, and whitefly.
- See UMD’s HGIC Garden Tips for more information.
Read and follow label instructions on all pesticides and herbicides.
Start the year off by minimizing your #risk to #pesticides and always #ReadTheLabel! Learn more here: http://npic.orst.edu/health/readlabel.html
Questions about your label? Call us! 800-858-7378 M-F 8am-12pm PST
Indoor/Outdoor Insect and Wildlife Tips
- Check indoors for termites and winter ants.
- Watch for insect and disease problems throughout your garden.
- Put suet out for birds.
- Keep bird feeders clean and filled.
- Switch your deer deterrent spray.
- Set out traps for mice, moles, and voles.
- Watch for: eggs, larvae, overwintering stage of many species, carpenter ants, flies, stink bugs, termites, rabbits, raccoons, groundhogs, deer, mice, moles, snakes, squirrels, and voles.
- For more information, see UMD’s HGIC Garden Tips.
Source: University of Maryland’s Home and Garden Information Center (HGIC) and the Washington Gardener.
See more tips from HGIC:
Locust Grove Nature Center Spring Plant Sale
Saturday, May 18, and Sunday, May 19 | 10a-2pm | In-person sale
NEW Sale location: Pope Farm Nursey
7400 Airpark Road, Gaithersburg.
Please note: Pope Farm is only open to the public during sale hours.
Brookside Gardens – Upcoming Landscape Design Programs
Brookside Gardens is hosting a variety of landscape design courses in May and June with both online and in person options.
Information about the programs and links to register online are listed below. Recordings of online programs will be made available to participants. If you need help with registration, please call 301-962-1451.
Miniature Perennials
Thursday, May 16, 2024
10:30 am – 12:00 pm
Location: Brookside Gardens
1800 Glenallan Avenue
Wheaton, MD 20902
Fee: $65.00
Age Range: 18+ and up
Instructor: Joan O’Rourke, Brookside Gardens volunteer
Our staff have found miniature perennial plants that are just like the grown-up ones, including tiny hosta and the smallest heuchera. Your container will have a combination of plants including grasses, creeping groundcover, and flowering selections to create a lush mix of textures and colors. The plants will reward you with beauty year after year!
Gardening Basics & Beyond – Session III: Maintain and Sustain
Thursday, May 16, 2024
7:00 pm – 8:30 pm
Location: Brookside Gardens Virtual
Fee: $15.00
If you’re a first-time homeowner looking to tackle your new garden or just interested in brushing up on your skills, you’ll benefit from this introductory gardening series. Lessons are applicable to a range of garden spaces from big to small, including typical suburban yards and postage-stamp-sized urban lots.
Instructor: Kathy Jentz, editor of Washington Gardener Magazine
Session III: Review maintenance strategies to successfully care for new and existing plants including deadheading, weeding, watering, pruning, and fertilizing. Stay organized with seasonal to-do lists and examine solutions for common challenges like deer, pests, diseases, and tough garden conditions. Sustainable and organic gardening techniques will be emphasized.
Native Shrubs and Small Trees for Perennial Companionship
Saturday, May 18, 2024
10:00 am – 11:30 am
Location:
Fee: $0.00
Age Range: 18+ and up
Speaker: William Cullina, author and the F. Otto Haas Executive Director, Morris Arboretum & Gardens of the University of Pennsylvania
Not all woody plants mix well with perennials for several reasons, including differing soil and fertilization needs, incompatible growth habits, or aggressive root systems. This talk explores how to seamlessly blend native shrubs and small trees with existing perennials in your landscape. Discover 30 combinations that bring texture, color, and wildlife to your garden year-round.
Montgomery Parks – Hot Volunteer Opportunities!
| Are you looking for a way to complete your Student Service-Learning Hours? Or are you looking for a way to give back to your community? Check out these gardening volunteer opportunities:Gardener | Various dates and times | Ages 16+ | Agricultural History Farm ParkGardener | First Tuesday of every month beginning May 7 through October 1 | 9 am to 1 pm | Ages 21+ | Silver Spring Intermediate Neighborhood ParkCrop Production Aide | Various dates and times | Ages 18+ | Pope Farm Nursery Grown@Pope Volunteer Coordinator | April through September | Ages 18+ | Pope Farm NurseryGrown@Pope Workdays | Various dates and times | Ages 16+ | Pope Farm Nursery |
| Trail Ambassador Program Two sessions: June 17-28 or July 8- July 19 | Ages 15+ Various Locations Work with your peers to complete hands-on trail improvement projects in the morning and enjoy a group ride in the afternoon to celebrate! Spots are limited so be sure to apply here! |
Montgomery Parks – Flora & Fauna Program
Montgomery Parks is pleased to offer a new online learning series for adults that teaches you to recognize the most common species of Montgomery County. Led by our expert Parks staff, you’ll practice identification skills, learn the best ways to see wildlife, and be empowered to practice conservation in your own neighborhood. Montgomery County is a biodiverse place with so many interesting plants and animals, and we can’t wait to share them with you!
Go to Montgomery Parks event calendar for a complete list of special events and programming and to learn how to sign up using ActiveMontgomery. Visit the Spring 2024 Montgomery Parks Program Guide
Montgomery College Lifelong Learning Home and Garden Classes – Summer 2024
See Schedule of Summer Classes below:
| Home and Garden | |||||||||
| Course | CRN# | Course Name | Hrs. | Mode | Start Date | End Date | Days | Times | Loc |
| LLP152 | 41482 | Annuals and Perennials for Mid-Atlantic Landscape | 5 | Structured Remote | 6/4/2024 | 6/11/2024 | Tue | 6:30 PM – 9:00 PM | A-DL-WD&CE Virtual-Remote |
| LLI519 | 41600 | Garden Design | 8 | Face to Face | 6/18/2024 | 7/16/2024 | Tue | 6:30 PM – 8:30 PM | R-MK-Mannakee Building |
| LLI519 | 41601 | Garden Design | 8 | Face to Face | 6/18/2024 | 7/16/2024 | Tue | 6:30 PM – 8:30 PM | R-MK-Mannakee Building |
| LLI022 | 11824 | Orchids:How to Grow and Bloom | 3 | Structured Remote | 8/10/2024 | 8/10/2024 | Sat | 1:00 PM – 4:00 PM | A-DL-WD&CE Virtual-Remote |
| LLI022 | 11826 | Orchids:How to Grow and Bloom | 3 | Structured Remote | 8/10/2024 | 8/10/2024 | Sat | 1:00 PM – 4:00 PM | A-DL-WD&CE Virtual-Remote |
Let’s Talk Gardens
Thursdays 12 to 1 p.m.
Smithsonian Gardens
“Grow” your gardening know-how! Our free online gardening program, Let’s Talk Gardens, covers a wide range of topics presented by our own professional staff, as well as guest speakers.
And we encourage you to watch videos in our Let’s Talk Gardens Video Library.
