Hello Friends, Neighbors, Fellow Gardeners,
Happy Groundhog Day! It’s time to start thinking about what your garden plans are for the Spring! Here are some garden tips, educational opportunities, and videos for February. Some upcoming events/resources include RainScapes Portal, Master Gardener Lectures – Seed Starting, All About Chiles (a presentation from Master Gardeners), “OUR EARTH” Book Discussion Club, GreenScapes Symposium, Birding Events, Winter Walks, Maple Sugar Walk, Socials for 55+: Pressed Flower Valentine’s, 55+ Nature Book Club – Book Discussion, Pruning Workshop, Montgomery College Lifelong Learning Home and Garden Classes – Spring 2025, and more! A lot of gardening events are announced on Facebook as well as on our website. These events will be hosted as online or in-person events.
Planning Tips
- Evaluate gardening year, make notes of desired changes.
- Design new beds and gardens.
- Start reading those seed catalogs!
- Clean, sharpen, store, and replace your garden tools as needed.
- Repair your shed and repair/paint your fences.
- Attend a local garden club meeting or plant exchange.
- Start or update your garden journals.
- Pick up new gardening books and magazines for inspiration.
- Volunteer at a local public or historic garden.
- Plan for 2025 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.
Join Mill Creek Towne Garden Club!
- Are you interested in gardening? Perhaps you’re a beginner, looking to learn more, or an experienced gardener interested in sharing your experiences and learning from others?
- Are you interested in making your home and community a more beautiful place to live?
- Are you interested in getting more involved in your community and getting to know your neighbors better?
Visit Our MCT Garden Club Website for Gardening Resources
- Local Gardening Resources: Looking for a Master Gardener as a guest speaker, need gardening advice, or want to learn about resources in or near Mill Creek Towne? Visit our Resources page for details.
- MCTGC Blog: Check our monthly blog for garden tips and local/online garden-related events.
- Gardening Books: Looking for a gift for your favorite gardener? Visit our Gardening Books Resources page for holiday gift ideas.
- Local Gardens: Visit our Local Gardens page to learn about local gardens in our area.
- Montgomery County Farmers’ Markets: Support our local farmers. Check this page to learn about local farmers markets in our area or join a CSA and get fresh local produce year-round!
- Online Gardening Resources: Looking for gardening apps or online resources to help with your gardening? Check out our Online Gardening Resources page for some apps for your smartphone and online gardening resources focused on the DMV area.
- Recipes: Looking for a recipe for your home-grown veggies and fruit? Check our Recipes page for ideas.
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.
Book Review: The Nature of Oaks
A rave review by Lisa Kuder, Native Plants and Landscapes Specialist. “If you can plant only one tree, plant this”
New Year, New Habits on the Horizon
Stacy Small-Lorenz, Residential Landscape Ecology Specialist, discusses how habit changes can transform our relationship with the natural world.
Other Timely Topics
- 10 Ways to Repurpose Your Christmas Tree
- Seasonal Herbs: Rosemary and Peppermint
- Use De-Icing Salts with a Grain of Salt
- What Can You Start from Seed in February?
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:
 |
|
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:
Maryland’s Best Native Plant Program
The Maryland Department of Agriculture (MDA) in partnership with University of Maryland Extension, the Department of Natural Resources, and the Maryland Native Plant Society is proud to introduce the MDA’s Maryland’s Best Native Plant Program.
This program aims to bring education, awareness, and recognition to consumers and producers about the importance of native plants by:
- creating a Commercial Maryland Native Plant List to help nurseries and consumers choose the most attractive and best plants for the environment
- recognizing retailers, wholesalers, and growers who are selling native plants via a tiered (bronze, silver, gold), voluntary certification program, and helping consumers know where to buy native plants
- providing marketing materials- including a MD Native Plant logo- to help consumers identify what’s native to Maryland
Check out the revised list of Mid-Atlantic native plants for pollinators and beneficial insects, from the Xerces Society.
Flowers and Groundcovers
- Hardy spring bulbs begin to emerge (crocus, snowdrops, daffodils, tulips).
- Deadhead pansies.
- Prune roses.
- Pull out ornamental cabbages and Kale.
- Lightly fertilize bulbs when green starts to show.
- Transplant seedlings into 3″-4″ pots when crowded. Fertilize transplants with 1/2 strength houseplant fertilizer (every 2 weeks).
- Start seeds for: Portulaca, Ageratum, China Aster, Cleome, Dwarf Marigolds, Salvia, Tall Snapdragons, Verbana. Check daily for moisture.
- Walk your yard to check plants and bulbs for heaving and place them back into the ground. Cover with more mulch to prevent further heaving.
- Leave seedheads on Black-eyed Susans, Echinacea, Goldenrod, Sunflowers, and Thistles for the birds to enjoy over the winter.
- Check that all vines are securely tied against winter’s cold winds.
- Rake up weeds and their seedlings.
- After hard frost, sow seeds of spring-blooming hardy annuals and perennials, then mark beds!
- Collect plant seeds for planting and for trading at the annual Washington Gardener Magazine Seed Exchanges.
- Gather seeds and carefully label them. Store in dry location.
- Gently clean up the garden.
- Weed. Especially look for fast-growing vines such as honeysuckle, autumn clematis, bittersweet, wild grape, Virginia creeper, and poison ivy.
- Pests to watch for: Aphids, spider mites, whiteflies, deer, voles.
- Diseases to watch for: Powdery mildew, Rust
- 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
- Prune broken, dead, diseased, or damaged branches.
- Begin pruning of summer flowering shrubs.
- Prune summer bloomers such as Hydrangeas, Rose of Sharon, Crepe Myrtles, and Butterfly Bushes.
- Remove dead and dying trees.
- Rejuvenate holly bushes and boxwood with a hard pruning.
- Cut a few branches of flowering shrubs to force into bloom inside.
- Plant or transplant trees or shrubs, including berries, roses, and evergreens.
- If we do get more snow in the DC area, gently dislodge snow from trees and shrubs with a broom to prevent damage to branches.
- Check that newly planted trees, shrubs, and perennials have not been heaved out of the ground due to freezing and thawing cycles.
- Water slowly and deeply if weather is very dry and ground is not frozen.
- Prune out Fireblight damage Malus and Pyrus when very cold.
- Stake newly planted large trees or shrubs to protect them from winter winds.
- Keep an eye out for bark damage from rabbits or deer.
- Gently remove layers of snow from your outdoor evergreens with a broom.
- Check often and water newly planted trees if they don’t pass the finger test (stick your finger deep into soil – dry? Water!)
- Check for vole problems and set out traps.
- Spray broadleaf evergreens with anti-desiccant to prevent dehydration.
- Use fallen leaves for mulch or compost.
- 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.
- Continue to remove fallen, diseased leaves.
- Put diseased leaves, pesticide-laden grass clippings and weed seeds in your trash — not your compost pile.
- Turn your compost pile weekly and don’t let it dry out. Work compost into your planting beds.
- Apply dormant oil treatment to ornamentals and fruit trees before dormancy breaks.
- Remove dead and dying trees.
- Pests to watch for: adelgids, aphids, azalea lacebug, borers, bagworms, caterpillars, deer, leafminers, Gypsy moths, sawfly, webworm, spidermites, scale, and Japanese beetles, and voles.
- Diseases to watch for: Botryosphaeria canker, Black knot on Prunus, Wood decay/rot, Fireblight.
- For more tips, see UMD’s HGIC Garden Tips for more details.
Herbs, Veggies, and Fruit
- Start seedlings indoors under grow lights. Some good choices to start early are peppers, artichokes, onions, beets, turnips, cabbage, kale, and leeks.
- Begin tilling beds (when the earth is dry enough to work, but not muddy) and work in compost.
- Sow greens indoors or outdoors in a cold frame.
- Start seeds for: Cabbage, chives, fennel, sage, thyme, rosemary.
- Direct-sow early, cool-season crops as soon as ground soil can be worked. Good choices are peas, lettuces, mustards, onion sets, kale, and cabbages.
- Begin successive plantings of peas using inoculant.
- Keep ice-melting chemicals away from garden beds. Use coarse sand instead.
- Cover garlic plants with straw or leaf mulch.
- Prune out Fireblight damage on apples and pears when very cold.
- Spread ashes from wood fires on your vegetable beds.
- Avoid walking on frozen planting beds.
- Clean out your cold frame or build a new one.
- Vent cold frames on sunny days.
- Remove finished plants.
- Cover strawberry beds with straw or pine needles.
- Thin seedlings.
- Apply dormant oil spray to fruit trees.
- Pests to watch for: Asparagus beetle, aphids, cabbage worms, corn borer, corn earworm, cutworms, Japanese beetles, squash vine borer, and tomato hornworm.
- Diseases to watch for: Dampling off of seedlings
- Here are some more UMD’s HGIC Garden Tips.
Lawns
- Start lawn seeding.
- Clean yard of leaves and other debris.
- Trim ornamental grasses such as liriope, mondo, and pampas.
- Spread new gravel on paths.
- Mulch bare areas.
- Shovel walks and drive before applying ice melt or you’ll damage lawn.
- Get your lawnmower serviced.
- Avoid walking on frozen grass to avoid damaging the crowns.
- Some alternatives to de-icing salts include sand, beet juice sugars, light gravel, or non-clumping kitty litter. Using de-icing salts around driveways and sidewalks can harm your garden plants and turf.
- Keep newly seeded lawns well watered.
- Apply fertilizer and lime to turfgrass based on soil tests and UME recommendations.
- Sharpen your lawnmower blade.
- Check and tune-up power equipment (mowers and trimmers).
- 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
- Check indoors for termites and ants.
- Scan houseplants for insect activity.
- Begin to pot up rooted cuttings. Fertilize with 1/2 strength houseplant fertilizer every other watering.
- Buy a few new houseplants.
- Change water cuttings started last fall and add 2-3 pieces of fish tank charcoal.
- Pinch back leggy plants.
- Maintain moisture in pots, but do not overwater!
- Set up humidifier for indoor plants or at least place them in pebble trays.
- Start new indoor plants from cuttings – try an easy one such as violets.
- Vacuum any ladybugs that come into the house.
- Clean the leaves of your indoor houseplants to prevent dust and film build-up.
- 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.
- 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.
- Caulk and seal your home to prevent wildlife from coming indoors.
- Put suet out for birds.
- Keep bird feeders clean and filled and provide a source of water.
- Wash out birdbaths weekly with diluted bleach solution.
- Switch your deer deterrent spray.
- Set out traps for mice, moles, and voles.
- Remove and destroy gypsy moth egg masses.
- 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:
RainScapes Portal Now Open; Rebates Up to $7,500 for Residents and $20,000 for Businesses Available to Prevent Stormwater Runoff
The Montgomery County Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) is now accepting RainScapes Reward Rebate applications for residents and businesses who take measures to reduce stormwater runoff from individual properties. County residents and companies may be eligible for refunds of up to $7,500 for residential properties and $20,000 for businesses. A Rainscape is a landscape or design technique that helps reduce stormwater runoff from individual properties and that prevents pollutants, chemicals, oils and heavy metals from washing directly into the local waterways.
Master Gardener Lectures – Seed Starting
Saturday, February 08: 2:00pm – 3:00pm
Rockville Memorial Library – 1st Floor Meeting Room
21 Maryland Avenue
Rockville, MD 20850
AGE GROUP: TEENS, OLDER ADULTS, ADULT
EVENT TYPE: LECTURES AND DISCUSSIONS ENVIRONMENT
Master Gardener Meipo Martin will talk about the fundamentals of seed starting.
All About Chiles (a presentation from Master Gardeners) – In Person
Saturday, February 22: 1:00pm – 2:00pm
Quince Orchard Library
15831 Quince Orchard Rd
Gaithersburg, MD 20878
Age group: Teens, Older Adults, Adult
event type: Environment Arts, Crafts and Hobbies
Learn how to choose, grow, preserve and enjoy hot peppers!
“OUR EARTH” Book Discussion Club – IN PERSON – Connie Morella Library
Saturday, February 22: 3:30pm – 5:00pm
Connie Morella Library
7400 Arlington Rd
Bethesda, MD 20814
Age group: Teens, Older Adults, Adult
event type: Lectures and Discussions Environment
Come, share your ideas and learn more about environmental topics in this space for thoughtful exchange, around fiction and non-fiction books.
Montgomery Parks – Events
GreenScapes Symposium
Friday, February 14, 2025
9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
*Live Zoom Event
Early Bird fee ends Friday, January 10
Join us for a fascinating day of presentations offering practical strategies to design sustainable and resilient landscapes. Don’t miss out on the Early Bird fee of $50 that ends Friday, January 10. To learn more and register for this live Zoom event, click on this link: www.brooksidegreen.org.
Winter Walks
Wednesdays starting February 5 | 1 to 2 pm | Ages 16+ | FREE |
Agricultural History Farm Park
18400 Muncaster Road
Derwood, MD 20855
Winter Walks, scheduled for Wednesdays in February, offer guided, scenic strolls through select sections of the Farm Park’s 5.2 miles of natural surface trails. Led by a Farm Park staff member, participants will take in the winter beauty of the park and its surrounding fields at a leisurely pace
Birding Events
FeederWatch Thursdays and Fridays
Every Thursday and Friday
11 am to 12 pm | Ages 5 and up | FREE
Locust Grove Nature Center
Are you interested in birding? Do you want to be part of a national community science project? Then, join us at Locust Grove Nature Center for Project FeederWatch.
Project FeederWatch is a seasonal community science project, where participants count the different species of birds that flock to a bird feeder. All levels of birders are welcome
Wednesday, February 5, 2025
7:00PM – 7:45PM
Ages 16+ | $10 | Virtual Session through Meadowside Nature Center
Maple Sugar Walk
Maple Sugar Walk: Various Dates and Times | Ages 6+
Brookside Nature Center
1400 Glenallan Ave.
Wheaton, Maryland 20902
Fee: $7.00
Hike with a naturalist to the maple tree grove and learn how sugar maple sap is collected and transformed into maple syrup! This is an indoor and outdoor program on natural surface trails. All attendees must register. Inclement weather could cancel this program. Be sure to check BrooksideNature.org for day-of event status.
Pruning Workshop
February 19 | 10:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.
Brookside Gardens
1800 Glenallan Avenue
Wheaton-Glenmont, MD 20902
Josh Demers, Environmental Horticulturalist, will lead a hands-on pruning workshop at Brookside Gardens. There will be a lecture portion inside the main Visitor Center followed by a demonstration out in the gardens. Please dress accordingly for the weather.
Socials for 55+: Pressed Flower Valentine’s
Friday, February 7, 2025
11:00AM – 12:30PM
Ages 55+ | $5.00
Meadowbrook Local Park
7901 Meadowbrook Lane
Chevy Chase, MD 20815
Socials for 55+ is a program tailored for individuals aged 55 and better. Celebrate the beauty of nature and the spirit of Valentine’s Day by creating your own unique pressed flower valentines and crafts! This hands-on workshop invites you to explore your creativity while crafting personalized, nature-inspired gifts and decorations. All materials are provided. No crafting experience is necessary. Register yourself and bring a friend for free!
For questions about this program, please contact the Program Access Office.
Email: Program Access Montgomery Parks
Program Access Office: 301-495-2581
55+ Nature Book Club – Book Discussion
Tuesday, February 18, 2025
6:00PM – 7:30PM
Ages 55+ | FREE
Brookside Nature Center
1400 Glenallan Ave.
Wheaton, Maryland 20902
We will discuss Birdgirl: Looking to the Skies in Search of a Better Future by Mya-Rose Craig.
Implementing Climate Resilient Living Shorelines in Maryland
Wednesday, March 12 | 12:00 p.m. – 1:30 p.m. | Online
This webinar will cover the history of shoreline erosion control practices and how traditional techniques have evolved in recent years. What is a ‘living shoreline’? How can we enhance habitat, water quality, access, and prepare for climate impacts at the same time? We will cover the Shoreline Conservation Service and discuss which technical and financial assistance opportunities are currently available through the Maryland Department of Natural Resources.
Montgomery College Lifelong Learning Home and Garden Classes – Spring 2025
See Schedule of Spring Classes below:
| CRN# | Class ID | Course | Course Name | Start Date | End Date | Days | Times | Location |
| 33853 | 18212 | LLP152 | Annuals and Perennials for Mid-Atlantic Landscape | 4/29/2025 | 5/6/2025 | Tue | 10:30 AM – 1:00 PM | R-MK-Mannakee Building |
| 33822 | 18216 | LLI519 | Garden Design | 2/18/2025 | 3/11/2025 | Tue | 6:30 PM – 8:30 PM | R-MK-Mannakee Building |
| 33821 | 18214 | LLI022 | Orchids:How to Grow and Bloom | 1/28/2025 | 1/28/2025 | Tue | 6:30 PM – 9:30 PM | A-DL-WD&CE Virtual-Remote |
| 34067 | 18215 | LLP153 | Woody Ornamentals for the Mid-Atlantic Region | 4/1/2025 | 4/8/2025 | Tue | 6:30 PM – 9:00 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.
