Hello Friends, Neighbors, Fellow Gardeners,

Seasons Greetings! Hope you have a Happy Hanukkah and Merry Christmas! Here are some garden tips, educational opportunities, and events for December. Events include Brookside Garden’s Garden of Lights, Woodlawn Manor Yuletide Celebration, Crafting History Winter Wreath, Decorate a Tree for Wildlife, Winter Solstice Celebration, Winter Solstice Campfire, Winter Woods Weekends, and more!

Planning:

• As beds empty, make changes to shape and size of beds.
• Start collecting plant seeds for next year and for trading.
• Clean, sharpen, and store your garden tools.
• Clean out pots; store non-frost proof containers in garage or basement.
• Sign up your friends and family for garden magazine subscriptions as holiday gifts.
• Have a question about gardening? Check the University of Maryland Extension’s New Maryland Grows blog for garden tips.
• Support our local parks and gardens. Visit a garden or park for their winter festivities!
• Support our local farmers! Visit a local farmers’ market near you. Download Montgomery County’s Office of Agriculture 2018 Farmers Market Flyer to find a farmer’s market near you.

Flowers and Groundcovers:

• Water transplants if weather is dry.
• Last chance to plant bulbs or, if you have waited until the ground is frozen, pot them up for forcing indoors.
• Check any tropical or summer-blooming bulbs, corms, tubers, and bare root plants in storage for rot or dessication.
• Leave seedheads on Black-eyed Susans, Echinacea, Goldenrod, Sunflowers, and Thistles for birds to enjoy over the winter.
• After hard frost, sow seeds of spring-blooming hardy annuals and perennials and then mark beds!
• Pests to watch for: Aphids, spidermites, whiteflies, snails, slugs
• Diseases to watch for:  Powdery mildew, Fungal leaf spot
• See UMD’s HGIC’s December Flower Tips for more details.

Trees and Shrubs:

• Moderately prune evergreens, especially hollies, for indoor decorating.
• For care of holiday plants and trees, see these articles on seasonal and indoor plants.
• Prune maples, dogwoods, birch, elm, walnut, and yellowwood to prevent “bleeding”.
• Water slowly and deeply if weather is very dry and ground is not frozen.
• Prune out Fireblight damage Malus and Pyrus when very cold.
• Continue to remove fallen, diseased leaves.
• Put diseased leaves, pesticide-laden grass clippings and weed seeds out for recycling rather than the compost pile.
• Mulch or compost healthy leaves.
• Hold off planting new trees and shrubs until the summer heat has passed.
• Remove Ivy, Pachysandra, and other vine-like groundcover from under shrubs.
• Remove dead and dying trees.
• Pests to watch for:  Gypsy moths, azalea lacebug, adelgids, aphids, bagworms, borer, caterpillars, scale, sawfly, spidermites, leafminers, and Japanese beetles.
• Diseases to watch for:  Fireblight
• For more tips, see HGIC’s December Trees and Shrubs Tips for more details.

• Avoid walking on frozen grass to avoid damaging crowns.
• Turn your compost pile.
• Rake leaves, shred, and gather in compost piles.
• The annual soil science calendars from the Natural Resources Conservation Service are both educational and beautifully done. The one for 2018 as well as those for previous years are available as free PDFs here: https://www.nrcs.usda.gov/wps/portal/nrcs/detail/soils/edu/?cid=nrcseprd1250008
• Diseases to watch for: brown patch, and red thread
• Pests to watch for: Grubs
• See HGIC’s December Lawn Tips for more details.

Indoors/Houseplants:

• All indoor plants should be indoors now.
• 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.
• Do not place live wreaths or greenery in-between your door and a glass storm door, especially if the doorway is facing south. This placement will “cook” the arrangement on a sunny day.
• Reduce fertilizing of your indoor plants (except cyclamen).
• Mid-month, pot amaryllis for winter holiday bloom.
• For readying Christmas cactus and poinsettia for holiday blooming, see these HG 30 Holiday Plant Care: Poinsettia tips and Holiday Plant Care Tips.
• Take cuttings of plants you want to overwinter inside and place in water.
• Prune potted bougainvillea or hanging baskets that will overwinter inside.
• Remove old leaves, damaged stems.
• Maintain moisture in pots wintering indoors, but do not over water!
• Keep all houseplants out of drafts and away from heat vents.
• Remove old leaves, damaged stems.
• Pests to watch for:  spider mites and  whitefly
• See HGIC’s December Houseplants Tips for more tips.
  

Indoor/Outdoor Insect and Wildlife Tips:

• Clean and refill bird feeders.
• Switch your deer deterrent spray.
• Check for vole problems and set up traps.
• See HGIC’s December Insect Tips for more details.
• Watch for: carpenter ants, flies, stink bugs, termites, rabbits, raccoons, groundhogs, deer, moles, snakes, squirrels, and voles.
• For more information on wildlife management and attracting wildlife see HGIC’s December Wildlife Tips.

Source: University of Maryland’s Home and Garden Information Center (HGIC) and the Washington Gardener.

See below for upcoming local events in November.

Montgomery Parks Special Events & Festivals

More events are being added regularly. Please check back often!

Save the dates for these upcoming events!   Events include Brookside Garden’s Garden of Lights, Woodlawn Manor Yuletide Celebration, Crafting History Winter Wreath, Decorate a Tree for Wildlife, Winter Solstice Celebration, Winter Solstice Campfire, Winter Woods Weekends, and more!

Master Gardener Plant Clinics

Varied Locations, dates, and times

Montgomery County Master Gardeners - Maryland

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):

http://extension.umd.edu/mg/locations/plant-clinics

Brookside Garden’s Garden of Lights

Crafting History Winter Wreath

 

 

Join us at the Visitor Center to help decorate an evergreen tree with edible ornaments for our feathered and furred friends. You’ll also make a few ornaments to take home for a tree in your yard. Please note: we’ll be using nuts and peanut butter. FOBH $6

Intended for ages 3-12 yrs

This event will be held at Black Hill Nature Programs

REGISTER