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.
Bonita’s Bio:
Bonita became a Master Gardener in 2014 after retiring from the National Institutes of Health. She is an avid vegetable gardener, loves perennials, and combats non-native invasive species in our parks and grasslands. Her special interests include working with individuals with mobility limitations, raised garden beds, and tools that accommodate special needs. She is a certified Weed Warrior, and an advisor on the Town of Kensington GreenScape committee.
See below for photos and reference materials from this presentation:
Happy 2020! Here are some garden tips, educational opportunities, and events for January. Events include 15th Annual Washington Gardener Seed Exchange in MD/DC, Brookside Gardens’ Gardens Winter Tour, Mill Creek Towne Garden Club’s MD Bluebird Society Guest Speaker Talk on Gardening For Bluebirds, and more!
Planning
Clean out pots; store non-frost proof containers in shed, garage, or basement.
Paint a few terra cotta pots in spring-like colors.
Clean, sharpen, and store your garden tools.
Turn off outdoor water valve and store hoses.
Clean your gutters.
Start to browse online seed catalogs.
If you want to plant a street tree, pick one that grows up to 20 to 30 feet tall if you have overhead power lines.
Start collecting plant seeds for planting and for trading.
Decide where your plants from seed are going in your garden.
Finalize catalog seed orders.
Collect supplies for starting seeds.
Have a question about gardening? Check the University of Maryland Extension’s New Maryland Grows blog for garden tips.
Stake newly planted large trees or shrubs to protect them from winter winds.
Check that newly planted trees, shrubs, and perennials have not been heaved out of the ground due to freezing and thawing cycles.
Take hardwood cuttings from willow and dogwood to propagate them.
Set out your live potted evergreens from holiday decorating in a protected outdoor space to harden them off in advance of planting them.
Cut a few branches of flowering shrubs to force into bloom inside.
Root prune trees and shrubs to be transplanted next year.
Don’t panic over leaf/needle drop on established evergreen shrubs and rhododendrons. It is normal at this time of year for them to shed a third of them.
Prune maples, dogwoods, birch, elm, and walnut—if needed.
Prune evergreens to get in shape for winter.
Remove fallen diseased leaves.
Mulch or compost healthy leaves.
Keep an eye out for bark damage from rabbits and deer.
Remove bagworm bags.
Gently brush snow from evergreen shrubs.
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 Ivy, Pachysandra, and other vine-like ground cover from under shrubs.
Remove dead and dying trees.
Pests to watch for: bagworms, caterpillars, Gypsy moths, Japanese beetles, scale, sawfly, spidermites, leafminers, Voles, and webworms.
Diseases to watch for: Phomopsis and Kabatina of Juniper, Diplodia tip blight of 2 & 3 needled pines.
Source: University of Maryland’s Home and Garden Information Center (HGIC) and the Washington Gardener.
Mill Creek Towne Entrance Walls Repairs Project
Hello Mill Creek Towne Neighbors,
Your help is greatly needed with a community problem. The original entrance walls that identify our community as Mill Creek Towne are in a state of deterioration. One entrance wall, consisting of a center wall and two side walls, is located at Roslyn Avenue and Redland Road and is on Montgomery County property. The other entrance wall, consisting of two side walls, is located at Miller Fall Road and Muncaster Mill Road and is on Maryland State property. Both the county and the state have been approached and have declined to provide the much needed repairs and maintenance, stating that this is the responsibility of the community.
These entrance walls are more than fifty years old and, for all of that time, The Mill Creek Towne Garden Club (MCTGC) has been the caretakers of the entrances. We provide annual care with plantings either by doing regular maintenance work ourselves or engaging the assistance of professional workers.
We need your help to repair the Mill Creek Towne Entrance walls! See details in this link below on how you can help.
Save the dates for these upcoming events! Events include 15th Annual Washington Gardener Seed Exchange in MD/DC, Brookside Gardens’ Gardens Winter Tour, Mill Creek Towne Garden Club’s MD Bluebird Society Guest Speaker Talk on Gardening For Bluebirds, and more!
Montgomery County MD Food and Beverage Guide
The third edition of the MoCo Made Food & Beverage Guide is available!
The Guide features more than 60 local producers and farmers offering local-made products. Find the online version here:
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):
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:
Register by January 13 to guarantee a complimentary boxed lunch
Free
Sasaki‘s Kate Tooke presents” Risk It! Balancing Adventure and “Safety” in the Modern Outdoor Playscape” at Montgomery Regional Office on January 17 from 12 to 2 pm.
This free talk is part of Montgomery Parks’ Speaker Series.
Washington Gardener magazine, the publication for DC-area gardening enthusiasts, is hosting the 15th annual Washington Gardener Seed Exchange at Brookside Gardens and Green Spring Gardens. These seed swaps are in-person and face-to-face. You bring your extra seeds and swap them with other gardeners. Everyone will leave with a bag full of seeds, new garden friends, and expert planting advice.
Join us for: Seed Swapping Door Prizes Planting Tips Expert Speakers Goody Bags Make-it Take-It Seed Crafting Table
Registration fee is $20 per person. Friends of Brookside members, Friends of Green Spring members, and current Washington Gardener subscribers receive a discount rate of $15 per person. We strongly urge you to register in advance. There is a limited enrollment of 100 participants at each location!
We are GREEN!!! We also have a Garden Book and Seed Catalog Exchange table. Seed Exchange attendees are encouraged to bring their used or new garden books and seed catalogs to swap and share at this year’s event. We also ask you to bring your own water bottle or reusable mug and a home-made nametag. We will have a“best nametag” contest, so get crafty!
Winter brings a new dimension to Brookside Gardens, usually overlooked by visitors.
Take the Brookside Gardens Winter Tour with our own Phil Normandy to see what makes up the bones of the garden without the distraction of leaves or flowers. You will appreciate the architectural elements of evergreens and woody plants, in addition to how hardscapes shape the gardens.
Mill Creek Towne Garden Club Meeting Topic: Gardening For Bluebirds
Tuesday, January 28, 2020
Topic: Gardening for Bluebirds Time: 7:30pm – 8:30pm Location: Mill Creek Parish United Methodist Fellowship Hall 7101 Horizon Terrace Derwood, MD 20855
Speaker: Ed Escalante, Maryland Bluebird Society County Coordinator Cost: FREE, Donations gratefully appreciated!
Join us on Tuesday, January 28th and learn more about bluebirds, including tips on what gardeners can do to attract bluebirds. Refreshments will be provided. Maryland Bluebird Society (MBS) Ed Escalante, MBS County Coordinator for Montgomery County is the boots on the ground person for MC. He’ll give a talk about bluebirds & answer questions.
NOTE: If Montgomery County Schools are closed due to inclement weather, the Garden Club meeting will be cancelled.
Practical Solutions For Ecologically Sustainable Landscapes
Friday, February 21, 2020 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
Silver Spring Civic Building 1 Veterans Place, Silver Spring, MD
The early bird gets the savings. Sign up for Green Matters Symposium by Friday, January 10, and save $15.
This symposium will offer practical solutions to help shift the focus of gardening and landscape design away from merely aesthetics and towards creating and managing sustainable landscapes. Industry experts will explore how native plants can be incorporated into our landscapes while realizing the ecological benefits through plant community-based design strategies. Attendees will learn ecological gardening and maintenance practices that lead to a “greener” and more resilient garden. Case studies will shed light on how to minimize the environmental impact of humanmade landscapes ranging from home gardens to commercial projects.
University of Maryland Extension, Montgomery County Office Montgomery County Agricultural History Farm Park 18410 Muncaster Road Derwood, MD 20855
We are pleased to present the 20th Spring Gardening Conference on Saturday, February 22, 2020 (snow date: February 29, 2020). This year’s conference, “Gardening with 20/20 Vision – Focus on the Future” will offer courses to help you decide what to grow and how to manage your landscape to create a sustainable gardens for the future.
The Montgomery County Master Gardeners’ mission is “to educate Maryland residents about safe, effective, and sustainable horticultural practices that build healthy gardens, landscapes, and communities.” Whether you are a new participant or a returnee to this conference, it is our goal to provide you with new ideas and information to help you solve your horticultural problems and take pleasure in your gardening efforts. We hope you can join us this year.
