Monday, December 14, 2020

January 2021

Garden Club News

The Sandy Spring Museum Garden Club wishes you a very Happy New Year! We want to give a great big Thank You to our outgoing co-Presidents, Amy Cohen and Marilyn Kessinger. They graciously accepted an extra year in addition to their usual 2-year term. Little did they know it would include a myriad of changes and challenges. Amy and Marilyn made a fabulous team and used their creativity to allow the Garden Club to continue productively in this difficult year. When the Pandemic arrived, they implemented Zoom programs so that we could continue providing excellent programs to our members. They also have put us into the future by planning the programs a year ahead which will help the incoming leadership.

Amy and Marilyn also helped us continue several of our other traditional activities. A group of Garden Club members had grown plants for the Annual Strawberry Festival. When the festival was canceled, Amy and Marilyn created a Drive Through Plant Sale which enabled us to sell our plants and donate the proceeds to the Sandy Spring Museum. We were not able to hold our Holiday Greens workshops or Greens Sale this year, but they kept the Holiday Spirit going by providing a Zoom Holiday House Tour of one of our member's beautifully decorated historic home.

The Garden Club is very grateful to have had their leadership and know they will continue to help us in the future.

Please join us for our February program:

Home Remedies to Control Pests in the Home and Garden
February 14, 2021
2:00pm Zoom Program

Everyone, at one time or another, has had uninvited guests invade their home or garden. Mice, flies, ants, slugs are just a few of these pests that are so frustrating to discover and they can quickly proliferate if not controlled.

Marilyn Kessinger, a garden club member, homeowner, and pet owner will share some of the effective ways she has learned to naturally discourage these pests. Nobody wants to use toxic materials, especially inside the home.

There are many products you may already have in the house that can be used to discourage or eliminate these pests and most are safe to be used around people and pets. Some will work like magic, some will take patience and experimentation with various options.

Through this program you will discover tips and techniques that you can use in your own home or yard to successfully discourage these annoying pests.

Reserve your spot

Lawn Alternatives

Manicured turf grass lawns cover most of our properties, but a new movement is challenging this conformity and providing food and shelter to birds and insects, diverting rainwater and beautifying our front yards.

Allison Weiss, Executive Director of the Sandy Spring Museum, shared photos of her journey to remove 100% of the grass from her property, relocate the front brick walkway and replace it with stone. There are two rain gardens in the center of each half of the front yard; the rest is conservation landscaping with native plants.

Before and in progress

Beautiful after photos

There are plenty of resources to realize your own new lawn. You can find many low maintenance lawn ideas and the University of Maryland Extension offers lawn alternatives.

Naturescaping is the idea that you can design a landscape that is nature-friendly. Alternative groundcovers include Stepables, available at Stadler Nursery in Laytonsville. The Montgomery County RainScapes Rewards Rebate Program offers rebates to property owners who wish to add gardens which slow water runoff in their yard.

Winter Gardening

In January you can start sowing perennials and hardy annuals in mini greenhouses made from plastic milk jugs, soda bottles or clear clamshell containers. In February cold-hardy vegetable seeds can be planted. PennState Extension has a helpful site on successful winter sowing. A great video on this unique method can be found HERE.

What's Blooming?

Mary's Joseph Lemper Christmas Rose Hellebore

In the Fall, Amy organized a Paperwhite Narcissus and Amaryllis bulbs sale. These bulbs can be forced to bloom indoors over the winter, offering a bright and wonderfully fragrant show. These are a few grown by our Garden Club members:

Garden Chores for January

The UMD Tips and Tasks has gardening tips for January in our area.
Trim hellebore leaves
Keep watering evergreens if there's not regular rain
Plan your summer gardens by perusing garden catalogues

(Note: By clicking on the red words, you will be directed to additional information)

The Garden Club is a body of the Sandy Spring Museum

Learn more about our activities and how to join the Garden Club.

https://www.sandyspringmuseum.org/programs-and-events/garden-club

email: gardenclub@sandyspringmuseum.org or call 301-774-0022.

Sunday, November 15, 2020

November/December 2020

Garden Club News

On the side of caution, we have regretfully decided that we are unable to hold our usual Greens Sale this year. It is not possible to meet social distancing recommendations and still do all our preparation and workshops to produce our products. We appreciate your support over the years and have every intention of continuing with our Greens Sale in subsequent years when it is once again possible to safely do so.

We will miss the camaraderie, holiday music, delicious soups and treats and creative energy as we make holiday decorations with freshly picked greens from local landscapes.

A collection of products at the annual Sandy Spring Museum Holiday Party in 2019

Garden Club Program

Museum members were treated to a wonderful program on Exuberant Decorating for the Holidays. The narrated video presentation included some of these beautiful items:

Draped balustrades

Lovely vignettes

Fanciful table settings

Thanksgiving

Shimmering chandeliers

Themed trees

Christmas from years past

A Victorian Christmas

Draped mirrors

Decorating every nook and cranny

We thank our Decorating Diva for inspiring us to make the most of this Holiday season.

Crafting for the Holidays

Pomander Balls will keep smelling of spices throughout the season. Learn how to make these wonderful decorations HERE.

Be sure to see these Smithsonian's Let's Talk Gardens programs from 12-1 PM:

December 3 - Holiday Wreaths and Greens Decorations

December 19 - Poinsettias and Holiday Trees

What's Blooming?

Some irises are rebloomers, as this white iris putting on a show in November.

Pink camellias are blooming on the grounds of the Sandy Spring Museum.

The Garden Club is a body of the Sandy Spring Museum

Learn more about our activities and how to join the Garden Club.

https://www.sandyspringmuseum.org/programs-and-events/garden-club

email: gardenclub@sandyspringmuseum.org or call 301-774-0022.

Sunday, October 11, 2020

October 2020

Garden Club News

A recording of the September program, How to Cultivate an Organic Lawn, can be found HERE on the Sandy Spring Museum You-Tube channel.

Everlasting Crafts

After a garden club member showed her gifted Preserved Boxwood wreath to the group, a few of our members wanted to try this process. This project needs special curing ingredients, 20 days to "preserve" the freshly cut boxwood and a large quantity of product. They made these beautiful sustainable wreaths to last, hopefully, for many holiday seasons:

You can find instructions on making your own Preserved Boxwood Wreaths HERE.

Fall Decor

In past years the Garden Club has made Front Porch Fall Decor as an auction item at the Museum's Fall Dinner and Auction and last year we had a workshop on creating our own fall table decorations, including velvet pumpkins. To inspire you to create your own Fall decor, these are some of those finished products: