September 2020

 

                   Garden Club News

Join us on Sunday, September 27, 2:00-3:30 pm to learn  How to Cultivate an Organic Lawn.  

     Note: You can reach the sign-up link by placing your curser over the red type and clicking or touching the red type. Or call 301-774-0022.

Sandy Spring Museum Garden Club

October Zoom program - "Beautiful Bulbs: Gorgeous Geophytes"

Sunday October 11

2:00pm

         Join the Sandy Spring Museum Garden Club for another great zoom presentation. 

October is a perfect time of year to learn more about bulbs and planting bulbs.

We are so fortunate to have Master Gardener, Merikay Smith, present her talk "Beautiful Bulbs: Gorgeous Geophytes" 

She will share with us the joyful beauty of spring flowers grown from fall planted bulbs. Besides sharing the unique characteristics of bulbs, she will give details about selecting and planting bulbs then speak in depth about narcissus, hyacinths and tulips. As time allows Merikay will also share photos and descriptions of other bulbs including some which are native to North America and even a few native to our region.

         Mark your Calendar for October 11^th at 2:00 and visit the October program page to register.

 

              Garden Tour

Since the Sandy Spring Museum was built, the Garden Club has maintained the Courtyard Gardens.  Dedicated to Mary Rice, the founder of the Garden Club, they are lovingly tended by a small group of volunteers led by Mary Dominique and Penny Sidell.  The gardens consists of an herb garden,  perennial gardens and shrubs.  The Garden Club also plants the garden near the front door and is currently training the refurbished wisteria on the front walk arbor.  

                       

                              

Harvest Notes

Anthony Vodraska is growing the unusual looking Tromboncino squash with seeds provided by Mary Dominique. It is an Italian heirloom cultivar of the species Cucuribita moschatat, or more commonly referred to as butternut squash.  He quickly discovered their vining habit and had to erect additional bamboo supports.  It seems to live up to other reports that it is more tolerant to common summer squash pests and they produce beautiful large yellow flowers that attract pollinators.

In the Spring when he could not find zucchini seeds at the big box stores, he selected a packet of white pattypan squash. The vines spread much more than zucchini vines, but are very productive, allowing him to donate many to Harvest Share, a community donation program.

Show-Offs and Bloomers!

Mary Dominique shares her border of "elephant ears", the common name for a group of tropical plants grown for their larger, heart-shaped leaves of the genera Colocasia. They have enjoyed the rains this summer. The annuals zinnia, cosmos and melampodium accentuate the greenhouse and deck.

Fall Clean-up

As our flowers begin to fade, we want to tidy up our gardens and cut everything to the ground. However flowers that have seed-heads are a great source of food for birds, the stems are homes for overwintering bees and plants are still taking nutrients into their roots. Cutting Down Perennials in the Fall answers the questions we all ask in the fall.

The vegetable garden, still producing until the first frost, will need to be put to bed as well. Planting a nitrogen-fixing cover crop will suppress the weeds and enrich the soil. A list of cover crops is HERE.

 Note: You can reach the link by placing your curser over the red type and clicking or touching the red type. 

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.

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