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: