June 2020 Update

Hello fellow gardeners,

Are you seeing lots of birds, critters, bees and butterflies in your gardens? 
Certify your habitat during Pollinator Month,  
Anyone can create a welcoming haven for local wildlife. Turning your yard, balcony container garden, schoolyard, work landscape, or roadside greenspace into a Certified Wildlife Habitat® is fun, easy, and can make a lasting difference for wildlife. Certify this June and save 20% when you purchase any Certified Wildlife Habitat sign.  To see the requirements for garden certification as a National Wildlife refuge, go to this website: nwf.org, click on "Get Involved;" a menu will appear. Scroll down to "Certify a garden."  Your garden needs these 4 elements - food, water, shelter, and a place to raise young.  

Kathy Ramienski, one of our Garden Club members, has this certification. Here are photos of the 4 elements in her garden and some critters who inhabit this inviting space.

 

 

 

Bird visitors to the garden include: cardinals, robins, blue jays, chickadees, woodpeckers, gold finches, hummingbirds.  We had a blue bird brood in the birdhouse in the maple tree before it leafed out.  Now we have a pair of wrens making a nest in another birdhouse on a pole. This is the first time I had blue birds nest. Next year I will put a blue bird house on the pole, which is less obstructed. Hopefully they will stay and have a second brood. As you can imagine, there are countless insects, spiders, and many bees. Lately I've been seeing dragonflies.  I found 2 praying mantis egg sacs as I was cleaning out the flower beds in early spring.  I have seen quite a few toads, and one snake, see picture.  I haven't seen it in over a week, so I guess it moved on... As far as mammals, there are rabbits, deer, and an occasional fox. 

I noticed last year that as the summer blossoming plants waned, the insect pollinators - bees, hummingbird moths, wasps- had little to feed on in the back garden. I only had one aster, and some herbs. This year I added more asters and goldenrods.  Also good for pollinators are herbs that are allowed to flower.  I have a lot of thyme, and let half of it flower; I do the same with oregano.  I do not let basil flower because once it flowers, the entire plant loses its flavor. 

In my front yard, I have phlox and cosmos. My lawn has lots of clover which both the rabbits and deer like.  I also have lavender, which is not only great for pollinators, but also for humans! 

Here are some interesting sources for more information on pollinators and garden habitats:

Gardening for Pollinators  Presented by Howard County Master Gardeners and the Maryland Extension.   Monday, June 22, 2020 at 7 PM – 8:30 PM   OnlineEvent http://host.evanced.info/hclibrary/lib/eventsignup.aspID=145707&ret=http%3A%2F%2Fhost.evanced.info%2Fhclibrary%2Flib%2Feventcalendar.asp%3Fln%3DALL

Save the Pollinators Save the Planet   Ecological Landscaping  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B6ejHn_fb18

A Presentation by Doug Tallamy - Nature's Best Hope   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WY4aV5hqkxY

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How does your garden grow?  Peonies made a good show in many gardens, along with roses and irises.  Here are some pictures from Garden Club members:

 

Please feel free to add a comment below or send photos and articles to

Jan Baweja, janbaw2@gmail.com.
Also follow us on Facebook - facebook.com/sandy spring museum garden club
Gardening has NOT been canceled. 

May 2020 Update

Fellow Gardeners,

From our home-bound gardens, or on "distancing" walks through the neighborhoods, we watch the slowly evolving plants and bright petals falling like snow and fading to green. The weeds are happy, plants divide easily and can be repositioned or traded with friends. Please comment below if you have plants to share. (No need to publish your phone number or email. If you are a Garden Club member, I will pass the information along to interested parties).
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Drive-Thru Plant Sale

The Garden Club made a unique effort to sell the plants they had planted and nurtured for the now-delayed Strawberry Festival. The Drive-Thru Plant Sale was sold out in less than 24 hours and the pick-up went like clockwork. Thank yous to everyone who grew, potted and transported plant material as well as those that organized the delivery logistics, the crew that prepared the orders and the members who delivered them to the cars.

 

 

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The Courtyard Garden

The Museum's Courtyard Garden is a beautifully planted area, perfect for a wedding, outdoor luncheon or other lifestyle event. A dedicated team of   volunteers from the Garden Club regularly tidy and plant the garden       throughout the year. This year our team continues with appropriate   protection and distancing.

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News from Local Garden Centers:

Good Earth  1610 Olney Sandy Spring Rd, Sandy Spring, MD    https://www.gegardenmarket.com/
Open for public walk-in from Thursday to Sundays, 10-4 only. Delivery available.

Terra Greenhouse   1707 GoldMine Rd, Brookeville, MD 20833         301-570-9748
Curbside orders by appointment.

Johnson's   5011 Olney Laytonsville Rd, Olney, MD           301-987-1940               https://www.johnsonsflorists.com/    Order online for curbside pick-up
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Please feel free to add a comment below or send photos and articles to
Jan Baweja, janbaw2@gmail.com.
Also follow us on Facebook - facebook.com/sandy spring museum garden club
Gardening has NOT been canceled. 

April 2020 Update

Hello fellow Gardeners,

First the latest Museum news: The Strawberry Festival has been postponed to September 12-13
Mary and Andrea are sheltering the plants that were started for the Strawberry Festival in the greenhouses of Century and Sherwood High Schools.  A drive-thru plant sale is being discussed for mid-May. Details will be available in early May.

Mary's Greenhouse

See videos from our own members:
Amy shows her beautiful fairy gardens on Welcome to My Fairy Garden, here.
Kathy and Betsy talk about an invasive plant Hairy Bittercress, here



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Hope you are all staying safe and healthy, enjoying your gardens and the time you spend in them. There are so many benefits to gardening:

• Exposure to Vitamin D, which benefits your bones and immune system.
• Gardening could lower your risk of dementia by 36 percent.
• In a recent study gardening lowers the level of the stress hormone cortisol.
• Pulling weeds, reaching for various plants and tools, and twisting and bending as you plant will work new muscles in your body and help with strength, stamina, and flexibility. 
• It can lower your blood pressure. 
• Mindful presence is tied to a long list of positive effects like relationship satisfaction and less emotional reactivity.
• Studies have found evidence that being in a green space is linked with better recovery from surgery, less anxiety and depression, and better stress management.
• And we all know that sharing our joy of gardening with others brings many friendships.

   (Sources 1 , 2

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Do you have a favorite gardening tool, a new cool tool you have found or an old standby?

Mary Dominique, an active Garden Club member and Master Gardener has some favorites:

The hori hori, a Japanese digging tool that is great for weeding, transplanting and dividing plants. 

She also recommends the HERS shovel, which comes in three lengths and is ergonomically designed to maximize women's strengths and minimize strain.  

 The expanding rake is also great in the fall and spring to get leaves out from between plants.

Another popular tool is the cobra head weeder, a curved steel rod with a flattened tip.

The loop hoe is a versatile hand tool used to remove weeds like a traditional hoe, but with a thin steel loop that is 3 inches wide.

Other garden necessities include:

Plant stakes for those floppy flowers like peonies.

Plant markers like these from Dollar Tree.

Bulb markers - Anita is putting a cut up garden hose around tulips so she doesn't dig into them later.

And Anthony has made these moveable planters out of water troughs.

Daphne Genkwa

Some beautiful Spring blooms from Mary's garden:

Trilium

Magnolia

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Since we can't go on Garden Tours, spend some time looking at gardens of the world and learning about gardening in your own backyard. (Click on highlighted items)

Search Results

Web 

Virtual Garden Tours
Newsletter of the Home and Garden Information Center 

Please feel free to add a comment below or send photos and articles to
Jan Baweja, janbaw2@gmail.com.
Also follow us on Facebook - facebook.com/sandy spring museum garden club
Gardening has NOT been canceled.

March 2020 Update

   Welcome to the Sandy Spring Museum Garden Club Update

This blog update is an endeavor to keep us all connected and informed; visit member and regional gardens through photos, advice and recommendations; and highlight articles and websites about gardening and wildlife.  Happy Gardening!!

                     The April 19th Program has been postponed until 2021.

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STRAWBERRY FESTIVAL PREPARATIONS

We are in a time of unprecedented flux.  A great stress reducer is getting out into your garden.  Spring is bursting forth with its hopeful flourish.  Time in the garden is well spent just nurturing the beds, adding the yearly compost, pulling those tenacious weeds. And if you find you have unwanted upstarts of perennials, or need to thin out a hearty bunch, we  ask garden club members to pot those extra plants to benefit the Museum. 

So, look a daffodil in the face and take a deep breath.  Together we will get through this.

Sincerely,

Your co-chairs for the Strawberry Festival        

Kathy Ramienski and Anita Gilbert

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GARDENING WITH FRIENDS

          

In the next few issues we will be highlighting the garden of one of our members. The first is Anita Gilbert.  Those of you who helped with or enjoyed the 2019 Garden Tour may have seen this well-planned garden and the beautiful artwork by Anita and her husband, Anthony Vodraska.  As spring vegetables and flowers arrive, she eagerly awaits the perennials and self-sowing annuals to emerge, some to be moved to other locations or to be potted up for future plant sales and exchanges.

This Spring's blooms-

Photos from May, 2018   

 

How to Identify Insect Pests in Your Vegetable Garden by Maryland Grows Mike Raupp, "The Bug Guy" for the University of Maryland Extension, explains how, like a crime scene investigator, you can use clues to find out what types of insects are causing damage in your garden. Look for telltale signs like chewed leaves, discoloration, distortion, dieback, and insect products. Read more of this post

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Brookside Gardens in the Spring

Video to see:
The Gardener - Created over 75 years and three generations, Les Quatre Vents stands as an enchanted place of beauty and surprise, a horticultural masterpiece of the 21st century. See how Frank Cabot gave birth to one of the greatest gardens in the world. 
On Amazon and Hulu.
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About the Garden Club

While being responsible for planning, landscaping, and maintaining the museum’s Courtyard Garden, the Garden Club offers quarterly programs, trips, and interactive and creative workshops. Some of the fun activities include the Plant Booth at the Museum’s annual Strawberry Festival, the Holiday Greens Sale, and the bi-annual Garden Tour, featuring beautiful local, private, and historic gardens.

Garden Club Membership

Membership in the Garden Club is open to all Museum members; in other words, anyone is welcome to join.  Guests are welcome to attend any function. By becoming a member of the Garden Club, you have the opportunity to meet new people, have a great time while learning, and support the Museum, all while expanding the community’s knowledge of horticulture.  If you are interested in becoming a member of the Garden Club, please e-mail us at gardenclub@sandyspringmuseum.org or call 301-774-0022 (x 104) for more information.
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Please feel free to add a comment below or send photos and articles to
Jan Baweja, janbaw2@gmail.com.
Also follow us on Facebook - facebook.com/sandy spring museum garden club
Gardening has NOT been canceled.