On September 27, 2023, the Bethesda Community Garden Club celebrated 100 years of our club, its members, and its pursuits. We enjoyed a catered luncheon at the Chevy Chase Woman’s Club. Sharon Southerland was the emcee and started our celebration off with a toast to all and recognized long-standing members of the club. During the lunch, we enjoyed music selections and a slide show of club of activities that spanned the years. The tables were decorated with runners and small arrangements of flowers, appropriately cut from members’ gardens. Attendees were fascinated with the display of historica ..read more

As we contemplate the coming gardening season (and our annual plant sale), one aspect of modern gardening is hard to miss. Plastic is ubiquitous: bags of every kind of garden amendment, landscape fabric (ugh), tools, edgings, and of course pots. For the plant sale, we collect hundreds of pots, pretty much all reused (yay!), but we know that the ultimate fate of many of them is the landfill (boo!). We are lucky enough to live in an area where our local recycling does accept plastic plant pots, but a little investigation reveals a disappointing reality. That is, much of our country’s plastic rec ..read more

We can’t have a greens workshop without greens! Cut greens from your garden (or a friendly neighbor’s) on the Sunday or Monday before the workshop. The cuttings should be between 6” to 12” in length. Conditioning your cut greens is a critical step to ensure arrangements stay fresh and attractive for several weeks! Here’s how: 1. Lay the cut greens in a laundry tub or bathtub or extra-large container in a solution of mild detergent (Dawn) and lukewarm water. 2. Soak briefly, swish and rinse in cold water. 3. Soak in cold water until Tuesday evening. 4. Dry them overnight on old towels or sheeti ..read more

As I contemplate the wonderful/frightening chaos of my August to September garden, I have been thinking about “garden worthiness,” particularly regarding native plants. The excellent people at Mt. Cuba Center do trials of many species looking into this very thing, and the criteria they use for evaluation include habit, vigor, and floral display, as well as support for pollinators and other wildlife. This is very helpful, as we probably all value these things in our different ways. Butterfly, slightly chomped, on aster A big goal for me is wildlife value, but who doesn’t like beauty? For instan ..read more

Eye candy Has anyone else been blown away by the bulb display this late winter and spring? I have been struck by the lushness of this year’s flowers. Whether it’s more to do with last spring’s providing the right conditions for creating this year’s flowers, or this spring’s odd mixture of mild and chilly weather, it seems that we have been enjoying  an unusually rich spring. Especially if you (and your garden) are of a certain age and invested in lots of spring bulbs many years ago, I trust they are now happily naturalized and making a brave show. Wandering the garden and observing the un ..read more

Here’s an environmental concern that is concerning in the “worrisome” sense:  the invasive spotted lanternfly, which was first detected in the US in 2014 and in Maryland in 2018. In March 2023, the Maryland Department of Agriculture expanded its spotted lanternfly quarantine to include most of the state, including Montgomery County. To contain the pest’s spread, the quarantine imposes permitting, training, and inspection requirements on businesses and agencies that move articles in which lanternflies might be hiding (such as landscaping waste, packing materials, outdoor furniture, plants ..read more

Way back in March 2018, I wrote about Pycnanthemum, the mountain mints (there are several). These rewarding plants are powerhouse attractors of pollinators and provide winter interest with their interesting dried flowerheads. Large flowers of Pycnanthemum incanum Back then, I had two: Pycnanthemum muticum (the most common species that you’re likely to find on sale) and P. tenuifolium (narrow-leaf mountain mint, a shorter species, with leaves reminiscent of Coreopsis verticillata). Since then I acquired a couple more, P. incanum (hoary or silverleaf mountain mint) and P. flexuosum (Appalachian ..read more

In the meantime, we’ve had a remarkable beginning of November, haven’t we? The nice weather is great for admiring the glorious fall foliage (see my lovely fothergilla!) and for doing things in the garden before winter sets in. Fothergilla shining in the sun This season of changes brings revelations and opportunities. For instance, when their leaves change color, scores of tree seedlings that were hiding in the greenery show themselves, giving me a chance to remove them before the leaves drop and they become invisible little sticks. I enjoy pulling them out, tearing off the leaves, and scatteri ..read more

Fall cleanup ain’t what it used to be—like a lot of traditional gardening activities, it has changed with the times and with new information from horticultural and environmental sciences. Rather than cleaning up every bit of debris and dead plant material, the new emphasis is on leaving things to carry on as nature intended: leaves stay on the ground and dead flowerheads and stalks stay up to gradually senesce as the winter moves in. The nice thing is that (like abandoning discredited practices like tilling and double-digging) it’s a lot less work. But wait! What if I don’t want leaves to comp ..read more

Gardeners have many motivations for trying to grow more native plants: supporting insects, birds, and other creatures for their own sake; attracting beneficial insects to attack pests on our plants; choosing plants that are well-adapted to our region’s soils and climate; and simply enjoying the many and varied native plants that are becoming more available as interest in them grows. This growing interest extends both to our members and to customers at our annual plant sale. With the prospect of an in-person public plant sale next spring, we hope to be digging our own plants or other people’s t ..read more