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SEPTEMBER 2014
BCMASTERGARDENERS.WEEBLY.COM
news
A PUBLICATION OF UME MASTER GARDENERS OF BALTIMORE COUNTY
Ba y-Wis e
b y th e n u m b e rs
C a le n d a r
SEPTEMBER
11 General Meeting, Carol Warner on
Bearded irises, 10-12, Ag Center
19 Plant collection @ Ag Center, 9-1
21 MARC’s Family Farm Day
OCTOBER
9 General Meeting, Maryland Daffodil
Society, Daff primer, 6:30-8:30 p.m.
NOVEMBER
13 General Meeting, Native Plant training
with Sara Tangren, 10-1
S a ve th e d a te
MG Annual Training Day for
2015 will be Thursday, June 4. Please
mark it on your calendars.
PATSY PAHR &
LESLIE ERICKSON
Homeowner
landscape certifications as “Bay-Wise”
are a big part of
what the BCMG
Bay-Wise group
does. Visiting with
Baltimore County
Intern Sheila Polley
neighbors, who
want to be sure they are keeping the Bay
and water quality in mind in their landscape practices, is fun and educational for
all involved.
Bay-Wise “parties,” a concept created
by MG Chris Potts, enable us to reach
groups of neighboring homeowners (or our
BCMG trainees) together and produce many
completed yardsticks and applications for
certification as Bay-Wise. Two such group
events, one with our 2014 trainees and another hosted by Randy Low for the Gunpowder
2013 2014 YTD
27 20
Total number certified
7 12
MGs certified
18
2
Gunpowder Valley
certifications
4
9
Non-MGs certified
2
Certifications pending
(non-MGs)
Garden Club, have
provided us with
many of our certifications thus far this
year. Another party
coming up in October
in conjunction with
our partners in the
Don and Debby Hyson
Clear Creeks project (Gunpowder Valley
Conservancy) will be held in Rockaway
Beach and should push us well over our certification goal (20) for that project.
The numbers for 2014 are still a bit
lower than 2013, but we can do a lot in the
upcoming months to add more to our total.
By the way…is your home certified as
Bay-Wise? Would you like to host a BayWise party? Contact Leslie Erickson or
Patsy Pahr for more information.
BAY-WISE FEATURED!
Check out Clear Creeks float in the Wilson Point Independence Day parade.
budding
NEWS
NORMAN’S PATCH 41
NORMAN COHEN
Is it a wildflowe r or a we e d?
Several months ago I received an email from a garden club
to recommend a wildflower garden that the club could visit. Of
course, Mt. Cuba Center in Hockessin, Delaware, came to mind;
however, wildflower is a misnomer. Wildflower has many connotations: non-native invasives that have escaped into the wild,
native plants of the piedmont, or native plants from different
geographical regions in our state or the United States.
A few “wildflowers” found in my property needed to be
identified as either native or non-native. My three favorite references are: Weeds of the Northeast, National Audubon Society’s
Field Guide to Wild Flowers, and the University of Maryland
Extension site’s “Common Weeds of Maryland.” It is less arduous to identify by colored photographs than attempt to use plant
identification keys with hand lens, microscope, and tomes.
Ten different goldenrods are indigenous to the Chesapeake
watershed. To utilize identification keys to determine “which is
which” is quite a rigorous botanical experience.
In early May, a plant with basal leaves started to appear in
my garden, then a flower spike with different leaves ending
with an inconspicuous, quarter inch wide yellow flower which
has five sepals and the petals shorter and narrower than the
sepals. The stamens and pistils are numerous. A match was
found in the references, a native, Ranunculus abortivus, the
Kidneyleaf Buttercup, which is in the same genus R. bulbosus,
the ubiquitous
non-native
which has
been naturalized from
Europe.
In June,
my wooded
area was carpeted with a
Ranunculus abortivus, the Kidneyleaf Buttercup
plant that is
about nine to 24 inches tall and unbranched or little branched.
The opposite leaves, which are up to five inches long and three
inches across, are ovate-cordate, dentate along their margins,
PAGE 2
and largely hairless. The upper leaf surface is medium to dark
green and hairless. The central stem terminates in a raceme of
flowers up to six inches long. Each flower consists of two white
petals, two green sepals, two stamens, and a slender style. The
blooming period for a colony of plants occurs during the summer and lasts about a month. Each flower is short-lived and
replaced by a small burr-like fruit.
Not many plants have two white petals and have a burrlike fruit. These characteristics matched Enchanter’s
Nightshade, Circaea lutetiana Canadensis, a member of the
Evening Primrose family (Onagraceae) and a non-native,
weedy wildflower of
Eurasia. The genus name
comes from the enchantress
Circe of Greek mythology
and the species designation
is derived from Lutetia, the
Latin name for Paris. Paris
at one time was known as
Circaea lutetiana Canadensis
the “Witch City.”
This plant looked very similar to the non-native, perennial
Galium odoratum, Sweetscented Bedstraw or Sweet Woodruff,
which is indigenous to Europe. The unknown was easy to find,
Galium mollugo, common name Hedge or Smooth Bedstraw or
False Baby’s
Breath, a nonnative herbaceous
perennial plant
which has white
flowers from June
to August and
spreads by rhiGalium mollugo
zomes and
stolons. Galium are members of Rubiaceae, the Madder family.
The genus name is derived from the Greek gala (“milk”) and
refers to an old use of the plant to curdle milk.
My last thought... at least the deer do not eat them!
Our own resident native plant guru, Judy Fulton, with
Charlie Davis, well known area plant ecologist at the Maryland
Natural History Center, host a plant identification lab; the next
one is September 19. Their samples are gathered from the
Agricultural Center in order to obtain a plant inventory.
Attendance is highly recommended.
BALTIMORE COUNTY MASTER GARDENERS
budding
NEWS
Ma s te r Ga rde n Fe s t
a nothe r s ucce s s
LESLIE ERICKSON
Individual garden leaders did a great
job of providing fun (and tasty) activities to
get visitors out in the garden and
learning. Angie Goodman stepped up to
run the tomato tasting and has, I’m sure,
Thanks to all who helped to make the
second annual Master Garden Fest a success! We put in over 230 hours between the
50 of us on Saturday, August 9th ...WOW!
I hope you agree with me that it was a
beautiful, fun day. Next year this event will
be one week earlier (August 1), to coordinate with the Hereford Junior Farm
Fair’s 70th north county farm event.
added several gray hairs worrying about
whether she would have enough tomatoes to
offer. In the end she got so many that she
may never want to see another tomato
again...until next year. Thanks to all who
grew and purchased “toms” for this most
popular event.
Special thanks to all those relatives
and friends of Master Gardeners who came
along to support us. We really appreciate
your help with moving tables and tents and
cutting hundreds of tomatoes.
Finally, the biggest thanks to my cocoordiators Lucy Wright and Heather
Wight. This year seemed a lot easier than
last year and was a very manageable job
since we shared it. We would be happy to
share the secrets of our success with any
who might want to take over the leadership
mantle for the Fest next year. Talk to us!
F ro m th e to m a to la d y
Our greeters counted 311 visitors in
the four hours of the event, 116 of whom
were kids. This is slightly more that last
year and reflects how well you all spread
the word. Thanks to all who handed out our
publicity post cards, to Katie Dott who
made sure the Fest figured prominently on
our website and contacted the news media
and to Carolyn Gonzalez who sent our flyers to all the libraries. Trish Moore, of the
Extension staff, also was a tremendous help,
contributing her artistry to all our Fest signs
and flyers.
ANGIE GOODMAN
Thank you to everyone who had a hand in the
success of this year’s Tomato Tasting...gave input,
donated supplies, flowers, or tomatoes, helped me set
up or break down, or volunteered on the day of the event.
For those who donated tomatoes, thank you for providing progress reports of
your tomatoes. Almost every variety I was expecting, was delivered.
I learned a lot about heirloom tomatoes, and was amazed at how many varieties people were growing. I believe we had 55 varieties donated, and probably
nearly 50 were heirlooms. For one variety that we had both the heirloom and
hybrid, we put them side-by-side and encouraged people to try them and compare.
UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND EXTENSION...SOLUTIONS IN YOUR COMMUNITY
PAGE 3
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G IE I h a rve s t re p o rt
Our Grow It Eat It gardens continue to
produce many pounds of vegetables each
week. July totalled 91 pounds, 78 of which
were donated, while August finished the
month with 267 pounds, 250 of which were
donated. The year-to-date total is 415
pounds, of which 90 percent (or 374 pounds)
has been donated to people in need through
the Cockeysville Food Pantry.
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R e m in d e r a b o u t
o n lin e h o u rs
ANNA MCGUCKEN
Ha rve s t p ic n ic
Thank you to everyone who contributed to the August picnic. Recipes have
been uploaded to the weebly site under the
“recipes from harvest picnic” tab.
Thanks to Kolman Kodek for
grilling up all the hamburgers and hot dogs
he graciously donated.
To date, we still have a lot of MGs
who have not yet entered any hours for the
2014 year. If you have hours that you have
not yet recorded, please make an effort this
month to update those before October 1st.
Additionally, if you have not yet set
up an online account to enter your hours
electronically, please contact me
(amcguck@umd.edu) or Wendy Dilworth
(wendydil@umd.edu) for help in doing so.
We will send you an email with a username
and then you will be able to generate your
own password.
The state MG program switched over
to an online entry system earlier this year
in order to help both Master Gardeners and
Master Gardener Coordinators. With this
new system, Master Gardeners are able to
monitor their own hours so that they can
S E P TE MBE R G E NE R AL
stay up-to-date and check that their hours
are getting approved, that they are meeting
requirements, etc. This system also helps
Master Gardener Coordinators speed up
approval time and better evaluate volunteer
data so that our group can continue to grow
stronger and expand into meaningful educational projects that help our community.
Every Master Gardener in Baltimore
County has an email address listed in their
contact information, meaning that every
Master Gardener should have access to the
online tracking system. If you are having
trouble setting up or using your account,
both Wendy and I are available to help. You
can call us on the phone or come in to the
office and we can walk you through stepby-step. We have also uploaded a PDF to
the Weebly website with instructions detailing the online hour entry procedures. It can
be found on the index page, under volunteer
hour entry. The website for online entry is
http://www.agnr.umd.edu/MG/.
ME E TING
S e pte mbe r 1 1 th, 1 0 a m to 1 2 noon
Be a rd e d Iris e s with C a ro l Wa rn e r
B EARDED
IRSIES ARE RELATIVELY EASY TO GROW AND GIVE GOOD RESULTS
WITH A MINIMUM OF CARE , BUT LIKE ALL PLANTS , THE BETTER THE
CULTURE , THE MORE MAGNIFICENT THE DISPLAY .
PAGE 4
INFORMATION ABOUT
A L L MG A D V A N C E D
TRAINING CLASSES
MAY BE FOUND AT:
H T T P :// E X T E N S I O N .
UMD.EDU/MG/ADVANC
ED-TRAINING
BALTIMORE COUNTY MASTER GARDENERS
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NEWS
G
SM
Baltimore County
Special thanks
to our
2014 donors
Albright Farms
American Native Plants
Archway Remodeling
Black Rock Landscapes
Blooming Hills
Cavanos
Chapel Hills Nursery
District III, FGCMD
Fieldstone Nursery
Forest Hill Landscaping
Greenfields
Happy Hollow
Herring Run Nursery
Kingsdene Nursery
Kurt Bluemel Nursery
Lehnhoff Landscaping
Manor View
McLean’s Nursery
Natural Concerns
Nature’s Artisans
One Straw Farm
Perennial Farm
Sylva Native Plants
Radebaugh’s
The Mill @ Hereford
F re e n a tive p la n t
a d va n c e d tra in in g
In lieu of our November general meeting, UME’s Sara Tangren, Ph.D. will lead a
presentation and discussion of Maryland’s
native plants. This three-hour continuing
education opportunity will be completely
FREE to you on November 13 at 10 am. All
you have to do is show up with your questions and an open mind, ready to learn.
In this class, we hope to convey a
good working model for making plant
choices. This is an important discussion for
MGs to have and it’s great that the
Baltimore County MGs are delving into the
important nuances of the issues.
Tangren has spent many years
researching, learning, and educating about
the many issues that come up around native
plants: definitions, identification, availability, acquisition, soils, survivability, habitat
change, seed collection, growing, and just
about every other aspect imaginable.
To prepare for this presentation and
discussion (and just to educate yourself
more about native plants), please do your
best to complete the Native Plants Essential
on-line class that Sara Tangren has created
for the MG program. You might want to take
this course even if you’ve had the in-person
course, because there are many differences.
The course may take five or more
hours to complete, but you can do it in sections, in your own time and free of charge. It
is not required that you complete this training prior to Sara’s class, although it is
strongly encouraged so that Sara can spend
more time covering new information as
opposed to reviewing information that she
has previously presented in other Advanced
Training courses. By reviewing the course
materials prior to Sara’s visit, we can ensure
that this training will be maximally beneficial to all participants. Here’s the link for the
online training course:
https://extension.umd.edu/learn/native-plantessentials-online-class.
C o o p e ra tive E xte n s io n S e rvic e
c e le b ra te s 1 0 0 ye a rs
Join us on October 17th as we celebrate 100
years of extending knowledge and changing lives
here at the Extension Office from 4:30-7:00 pm .
On May 8, 1914, the Smith-Lever Act of 1914
officially created the Cooperative Extension
Service. One hundred years later, we celebrate the
Act which established the unique educational partnership between the U.S. Department of Agriculture,
the nation’s land-grant universities, and local counties that extends to the people research-based knowledge through
a state-by-state network of extension educators. The Smith-Lever Act has stimulated
innovative research and vital educational programs for youth and adults through progressive information delivery systems that improved lives and shaped a nation.
One of the most important programs that the Extension Service operated was the
victory gardens during WWII, which in 1943 succeeded in growing nearly 40 percent
of the country’s food that year. Extension continued in their innovation and service to
the community by establishing the Master Gardener program in 1972 to meet the
increasing demand for urban horticulture and gardening advice.
UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND EXTENSION...SOLUTIONS IN YOUR COMMUNITY
PAGE 5
budding
NEWS
S ta te tra in in g o p p s
CLASS
ON WAVYLEAF
BASKETGRASS APP
Wednesday, September 17, 10-1 at Home &
Garden Information Center/ CMREC conference room, Ellicott City.
S ta te F a ir n e ws !
For those of you who had the chance
to taste the divine jellies made by Rose
Marie Fury at Garden Fest and generously
offered up by Rose Marie as part of the
festivities at the Herb Garden booth...drum
roll please...
Her lavender chamomile jelly took
first in the Herb Jelly category and her
Hibiscus flower jelly took first in the
Exhibitor’s Choice catagory! Hibiscus also
earned the very coveted Hellen Burns
Smyth Memorial Ribbon (given to only one
jar in the entire Food Preservation Section).
Please congratulate Rose Marie on
her well deserved awards at this year’s
Maryland State Fair: She’s done it again!
Although wavyleaf basketgrass (WLB)
is spreading across Maryland at an alarming
rate, there is something you can do about it.
Join us for training from the master herself,
Dr. Vanessa Beauchamp of Towson
University. As Director of Project
Wavyleaf, she has researched the WLB
invasion since 2009. She has developed
Project Wavyleaf, an app that citizen scientists can use to map the extent of the infestation and show its rate of spread. With these
data, Maryland can develop the most affordable, effective WLB response plan possible.
MGs and MNs are invited, but this
free class is limited to 15. You must
reserve a space by emailing vbeauchamp
@towson.edu.
YOUTH VEGETABLE GARDENING
9am-4pm either September 24 at UME
Montgomery Coounty, Derwood or
September 27 at Anne Arundel Coounty Ext.
Dairy Farm. Presenters: Jon Traunfeld,
UME Specialist in Vegetables and Fruit;
Heather Buritsch, UME Associate Agent,
FSNE Gardening for Nutrition Coordinator,
Lisa Gonzalez (FNSE) and others.
Registration Fee: $35 by 9/17
This course will help build your confidence as you learn effective ways to work
with kids in the garden, learn the nuts and
bolts about school guidelines, building a
gardening team, and starting and maintaining a school program. Focus will be on elementary school and transitional seasons.
This class counts as one day towards your
Advanced Vegetables Certificate.
O C TO BE R G E NE R AL
ME E TING
Octobe r 9 th, 6 :3 0 to 8 :3 0 pm
Da ffo d ils with th e
Ma ryla n d Da ffo d il S o c ie ty
J ULIE M INCH
WILL PRESENT A PRIMER ON THE 13 DIVISIONS
AND THEIR USES IN FORMAL AND INFORMAL DISPLAYS .
budding
NEWS
Editor: open
Designer: Natalie Hamilton
Submissions are welcome!
Please forward to
infobcmg@yahoo.com
The Maryland Master Gardener Program was started in 1978
as a means of extending the horticultural and pest management
expertise of University of Maryland Extension to the general
public. The program is designed to train volunteer horticultural
educators for the University of Maryland Extension—the principal outreach education unit of the University of Maryland.
UME B A L T I M O R E C O U N T Y E X T E N S I O N
1114 Shawan Road
Cockeysville, MD 21030
Phone: (410) 771-1761
Fax: (410) 785-5950
NEW website http://extension.umd.edu/baltimore-county
www.bcmastergardeners.weebly.com
Anna McGucken, Horticulture Faculty Extension Assistant,
amcguck@umd.edu
University of Maryland Extension (UME) programs are open to any person and
will not discriminate against anyone because of race, age, sex, color, sexual orientation, physical or mental disability, religion, ancestry, national origin, marital status, genetic information, political affiliation, and gender identity or expression.