budding
OCTOBER 2014
BCMASTERGARDENERS.WEEBLY.COM
news
A PUBLICATION OF UME MASTER GARDENERS OF BALTIMORE COUNTY
C a le n d a r
OCTOBER
9 General Meeting, Maryland Daffodil
Society, Daff primer, 6:30-8:30 p.m.
16 Teachers’ Night Out on the Farm, 5-8
17 UME Anniversary Celebration,
Baltimore County Ag Center, 4:30-8:00
25 Free Garden Ed: Winterize your Garden
and learn how to start a new bed for
spring, 10-11 a.m. at the Demo Garden
NOVEMBER
13 General Meeting, Native Plant training
with Sara Tangren, 10 a.m.-1 p.m.
DECEMBER
11 General Meeting, Holiday arrangements
with our own Pat Parker, 6:30-8:30 p.m.
P o llin a to r G a rd e n
S e p te m b e r No te s
LINDA MYERS
The Pollinator Garden, under the
direction of Jack Leonard, is the most
recent addition to our Demonstration
Garden. Planning started in the autumn of
2012, with initial installation in the spring
of 2013 and additional plants and structures added in the spring and summer of
2014. More installations are planned, but
the garden is already meeting its goal of
attracting a wide range of insect and bird
pollinators to its perennials, annuals, and
woody plants. I walked through the garden in September and noted the following.
In Bed 1 (still in process of completion), the Chelone glabra (white turtle
head) has totally finished blooming; the
many seedpods indicate it definitely was
visited by pollinators, probably bumblebees. The Asclepius incarnata (swamp
milkweed) is also finished and has those
curious curvy seedpods. I see at least three
monarch larvae on it which makes me feel
a little better about the annual milkweed in
Bed 4 at this point in the season, but I hope
these guys form pupas
soon. The Fothergilla
gardenii (dwarf
fothergilla) is probably
prematurely red due to
the hot sun out here, but
it looks beautiful and
healthy.
Bed 2 has fewer
late season bloomers, but
the white Phlox paniculata (garden phlox) has
been blooming since July
(it needs to be staked); a huge carpenter bee
and a small native bee are busy on it. The
Helenium autumnale (sneezeweed) has nearly finished; I’m not seeing a whole lot of
insect activity, though perhaps birds are getting the seeds. The annual Salvia guaranitica ‘Black and Blue’ is blooming nicely and
has carpenter bees, a couple of honeybees
and some tiny native bees. The Agastache
foeniculum (anise hyssop) is full of spent
blooms, but still very short. The cultivar
‘Blue Fortune’ in the container seems to be
fuller and stronger – is it superior, or just
performing better in a well-drained environment? The Coreopsis auriculata ‘Nana’
(lobed tickseed) plants look very healthy, but
no one has seen more than one pollinator on
the blooms, which are short-lived and need
to be constantly deadheaded. This one may
not be earning its keep here. The Lobelia
cardinalis (cardinal flower), however,
bloomed beautifully in its first season and
attracted honeybees and hummingbirds. It
does need staking, even in this very sunny
garden. It still has a few blossoms but is
starting to go to seed. Look for more cardinal flower plants next spring!
Watch for the other half of the pollinator garden
notes in the November issue of Budding News.
budding
NEWS
NORMAN’S PATCH 42
NORMAN COHEN
P o lyg o n a c e a e Th u g s
The family name, Polygonaceae, is based on the genus
polygonum informally known as the knotweed or smartweed
family, or in the United States, buckwheat family. Polygonum is
derived from Greek: poly, many, and goni knee or joint, which
refers to the many swollen nodes on the stems of some species.
Unfortunately, the species have taken hold in my garden.
Polygonum perfoliatum (synonym Persicaria perfoliata or
commonly known as mile-a-minute, devil’s tail, and giant
climbing tea-thumb,) endemic to Eastern Asia, became established in the 1930s at a nursery in York, Pennsylvania, and has
since spread to Maryland and nine other states. The petioles
have one to two millimeter recurved spines. When pulling the
10 to 20 foot vines, one should wear heavy work gloves. The
greenish white to yellow flowers appear in late July to August at
the end of branches on spike-like racemes. The plant’s metallic
blue fruit (achene) are segmented and eventually ripen to a single glossy, black or reddish-black seed, which is a wonderful
food source for birds who are the primary long-distance dispersal agents. In traditional Chinese medicine the seed is valued for
its diuretic and anti-inflammatory properties.
Fallopia Japonica, formerly Polygonum cuspidatum, better known as Japanese knotweed or Japanese bamboo, has started to volunteer in the only sunny spot in my woodland garden.
Its reputation
has placed the
plant on the
World
Conservation
Union as one of
world’s worst
invasive
species.
Pennsylvania knotweed, varigated
Japanese
knotweed was introduced in the U.S. as an ornamental in the
late 1800s and used in erosion control; a variegated form F.
Japonica ‘Variegata’ is still sold in the nursery trade. Let the
buyer beware!
The herbaceous perennial grows to four to ten feet with hollow stems from which its common name Japanese bamboo is
PAGE 2
derived. Small white flowers, which appear in late summer, are
produced in four to six inch panicles. The seeds are triangular and
dark brown. Due to the stout, large rhizomes, that are root-like
underground stems, mechanical removal—which I have tried on
several occasions—is nearly impossible. The only method that
has worked is chemical. The 15 to 50 percent glyphosate concentrate is diluted to five percent and painted on the leaves with a
sponge brush. Two to three applications generally take care of
business. The fall is the best time of year to apply the glyphosate,
although I have been successful in the summer. In March 2010 in
the UK, the Japanese psyllid insect, Aphalara itadori was released
in the wild. Its diet is highly specific to Japanese knotweed and
shows good potential for its control. It must be noted that the
plant’s flowers are valued by some beekeepers as an important
source of nectar for honeybees, at a time of year when little else
is flowering.
Polygonum pensylvanicum (syn. Persicaria pensylvanica),
commonly called Pennsylvania smartweed and pinkweed, is an
aggressive native
widespread in
Canada and the
United States.
The annual weed
reaches from six
inches to six feet
tall. The upright,
ribbed stems are
branching or
unbranched. The
lance-shaped
Pennsylania smartweed
leaves reach up to about one inch in length. The blade may be
marked with a dark blotch. The pinkish flowers grow at the top of
the stem and from the leaf axils. The flowers have five pinkish or
greenish tepals (when these parts cannot easily be divided into two
kinds, sepals and petals) each a few millimeters long. I should not
carp too much since at least 50 species of birds have been
observed feeding on the seeds, including ducks, geese, rails, bobwhites, mourning doves, and ring-necked pheasants. The seeds
and other parts are eaten by mammals such as the white-footed
mouse, muskrat, raccoon, and fox squirrel.
Despite their occasional redeeming virtues, these garden
thugs need to be controlled or they will quickly overwhelm the
more civilized, desirable plants in our ecosystem.
BALTIMORE COUNTY MASTER GARDENERS
budding
NEWS
Mycorrhiza e fungi
improve pla nt growth
KATIE DOTT
If magicians were gardeners, they
would pull the mysterious mycorrhizal
fungi out of their hats to enchant their
transplants to thrive. The addition of these
fungi seems to bestow miraculous growth
benefits that include:
Enhanced water and nutrient uptake
Reduced irrigation requirements
Reduced need for fertilizer
Increased drought resistance
Increased pathogen resistance
Increased plant health and stress tolerance
Higher transplanting success
The seemingly mystical mycorrhizae
are a plant-associated fungi that assist with
nutrient and water uptake. The literal definition of mychor-rhizae means “fungusroot.” It describes a beneficial partnership
between the fungus and plant roots that
occurs in almost all plants. The plants
share carbohydrates with the fungi and in
return the fungus colonizes roots to increase
root surface area from 100 to 1000 percent.
These mycorrhizal fungal strands are
more effective in nutrient and water
absorption and storage than the roots themselves. The combination of fungal and root
tissue is called the mycorrhiza and the fungal partner is termed a mycorrhizal fungus.
More than 90 percent of plant species in
natural areas form symbiotic relationships
with the beneficial mycorrhizal fungi.
Unfortunately, common landscape
practices have adversely impacted mycorrhizae and soil health. When we apply fertilizers and insecticides, disturb the soil with
tilling, remove topsoil, and clear the landscape for construction we decrease these
beneficial fungi. Erosion, bare soils and the
proliferation of non-native plants are also
detrimental to soil health. These man-made
landscapes and nursery plant production
Dragon Eye Pine and Hoopi Colorado Spruce,
showing above average growth after one application of mycorrhizae fungus.
have reduced or eliminated the soil organisms necessary for plants to function without high levels of maintenance. Application
of mycorrhizal inoculum during transplanting can encourage plant establishment and
set the plant on track to feed for itself.
A more sustainable approach to plant
establishment and growth includes using
the natural and organic mycorrhizal fungi.
You can purchase it inexpensively at your
local garden store as an additive for transplants or as an ingredient in a soil medium
to use in your own garden and containers.
To help encourage soil health you can also
follow the direction of Dr. Alex Shigo
(1930-2006). Dr. Shigo, a biologist and
plant pathologist, also known as the
‘Father of Modern Arboriculture,’ offered
the following notable research findings:
Absorption of many nutrients by a
tree’s roots happens during the winter.
Mycorrhizae that surround tree roots can
help keep the soil from being frozen in that
immediate area. Mycorrhizae can also
help aid in the absorption of nutrients by a
tree’s roots, much better than a tree’s roots
can on their own. The pH can vary by up
to two points from the soil to within mycorrhizae. This can aid uptake of nutrients,
as the availability of nutrients in the soil is
pH-dependent. Snow and leaf litter can
also aid in keeping the soil from being
frozen, allowing the absorption of nutrients
in winter. Mycorrhizae live at least a year
while root hairs live only a couple weeks.
UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND EXTENSION...SOLUTIONS IN YOUR COMMUNITY
Composted mulch (ground leaves and
twigs) is a good product to use to encourage the growth of mycorrhizae. Mycorrhizae do not grow well in compacted
soils. Shigo felt that a thin application of
composted mulch was better than a thick
one and that it would be better to mulch
two to three times per year. He mentioned
that Disney World mulches three times per
year. This concept may be a hard sell to
people on a tight budget as weeds will likely come up in a thin mulch and additional
money will have to be spent on weed
removal and the reapplication of mulch.
Application of fresh wood chips also
brings with it the possibility of undesirable
pathogens that may harm a tree.
I used mycorrhizal fungi for the first
time this past spring when I transplanted a
Dragon Eye Pine that I had purchased at the
Ladew Garden Sale and the Hoopsi Blue
Colorado Spruce I bought at the MG Plant
Sale. They were planted in heavy clay so I
merely added the recommended amount of
mycorrhizae to the hole and backfilled with
the clay soil. The results of an application of
mycorrhizal fungus seem magical! None of
my other evergreens showed the same abundant growth. Happily both trees have
remained pest and disease free and have
withstood an onslaught of the pine sawfly
larvae that ferociously attacked my yellow
pine seedlings.
It’s not magic, but it is just good gardening. Mycorrhizal fungi give home gardeners, organic vegetable producers, nurserymen, and landscapers an essential tool
to promote soil and plant health for sustainable gardens and landscapes.
Water Conservation for Lawn and Landscape
(2013). Benefits of Mycorrhizae. Retrieved
from www.extension.org/pages/61397/benefits-of-mycorrhizae#.VBlk11J0zcs
UMD Arboretum and Botanical Gardens Blog.
(2012) A Day With Dr. Alex Shigo.
Retrieved from umdarboretumandbotanicalgarden.blogspot.com/2012/05/day-with-dralex-shigo.html
PAGE 3
budding
NEWS
G IE I d o n a te s m o re
th a n 5 0 0 p o u n d s to
lo c a l fo o d p a n trie s
Our Grow It Eat It gardens continue to
produce many pounds of vegetables each
week. While August finished the month with
267 pounds, 250 of which were donated,
September produced 181.2 pounds (with
167.5 donated). The year-to-date total is a
whopping 596.25 pounds, of which 91 percent (or 541.5 pounds) have been donated to
people in need through the Cockeysville
Food Pantry.
HELP WANTED
O r h o w to g e t yo u r
vo lu n te e r h o u rs
It’s already October and many of us
are worrying about fulfilling the 20-hour
requirement to remain Active Master
Gardeners. (It is a 40-hour requirement for
interns to become active and certified).
Hours are due by the end of December. For
those who have not completed or submitted
any hours in 2014, it would be great if you
could do your share to support this wonderful organization. If you are looking for a
new MG volunteer activity, please consider
the following openings:
Demo Garden Committee Chair:
Last year after four years of service, Heather
Wight wanted to step down as chair of the
Demonstration Garden Committee... yet
she’s still in charge a year later. She’s willing
to lend her support to one or two MGs who
wish to take on the exciting and transformative Demo Garden chairmanship.
Iris Garden Caretaker: Work with
Carol Warner of Draycott Gardens to tend
the small but beautiful iris garden.
Maintenance involves mostly weeding (two
or three times a year) and planting new rhizomes (once a year). When the iris bloom,
visitors to the Ag Center are delighted to see
such rare and wonderful iris species. Its
mailbox offers important information for
anyone who wants to add deer resistant
plants to their garden. Contact: MG
Coordinator Anna McGucken
Courtyard Caregiver: Help Pam
Spencer maintain the shade plant garden
that rims the entrance to the Ag Center.
Again, some weeding and basic maintenance is involved. For someone with a creative flair, there is always an opportunity to
add more shade plants and propagate the
ones that are growing there. This garden
helps smooth the hard edges of the building
and welcomes the hundreds of Baltimore
County residents who use the facility.
Contact: Pam Spencer
Demo Garden Entrance and Allee:
This area is looking for an adopter who can
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 .
PAGE 4
pledge a few days per growing season to
keep it looking clean and attractive.
Contact: Heather Wight
Grow It Eat It: The very productive
vegetable garden needs plot leaders and
eventually a new garden leader. Contact:
Tiffany Bowers
Don’t want to obligate yourself to
one garden? Weed Weed Weed. Please
stop by and pull a weed or two. There are
always weeds to pull and you can stop by
anytime weekday or weekend to work on
these gardens. You can also pot some volunteer plants to nurse until our next plant sale.
No need to call ahead. A few hours would
go a long way to help reduce the work load.
You should be able to fulfill your 20 hours
with just a few visits.
Communication: Writers, editors,
graphic artists, and photographers are needed if the newsletter is to continue. If we get
lots of volunteers, the burden won’t be on
one person. This is really a fun way to get
hours when it is done as a committee.
Contact: Natalie Hamilton
Work from home typing contact information from MG Plant Sale Raffle entries.
You can use Excel or Word tables. The
Lecture Series and Plant Sale are always
looking for leaders. Contact: Nancy Lewis
Thinking about joining a new committee? Please contact committee chairs (complete list on weebly site) to find out more
and be added to their membership list. Your
help is always appreciated and needed.
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
budding
NEWS
RIDGELY MIDDLE SCHOOL
W O R K D A Y , S E P T E M B E R 10, 11
Tra in in g o p p o rtu n ity
INTERESTED IN COMPLETELY
FREE NATIVE PLANT TRAINING
OFFERED EXCLUSIVELY TO US?
Hopefully by now you have heard
about our upcoming training on Native
Plants that will take place on November
13th from 10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. at the Ag
Center. This training was designed specifically for Baltimore County and will help to
address many of the questions we have had
over the past year surrounding native plants
such as how to define native, how to define
invasive, and examples of each. The training will be a mixture of presentations,
demonstrations, and discussions, so please
feel free to bring your questions.
Usually Advanced MG trainings cost
about $25, but thanks to the decision from
our generous Steering and Continuing
Education committees, the cost will be
completely covered. This is a great opportunity to get some quality, personalized,
and in-depth training on native plants, so
we encourage you to take advantage of this
event! Sign up at http://www.signupgenius.com/go/30e0448aaad2ba46-native so
we have enough material on hand.
Remember the online training course
of the first class is:
https://extension.umd.edu/learn/native-plantessentials-online-class.
Wha t we a re doing...
FAMILY FARM
DAY ,
SEPTEMBER 21
Weed identification, garden preparation, plant selection, installation with Mary
Beth Tierney
SUSE GREENSTONE AND GIGI
CSIPO DIGGING PLANTS AT THE
GALLAGHER CENTER
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 4:30-8:00 p.m.
On May 8, 1914, the Smith-Lever Act of 1914 officially
created the Cooperative Extension Service. One hundred years
later, we celebrate the act that established the unique educational
partnership between the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the
nation’s land-grant universities, and local counties. The act
extends 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 have 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
P la n t s a le p la n n in g
Our 2014 Plant Sale was a resounding
success with over $16,000 made to support
the demonstration gardens, Ask a Master
Gardener, BayWise, Training and
Development such as Native Plant training
next month, and our future pavilion. The
entire organization is grateful to the MGs
who volunteered to support the sale, donated plants or money to buy plants. Please
come to the October meeting to see a
PowerPoint show of the sale from start to
finish and celebrate our success!
We are already planning for the 2015
sale. Tiiu Mayer and Gigi Csipo have gotten the sale off to a great start by digging
about 100 Variegated Solomon’s Seal from
the Gallagher Center that will be overwintered. The first meeting to plan the sale
took place in September with full access to
the barns the week of the sale already
reserved. Heather Wight will lead the
White House Nursery effort again with a
new level of cooperation with WHN. We
have requested plants be grown such as
Cimicifuga Pink Spike and Epimedium
Orange Queen so that we are guaranteed to
have some of the higher demand plants.
We will also be adding security officers to
ensure safety during our sale.
Tiiu will be leading a seed starting
workshop in March for members interested
in learning how to start plants for our sale.
We may also combine a plug transplanting
activity on the same day depending on the
late winter weather.
Please mark your calendars for the
week of May 4 to 9, which is sale day. Set
up and deliveries will begin on May 4, with
major delivery times on Wednesday, May 6
and Thursday, May 7. As usual, in lieu of
our monthly meeting, all MGs are asked to
pitch in to help with all of the work required
to pull off our fundraiser.
Volunteers will be needed for all
areas. Patsy Pahr and Linda Myers will
be leading the retail sub-committee so if
you are interested in working on design,
set-up of displays, signage or selling in a
certain area and would like to be part of
the team, please contact them directly.
Do you want to take on a big part of
our sale by stepping up to be Plant Boss?
You would be responsible for ensuring that
plants have labels, prices, and are delivered
at the right time. The job would also entail
making sure that enough volunteers are
signed up for each day and answering any
questions that come up on site during plant
sale week.
Someone is also needed to sign up volunteers for the various workdays and remind
them by email the days and times they have
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.
signed up to work. This position is important to make sure there are enough volunteers when needed and all work can be done
at monthly MG meetings and from home.
Do you have attention to detail, proficiency with Excel and patience to deal with
Latin plant names? We need someone to
handle the master spreadsheet for plants
purchased and donated. We already have a
good head start as we repeat many of the
plants year to year. That list serves as a
template for our label production, sorting
the plants on arrival and also goes on our
website to let the public know what we
will be offering. This is another activity
that can be done from home.
Please contact Nancy Lewis if you are
interested in working on pricing, determining native versus non/native or designing
some more artistic displays like we had last
year, or to helping choose plants that will be
purchased in the spring. Also needed is
someone interested in shrubs who may have
contacts at local wholesale nurseries to help
bring our shrub selection up to overall plant
sale standards. Finally, members with contacts in the green industry who could solicit
sale donations or solicit donations at the
Home Show in March are needed.
Thanks, in advance, for your dedication to our organization. It all happens
because of you!
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.