Georgia Georgia Eacker, MG Coordinator, WSA Liaison, ,

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1 LOOSELEAF MARCH 2019 A Publication of the University of Maryland Extension Howard County Master Gardeners 3300 North Ridge Road, Suite 240 Ellicott City, MD ) FAX (410) INSIDE 2 Calendar Highlights / Volunteer Fair / Mt Pleasant Garden 3 Grow It Eat It News 4 Whipps Upcoming Events 5 Youth Education / Compost Team 7 MPEA 8 MG Recognition Event Photos 9 Bay Wise: Overwintering insects 10 Backyard Birds 12 Herbs for the Vegetable Garden 12 Book Review: A Botanist s Vocabulary 13 Latin for Gardeners 15 Whipps Flier Congratulations to the Class of 2018 as well as the MGs who volunteered more than 100 hours to our program last year. They were recognized last month at our annual get-together. We also noted MGs who reached milestone years of service, especially Barb Langridge. Barb has served for 25 years in many capacities. It was a wonderful event and nice to see so many attendees. There are a few photos later on in this issue. A few of our training classes have been rescheduled due to weather, but we re more than halfway through. I hope you ll join your colleagues on Wed, March 6 for the Volunteer Opportunities Fair. It will be held at the Howard County Conservancy starting at 10:00 am. March is meeting time! Check the MG electronic calendar for dates and times for the Youth Education, GIEI and Bay-wise meetings. All will be held at the UME office. It s also time for Conservation Stewardship work at MPEA. GreenFest is scheduled for Sat, April 13 from 10:00 am to 4:00 pm at Howard Community College. Composting, GIEI and Bay-wise will have informational tables, and we ll host a native plant sale. I ve heard many positive comments about VMS, our new tracking system for volunteer and continuing education hours. It seems to be an easy process to add your hours, and the directory is a great way to stay in contact with one another. Let s hope we can start our outdoor activities soon. Think spring! FROM GEORGIA'S DESK Georgia Georgia Eacker, MG Coordinator, WSA Liaison, , geacker@umd.edu The University of Maryland Extension 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.

2 Calendar Highlights for MARCH The calendar is on the Howard County page of the Maryland MG website. A link is in the upper right-hand column under the link to LooseLeaf. Check it often for dates, times, locations and contact information of all things related to our program. Just scroll over a specific listing for details. Click here for the MG Calendar. Note: Trainee classes and topics are listed on Mondays and Wednesdays in March. Dates 4 Bay-wise meeting at UME 6 Volunteer Opportunity Fair at HCC All MGs Welcome! Voluntary Opportunity Fair Wednesday March 6 Come one, Come all. The annual Volunteer Opportunity Fair will be at the Howard County Conservancy this year. Join the event on March 6 from 10:00 am to 12:00 noon. It will be a great opportunity to reacquaint yourself with the many fun volunteer opportunities available for Master Gardeners. And it s a chance to spend quality time with your colleagues and meet our new interns. Gigi has graciously volunteered to handle the snacks. Thanks, in advance, to Gigi. The address is Old Frederick Rd (Route 99), Woodstock, MD. Hope to see everyone at the Volunteer Opportunity Fair. Lois Savar-Rock, 818lois@comcast.net 14 Fescue lawns at Savage library 20 Youth Education meeting at UME 20 LooseLeaf deadline! 26 Conservation Stewardship at MPEA Demonstration Garden at the Howard County Conservancy, Mt. Pleasant Hopefully, Spring is on its way! We are making plans for new and better ways to deter the critters and preserve more produce for human consumption. Weather permitting we will begin weekly Friday work days on March 29th from 9:00 am-11:00 am. Come and help prepare the beds for spring planting. I hope to see you all at the Master Gardener Volunteer Fair March 6th. Jo Ann Russo, MG1997, jrusso1104@comcast.net LooseLeaf March 2019 Page 2

3 Grow It Eat It News Planning your garden is important, especially for me this year since I m downsizing and my garden will be much smaller (4 raised beds equaling about 144 square feet). I won t be planting things like potatoes and onions and will plant a lot less of other crops. I ve already started my Green Magic broccoli, Snow Crown cauliflower, Black Magic (Lacinato type) kale, early white Vienna kohlrabi, Red Sails lettuce and Butter Crunch lettuce, which will be transplanted in the garden around April 1, weather permitting. It will then either be covered with row cover or plastic. Plants I will direct seed around the middle of March: arugula, spinach and radishes, and pre-sprouted Sugar Ann snap peas. I keep annual records of where various crops are planted and try to move each family of vegetables to different spaces each year. This practice prevents a repetitious planting of the same vegetable family in the same place and depletion the same nutrients in the soil or build-up of pathogens. The most commonly used example is that of solanaceous vegetables (tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, and potatoes). If you have space to rotate crops try to plant your vegetable garden accordingly. Consider planting peas and beans in areas where you want to add additional organic nitrogen. In late March, I will be starting my pepper and eggplant seeds under fluorescent lights. These transplants, along with my tomato transplants started in early April, will be transplanted to the garden around mid-may, weather permitting. (The GE-007 Vegetable Planting Calendar for Central Maryland is a graphic presentation of the planting dates for many vegetables. A tabular presentation can be found at this link.) Most seed packets have seed starting information on the back of them. It usually includes the days for seeds to germinate, when to plant them (indoors for growing transplants or starting them outdoors), and the optimal germination temperature. For example, this year my eggplant is Galine and the back of the seed packet recommends planting it 6-8 weeks before planting it outside. I start it 7 weeks prior to my May 15 plant out date, so I start the seeds on March 27. The same is true for my pepper seeds. If you would like to learn more about starting seeds and growing transplants under lights, you can either view the video on the GIEI website, review the PowerPoint presentation on the Howard County GIEI presentation webpage, go to the webpage on starting seeds indoors. The Home and Garden Information Center has a monthly tip page which provides information by month on vegetables, fruits, soils and other topics. LooseLeaf March 2019 Page 3

4 Interested in advanced education hours? Montgomery County MGs are holding their annual GIEI Spring Event on April 27. This year they are including a mushroom workshop and hydroponic workshop. Kent Philips, MG2009, kent.a.phillips@gmail.com Whipps Garden Cemetery Upcoming Events Our planning meeting and appreciation luncheon was held a few weeks ago and one topics was our annual Daffodil Day. It will be held on Sat., April 6. This fundraiser will include spring blooming bulbs, Virginia bluebells, and hellebores. Several presentations are planned and entertainment will be provided by Madrigal Singers. The Whipps team will have an information table at Greenfest on April 13 at Howard Community College. The Annual Plant Sale is scheduled for May 9 to 11 at the First Lutheran Church, corner of Chatham and Frederick Roads. For this fundraiser, we will purchase many plants: native perennials, butterfly, shade, ferns, hostas and more. We invite you to share any extra garden perennials and small shrubs (no invasives, please) you are dividing with us for the sale. The money will be used to maintain and keep the gardens growing and glowing. If you are interesting in participating with Daffodil Day or the Plant Sale, either with plant donations or the event itself, please contact me at agravelle@verizon.net or More information will be forthcoming on the listserv. Thank you and Happy Gardening to All. Aleta Gravelle CALL FOR PLANTS FOR THE MAY PLANT SALE! We invite you to share extra garden perennials and small shrubs (no invasives, please) you divide for the sale. They can be delivered to Whipps Cemetery at 3651 St. John s Lane starting in May. The sale is May 9 to 11. Please have the plants potted nicely and labeled. We have large wooden craft sticks available, if needed. It would also be nice to indicate Native" and "Sun" or "Shade. If you have plants and cannot pot them, please call me. We ll need time to pot them so they get well established before the sale. Aleta Gravelle, agravelle@verizon.net (cell) or LooseLeaf March 2019 Page 4

5 YOUTH EDUCATION COMMITTEE MEETING The mission of the Master Gardener Youth Education Committee is to support some of the enrichment programs of the Howard County s Public Schools. At our next meeting, which will be held at 1:00 PM on March 20 th at the UME, we will discuss the ways Master Gardeners can help at our local public schools. One of our major commitments each year is to provide volunteers for Our Environment in Our Hands, an outdoor education program for 4th grade students. On 6 different days in May, students from 6 different schools spend a full day at the Howard County Living Farm Heritage Museum. Throughout the day, small groups of students rotate through a series of hand-on stations where they learn about the hydrosphere and the geosphere. Thirty-five volunteers are needed each day to cover all of the different activities and although many other environmental organizations provide volunteers, the majority of them are always Master Gardeners! Those of you who have participated in the past know how rewarding it is to work with these 4th grade students. With so many different activities for the children, OEOH needs you to become involved. The 6 field-experience dates for this year are as follows: May 13 th, May 14 th, May 15 th, May 20 th, May 21 st, and May 22 nd. A training day for all program participants has been scheduled for May 10th at the Howard County Living Farm Heritage Museum. Our March 20 th meeting will also highlight some of the successes of last fall s Monarch Buddy program and we will also be looking for volunteers to become stewards of milkweed plots this spring and summer and Monarch Buddies at the beginning of the school year. We look forward to seeing you there. Janice Winter, MG2006, janicewinter29@gmail.com Earn Your Hours with the Compost Team Diversify your volunteer hours by helping Howard County residents divert waste from the landfill by composting. This is an easy and fun way to earn volunteer hours! You ll work with at least one other experienced Master Gardener, and the public is very enthusiastic and engaged. From March to October, we distribute bins on designated Saturdays and Mondays at Miller Library, one Saturday or Sunday per month at Robinson Nature Center, the third Saturday at Glenwood Library, and on selected Saturdays at Alpha Ridge Landfill. We also participate a few events such as GreenFest, the Howard County Conservancy s Fall Festival, and MG Day at Miller library. Here s three ways to Sign-up! Join us at the upcoming volunteer fair where we ll have a table with dates/times. Contact one of the site managers listed below. Follow this link to SignUpGenius and schedule yourself. For Miller Library: For Robinson, Nature Center, Glenwood Library and Events: go/409044fa4a72ca3f85-compost For Alpha Ridge along with the Rain Barrel Distribution: go/409044fa4a72ca3f85-compost2. Kathryn Foat, Compost Committee Chair, kaboating@verizon.net LooseLeaf March 2019 Page 5

6 . Compost education board which we use for events along with samples of compostable materials and a brochure that provides basic compost information. MG Richard Freas at the compost information table during the Native Plant Palooza at Robinson Nature Center Compost Demonstration Site Coordinators Contact these MGs to join us at a demonstration site. Alpha Ridge Landfill Barbara J. Schmeckpeper, bjschmeck@gmail.com Glenwood Branch Library Jim Wilk, jwilk1919@comcast.net Jerry Fitzpatrick, jerryfitzp@verizon.net Miller Branch Library Rosemary Noble (Saturdays), roronoble@me.com Betty Rice (Mondays), bettyrice@aol.com Robinson Nature Center Kathryn Foat, kaboating@verizon.net Richard Freas, rafreas@gmail.com LooseLeaf March 2019 Page 6

7 MASTHEAD BY HOCO REC & PARKS DESIGN DIVISION Come join us as we launch the season with a Scrub-Shrub Restoration Project! Tuesday (March 26) 9-11:30am South Wind Circle Trailhead Our Chesapeake Conservation Corps member, Thomas Urban, is creating a half-acre of scrubshrub habitat. To prepare the site for planting, volunteers are needed on this day to help remove a few larger autumn olives and garlic mustard patches that remain from previous clearing efforts. No experience necessary One-time volunteers welcome Wear long pants and waterresistant boots or shoes Gloves and tools provided We start at 9:00 am at the South Wind Circle trailhead. Take Route 29 to Route 108 west toward Clarksville, or Route 32 to Route 108 east. Turn onto Trotter Road, go about one mile to South Wind Circle. Enter the circle and proceed to trailhead opposite Misty Top Path. ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ Mark Your Calendar for these Upcoming Conservation Stewardship Opportunities at the MPEA (all on 4 th Tuesday at South Wind Circle Trailhead) April 23 Garlic Mustard Pulling (while admiring Spring Ephemerals) May 28 Native Shrub Planting (for scrub-shrub ecosystem) June 25 Barberry Busting (persistence required for this invasive pest) ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ The MPEA (Middle Patuxent Environmental Area) comprises a diversity of habitat types, including upland and bottomland hardwood forest, fields, wetlands, ponds and riparian habitats. MGs partner with Howard Co Recreation & Parks for the Conservation Stewardship Project from March to November (except July and August) on the fourth Tuesday of each month. Clare Openshaw, MG 2012, helloclare@comcast.net Photos from the MPEA by MG Susan Levi-Goerlich LooseLeaf March 2019 Page 7

8 Master Gardener Recognition Photos Photo: 2018 Interns & Mentors Photo: MGs who volunteered over 100 hours in 2018 LooseLeaf March 2019 Page 8

9 Overwintering Strategies for Beneficial Insects So many conundrums! We get training from many sources, frequently having to choose best practices according to our goals; in this case, protecting overwintering habitat of beneficial insects. I write insects but include spiders, mites, nematodes, and soil organisms. We have suddenly lost 80% of the total mass of insects on our planet. The Xerces Society says that insects evolved with both plants and soil, and to foster native insects we must pay attention to both. Most insects are beneficial: recycling nutrients, decomposing plant and animal waste, contributing to soil quality and aeration, providing pollination, attacking crop pests, and are a source of food for fish, songbirds, and other wildlife. There are two essential habitat requirements for beneficial insects: They need NATIVE WILDFLOWERS, the ones they evolved with, and they need UNDISTURBED HABITAT. The native plants provide pollen and nectar for part of the life cycle. We need to provide season long blooms. Wasps and flies have short tongues and therefore need shallow flowers such as Solidago, Zizia, Achilles. The insects require undisturbed habitat for reproduction and winter hibernation. Essential winter habitat includes *leaf litter, bunch grasses, brush and rock piles, and logs. These two requirements must be close together since insects only travel a few hundred yards in their lifetimes, and free from pesticides. Here are our conundrums: 1. Bare soil has watershed erosion concerns. However, bare soil, even the bare spaces between native bunch grasses, is essential nesting habitat for many species of native bees. 2. Homeowners associations resist mess is best for beneficial insects that overwinter in dead hollow stems. Watch birds in winter pecking along stems looking for insect protein. Leave dead stems standing for birds to get their fill of insects and still have some insects to hatch in the spring. 3. Leaf litter as ground cover, versus shredded leaves, versus hardwood mulch. Historic forests were knee-deep in leaves. Hardwood mulch is a modern invention and while it reduces erosion, it is not shelter or nesting habitat for insects. Shredding leaves before putting them in the garden shreds eggs and larvae of many butterflies, like Hairstreaks, Fritillaries, and Dusky Wings. Mowing lawns destroys Blues, Pearly-eyes, Skippers, I leave you with conundrums to consider and invite you to join our Bay Wise discussions, they re lively! -- Notes from the February Bay Wise Committee Enrichment Discussion Ann Coren, MG2013, anncoren@hotmail.com LooseLeaf March 2019 Page 9

10 Backyard Birds: Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers Let s celebrate maple sugar season by focusing this month on a unique bird that drills for sap. I first discovered that this bird was visiting my yard on suddenly noticing lines of holes, drilled with almost mathematical precision up and down a tree. After first accusing my carpenter husband, my kids, and bugs, careful observation revealed the culprit. Sapsuckers are small, migratory woodpeckers that visit Maryland only during the winter. Like many birds their name is misleading, they neither suck or show much yellow. Instead, sapsuckers drill a hole and use their brush-tipped tongue to lap up sap (sapslurpers?) and often have no more than a hint of yellow to their chests. In the past, sapsuckers were persecuted for drilling by both foresters and fruit farmers but research has shown that trees rarely die from the holes. In fact, they provide valuable food for many other animals including 35 bird species. In Canada, hummingbirds rely on the extra sugar from sap to survive rainy spells and will usually only nest close to a sapsucker s tree wells. The sweet sap also attracts many insects which either get a free meal or become a meal for the sapsuckers. Now for the botany. In winter, sapsuckers drill rounded, deeper holes into the tree s xylem, the vascular tissue that carries water up from roots to leaves. This allows them to feed on sap flowing up to buds and new leaves. After leaf out, the birds switch to shallow, rectangular sapwells that tap the phloem as it brings sugar from photosynthesis down to the roots. Trees can quickly close these shallow wounds so the sapsuckers have to tend the holes daily to keep their sap flowing. Yellow- bellied Sapsucker Male (left) and Female (right). Spot the difference! Hal Trachtenberg CC BY-NC Keith Williams CC BY-NC-ND Sapsucker winter holes How to attract Sapsuckers: These birds will drill sap wells in hundreds of different species of trees and shrubs. Research suggests they prefer thin, smooth barked trees such as maples (and paper birches in the northeast) but in my yard they drilled young elms. I ve mostly seen them in edge habitat and yards with a mix of older and younger native trees. Clare Walker, MG 2015, clarewalker@verizon.net LooseLeaf March 2019 Page 10

11 Herbs for the Vegetable Garden Wherever we have lived, I've always grown herbs near my house for culinary use. After becoming a MG in 2014, I realized that herbs could be very helpful in my vegetable garden to help pollinate as well as repel or attract the beneficial insects. Before I started planting different herbs near my vegetable beds, I was growing them just outside my back door. One spring I noticed that the dill was reseeding itself like crazy in the walkway pavers. I just let it grow, and then I started noticing many small black swallowtail caterpillars everywhere. After a week or so, there were several cocoons attached to a broom, one on my deck and one on a dill plant. The day that the swallowtail came out, I was there with my phone and took lots of pictures. Parsley, as well as dill, is a great host herb for the black swallowtail. Other beneficial insects such as parasitic wasps, lacewings and ladybugs are also attracted to these herbs. Speaking of parasites, I went out to my garden one day and discovered to my delight, a big juicy cutworm on my pepper plant covered in wasp eggs! Yeah! Other herbs I've found that attract a lot of bees are dill, basil, lemon balm, sage, hyssop, thyme and borage. Butterflies like chives, mint, thyme and parsley. Hummingbirds love pineapple sage and hyssop. Lavender and rosemary not only have beautiful purple flowers that bees like, but they can repel the dreaded cabbage moth. LooseLeaf March 2019 Page 11

12 I've found a good selection of herbs at these festivals: Montpelier Festival of Herbs, Tea, and the Arts Where: Montpelier Mansion When: April 27, 2019 Time: 10:00 am Howard County Sheep and Wool Festival Where: Howard County Fairgrounds When: May 4, 2019 at 8:30 am and May 5, 2019 at 9:30 am There is a vendor with a good selection of Heirloom tomatoes and many varieties of peppers. Baltimore Herb Festival Where: Leakin Park When: May 25, 2019 Time: 9:30 am to 3:30 pm Bring a wagon if you have one. I tell myself it s time to go when the wagon is full! Anne Cottle, MG2014, acnuk@aol.com A Botanist s Vocabulary. Susan K. Pell and Bobbi Angell (2016) This book is subtitled 1300 Terms Explained and Illustrated; not very subtle hint to the heft of this book. The co-authors, Pell being at the US Botanical Gardens in Washington, D.C., and Angell, the scientific illustrator for the NY Botanical Garden and other academic institutions, are well-qualified to take on such a weighty project. The topic speaks to the inherent curiosity among botanists, naturalists, and gardeners alike to find commonality and shared understanding in the description of plants. This 210-page glossary recognizes the complex diversity among plants and the need for meaningful communication of knowledge among those interested in the botanical world. But do not be put off by the density of the topic. Facts are presented in a simplified but not dumbed down landscape of clear, minimal detail supplemented by relevant pen-and-ink drawings. The page layout further clarifies with sufficient white space and a basic commonality of presentation making for a clean read. The authors offer common names as well as Latin names where applicable. While they provide appropriate attention to color, texture, and shape of the plants as well as growth forms and fruiting patterns, they attest to the limits of their knowledge in capturing the essence of the unusual or complex nature of a plant. They recognize that there is no such thing as a typical flower, nor one universal growth pattern or leaf shape, but this does not inhibit their attempt to offer a means to communicate shared knowledge among botanists, gardeners, and naturalists. While initially daunted by the immensity of all things botanical, I found the reading of this book to be a pleasant and valuable learning experience. The book can be taken in small sips, letting the reader focus on specific features of plants. Follow the invitation of the authors to wander through the book attending to the easy and unusual or complex terms. They suggest the book be used as a reference for gaining clarity on items in a field guide or observations. However you use the book, it is a beneficial addition to your botanical library. Pattee Fletcher, MG 2014, patteefletcher@gmail.com LooseLeaf March 2019 Page 12

13 Latin for Gardeners March s Native Maryland Plant Mertensia virginica (L.) Pers. ex Link (mur-ten-see-uh vur-jin-ih-kuh) March is optimism month how appropriate. Nothing makes me feel more hopeful than seeing the emergence of spring flowers pushing through the ground in my garden especially the Mertensia virginica! I was introduced to this ephemeral in May 2013 by my friend and fellow gardener, Aylene Gard. Early on as a Mstr. Gardener I volunteered to help Aylene pull garlic mustard from Middle Patuxent. After pulling buckets of spectacularly deep-rooted invasive plants we passed through a colony of Virginia bluebells, a glorious field of blue how quickly it changed our mood. I determined at that moment that I wanted to experience that feeling and that native blue flower in my garden every spring I sought it out at native plant sales and planted it the following year. It has been a LooseLeaf March 2019 Page 13

14 spectacular success, colonizing in both locations where I planted it. I have since learned that because of its ability to colonize quickly, it is a crucial spring pollinator plant, especially for female bumble bees. Mertensia sp. flower buds are pink, the funnel shaped flowers are usually blue, but pink and white are also seen. They thrive in bright sun in spring where they are eventually shaded out by deciduous canopy. They ll bloom for weeks, each fertilized flower producing four flat seeds within wrinkled nuts; soon after they godormant until the following spring. Research tells us that optimistic people are better at doing one thing then those with a different outlook on life. They are problem-solvers, moving quickly from problem identification to problem-solving. I ve already made plans to celebrate optimism every month, I ll need to if I m going to succeed at my next project: tackling my wet clay garden once and for all. April rains will be here soon! ~ Alison Milligan MG 2013 aligmilligan@gmail.com LooseLeaf March 2019 Page 14

15 The University of Maryland Extension 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.