Hill Garden News. Message From The Board. It's hard to believe, but another season for the Capitol Hill Garden Club has come and gone.

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1 From: Subject: Date: To: Capitol Hill Garden Club CHGC Newsletter, June 2017 May 31, 2017 at 5:25 AM Anthony Pontorno The Capitol Hill Garden Club's Hill Garden News June, 2017 Message From The Board Final Newsletter of the Season! It's hard to believe, but another season for the Capitol Hill Garden Club has come and gone. There will likely be some activities for Club committees over the summer, but no meetings until September. There is more information below on some of next years meeting dates, so take a look and mark your calendars now. Enjoy! Meetings and Events Our Next (And Final) Event The June Party! Our last event of the season is coming up! The June Garden Party will be held on Sunday afternoon, June 4, from 2:00 to 4:00 PM, on the lawn at the Hill Center (921 Pennsylvania Ave. SE).

2 at the Hill Center (921 Pennsylvania Ave. SE). In case of rain, our party will be moved inside, to Sousa Hall. Attendees contribute a dish to the potluck-style meal. Your contribution might be your special appetizer, entrée, side dish, salad, or dessert. Members each bring enough to serve eight people. There is no kitchen for final prep, nor is there a microwave available. To ensure a variety of dishes, Donna Brandes will be asking you to call and chat about what you will be bringing. Her phone number is , and her address is donna.brandes@verizon.net. A white elephant exchange will be held for all interested participants. Bring a garden related plant, tool, or a surprise. It may be fun, useful, or both. This event is open to members only, with up to 2 guests per member permitted. Contact co-chairs Leanna Fenske or Sandra Bruce if you have questions and/or you'll have time to help them with this event. It s now time to register. Please: 1. Register on our website, click here now to do so. If you have any difficulty registering on our website, skip to step 2, but when you call Donna, let her know that you have not registered on the website. 2. Contact Donna Brandes about the dish you are bringing, Send your payment to CHGC, Sandra Bruce, 116 7th Street SE, Washington D. C Decide on a white elephant item to bring. Sunday, June 04, :00 to 4:00 PM The Hill Center 921 Pennsylvania Avenue SE Washington, DC Our Last Event The May Walk This year's May Walk was an exploration of gardens in a Northeast neighborhood on Capitol Hill. Organized by E J Truax, the owners of the five chosen gardens took about 15 minutes each to discuss their gardens. Here a few highlights: The first garden at 921 F belongs to Eileen. Most of her plants are from family and friends, making it special to her. It s filled with hydrangea, mahonia holly, toad lilies, lenton rose, clary sage, stoke s aster, lion s ear, woodland orchids and ostrich ferns to name a few. A lot of plants for such a small garden! Her ongoing project is the tree box in front of her house which she is turning into a meadow/native garden. Currently it has butterfly weed, borage, woodland asters, and milkweed a work-in-progress. Carol Edward's garden is lush and the hit of the evening were her huge, yellow peonies.

3 Carol Edward's garden is lush and the hit of the evening were her huge, yellow peonies. She said they are available at Home Depot for $40. The house at the corner of F and 9th was shown as a great example of professional gardening. It is beautiful but lacked the personal touch of the others. EJ s house, and the house next to it, were on the tour. That s because she does her own garden, and her next door neighbor s. The neighbor s is a shaded garden with a lovely Witch Hazel as the center piece with surrounding camilla, ilex, ferns and a few annuals for color. Of note was a Gerber usually an annual, in it s 5th year. Her personal garden is sunny and has no focal point. It is shades of green from a box wood, post bloom Fothergillia, and ferns. Of note is a large Fern Peony (Tantifolia) which had 17 blossoms this year. It did not bloom for many years but now in abundance. New this year is a Whip Cord evergreen. Fast growing it will be 3 feet by 4 feet in a year or so. The last house was that of our hosts for the evening Mike and Mona Andrews. Mike is a certified Landscaper and his garden reflects this. The house is small leaving a lot and a half for garden. The front is deep going to a high white mortar fence that serves as the back-drop for a huge,very old holly. It is basically a shade garden and Mike has included many hues of green and brown with a few touches of seasonal color i.e. Daphanes, Maple leaf Hydrangeas.Behind the wall is a shaded patio, fishpond with a fountain and plantings and a very sunny deck with beaucoup potted plants. The tour ended here, at Mike & Mona's garden where, after their talk, refreshments were served (the beverages and snacks were sent to us by Anthony from his shore retreat). Everyone seemed to enjoy the walk and party. Save These Dates The long, hot Washington summer is about to begin, but take a moment now to mark you calendars for the first couple of events for the season for the Capital Hill Garden Club. Our first event of every season is our Fall New Member's Party where current members get together in a Hill garden setting and bring friends and relatives who might be potential new members.the Party will be held on Sunday, September 24th from 3 to 5 PM. The location has not yet been determined. If you have a location in mind, maybe even in your garden, please reach out to Ed Peterman to discuss your idea or suggestion. The first meeting of the new season will be Tuesday, September 12. The topic and location for our first meeting has not yet been announced, but you will receive more information in September. Other News From The Club Wanted: Newsletter Editor(s) This may be the last newsletter you get from the Capitol Hill Garden Club. That s because our current newsletter editor (Joe Purdy) has moved to Delaware and will not be able to continue producing the

4 moved to Delaware and will not be able to continue producing the newsletter next year. So, we ll need for some other Club member(s) to come forward and take over newsletter responsibilities. The good news is that Teri Speight has agreed to be on a newsletter team, but needs another person to work with her, so they can divide responsibilities and fill in for each other It s not as hard as you might think, in fact, it s a lot of fun. But it does require a little discipline so that the newsletter goes out on time every month from September through June. To get it ready, you d need to reach out to the Board and others in the Club to see what information they have for the next issue. Sometimes they write it for you, so all you have to do is paste it in. Other times, they ask you to edit what they wrote. Other times, you write the whole article yourself. Searching for photos is part of the job, too. You could use the software that Joe uses for this newsletter, which is the same program that produces our website. Or, you could use Powerpoint, Word or some other software to create it and just save it as a PDF so others can open and read it. You might even consider using your daily account, but with photos, etc. As you can see, you d have several options for how to create and distribute the newsletter. If you volunteer now, Joe is available to show you the Club s approved Communications Plan, and give you pointers and helpful hints on how you might want to do this. He's going to be meeting with Teri in June to review all of this, and you could be in that meeting, too. Please, think it over. If you have questions before you make a commitment, contact Joe or Ed or Teri for more information. Chelsea Flower Show if you did not get to the Chelsea Flower Show, follow this link for an article in the Guardian and to see some really great photos of this year's event. It outlines the reporter's learnings from the various exhibits. Very impressive! There Is So Much For Gardeners To Do In Washington The Capitol Hill Gardens Club's Local Events and Opportunities page on our website has lots of things foryou to do in and around the Washington area. Plan to visit this page often to see what new items are posted, or just visit the page one time and click Subscribe. When you subscribe, you'll receive automatic s each time a new activity is posted. Many thanks for Carol Edwards for posting all of these events for us on the website. Dear Problem Lady Feeling beset by gardening problems?

5 Send them to the Problem Lady c/o Your problems might prove instructive to others, and help them feel superior to you. Complete anonymity is assured. I heard that a garden in a pot should contain just three things a Thriller, a Filler and a Spiller? Meaning what? Fine Gardening Magazine popularized this wise mantra. The Thriller can be a brilliant spike of bloom or leaf. Filler -- any bushy thing. The spiller -- something drooping down over the edge of the pot. Find three that go together, and go for it. My springtime Japonica Camellias were sensational this year. But I can never figure out how to arrange them. Tomorrow s Tropic Dawn Camellia Japonica Yes. Breathtaking Camellia blooms have a perverse way of facing downwards, on short stems. Were we intended to lie down underneath the camellia bush and look up? Try floating picked camellias in water in a shallow crystal bowl. Due to unconscionable neglect, our Japonica Camellias became trees. This year, after blooms finished, I pruned them back drastically. How best to give them Intensive Care now? During this growing period feed them once with slow-release acid fertilizer such as Hollytone. Don t overwater, but don t let the soil around them dry out. Mulch lightly. If they survive, pay better attention. Maybe join the Camellia Society of the Potomac Valley. One of my Giant Alliums came up two weeks late, and as two plants instead of one. It is thus much smaller than the others. Should I try to divide it? Leave it alone. It is trying to survive. Its bulb is probably damaged. A sprinkling of composted manure might help. Very late summer is the only time to lift and/or divide Allium bulbs. Only after leaves have died away, lift carefully with a fork. Is there an actual DC law about what one can plant in a tree box? Yes, dear. Not that enforcement is noticeable. A tree box should contain nothing except a tree. Repeat: nothing. Mulch your tree. If you have no tree, any plantings should be low, so as not to impede automobile sightlines. Fencing should also be low, with no fence whatsoever on the street side. See Rule : BEAUTIFICATION OF TREE SPACES, DC Regulations.

6 street side. See Rule : BEAUTIFICATION OF TREE SPACES, DC Regulations. Could you suggest some drought-tolerant planting ideas for a tree-less tree box? The usual groundcovers, Vinca Minor (Periwinkle), Pachysandra (Spurge) and Liriope are better than nothing. Find only the dwarf varieties of the following ideas. Few can tolerate strong sun and no water, so you need to check the needs of each plant. In alphabetical order try Ajuga (Bugleweed); Alpinia Pumila; Asarum (Wild Ginger); Epimedium (Barrenwort); Galium Odoratum (Sweet Woodruff); Salvia Sylvestris Marcus; Sedum Angelina; and Tiarella Cordifolia. Annuals might include Sweet Alyssum and Portulaca Grandifolia. Alpinia Pumila Special Note: Regular readers of the Problem Lady will need to rely on the Hill Rag for July and August, as there will be no publication of the Capital Hill Garden Club's newsletter. Contact Information Gail Guiffrida, President Joseph Purdy, Webmaster Click here for a complete list of our Club's Key Contacts Visit Our Website! or Find us on facebook. For More Information about the Capitol Hill Garden Club please visit our website or find us on facebook. Copyright 2017 Capitol Hill Garden Club. All rights reserved. Contact heyjoe.here@verizon.net You are receiving this message because you opted in at Unsubscribe