GardenDC Podcast Episode 296: Flinging through Gilded Age Estates and Buffalo Gardens

In this episode of GardenDC: The Podcast about Mid-Atlantic Gardening, we talk with Jana Milbocker, about Gilded Age Gardens and the Buffalo Fling. The plant profile is on Wild Petunia and we share what's going on in the garden as well as some upcoming local gardening events in the What's New segment. We close out with the Last Word on "When to Pick Bell Peppers" from Christy Page of GreenPrints.

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View our album of Buffalo Fling photos at https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.1690104923121515&type=3

Visit Garden Walk Buffalo at https://www.gardensbuffaloniagara.com/garden-walk-buffalo

Jana's books:

~ Gardens of the Gilded Age*

~ The Garden Tourist: 120 Destination Gardens and Nurseries in the Northeast*

~ The Garden Tourist's Mid-Atlantic: A Guide to 90 Beautiful and Historic Public Gardens*

*Amazon affiliate link

If you liked this episode, you may also enjoy listening to:

~ GardenDC Podcast Episode 167: Flinging with the Garden Tourist

https://washingtongardener.blogspot.com/2023/09/gardendc-podcast-episode-167-flinging.html

~ GardenDC Podcast Episode 32: Garden Tours - Europe and Beyond

https://washingtongardener.blogspot.com/2020/10/gardendc-podcast-episode-32-garden.html

~ GardenDC Podcast Episode 146: Spring Color Inspiration at Longwood

https://washingtongardener.blogspot.com/2023/04/gardendc-podcast-episode-146-spring.html

Show Notes will be posted after 8/8/2026.

This episode is archived at: https://open.spotify.com/episode/224Zh07b6Rukb414Tu2G12?si=dIveTPtgQiWbED3PrQrW9w

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We welcome your questions and comments! You can leave a voice mail message for us at: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/gardendc/message Note that we may use these messages on a future episode.

And be sure to leave us a 5-star review on your favorite podcast platform plus share us on social media with #GardenDC, so other gardeners can find us too!

Episode Credits:
Host and Producer: Kathy Jentz

Music: Let the Sunshine by James Mulvany

PIN THIS FOR LATER!

*You can order Jana's book at https://amzn.to/4wTL0q8
This link is to our Amazon affiliate account and we may earn a few pennies from these sales, 

but it wil not impact your purchase price.

Fenton Friday: Baby Aubergines

 
This week the temps dropped and so did the humidity. We also got a decent storm system with almost an inch of rain in our zip code. It was most welcome!

The row cover blew off the 'Fairytale' Eggplant growing in a container in the plot's front corner. This revealed multiple tiny fruits forming, so I am leaving the cover off it for now.

The Squash vines also are full of babies starting to form and the Okra also has many flowers making pods. Peppers are forming as well and the Cucamelon vine is taking off.

We weeded and watered a bit -- and picked a few Blackberries, Dahlias, 'Citrine' Tomatoes, and Lisianthus.

I clipped the Lettuce seedheads to dry them and all the rest of the Dill seedheads too. I gave a grocery bag full of the Dill heads to our Harvest Share collection this week. I hope someone can make use of them -- maybe for a pickling project.

I want to clear out the Dill's space next and plant either some quick-growing Cucumbers or more Beans -- or both.

On the Fenton community garden's discussion list, many plot gardeners are posting seeing rats, squirrels, and rabbits stealing their produce. It seems particularly bad this summer for some reason.

For the Pollinator Strip, the Zinnias have yet to flower, so I think it may be that they are too crowded and we will thin them next week.

Everything else is coming along well. 

What are you growing and harvesting in your garden this week?

About Fenton Friday: Every Friday during the growing season, I'll be giving you an update on my community garden plot at the Fenton Street Community Garden just across the street from my house in zone 7 Mid-Atlantic MD/DC border. I'm plot #16. It is a 10 ft x 20 ft space and this is our 15th year in the garden. (It opened in May 2011.) See past posts about our edible garden by putting "Fenton"  into the Search box above (at the top, left on this blog).

Getting Our Laurels

We Won a Laurel Award! The Following Work Has Been Awarded a 2026 GardenComm Silver Laurel Media Award: Photography: Cover (book or magazine): July-August 2025 Washington Gardener Magazine - Kathy Jentz

We won a Silver Award in the Cover Photography category and now we are up for the Gold Award against some seriously talented photographers, wish us luck! The Gold Award winners will be announced in August at the GardenComm annual meeting in Portland, OR. The winning cover and issue are posted here:  https://washingtongardener.blogspot.com/2025/07/july-august-2025-issue-of-washington.html I took the photo at Mt Cuba Center in Delaware. It is of their beautiful pond and Black Cohosh plantings. I'm pretty proud of it as Black Cohosh is not an easy plant to capture well in still images, because of its tall, open, and airy growth habit.  Each year, I try to enter the GardenComm Laurel Awards in a category that I have not won in previously as a challenge to myself and to not continually dominate in one category (e.g. let others have a chance to win and get their Golds and Silvers). Here is the official awards press release: For Immediate Release                                                                        Media Contact: Chris Sabbarese   Ph: 951.899.5015  info@gardencomm.org   Kathy Jentz Receives 2026 GardenComm Media Awards Silver Laurel Medal of Achievement    Kathy Jentz has received a 2026 GardenComm Silver Laurel Medal of Achievement in Photography: Cover (book or magazine), presented by GardenComm: Garden Communicators International.  The international awards program recognizes individuals and companies that achieve the highest levels of talent and professionalism in garden communications. The 2026 competition drew 146 entries across 43 categories.  Since the early 1980s, the GardenComm Media Awards program has recognized outstanding garden-focused work across writing, photography, publishing, digital media, broadcast, podcasting, and other communications disciplines.  The 2026 Silver Laurel Medal recipients were announced July 20 during the GardenComm Silver Laurel Media Awards Live Stream. The full list of 2026 winners are available at gardencomm.org/awards/2026-winners. For more information about the awards, contact Chris Sabbarese at info@gardencomm.org. About GardenComm GardenComm, Garden Communicators International, is an organization of professional communicators in the green and garden industry including book authors, bloggers, staff editors, syndicated columnists, freelance writers, photographers, speakers, landscape designers, television and radio personalities, consultants, publishers, extension service agents and more. No other organization in the industry has as much contact with the buying public as GardenComm members. Learn more at www.gardencomm.org.

Caladium Plant Profile

Caladium Plant Profile

Caladium (Caladium genus) is a tropical perennial bulb grown as an annual in our region.

 It has heart-shaped leaves with an array of colorful patterns that include mottled, veined, and striped. There are thousands of named Caladium cultivars available in a rainbow of colors and color combinations, including green, white, pink, rose, and red.

Caladiums were named the National Garden Bureau's 2025 Bulb of the Year for Bold Foliage.

Caladiums are native to the tropical forests of South and Central America and are hardy to USDA zones 9 to 10.

They prefer to grow in consistent moisture in well-drained soil. Most varieties do well in filtered sunlight or light afternoon shade. Some cultivars can tolerate full sun and others do best in shade.

 You can plant caladium tubers outdoors, after all the danger of frost has passed and the soil temperature are 70°F.

You can also get a head start by planting them in containers kept inside until they sprout and waiting until early summer to transplant them into the garden.

Apply a diluted liquid fertilizer every 2 weeks during the summer growing period.

The leaves can be damaged in high winds and by slugs chewing holes in them. If a leaf becomes tattered or worn, simply pinch if off at the base

They love our summer high heat and humidity and will die-back during the first real frost or freeze. If you want to overwinter them as a houseplant. be sure to dig them up and pot  them to bring indoors before the frost hits them.

Caladium: You Can Grow That!

The video was produced by Washington Gardener Magazine as part of our Plant Profile series for Mid-Atlantic USA gardeners.

Audio, video/photos, and text by Kathy Jentz

Editing by Koree Perry.

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~ Podcast: GardenDC

If you liked this video, you may enjoy these other plant profiles:

~ Coleus Plant Profile

https://washingtongardener.blogspot.com/2022/09/coleus-plant-profile.html

~ Hosta Plant Profile

https://washingtongardener.blogspot.com/2025/06/hosta-plant-profile.html

~ Hardy Ferns Plant Profile

https://washingtongardener.blogspot.com/2021/05/plant-profile-hardy-ferns.html

 PIN THIS FOR LATER!

Monday Thoughts: “No longer will we segregate nature from the human experience. No longer will we incarcerate the natural world on uninhabitable mountain tops or unbuildable wetlands. No longer will we treat the living things around us as interesting but inessential curios, as if we didn’t depend on them in the same way an infant depends on its mother.” ~ Doug Tallamy

“No longer will we segregate nature from the human experience. No longer will we incarcerate the natural world on uninhabitable mountain tops or unbuildable wetlands. No longer will we treat the living things around us as interesting but inessential curios, as if we didn’t depend on them in the same way an infant depends on its mother.” ~ Doug Tallamy

GardenDC Podcast Episode 295: Managing Stormwater and Algae Blooms with Color on the Creek

In this episode of GardenDC: The Podcast about Mid-Atlantic Gardening, we talk with water gardening enthusiast Dr. Peter Kremers about Color on the Creek's solutions for managing stormwater and algal blooms. The plant profile is on Wine Cups and we share what's going on in the garden as well as some upcoming local gardening events in the What's New segment. We close out with the Last Word on "The Parsnip and the Peanut" from Christy Page of GreenPrints.

BTW, YOU can become a listener supporter for as little as $0.99 per month! 

See how at: https://creators.spotify.com/pod/show/gardendc/subscribe

If you liked this episode, you may also enjoy listening to:

~ GardenDC Podcast Episode 248: Water Garden Plants with Suzanne Boom

https://washingtongardener.blogspot.com/2025/07/gardendc-podcast-episode-248-water.html

~ GardenDC Podcast Episode 11: Lotus with Kelly Billing

https://washingtongardener.blogspot.com/2020/05/gardendc-podcast-episode-11-lotus.html

~ GardenDC Podcast Episode 63: Water Gardening and Koi Ponds

https://washingtongardener.blogspot.com/2021/06/gardendc-podcast-episode-63-water.html

~ GardenDC Podcast Episode 228: Reducing Runoff with Rain Gardens

https://washingtongardener.blogspot.com/2025/02/gardendc-podcast-episode-228-reducing.html

Show Notes will be posted after 7/28/2026.

Visit the International Waterlily and Water Gardening Society at https://iwgs.org/.

This episode is archived at: https://open.spotify.com/episode/00qMkKxz65Kd0ephidiaef?si=dI9vpdurTzeC361O1wArRA

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We welcome your questions and comments! You can leave a voice mail message for us at: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/gardendc/message Note that we may use these messages on a future episode.

And be sure to leave us a 5-star review on your favorite podcast platform plus share us on social media with #GardenDC, so other gardeners can find us too!

Episode Credits:
Host and Producer: Kathy Jentz

Music: Let the Sunshine by James Mulvany

PIN THIS FOR LATER!

Fenton Friday: Lovely Lisianthus

This week the intense heat was back and we had hardly any rain. Now we are experiencing extremely poor air quality due to smoke blowing in from the Canadian wildfires. I'm praying for rain this weekend to clear out the air and water the gardens. The smoke haze cannot be good for our plants, which are already suffering greatly from the drought and record heat waves.

I cut blooms from the Dahlias and Lisianthus (pictured above).

We weeded and watered a bit -- and picked a few Blackberries.

The Squash vines are flowering, so I expect to see baby Squash developing soon. The Eggplant and Tomato plants have lots of blossoms on them. As soon as the temperature returns to normal, they should start developing/producing fruit.

Speaking of Tomatoes, when I left last week to go tour gardens in Buffalo, NY, there was one nice-sized tomato starting to ripen on the 'Fourth of July' plant. When I got back, it was gone -- not rotting on the ground nor bitten and left behind -- just gone. I suspect a hungry critter took it (maybe of the human kind?).

For the Pollinator Strip, we are still waiting for the second batch of Nasturtium and Celosia we planted last week to germinate. The Sunflowers and Marigolds are blooming well. The Zinnias still need a few weeks.

I finally got the Pepper seedlings planted! They are a Sweet Cayenne variety and a 'Calabrian' one.

Everything else is coming along well. 

What are you growing and harvesting in your garden this week?

About Fenton Friday: Every Friday during the growing season, I'll be giving you an update on my community garden plot at the Fenton Street Community Garden just across the street from my house in zone 7 Mid-Atlantic MD/DC border. I'm plot #16. It is a 10 ft x 20 ft space and this is our 15th year in the garden. (It opened in May 2011.) See past posts about our edible garden by putting "Fenton"  into the Search box above (at the top, left on this blog).