Monday, March 31, 2025

Monday Thoughts: “What I need is the dandelion in the spring. The bright yellow that means rebirth instead of destruction. The promise that life can go on, no matter how bad our losses. That it can be good again.” ~ Suzanne Collins

 

 “What I need is the dandelion in the spring. The bright yellow that means rebirth instead of destruction. The promise that life can go on, no matter how bad our losses. That it can be good again.” 

~ Suzanne Collins

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Saturday, March 29, 2025

GardenDC Podcast Episode 234: Lilacs

In this episode of GardenDC: The Podcast about Mid-Atlantic Gardening, we talk with Dr. Mark DeBard, board member of the International Lilac Society, all about Lilacs. The plant profile is on Trout Lily 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 Lilac in Nosferatu: Symbolism of Lilacs and Death.

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

~ GardenDC Podcast Episode 6: Spring-Flowering Trees and Shrubs

https://washingtongardener.blogspot.com/2020/04/gardendc-podcast-episode-6-spring.html

~ GardenDC Podcast Episode 75: Versatile Viburnum

https://washingtongardener.blogspot.com/2021/09/gardendc-podcast-episode-75-versatile.html


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

See how at: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/gardendc/support.

Visit https://shop.kathyjentz.com/ to browse our new online store!

This episode is archived at: https://creators.spotify.com/pod/show/gardendc/episodes/Lilacs-e30qi4k

Show Notes: 01:19 Introducing Dr. Mark DeBard 01:50 Was Mark born with chlorophyll in his veins and a green thumb? 04:00 Mark talks about his home garden and planting lilacs 04:55 Mark’s growing conditions in Central Ohio (Columbus) 06:20 How Mark became a volunteer master gardener 06:50 Mark’s involvement with the International Lilac Society (ILS) 08:16 “Why lilacs?” 10:21 The four main types of lilacs 12:37 Lilacs’ roots in East Asia 14:33 Kathy and Mark discuss lilacs’ need for cold exposure 16:00 Species of lilac that fare well in the DC area (Hyacinthiflora) 17:35 The seven recognizable colors of lilac flowers 19:10 Best growing practices for lilacs 24:15 Moving techniques for lilacs getting too much shade 24:55 When and how to prune lilacs 27:40 “Groundcover Revolution” by Kathy Jentz 29:30 Mark talks about lilac suckers 30:55 Kathy and Mark talk about lilacs’ appearance in late summer and disease 33:15 Mark speaks more about Hyacinthiflora 37:53 Propagating lilacs and planting new cuttings 45:46 Mark discusses the ILS auction 47:50 Mark talks about the issue of reblooming 54:53 The Mackinac Island Lilac Festival 55:50 “The Urban Garden” by Kathy Jentz and Teri Speight 57:15 Trout Lily Plant Profile 58:45 What’s new in the garden this week? 01:03:00 The Last Word by Kathy Jentz: Nosferatu and Lilacs 01:09:03 How to support the GardenDC Podcast

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
Show Notes: Skylar Drew
Music: Let the Sunshine by James Mulvany

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Friday, March 28, 2025

Fenton Friday: Turnip Seedlings Up

This past week was more up and down - frigid winds, a touch of rain, some heat and sun, then back to typical March days. 

I was pleased to see a couple of Asparagus spears emerging (pictured above). I'll give them a few more days and then do my first harvest of the season.

We started additional seeds this week. This time we added Black Seeded, Simpson Lettuce, Arugula, and Cilantro.

The only seedlings we saw emerging were the 'White Globe' Turnips (pictured at right). It looks like they ALL germinated so will need to be thinned in a few weeks.
   Other than that no seedlings were up from the previous seed plantings we did over the last two weeks, which included 'Traditional Chioggia' Beets, 'Crispy Colors Duo' Kohlrabi, 'Frosty' Peas, and 'New Zealand; Spinach.  

The 6-pack of 'Castle Dome' Broccoli seedlings are doing well under their cover cloth.

I did get a chance to prune the Thornless Blackberries back a bit. I should probably still thin it out some more in the next few weeks.

We did a little weeding and watering. It is the season of the chickweed and henbit explosions. I also found a hunk of Lesser Celandine coming up near my Asparagus -- I dug that chunk out with a sharp spade and put it in a plastic bag to go out with the garbage. I really would like to know how it got in there!

We still need to apply fresh wood chips on the pathways that have gotten a bit bald around our plot.

What are you growing in your edible 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 13th 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).

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Thursday, March 27, 2025

Gardening Publication for DC Area Turns 20!

 

We are very pleased to announce that Washington Gardener magazine, the  gardening publication tailored specifically for the local metro area — zones 6-7 — Washington DC and its suburbs, turned 20 years old in March 2025. The first issue of the print magazine was published in March 2005.

 Washington Gardener magazine’s basic mission is to help DC area gardens grow. The content of the magazine gives real examples that you can use immediately in your own garden. It saves area gardeners’ time and shows them how to stretch your garden resources. It inspires them with new ideas and new ways of looking at things. With all of that, we don’t forget to include a heavy dose of whimsy, a sense of humor, and a portion of wonder. We have some great stories in the works — from Unique Plant Combinations to Starting a Water Garden to Growing Vegetables in Tight Spaces — we can’t wait to share them with our readers!

 The magazine is written entirely by local area gardeners. They have real world experience with the same problems you experience in your own gardens. They’ll be sharing their thoughts on what to plant in deep shade, how to get tropicals to grow in our region, which annuals work best throughout the humid DC summers, and much more.

  Go to http://www.WashingtonGardener.com to subscribe online using a secure credit card transaction.

 In addition to Washington Gardener Magazine, the GardenDC Podcast has hit its 5th year anniversary this month as well. We have published more than 230 episodes and have over 200,000 episode downloads.

 Washington Gardener is a women-owned business based in Silver Spring, MD.

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Wednesday, March 26, 2025

Mock Orange Plant Profile

 

Mock Orange Plant Profile

Mock Orange (Philadelphus coronarius) is a deciduous shrub with wonderfully fragrant white flowers in the spring and summer. The shrub is a terrific nectar source for butterflies and other pollinators.

Plant it in full sun for the best flowering. It prefers soils that are well-drained and slightly acidic to neutral. This shrub hates to sit in damp ground and usually only needs watering during periods of extended drought.

Fertilize it by spreading a layer of compost around the root zone in spring. A high-nitrogen fertilizer will encourage leafy growth at the expense of the flowers, so be careful not to spread any turf-grass fertilizers around the shrubs when fertilizing a nearby lawn.

The blooms on Mock Orange are most fragrant at night and you should locate it where you can enjoy their wonderful scent.

It produces flowers on new wood, so prune the shrub shortly after it finishes blooming each year. If it becomes overgrown, take out about a third of the older stems down to the ground. You can propagate it by taking cuttings in the summer.

It is a native to Europe and is hardy to USDA zones 4 to 8.

Mock Orange is disease- and deer-resistant.

It can grow to 10 feet tall and wide. There are dwarf and compact cultivars available such as ‘Snowbelle’, which is about 4 feet high, and ‘Illuminati Sparks’, which grows to about 3 feet tall.

Mock Orange: You Can Grow That!

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

Video, audio, and text by Kathy Jentz

Editing by Madison Korman

➤ If you enjoy this video, please give it a thumbs up and subscribe to our Youtube channel (thank you!)

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If you liked this video, we think you will like these other Plant Profiles:

~ Azaleas: https://washingtongardener.blogspot.com/2018/05/plant-profile-azaleas.html

~ Aronia: https://washingtongardener.blogspot.com/2024/05/aronia-chokeberry-plant-profile.html

~ Carolina Allspice: https://washingtongardener.blogspot.com/2022/05/carolina-allspice-plant-profile.html

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Tuesday, March 25, 2025

Win a Signed Copy of City of Trees by Melanie Choukas-Bradley in the March 2025 Washington Gardener Magazine Reader Contest

For our March 2025 Washington Gardener Magazine Reader Contest, we are giving away a signed copy of City of Trees* by Melanie Choukas-Bradley. (Retail value: $28.) Washington, DC, boasts more than 300 species of trees from America, Europe, Africa, and Asia, and City of Trees has been the authoritative guide for locating, identifying, and learning about them for more than 25 years. The third edition is fully revised, updated, and expanded and includes an eloquent new foreword by the Washington Post’s former garden editor, Adrian Higgins.
   To enter to win the book, send an email by 5:00pm on March 31 to WashingtonGardenerMagazine@gmail.com with “City of Trees” in the Subject line and in the body of the email. Tell us what your favorite article was in the March 2025 issue and why. Please include your full name and mailing address. Winners will be announced and notified on/about April 1. Replies might be published. 
   *https://amzn.to/42bX9JE Amazon affliate link

UPDATE: Our contest winner this month is Annie Shaw of Greenbelt, MD.
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Monday, March 24, 2025

Monday Thoughts: “While technology and industry have their perks, they can lead to a disconnection with our food, with nature, and with the seasons that makes us think time is marked by a watch or a phone. When really, the place time counts most is outside, under the sky, where the garden grows.” ~ Nicole Burke

“While technology and industry have their perks, they can lead to a disconnection with our food, with nature, and with the seasons that makes us think time is marked by a watch or a phone. When really, the place time counts most is outside, under the sky, where the garden grows.” 

~ Nicole Burke 

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Sunday, March 23, 2025

17+ Cherry Blossom Viewing Alternatives in the DC Region

(The 17+ Cherry Blossom Viewing Alternatives in the DC Region listing is one of our most popular and imitated annual blog posts -- we've updated it here for 2025.)

Dumbarton Oaks

It is Cherry Blossom Festival time again in Washington, DC. 

If the crowds are too much for you or you just can't get enough of those fabulous blooms 
-- here are several local alternatives to the Tidal Basin display:

NEW THIS YEAR:

Montgomery Parks in Montgomery County, MD, has launched a new online map showcasing the locations of various cherry tree species in its park system, including Yoshino, Higan, and Okame trees.

#BlossomCam

The Trust for the National Mall and The National Cherry Blossom Festival hosts the #BloomCam. Go to the live feed here: https://nationalmall.org/bloomcam to view the trees along the Tidal Basin in real time as they bloom.

Public Gardens

~ The National Arboretum has a splendid and more varied display and LOTS or parking. Stroll around Fern Valley and the other gardens as well while you are there. Take the Self-Guided Tour: Beyond the Tidal Basin: Introducing Other Great Flowering Cherries to explore the arboretum’s collection of over 2,000 cherry trees representing 600 different cultivars, hybrids, and species of various shapes, sizes, flower colors, and bloom times, including trees that have been created by arboretum scientists. Note: The free self-guided tour covers several miles of arboretum roads, and can be driven, biked, or walked. Pick up a brochure in the Administration Building.

~ The National Gallery of Art on the National Mall in Washington, DC, has an often-overlooked line of cherry trees on the south side of the East Building. They also have cherry blossom artwork on display and programming such as their Flowers After Hours series.

~ Tudor Place is a lovely place to take a stroll on your own through the spectacular Yoshino Cherry Blossoms during the full bloom. Event and entry fees may apply.

~ Dumbarton Oaks in Georgetown, WDC, has a marvelous orchard of cherries. There is an admission fee that goes to support the gardens and you will want to make advance reservations. Parking is also a bear in that neighborhood -- I recommend you walk or take the bus. 

~ Hillwood Estate in NW DC is pleased to celebrate the National Cherry Blossom Festival with short guided tours of Mrs. Post’s Japanese-style garden. Docents will be available to answer questions between the tours. The suggested entry donation to Hillwood is $12 per adult.

~ Brookside Gardens in Wheaton, MD, also has beautiful cherry blossom trees and many other flowering trees like plum, apricot, magnolias, and quince in bloom right now, and you don’t have to fight the crowds to see them. The gardens are also full of flowering bulbs like hyacinths, tulips, and hillsides of daffodils.

~ Meadowlark Botanical Gardens in Vienna, VA, has over 100 cherry trees surrounding a lovely lake that you can stroll around. Admission to the gardens is a mere $5

~ Lewis Ginter Botanical Gardens in Richmond, VA, has a ring of Yoshino cherry trees around their lake and Okame cherry blooms throughout the gardens. There is an entry fee of $10 to visit the gardens.

~  River Farm in Alexandria, VA, is a historic 25-acre site on the banks of the Potomac River. River Farm was once part of George Washington’s original five farms, and currently the headquarters of the American Horticultural Society. The grounds offer spectacular river views, a wildlife garden, and delightful children’s areas. 

~ Green Spring Gardens near Annandale, VA, has several flowering cherry trees in its collection. There is also a wonderful witch hazel collection there.

Neighborhoods and Other Less-visited Spots

~ The Bethesda, MD, neighborhood of Kenwood for their stunning display. Park and walk in for an immersion in cherry tree lined streets.

~ Sarah Lawler suggests The Japanese American Memorial to Patriotism During World War II is a beautiful spot to see cherry blossoms. It is located near Union Station at the intersection of Louisiana Ave., New Jersey Ave. and D Street, NW, WDC. And across the street is a grove on the U.S. Capitol grounds.

~ Foxhall and Reservoir Rds, NW. Washington, DC. The Foxhall Village neighborhood near Georgetown has cherry blossom-lined streets that are known as the best-kept secret among locals.

~ Brenda Lynn shared she always bikes from Arlington, VA, in order to avoid having to park to take metro. It's a beautiful ride, and one could also bike along the GW parkway in VA to view all the blooms along the Potomac River. 

~ Oxon Run Park at 1200 Mississippi Ave SE, Washington, DC, has fairly new cherry tree plants and a lot of space to spread out and fly a kite.

~ National Harbor hosts a Sakura Sunday celebration. See: https://www.nationalharbor.com/events/annual-events/cherry-blossom-festival/

~ Anacostia Park at 900 Anacostia Drive, SE. Washington, DC. Cherry trees bloom along the Anacostia River at the 1,200-acre park that is one of Washington, DC's largest recreation areas.

~ An anonymous post to my blog, tipped me off that there are several blocks of cherry blossom trees creating an arch above the streets of Garrett Park Estates in Kensington, MD. "Take Strathmore Road near Holy Cross Church, turn onto Flanders and then I think it’s Waycross. The trees span several streets, are lovely, and totally free of crowds!"

~ Adam Bailey let me know that “Stanton Park and Lincoln Park on the Hill — and the Capitol Hill neighborhoods in general — have a good display of blossoms, too.”

~ "Scott Circle, at Massachusetts & 16th, also has some great cherry blossoms," reports John Boggan. 

~ Katie said, "There's a neighborhood off Query Mill in North Potomac, MD, that has streets lined with cherry trees. Not as fantastic as Kenwood, but if you're in the upper Montgomery County, it may be more accessible. Streets include Moran and Bonnie Dale. It blooms a few days later than Kenwood."

~ Casey Trees has an interactive map to find blooming street trees near your location. To try it out, go here: https://experience.arcgis.com/experience/9ceb3fff9b2d4f63a30798a616040893

Grow Your Own!

 Ever since getting my weeping ‘Higan’ cherry, I feel no need to rush downtown. I keep a daily watch on my baby tree and celebrate loudly when the buds finally burst open. I highly recommend it. 
   Here is a video we created about growing ornamental cherry trees locally: 
https://washingtongardener.blogspot.com/2018/04/plant-profile-cherry-trees.html.
   In addition, in the very first issue of Washington Gardener Magazine, we did a PlantProfile column on the selection and cultivation of cherry trees for our area. 
   You can also listen to Dr. Margaret Pooler, Research Leader for Floral and Nursery Plants at the US National Arboretum, talk all about flowering cherry trees and their breeding programs at the USNA on the GardenDC Podcast episode #144 here:
https://washingtongardener.blogspot.com/2023/04/gardendc-podcast-episode-144-flowering.html

Got other DC-area Cherry Tree viewing locations? Please share them in the comments below.

>>> Visit our Amazon Store for all your Spring Gardening needs! <<<

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