Bring on the Butterflies for Bloom Day!

Butterfly Weed

It is Garden Blogger's Bloom Day again! On the 15th of each month, we gardeners with blogs share a few bloom photos from our gardens. Here is the Mid-Atlantic USA (USDA zone 7) on the DC-MD border, we had lots of rain this spring - interrupted by two long bouts of dry, heat that stressed out my garden. We got a bit of rain today after the latest week of desert-like winds, so I'm feeling some relief.

Yesterday, I found this Butterfly Weed (pictured above) finally blooming in the hell-strip pollinator garden I planted last year. The area needs a bit of attention and TLC, but this IS a weed so it fought its way through and I hope will soon be munched on by some Monarch caterpillars.

This Gladiola (pictured below) is an odd one. I think I planted it from a purple mix I bought, but cannot recall for sure. Can anyone ID it? It looks very different in low-light and much more purple in person. This photo was the best direct lighting I could give it to show the striping in the throat.

Gladiola - name?

What is blooming in your garden today?

Video Wednesday: 9th Annual DC Plant Swap

Here is a short vidseo of the recent 9th Annual DC Plant Swap Details hosted by Washington Gardener Magazine at the US National Arboretum in Washington, DC. Make plans to join us for the next one in early June 2017!

Intern Introductions: Summer 2016

John Powers (pictured above at left) is a rising senior multi-platform journalism major and environmental economics and policy minor at the University of Maryland. He has worked as a staff writer for "Stories Beneath the Shell," an online publication at UMD, and currently works at the copy desk of The Diamondback, the university’s official newspaper. He has spent a summer working as a farmhand back in his home state of Massachusetts. He said, "I am eager to further my knowledge about cultivating plant life while developing my writing skills in Washington Gardener Magazine this summer."

Jacqueline Hyman (pictured above at right) is a junior journalism and English major at the University of Maryland. She is the editor-in-chief of the Mitzpeh, an independent Jewish newspaper at UMD. In addition, Jacqueline enjoys musical theater, and teaches piano and voice at Guitar Center. She is excited for the opportunity to work for the Washington Gardener.

Picking strawberries

at the US National Arboretum

 

Fenton Friday: Suddenly Scapes

Every year the sudden appearance of the Garlic Scapes baffles me. One day, not a hint of them. The next day, there they are -- all these pig tails full of springy-energy.

I cut them today and I think the garlic bulbs themselves are very close to be ready for harvesting soon as well.

The torrential rains have stopped. Followed by days of high winds that are desiccating anything I have still in pots waiting to go in the ground. I have spending most of my "gardening time" watering pots of seedlings.

I did finally manage to get the cut-flower seeds mapped out and planted. The two new interns planted cucumber and watermelon seeds as well.

The strawberries are still producing very well and the peas are hanging in. I see an okra forming on one of the still-small plants along with some tiny tomatoes emerging.

How is your edible garden growing 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. I'm plot #16. It is a 10 ft x 20 ft space and this is our 5th year in the garden. (It opened in May 2011.)

ADVERTISER OF THE WEEK: Wings of Fancy at Brookside Gardens

The Wings of Fancy live butterfly exhibit in Wheaton, MD, runs daily through September 25, from 10am to 4pm, Brookside Gardens South Conservatory features live butterflies. Come witness the butterfly life cycle as tiny eggs hatch into crawling, chewing caterpillars, which then encase themselves in jewel-like chrysalides and emerge as sipping, flying adult butterflies. Learn about the best annual and tropical plants, and hardy shrubs that are used as nectar sources, to attract butterflies to your own garden.

See more details at http://www.montgomeryparks.org/brookside/wings_of_fancy.shtm.

Every Thursday on the Washington Gardener Magazine blog, we feature a current advertiser from our quarterly print magazine or monthly online enewsletter. To advertise with us, contact wgardenermag@aol.com today. 

Discuss "Planting in a Post-Wild World" with Washington Gardener Book Club

For our Garden Book Club Summer 2016 Meeting we will be discussing Planting in a Post-Wild World: Designing Plant Communities for Resilient Landscapes by Thomas Rainer and Claudia West. Please join us on Thursday, July 21 from 6:30-8pm at Soupergirl, located right next to the Takoma metro stop.

"This groundbreaking guide presents a powerful alternative to traditional horticulture: designed plantings that function like naturally occurring plant communities."

"Thomas Rainer and Claudia West, two leading voices in ecological landscape design, reveal how plants fit together in nature and how to use this knowledge to create landscapes that are resilient, beautiful, and diverse. As practical as it is inspiring, Planting in a Post-Wild World is an optimistic manifesto pointing the way to the future of planting design."

Please RSVP to washingtongardener (at) rcn.com or at the book club event page at facebook.com/WashingtonGardenerMagazine by July 15, so we know how many chairs to hold for our group.

 

If you like to read ahead, here are the next selection for the Washington Gardener Magazine's Garden Book Club:

FALL 2016 - Paradise Under Glass: An Amateur Creates a Conservatory Garden by Ruth Kassinger

The Washington Gardener Magazine's Garden Book Club is free and open to all. We meet quarterly on a weekday evening near a metro-accessible location in the DC-area. We will announce the details of each upcoming meeting about two months in advance. Please check back on this blog for schedule updates and announcements.

PIN THIS FOR LATER:

Plant Something Purple on June 7 for Prince

Plant Something Purple on June 7 in Memory of Prince.

Growing Your Own Cutting Garden Class Sun June 12

Learn to "Growing your own Cutting Garden" on Sunday, June 12 from 1-3pm. Why pay high florist prices? Grow your own flowers for cutting and enjoying in bouquets! We’ll cover the best plants for each Mid-Atlantic season for local gardeners to have available for arranging. We will also talk about the “slow flower” movement and why it is important to buy local.
   We will have different cutting garden flowers on-hand to discuss and then we'll all make a simple Farmer’s Market Bouquet in a Canning Jar that will be painted with Annie Sloan chalk paint as part of the class.
   The class is hosted at On The Purple Couch in Kensington, MD.
(Note that they moved on February 1 to 10513 Metropolitan Avnue.)
Register at http://www.onthepurplecouch.com/event/growing-cutting-garden-washington-gardener-otpc/

Fenton Friday: Paltry Peas

The peas that the spring interns planted finally produced some pods. The handful I harvested are delicious and are, as promised, edible as pod or pea. The pea vines though are wilting in the hot, humid sun between torrential rains. They might not last much longer.

Meanwhile, strawberries are going gang-busters still. I have not kept up picking them all and some are rotting and others are being feated on by slugs and mealy bugs, but I am trying hard to pick them daily and keep up with them.

Between storms, I also managed to plant tomatoes ('Sun Sugar' and 'Matt's Wild Cherry'), one 'Fish Pepper, and two red Okra plants.

I also cleared out a whole bed (except for 9 garlic plants I put in last fall) for my cutting garden seeds. I was going to plant them last week but every day promised another gully-washer storm, some of which materialized and some of which just blew on by. I didn't want to risk all my new seeds going down the street drain, so I have waited. Hope to get them in early next week.

How is your edible garden growing 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. I'm plot #16. It is a 10 ft x 20 ft space and this is our 5th year in the garden. (It opened in May 2011.)

ADVERTISER OF THE WEEK: Love & Carrots

Love and Carrots provides gardening assistance to people who would like to have an organic vegetable garden in their backyard, front yard, patio, balcony, or even bay window. DC is unique in that it has abundant yard space for a city. Many people here have both a front and back yard, however not many people use these spaces to grow food. They would like to see that potential realized and so far, they have seen that the interest in home gardening in DC already exists. Their aim is to help get people started growing their own food as locally as possible – in their own yard!

They design, install, and maintain organically grown vegetable gardens, transforming backyards and rooftops into fresh, organic banquets. Veggies are just a part of what they do – Love and Carrots also works with native plants, chicken coops, and rain gardens. 

See:  http://loveandcarrots.com/

Every Thursday on the Washington Gardener Magazine blog, we feature a current advertiser from our quarterly print magazine or monthly online enewsletter. To advertise with us, contact wgardenermag@aol.com today.

Video Wednesday: Tomato Planting Tips

Kathy Jentz, Editor/Publisher, Washington Gardener Magazine shares some tomato planting tips -- basically plant deep and don't worry that it is getting late in the planting season -- just get them in the ground ASAP!