Winter Flowers for Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day

Mahonia

Forsythia

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 on the Mid-Atlantic USA (USDA zone 7) on the DC-MD border, the mild fall and December are long gone and winter has set in. No real snow yet, but my pond waterfall has iced over on a few nights and that has been enough to kill all the summer annuals and fall boomers that were hanging on until almost Christmas.

Blooming in my garden today are: Mahonia, Winter Jasmine, Hellebore, Heather, and a few premature Forsythia blossoms. Snowdrops should be coming soon as well as the early Daffodils.

What is blooming in your garden today?

Seed Exchange Sponsors Sought

Seed Exchange swag has been coming in my door. (And my living room becomes a bigger mess than normal!) 

I've been tweeting out photos and links to the sponsors as new items arrive. You can follow me @WDCGardener to see what wonderful garden goodies await our Seed Exchange attendees and drool along with the other seed-heads. Most items are inserted into the bags each attendee receives as they check-in and the larger items are reserved for door prizes.

Here are just a few of the items that have come in so far:

~ catalogs, handouts, and seeds from Southern Exposure SeedExchange

~ tubes of Zanfel Poison Ivy, Oak & Sumac Wash

~ passes to Brookside Gardens' Green Matters conference

If YOU would like to donate items for the Washington Gardener Seed Exchanges, please contact KathyJentz (at) gmail (dot) com. The deadline for sponsorships is January 28.

For full Seed Exchange information and registration see the post here.

BTW We also welcome sponsors for the annual Garden Photo Contest prizes. Our winning entrants welcome getting prize items both garden-related and of interest to avid photographers. To be a contest prize sponsor, email DCGardenPhotos (at) aol (dot) com by January 28.

Discuss "The Invention of Nature" at our Garden Book Club Winter Meeting

For our Garden Book Club Winter Meeting we will be discussing The Invention of Nature: Alexander von Humboldt's New World by Andrea Wulf. Please join us on Thursday, February 11 from 6:30-8pm at Soupergirl, located right next to the Takoma metro stop.

The acclaimed author of Founding Gardeners reveals the forgotten life of Alexander von Humboldt, the visionary German naturalist whose ideas changed the way we see the natural world and in the process created modern environmentalism.

Please RSVP to washingtongardener (at) rcn.com or at the book club event page at facebook.com/WashingtonGardenerMagazine by February 9, so we know how many chairs to hold for our group.

Here are the rest of our 2016 selections for the Washington Gardener Magazine's Garden Book Club:

SPRING - The Rambunctious Garden:  Saving Nature in a Post-Wild World by Emma Marris

SUMMER - Planting in a Post-Wild World: Designing Plant Communities for Resilient Landscapes by Thomas Rainer and Claudia West

FALL - 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:

Register NOW for the 11th Annual Washington Gardener Seed Exchanges

The 11th Annual Washington Gardener Seed Exchanges, hosted by Washington Gardener Magazine, takes place on January 30, 2016 at the Brookside Gardens in Wheaton, MD AND at February 6, 2016 at Green Spring Gardens in Fairfax, VA. You can attend both or you have a choice on which side of the beltway you want to attend! 

Seed Exchange attendees trade seeds, exchange planting tips, hear expert speakers, and collect goody bags full of gardening treats.

Registrations are streaming in now and we expect a sell-out of both locations. We urge you to pre-register to guarantee yourself a spot.

The event also includes such “green” features as the garden book and catalog swap. Participants are encouraged to bring their gently used garden books and mailorder garden catalogs to trade with each other. Any leftover publications at the end of the swap are donated to the National Agriculture Library in Beltsville, MD.

The first annual Washington Gardener Seed Exchange was held on January 26, 2006. After that event’s success, seed swaps in other cities across the nation have joined in celebrating National Seed Swap Day each year on the last Saturday in January.

Subscribers to Washington Gardener Magazine receive a $5 discount off the admission to the Washington Gardener Seed Exchange.

The registration form is posted below. Please print it page 2 and fill it out, then mail it along with payment by Janury 25 to Washington Gardener, 826 Philadelphia Ave., Silver Spring MD 20910.

    And yes, you can attend and participate, even if you have no seeds to swap. We always have plenty of extra to share with new and beginning seed starters!

UPDATE:
A portion of the Washington Gardener Seed Exchanges proceeds will go to the Save Our Monarchs Foundation.
 

Garden PHOTO CONTEST Kicks Off!

The 10th Annual Washington Gardener Magazine Photo Contest kicks off now! Time to start sorting and picking out your best 2015 garden shots. The entry period is January 1-22, 2016. 

Note that eligible entries must have been taken in the 2015 calendar year in a garden setting within 150-mile radius of Washington, DC.

We have four major entry categories:

~ Garden Views (landscape scenes)

~ Garden Vignettes (groupings of plants in beds or containers, unusual color or texture combinations, garden focal points, and still scenes)

~ Small Wonders (flower or plant part close-ups)

~ Garden Creatures (any living creature in a garden setting)

Remember that garden photos need not all be taken during the first week of May nor should they all be tight close-ups of a red rose. Look for the unusual and for beauty in the off-season too. Our judges give equal weight to the following criteria when evaluating the entries: technical merit, composition, impact, and creativity.

Anyone can enter: professional or amateur, adult or student, local area gardener or visiting DC tourist. Past winners have included teenagers entering their first-ever photo contest and home gardeners trying out their new digital cameras. Our next Grand Prize Winner could be YOU!

See this page for the full contest details:

 Also, here is the entry form text:

Washington Gardener Magazine Photo Contest Entry Form:

• Name -      

• Full address-

• Phone number –

• Email –

• Years of photography experience-

• Whether you are a Pro or Amateur-

• Image File name and title-

• A brief description of each image-

• The category each image is to be entered in -

• The location where each image was taken -

• All available photographic information regarding the image (i.e. camera type, lens, lighting, etc.) - 

UPDATE:  Go to the link below to see the 10th Annual Washington Gardener Magazine Photo Contest winners -

http://issuu.com/washingtongardener/docs/2016contestwinnerspresentation

They will also be share in a photo exhibition this summer and in our next issue of Washington Gardener Magazine

DIY: Easy Moss Wreath

Guest blog by Gaby Galvin 

While wreaths look complicated, they’re actually quite simple to make. Follow these quick steps and make your own moss wreath, using foliage from your own garden and yard. This moss wreath can be used for winter holiday decor and beyond.
 

Supplies:

Straw wreath

Pincushion moss (grows in dense clumps in moist yards)

Sheet moss (grows in carpet-like mats in moist, shady yards)

Glue gun

Floral pins

Ribbon

Embellishments from your garden (shown here with ferns)

Instructions:

1. Brush dirt off your moss with a chip brush, making sure not to tear it too much.
2. Use floral pins to attach the pincushion moss to the straw wreath. Handle it carefully and use it generously so it looks full and plump. Cover most of the wreath this way.
3. Fill any ridges in the wreath with sheet moss. Make sure you aren’t using any dried-up pieces. Use a glue gun to keep it down, covering the floral pins.
4. Add embellishments as you like, including inserting live plant material. Tie a ribbon at the top of the wreath, if desired.

This easy-to-make wreath can last for several months depending on how well you care for it. I recommend hanging it outside on a front door or on a fence, so you can easily water it with no mess. It is important to water the wreath if you want it to last a long time as sheet moss can dry out if you don’t! Happy New Year!
About the author:

Gaby Galvin is a Washington Gardener Magazine summer 2015 intern who is studying multiplatform journalism at the University of Maryland. She does some gardening at home in Davidsonville, MD, with her mother and grandparents. 

 
This is the last post in this blog series on DIY projects for the home gardener. Look for the other installments in this DIY blog series by putting "DIY" in the search box here at washingtongardener.blogspot.com. 

 

Win a hot-off-the-press 2016 Local Gardening Task Calendar

For our December 2015 Washington Gardener Magazine Reader Contest, we are giving away a hot-off-the-press 2016 Local Gardening Task Calendar.

   Each month includes a list of what to do in the garden for local DC-MD-VA and Mid-Atlantic gardeners, along with a gorgeous photo of a seasonal flower or scene from a local DC-area public garden’s collection.

   You can order one for yourself and more as gifts for your favorite local gardeners by going to: http://www.cafepress.com/washgardener. or go directly to the item page here: http://www.cafepress.com/washgardener.1436102069 (Note: You can select the calendar to start with whatever month you choose.)

   To enter to win a Local Gardening Task Calendar, send an email to WashingtonGardener@rcn.com by 5pm on Wednesday, December 30, with “Local Gardening Task Calendar” in the subject line and in the body of the email. Tell us which was your favorite article in this December 2015 issue of the magazine and why. Please also include your full name and mailing address. The calendar winner will be announced and notified by January 1.

UPDATE: Our Winner is Edward Constable of Washington, DC. If you did not win, you can order your calendar here:  http://www.cafepress.com/washgardener.1436102069
(Be sure to note what month you want it to start on!)

Seasons Greetings from Washington Gardener Magazine

Note that our usual blog/social media posts and the "Garden Tip of the Day" tweets from Washington Gardener Magazine will be on holiday until January 1, 2016. See you in the New Year!

Video Wednesday: Garden of Lights

Enjoy this short video of some highlights from the Garden of Lights at Brookside Gardens in Wheaton, MD. This walk-through holiday light display features 1 million dazzling, colorful lights shaped into hand-crafted, original art forms of flowers, animals and other natural elements. Enjoy nightly musical performances and visit the conservatory to watch G-scale model trains wind through a seasonal landscape. The event will be open nightly through January 3, 2016 (closed December 24 and 25).
   Stroll from garden to garden, enjoying twinkling tree forms, fountains, sparkling snowflakes overhead, and more. The Garden of Lights celebrates its 18th season as a Baltimore/Washington, DC-area family holiday tradition.
   Warm up in the Visitors Center while you sip hot cocoa and listen to one of the nightly musical performances. Find out more at http://www.montgomeryparks.org/brookside/garden_lights.shtm

Local First Friday: Valley View Farms

Guest Blog by Joelle Lang

The history behind it:

Valley View Farms has grown from a small roadside produce stand to one of the largest, most complete garden centers in the Mid-Atlantic region. Brothers Billy and Punkey Foard opened Valley View Farms on Friday, April 13, 1962, as a produce stand to augment a largest wholesale vegetable growing operation. As the store expanded in size to become the premiere garden center in the Baltimore metro area, several year-round and seasonal departments were added that have provided a continuously dynamic shooing experience for our customers. Today, Valley View Farms is owned and operated by father and son team, Billy and Andy Foard.

What it’s like today:

Valley View Farms is located Cockeysville/Hunt Valley, Maryland, and open from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily. During the spring season, Valley View Farms offers a complete selection of trees and shrubs, vegetable and flowering annual and perennial plants, and planters, trellis, soil, and other planting accessories necessary to help customers achieve success in their gardens. They also have a patio furniture department. The Water Garden department is stocked with waterlilies, aquatic plants, fish, and accessories. In the fall, Valley View Farms becomes a holiday wonderland, with decorated trees, a huge outdoor lights display, and an international Christmas shop with ornaments and gifts from around the world.   

What makes it special:

Valley View Farms is family-owned and operated, and visiting the farm is a family tradition for a lot of local families. Valley View Farms also provides the largest selection of vegetable and flowering annual and perennial plants in the states and promises a unique garden shopping experience.  

About the Author 

Joelle Lang, a senior at the University of Maryland, College Park, is a multi-platform journalism student in the Philip Merrill College of Journalism. This autumn, she is also an editorial intern for Washington Gardener Magazine.

"Local First Friday" is a weekly blog series profiling independent garden businesses in the greater Washington, DC, and Mid-Atlantic region. Washington Gardener Magazine believes strongly in supporting and sourcing from local businesses first!

ADVERTISER OF THE WEEK: Authentic Haven Brand

Authentic Haven Brand (http://www.manuretea.com/) offers a full line of all-natural, premium soil conditioner teas for the home gardener, landscaper, and farmer. Haven Brand uses only the highest quality manures from livestock that are raised on permanent, native grass pastures at the Haven Family Ranch.

ADVERTISER OF THE WEEK Details:
Every Thursday on the Washington Gardener Magazine Facebook page, Blog, and Yahoo list we feature a current advertiser from our monthly digital magazine. To advertise with us, contact wgardenermag@aol.com today.