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THANKS for your generous support, neighbors!

THANK YOU, CAPERS, for coming out in droves to support our annual Plant Sale fundraiser — We are so grateful for your support!!! 

We always accept empty plant pots, red solo cups, and *plastic* venetian mini-blinds to cut up for plant tags for use in our plant sale.  Please drop either anytime in the driveway at 1121 River Bay Road.  Thanks for helping us to reduce and reuse!

Join us in May for our VIRTUAL PLANT SALE featuring online ordering and contactless curbside pickups May 13-16 right in Cape.  We’ll have a huge variety of Cape-grown sturdy perennials, including natives & pollinator host plants, veggies & herbs, colorful annuals, and gorgeous camellias at bargain prices for your garden.  Grab a friend and join the fun!  

Tues June 1, 6:30pm: Wild Herb Walk with Debby of Prior Unity Garden.  Join us at Broadneck Park for an outdoor stroll, where Debby will share with us edible and medicinal plants growing right under our noses.  

Saturday June 19th, 10am: Secret Garden Tours.  Join us to visit 3 beautiful Cape gardens, followed by a potluck lunch al fresco.  

Questions?  Phone Catherine at 410-212-1944, or reach us at capegardenclub@gmail.com.  New faces always welcome!
[All meetings are usually held in the Cape St. Claire Clubhouse meeting room (1223 River Bay Road, 21409) unless otherwise noted.] 

Read more about our year’s events and speakers.

PLANT SALE CONTINUES live!

Annuals, hostas, veggies, herbs, flowering perennials for sun and shade — many fantastic plants still available. And some stunning spring-blooming evergreen camellias in 1 gallon and 3 gallon size, at bargain prices! Open hours Sunday and Monday 12-6pm at a Cape residence. Please email capegardenclub@gmail.com or text 410-212-1944 for location details.

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• Tomatoes: Roma Early Girl Sweet 100 Brandywine Beefsteak Rutgers Beefmaster, yellow cherry, orange grape
• Peppers: CA wonder, Red Beauty, Red Beauty Baron, Sweet Pepper Mix, Golden Belle, Jalapeno
• Eggplant Black Beauty
• Squash: Zucchini, Yellow Straightneck Zucchini, yellow crookneck zucchini
• Cucumber: marketmore burpless, pickling, straight 8
• Melons: watermelon canteloupe
• Herbs: basil dill flat and curly parsley sage rosemary oregano cilantro chives thyme
• Annuals: petunias marigolds fuschia impatiens dusty miller begonia
• Perennials: iris, black eyed susan, hardy chrysanthemum ‘Rustic Glow’, lily of the valley, yarrow ‘Paprika’, obedient plant, sensitive fern, hosta, daylilies mixed or yellow, lords and ladies, cutleaf coneflower, maxmillian sunflower, goldenrod, solomon’s seal, aster ‘Raydon’s Favorite’ and ‘Kickin’ it Carmine Red’

ONLINE ORDERING IS OPEN

Thanks to all our fans who follow us like rock band groupies — we love you!

PLACE YOUR ORDERS HERE

Brookside Gardens Field Trip

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Members of the garden Club enjoyed a healthful picnic lunch provided by Simply Prima catering at Wheaton Regional Park before walking down the hill into Brookside Gardens, where we enjoyed beautiful winter-blooming bulbs and witch hazels in full bloom. Who knew there was a cultivar so purple it could be mistaken for a redbud? Hamamelis ‘Amethyst’ sure had us fooled!

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Members stayed socially distant and masked except for while sniffing the beautiful blooms.

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Even the shrubs at Brookside wear masks!

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What a fun outing together to beat back the winter blues. We all enjoyed the fresh air, wonderful company, and learning about the winter garden!

2021 Plant Sale Preview

What better way to chase away the winter doldrums than to ogle some gorgeous flowers and foliage? You’re invited to join us in May, for our annual Plant Sale — A Cape tradition!  Until then, please feast your eyes on these gorgeous plants that we will have available at the sale. Join our Facebook event here.

• BARGAIN PRICES
• Tried and true Cape perennials
• Exciting collection of native and pollinator perennials
• 5 varieties of milkweed
• Tomatoes, Herbs, and Vegetable Starts
• A variety of stunning Camellias
• Colorful annuals and hanging baskets
• NEW in 2021: Cannas, Caladiums, and Elephant ear!
• Plant list (ever-evolving) at the bottom of this post

PLANT LIST for 2021 Plant Sale

PERENNIALS

• Acanthus spinosa
• Achillea ‘Paprika’
• Adiantum pedatum
• Agastache ‘Black Adder’
• Amsonia ‘Blue Ice’
• Amsonia hubrichtii
• Aquilegia ‘Little Lanterns’
• Asclepias incarnata
• Asclepias incarnata ‘Cinderella’
• Asclepias syriaca
• Ascelpias tuberosa
• Asclepias verticillata
• Aster ‘Purple Dome’
• Athyrium ‘Godzilla’
• Athyrium ‘Lady in Red’
• Baptisia australis
• Baptisia yellow
• Brunnera ‘Jack Frost’
• Calamagrostis brachytricha
• Callirhoe involucrata
• Carex ‘Everillo’
• Chelone ‘Tiny Tortuga’
• Digitalis ‘Excelsior Hybirds’
• Digitalis ‘Foxy’
• Dryopteris ‘Brilliance’
• Echinacea paradoxa
• Echinacea ‘Magnus’
• Echinacea ‘Mellow Yellows’
• Echinops ‘Blue Glow’
• Epimedium ‘Purple Pixie’
• Euphorbia purpurea
• Euphorbia ‘Rainbow Ascot’
• Euphobria robbiae
• Gentiana ‘True Blue’
• Hakonachloa ‘All Gold’
• Helenium ‘Mariachi Salsa’
• Helleborus ‘Blushing Bridesmaid’
• Helleborus ‘Dark and Handsome’
• Helleborus ‘Emma’
• Helleborus ‘Maid of Honor’
• Helleborus ‘Wedding Bells’
• Heuchera ‘Caramel’
• Hosta (variegated)
• Hypericum ‘Brigadoon’
• Iberis ‘Purity’
• Iris ‘Purple Flame’
• Knifofia ‘Flamenco Mix’
• Lavandula ‘Phenomenal’
• Leucanthemum ‘LaCrosse’
• Lobelia ‘Black Truffle’
• Lysimachia var purpurea
• Monarda bradburiana
• Monarda ‘Raspberry Wine’
• Paeonia 2-3 varieties
• Penstemom ‘Red Rocks’
• Phlox ‘Daughter of Pearl’
• Phlox ‘Blue Moon’
• Phlox ‘Blue Paradise’
• Phlox “Sherwood Purple’
• Pulmonaria ‘Mrs. Moon’
• Rudbeckia ‘Little Goldstar’
• Rudbeckia fulgida var fulgida
• Rudbeckia ‘Henry Eilers’
• Rudbeckia ‘Prairie Glow’
• Ruellia humulis
• Salvia ‘Rose Marvel’
• Scabiosa ‘Butterfly Blue’
• Sedum ‘Euphorboides’
• Sisyrinchium ‘Lucerne’
• Solidago ‘Golden Fleece’
• Solidago caesia
• Solidago ‘Little Lemon’
• Spigelia marilandica
• Sporobolus heterolepis
• Stokesia ‘Peachie’s Pick’
• Thymus aureas variegatus
• Tiarella ‘Elizabeth Oliver’
• Tradescantia ‘Sweet Kate’
• Verbena ‘Homestead Purple’
• Vernonia ‘Summer Swan Song’

ANNUALS

• Ageratum Hawaii Blue
• Alyssum: White and Purple Shades
• Angelonia ‘Serenita Pink’
• Begonia Bada Bing: Rose, Scarlet, White, Mix
• Canna ‘Rose’
• Canna ‘Yellow’
• Canna ‘Bronze Orange’
• Callibrachoa Kabloom Yellow
• Callibrachoa Kabloom Denim
• Callibrachoa Kabloom Light Pink Blast
• Callibrachoa Kabloom Cherry
• Caladium ‘Florida Elise’
• Caladium ‘Postman Joyner’
• Caladium ”Rosebud’
• Coleus ‘Campfire’
• Coleus ‘Heartbreaker’
• Coleus Wizard Select Mix
• Coleus ‘Sunlover Gay’s Delight’
• Colocasia illustris
• Cosmos ‘Sonata Purple Shades’
• Dusty Miller
• Euphorbia White Diamond
• Heliotrope
• Impatiens: purple white, pink, red, and mixed
• Lantana: Landmark Yellow, Bandana Cherry Sunrise, Bandana Trailing Lavender
• Petunia: Appleblossom, Burgundy, Midnight Blue, Patriot Mix, Red, Sky blue, White, Frost Mix
• Portulaca Sunseeker Mix
• Torenia: Blue & Rose
• Vinca: Orchid, Punch, Icy pink, White, Really Red
• Zinnia: Orange, Pink, Scarlet

HANGING BASKETS

• Callibrachoa
• Fuschia
• Geranium deep red, pink, coral
• Impatiens double fiesta mix
• Lantana
• Petunia blue red pink purple star

TOMATOES

• Red grape
• Yellow pear
• Orange grape
• Yellow cherry
• Sun gold
• La Roma
• Better Boy
• Early Girl
• Sweet 100
• Brandywine
• Beefmaster

EDIBLES

• Herb basil
• Herb cilantro
• Herb chives
• Herb dill
• Herb oregano
• Herb parsley
• Herb rosemary
• Cucumber ‘Straight Eight’
• Cucumber ‘Sweet Success’
• Cucumber Talladega
• Cucumber Bush
• Cucumber Pickling
• Eggplant
• Melon Canteloupe
• Melon Watermelon
• Pepper red bell
• Pepper ‘California Wonder’
• Pepper ‘Red Beauty Baron’
• Pepper Orange Blaze
• Pepper sweet banana
• Pumpkin ‘Cinderella’ and Carving
• Squash yellowneck
• Squash green zucchini

TREES & SHRUBS

• Cercis candensis
• Camellias: 5-10 varieties in 1 gallon and 3 gallon sizes

Winter Sowing 2021

A dozen Members and 3 new ones joined us on a sunny winter day to create miniature greenhouses that can be left outdoors all winter in a sunny, protected spot, for germination as early as late January or February! So wonderful to be out in the sunshine chatting with friends, even through masks! Club Members provided translucent food containers, and Club provided seeds & soil.

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Some Members even found time to paint some garden rocks. Painted with acrylic paint and sprayed with clear coat, these can be used to mark favorite plants or lend some winter color to the garden.

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This year we also provided a Zoom option for those who wanted to sow from home. See the instructional video here. And more pictures from prior years here. Happy sowing!

Autumn 2020

These are crazy times, but the Garden Club managed to keep our Members engaged in our community even so. As autumn began, we wrapped up our Yard of the Month judging and our Beautification teams that maintain 4 community gardens right here in Cape St. Claire.

Our October Seed & Cutting Exchange was well attended by Members as well as several new guests from the wider community, who each went home with new seeds and tender cuttings to grow. Then, we celebrated our annual Harvest Dinner, catered, outdoors and socially distant, enjoying the peaceful views at our beautiful Cape main beach.

Then in November, we screened a beautiful and inspring documentary, Five Seasons: The Gardens of Piet Oudolf. Some Members watched from home, and others watched outside and distanced around a roaring fire pit.

Finally, just after Thanksgiving, we gathered again outdoors at Bay Head Park Pavillion, to create 4 wreaths for display at the Cape Clubhouse and neighborhood Guard Shack entrance, as well as 2 that we contribute each year, along with other area Garden Clubs, to decorate State Circle.

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We look forward to more fun and fellowship in the new year, and wish our friends and neighbors a safe and healthy 2021!

Sept 2020 Members’ Sharing Slideshow

COVID or no COVID, we Garden Club Members have gotta have our gardening chit-chat!  So 6 of us gathered in person outdoors in a screened porch, observing social distancing while viewing the slides and enjoying refreshments, and 14 more joined in over Zoom.  As usual, it was an evening of fun and fellowship, laughing about our plant addictions, and sharing the triumphs and setbacks of another season in our gardens.

See the entire slideshow here:  Members’ Sharing Slideshow 2020

And a short supplemental slideshow by Member Catherine here:  The Year of the Fungus in the_Salam garden

We were also happy to report that despite COVID, 43 of our 50 Members found a way to contribute to our plant sale.  Even some who had to stay home potted plants at home, or helped deliver much-needed supplies like potting soil and tables.  One of our Members, battling cancer, still managed to contribute several flats of plants.  What a rocking group of devoted volunteers!  And we are glad to present to every one of our 2020 Plant Sale volunteers these personalized insulated tumblers.  Congratulations, Members, and thanks to all for your contributions to our Club!

 

2020 Secret Garden Tours

Staying in groups smaller than 10, and wearing masks when we came close to one another, we still hosted our annual Secret Garden Tours at 3 award-winning gardens right here in the Cape.  Such perfect weather, cool and bright, for our tours this June.  Such beautiful plant combinations, such charming garden sheds, such oases of calm these stunning gardens afforded us.  Thanks to all who participated, and thanks to our hosts for allowing us to visit!

Hydrangeas & forest grass

Mophead and Oakleaf hydrangeas side by side

A shed to brag about, with a working waterwheel!

Such perfect weather this year!

Bay-wise certified, daylilies, hostas, & hydrangeas

Asiatic lilies, daylilies, Loropetalum

Fragrant honeysuckle, hydrangeas

Hydrangea, giant leaves of butterbur

Milkweed & Oakleaf Hydrangea

2020 Virtual Plant Sale

Read a review in Around Broadneck here.

When COVID hit in March, we knew we couldn’t leave our quarantined Cape neighbors without spring flowers and vegetables this year, not on top of everything else!  Barred from hosting an event at our normal Clubhouse field site, we quickly came up with a new plan.  We potted plants all of April per our usual timeline, at potting parties and Members potting at home, and our Club’s tech guru built an online ordering site using Shopify.

Working as a team, we had a smashing success of a plant sale at one of our Member’s driveways, with curbside pickup for our customers.  Many thanks to all the Members who schlepped in potting soil, who donated and potted plants at our potting parties, who potted from home, who built the virtual sale site and provided tech support, who dropped off ladders, crates, and shelving to build space for all the plants, who helped place plant orders, who helped unload them safely upon delivery, who picked up refreshments, showed up to work a shift, who delivered plants to those customers wanting delivery, who stayed late to store tender plants under tarps and in the garage in our unseasonably cool spring, who stayed to help cleanup all the tables and and shelves and ladders afterward.  Thanks to our neighbors who let us put tables on their grass, who dug and donated plants for our sale, who came out in record numbers to purchase and curbside pickup their new plants, who took the time to appreciate our efforts.  Thanks to local businesses Blue Rooster, Cape Dunkin’ Donuts, Graul’s, and Trader Joes Annapolis, who generously donated refreshments for our volunteers.  What a fantastic team effort!  And our customers noticed!  Here’s what they had to say:

• “Awesome job! Thanks for doing all this.”
• “We walked by earlier. You all are doing amazing. Thank you!!!”
• “Thanks just picked my stuff up. Looks great. Wish I would have ordered more!”
• “Effortless pickup, the whole thing was so well done. Thank you. Can’t wait for warmer weather to get these guys in the ground!”
• “I’m new to the community, so this was my first experience, but y’all knocked it out of the park! Congratulations on all the hard work that was put into this.”
• A glowing review in Around Broadneck here.

Plant Sale Leftovers now available

Thank you, neighbors, for supporting our sale so enthusiastically and picking up your orders last weekend!

We loved seeing you all smiling with anticipation as you took home your plants!
For those who missed it or want more, we do have lots of varieties available — please visit us to see what’s left, no need to pre-order.
This week: Weds 3-6pm, Thurs 12-6pm, Friday 12-6pm. We take cash or paypal.
If you’re interested, please email capegardenclub@gmail.com for the location address. Thanks, neighbors!

Some of the fantastic plants we still have available: blue lobelia, solomon’s seal, black eyed susan, sensitive fern, spiderwort, lily of the valley, hosta, milkweeds, chrysanthemum, bearded iris, cherry tomatoes, and comfrey