March 2005
What a strange winter this has been! My daffodils were fooled by the extremely warm December we had. They were four inches out of the ground, some even sporting flower buds! We mulched them heavily and crossed our fingers, hoping they would still flower this spring. So here we are in the second week of February. Is spring here already? The snow is gone, the birds are chirping, and yet this gardener dares not hope. It was only two winters ago that we had a blizzard on President’s weekend. Still, it’s hard for a gardener not to hope!
The Garden Club spent its January meeting reflecting over the past years’ endeavors. The influx of new membership has brought great new ideas and energy to our group, and we reaffirmed our desire to continue bringing interesting and informative speakers for the club and the larger community. If you would like to be put on our mailing list to receive postcards in the mail announcing each talk’s topic, please become a member! The cost is only $3, and it buys a lot of fun! Please call Kitty at 410-757-1475 to join.
I hope all of you have been amusing yourselves as I have: delving into seed and plant catalogs! What a wonderful way to spend a dreary winter day, planning the adventures we will have in the spring! And of course, it is not too early to mark your calendars for the Garden Club Plant Sale, where you can purchase gorgeous annuals and bargain perennials. Mark your calendars: we’ll be out bright and early on Saturday, May 14th (rain date Sunday May 15th). Come on out and see us!
Submitted by Audrey Lengbeyer
May 2005
Happy Spring! By the time this goes to print, everything will be bursting into bloom, and boy does it seem late! It’s mid-April and this gardener’s spring vegetable seeds (peas, lettuces, spinach) are just sprouting. It seems they’ll hardly have any time to grown before the summer heat makes them bolt.
The Garden Club celebrated its 30th anniversary this March with a wonderful gathering and meal. Members Mary Rosner, Judy Feldt, and Kari Banares did a wonderful job making the clubhouse festive for our special occasion. During the dinner we watched a slideshow of times gone by: the first plant sale and the first Yard of the Month winners. What a trip down memory lane! We are so grateful to the community for all its support over the years to help our group thrive and grow. Special thanks to Donna Taylor at Graul’s who helped pull our event together, and also to founding members Kitty Donovan and Doris Clair, who have kept us together all these years.
The Garden Club is proud to announce the April Yard of the Month Winners for 2005. Congratulations for the beautiful yards!
- Area I: Hagan/Miller, 1045 Little Magothy View
- Area II: The Phillipses, 1021 Saint Margarets
- Area III: The Curtises, 1009 Lake Claire Drive
- Area IV: The Hamiltons, 1200 Summit Drive
- Area V: The Baldwins, 1321 Poplar Hill Drive
Are some of you folks out there curious just where these judging areas are? One of our winners was, so we are guessing there might be others who have the same question. Well, guess no more! Please see the map below.
Our annual plant sale will fall on Saturday, May 14th this year. The rain date will be Sunday, May 15th, but we hope we won’t need it! Please join us from 8am-4pm for our usual blitz of gorgeous annuals and perennials for a song. Mark your calendars; tell your friends! We hope to see you there.
Submitted by Audrey Lengbeyer
July 2005
So the heat has finally hit us. It was nice while it lasted, the cool spring weather. This gardener got a very nice crop of lettuce and spinach and was very glad she invested in pansies last fall. They bloomed until frost last year and started right up in March. They are still going with a profusion of flowers, but it won’t be long before the heat does them in.
This time of year it seems a lot of us are waiting for blooms on our perennials, but there are also many plants in full bloom: some azaleas are still going, and the rhododendrons just finished. Purple salvia can be seen everywhere, and this gardener has foxglove sending up luscious, tall, purple spikes of dainty flowers. Daylilies are beginning, and sun drops are blooming in abundance. Hydrangeas are starting, and ice plant has just begun blooming in profusion.
Congratulations to June’s Yard of the Month winners:
- Area 1: The Wajbels, 1057 Little Magothy View
- Area 2: The Sievers, 1178 St. George
- Area 3: The McClarens, 1040 Lake Claire
- Area 4: The McLanigans, 1224 Mt. Pleasant
- Area 5: The Lewindowskis, 722 Fairway
The Garden Club will not be meeting in July or August, but will kick off in September with a bus trip to Longwood Gardens in Kennett Square, Pennsylvania. We have reserved a bus for a day trip on Saturday, September 10, 2005, from 8am-6pm and it is open to the community. Please join us for a fun day of meeting neighbors and viewing gorgeous gardens! It will cost $29 to reserve your seat, call Kitty Donovan (757-1475) or Mary Rosner (757-6145) before August 1st for more information or to register.
The Garden Club is pleased to announce a bountiful array of speakers that will enlighten us on a variety of gardening topics starting in September. All are welcome, you do not have to be a member to come listen and learn. Please join us for any of these, and bring a friend!
- Sept 10 Bus trip to Longwood Gardens (register by August 1, 2005)
- Sept 19 Gene Sumi, horticulturalist Homestead Gardens
- Basic Shrub and Tree Pruning
- Oct 18 Lewis Shell, Master Gardener/Composter
- Composting Workshop
- Oct 22 First Annual Harvest Party and Pot Luck
- Nov 15 Joanne Kuhn, Master Gardener AA County MG
- Forcing Bulbs
- Nov 29 State Circle Wreath Making/Holiday Decorating
- Dec No Garden Club Meeting this Month
- Jan 17 Gene Sumi, Horticulturalist Homestead Gardens
- Made in the Shade: Planting a Shade Garden
- Feb 21 Joanne Kuhn, Master Gardener AA County MG
- New Introductions 2006
- Mar 21 Anniversary Dinner
- Apr 18 Katie Scott, Horticulture Student/Garden Club member
- Big Gardens, Little Spaces: Biointensive Gardens
- May 13 Annual Plant Sale
- May 21 TBA
- Jun 20 TBA
Hope to see you there!
Submitted by Audrey Lengbeyer
September 2005
What a hot, sticky summer it has been! I’ve even heard some Cape residents saying that it’s too hot to go to the beach with their kids – that’s when you know it is really hot. Thank goodness the rain has returned to visit us weekly. The plants are certainly happier now!
What a great summer it has been for hydrangeas, which stunned our Yard of the Month judges in June with their bright variety of colors and profusion of blooms. And this month, the crepe myrtles are positively stunning, again with such a variety of colors and so many blooms.
Congratulations to our Yard of the Month winners for the months of June, July, and August, listed below:
JUNE
- Area 1: The Wajbels, 1057 Little Magothy View
- Area 2: The Sievers, 1178 St. George
- Area 3: The McClarens, 1040 Lake Claire
- Area 4: The McLanigans, 1224 Mt. Pleasant
- Area 5: The Lewindowskis, 722 Fairway
JULY:
- Area 1: The Maggios, 1313 Breezeway
- Area 2: The Correas, 1032 Skyview
- Area 3: The Clarks, 1005 Lake View Lane
- Area 4: The Meeces, 1254 Hilltop
- Area 5: The Millers, 1166 Ramblewood
AUGUST:
- Area 1: The Arnolds, 1226 River Bay Road
- Area 2: The Ropples, 1339 Swan Drive
- Area 3: The Greenes, 1191 Hampton
- Area 4: The Ladues, 905 Blue Ridge
- Area 5: The Knoxes, 1393 Greenway
The Garden Club had our final spring meeting in June, with a speaker on soil analysis. Not surprising to most of us is the news that our Cape soil is sand, sand, sand. Sandy soil means any water or fertilizer we apply often percolates away from our plants’ root zones relatively quickly, making gardening all the more of a challenge! Our speaker’s advice to us all? Add lots of rich compost when planting, and regularly replenish organic matter in our beds. Crushed leaves in the fall are perfect mulch for winter protection that then decomposes over time into soil-improving organic matter for our plants.
As usual, we did not meet in the months of July and August, but we will resume our meetings the 3rd Tuesday of each month starting on Tuesday, September 20th. Gene Sumi, a horticulturalist from Homestead Gardens, will be joining us then and giving a talk on the topic of Basic Pruning of Trees and Shrubs. Have you often wondered how to prune back your clematis or hydrangea each fall? Do you desire a more pleasing shape for your crepe myrtle? Well here is the speaker who can answer your questions!
The Garden Club invites all interested Cape residents to join us for this talk as well as for the bountiful array of speakers that will enlighten us on a variety of gardening topics this coming year. All are welcome, you do not have to be a member to come listen and learn. Please join us for any of these, and bring a friend!
- Sept 20 Basic Pruning of Trees and Shrubs by Gene Sumi, horticulturalist
- Oct 18 Composting Workshop by Lewis Shell, Master Gardener/Composter
- Oct 22 First Annual Harvest Party Pot Luck
- Nov 15 Forcing Bulbs by Joanne Kuhn, Master Gardener, Anne Arundel County
- Nov 29 State Circle Wreath Making/Holiday Decorating
- Dec No meeting this month
- Jan 17 Made in the Shade: Planting a Shade Garden by Gene Sumi, horticulturalist
- Feb 21 New Introductions 2006 by Joanne Kuhn, Master Gardener
- Mar 21 Anniversary Dinner
- Apr 18 Big Gardens, Little Spaces: Biointensive Gardens by Katie Scott, Horticulture Student and Garden Club member
- May 13 Annual Plant Sale
- May 21 TBA
- Jun 20 TBA
Hope to see you there!
Submitted by Audrey Lengbeyer
October 2005
Greetings all!
What a dry month of September it has been so far. The grass is dying, and this gardener dares not tax her well just for green grass! Hopefully we will see a few solid rainstorms before this article goes to print. Autumn is supposed to be a wetter time of year, making October a great month for planting. If you want to add a shrub or some perennials, now is a wonderful time to do it, as the cooler and wetter weather is less stressful on the plants than the summer heat and dryness, and they have plenty of time to root before the cold of winter hits.
This is also the season for planting bulbs. Daffodils and tulips are the most popular types, with crocuses, hyacinths, and iris not far behind. But have you ever heard of a fritillaria? How about a colchicum? So many bulbs, so little time! This gardener, much to the dismay of her husband, can never control herself this time of year when the bulb catalogs come… Of course, you never hear him complaining in the spring when all the gorgeous, fragrant flowers come up!
The Garden Club would like to congratulate its Yard of the Month winners for the month of September:
- Area 1: The Hampes, 970 Woodland Circle
- Area 2: The Prestis, 1172 St. George
- Area 3: The Watkinses, 1196 Summit
- Area 4: Elizabeth Wnorowski for the Cebolleros, 963 High Point
- Area 5: The Sonnen and Greenfield Household, 726 Broadmoor
The Garden Club has two events coming up in October. On Tuesday, October 18th, at 6:45 pm in the Clubhouse, Cape residents are invited to join us for an informative and interesting talk by Lewis Shell, a Master Gardener and Composter as he gives A Composting Workshop. Ever wondered how to turn leaves and grass clippings into rich compost for your flower and vegetable beds? All without the use of chemicals or spending a single dollar? Now’s your chance! Compost is a gardener’s best friend, full of nutrients and organic matter for your favorite plants. Come join us and learn all about it! All are welcome.
Then, on Saturday, October 22nd, the Garden Club will host its first ever Harvest Dinner, a potluck for all members and Yard of the Month winners. This will be replacing our longstanding tradition of our annual Holiday Dinner in December, which occurred each year when people’s schedules were already booked to the tilt. In the interests of sanity, and because a Harvest Dinner seems so fitting for a garden club, we hope this year’s dinner will be the start of a long tradition! Bobbing for apples, anyone?
Until next time, Happy Halloween!
Submitted by Audrey Lengbeyer
November 2005
Well, we finally got ourselves some rain! This gardener was shocked to see how quickly her faded cool-season grass lawn recovered – I honestly thought it was dead! How wonderful to be out planting bulbs and transplanting and dividing perennials in this cooler, moist weather. This gardener prefers planting in fall over the traditionally-recommended spring planting, because it seems our hot, dry summers are much more of a threat to new shrubs and trees than our relatively mild winter. Also, most plants that do not survive the winter die from rot in their roots and crowns due to excessive moisture, not from cold. In the Cape, most of us have sandy soil and never experience excessive moisture. So plant away! It’s a wonderful time of year to seize the opportunity to prepare your yards for next spring’s growing season!
The Garden Club heard a wonderful talk by Gene Sumi of Homestead Gardens on how to prune trees and shrubs. His talk was full of informative tips on timing and technique, and fabulous diagrams. The most important tidbits? Azaleas and other spring-blooming shrubs should be pruned in early June, immediately after flowering, since they used the summer to set their buds for the following year’s blooms. To keep pines and other evergreens bushy and short, they need to be sheared lightly every year, because once they are large, they will not produce new growth if pruned back too far. The best time to prune pines? When the new growth, called “candles,” have hardened up a bit, usually in May. It was a wonderful talk, and we were happy to see some new faces from the community!
At our Tuesday, November 15th meeting, we will have a talk by our very own Katie Scott, who is also a horticultural student and also very knowledgeable about green gardening. Katie will talk to us about Big Gardens, Little Spaces: Biointensive Gardens. If you’ve ever wanted to grow some summer vegetables but thought you didn’t have the space, this talk is for you! Please join us for what promises to be a very informative and interesting talk.
We will also meet again late on Tuesday, November 29th for our annual wreath-making, when we create from scratch two wreaths for Lawyers Mall in downtown Annapolis. Each member brings evergreen clippings to the meeting, and we combine them to make wreaths. It’s a lot of fun – want to join in? Call Kitty Donovan at 410-757-1475 for details if you’d like to come join in the fun and learn how to make a fresh evergreen wreath for your own home.
The Garden Club would like to congratulate October’s Yard of the Month winners:
- Area 1: The Wades, 1131 Little Magothy View
- Area 2: The Hartmans, 1039 Skyview
- Area 3: The Parsons, 1038 Sun Valley
- Area 4: The Shucks, 1004 Mt. Holly
- Area 5: The Ashburns, 703 Hillcrest
This will end our season of Yard of the Month judging, and we will resume in April next year.
Happy Holidays to all!
Submitted by Audrey Lengbeyer
December 2005
Happy Holidays, Cape Folk!
The Garden Club had a lovely Harvest Dinner, our first ever, with some of our illustrious Yard of the Month winners. It is always so nice to meet some of the gardeners who make the Cape such a beautiful neighborhood to live in. The turkey was delicious, as were all the trimmings our members served up from their own kitchens. Thanks to all who helped make the dinner so lovely, from decorations and set up, to cooking, to organizing.
At the November meeting, our very own Katie Scott, a horticultural student, gave a talk on Biointensive Gardens. She talked about how to rotate crops and grow all kinds of vegetables and berries, particularly those that have the highest pesticide use in conventional agriculture, in your very own small garden. It doesn’t take acres, and you can have your own organic strawberries, sweet peppers, tomatoes, squash, cucumbers, and beans, at a fraction of the cost of buying them in the store. Katie has done this herself in her front yard, and from her slides we could see that the beds were beautiful to look at, on top of producing all those yummy, healthy foods.
At that meeting we also voted on a new officer board for the calendar years 2006 and 2007. The officers, presented by our nominating committee chair, and voted into office by the members, will be:
- Lori Ann Stagnaro and Audrey Lengbeyer, co-presidents
- Katie Scott, vice president
- Mary Rosner, secretary
- Karen Schott, treasurer
The Garden Club will meet one more time in 2005, on November 29th to make wreaths that are hung on Lawyer’s Mall in Annapolis. Each year, members bring evergreen clippings from their own yards, and we bundle them together to make gorgeous, real evergreen wreaths. I wish I’d mentioned this in my last article, so any interested folks out there could join us. If you’ve ever wanted to learn to do this for your own home, it’s easy and fun! Just join us next year and you’ll learn all you need to know to make your own.
The Garden Club will take a much-needed rest in December, and then restart in January. On Tuesday, January 17th, Gene Sumi, a horticulturalist from Homestead Garden, will join us again for a talk called Made in the Shade: Planting a Shade Garden. Living in the Cape under our enormous oak trees, many of you might find this talk helpful and informative. What plants thrive in shade? How do you arrange a shade garden? Please join us then, at 6:45 pm, for a talk and light refreshments.
Until then, we at the Garden Club wish you all a very happy holiday season, full of joy and relaxation with your loved ones. Happy 2006!
Submitted by Audrey Lengbeyer
