Seed Exchanges 2013

Register NOW to Save Your Seed Exchange Spot

It's that time again! Washington Gardener Magazine's Seed Exchanges are coming up on Sat Jan 26 in MD and Sat Feb 2 in VA. I hope you can make one of those dates.

The full information and registration form is posted here:

(IF you have already signed up, thank you! I will be sending confirmations to those registration I have received so far over the next few days.)

Winter Jasmine: You CAN Grow That!

Winter Jasmine (Jasminum nudiflorum) is in bloom now across the DC region. You will see them in the large concrete containers that line the National Mall (pictured here) and in front yards cascading over retaining walls and down steps all about the city. 

It is often mistaken for Forsythia, but there are several differences. First, stems are squarish, flexible, and deep green versus the Forsythia's round, brittle, and brown branches. Second, the blooms are a lighter yellow and in flower in early Winter, while Forsythia normally blooms in March here in the Mid-Atlantic US.
 
The plant itself is classified as a deciduous perennial, though most consider it a shrub and it can be treated as a vine as well.



It thrives in a variety of growing situations from full to part sun, from wet to dry soils. I have never had to water mine even in the hottest of summers.
 
 The weeping habit of Winter Jasmine is really quite lovely. Try a Winter Jasmine trained on an arbor or spilling over a wall. It also makes a good ground cover, especially on a slope or hillside. If planted in the ground, it can sucker and spread, but is easily pulled and potted up to share!

Garden Bloggers You Can Grow That! Day was started by C. L. Fornari of Whole Life Gardening because she believes: “Gardening is one of the most life-affirming things we can do.…We need to thoroughly saturate people with the belief that plants and gardening are worth doing because of the benefits gained.” Garden bloggers who agree post about something worth growing on the fourth day of every month. Read this month’s other You Can Grow That! posts.

Video Wednesday: Victory Gardens 1941

A family in Maryland decides to grow a Victory Garden. The film shows each step necessary from planning to harvest. The entire family takes part as two successive planting are done in Spring and Summer.

Our Readers Tell Us Their MOST-DREADED Garden Chores

For our December 2012 Washington Gardener Reader Contest, Washington Gardener Magazine asked readers to tell us what gardening chores you most dread doing and why.

We got some great answers that I'm sure many of you can relate to as well. Not surprisingly, many had to do with weeding, but many also despise the end-of-season garden clean-up. Here are a few of the submissions:

~ I hate cutting everything down/back. It feels like defeat, like I can't make it one more day. Which is why I still have roses and petunias. In a snow storm.
~  Getting rid of chickweed and henbit (are they the same?) that sprout up everywhere, not only among my flowers and veggies but especially among the few blades of grass that I try to coax into the semblance of a small lawn.
~ Turning the compost pile is my most dreaded garden chore because it is hard physical work!
~  The fall clean-up is definitely tops on my list of chores most dreaded.  It’s a must-do and seems as though it hits me all at once after the first killing frost.  Every year I try to plan for it and every year I fail miserably.
~ The garden chore I dread the most is cutting down ornamental grasses.  It takes a long time, using a hand pruner (because I do not use a chain saw), to make the remaining grass "stubs" look presentable.  A big pain is to stuff the dead grass into bags for county yard waste recycling.  I do not compost ornamental grass as it seems to take forever for it to break down. 
~ Well, mine is a love-hate issue.  I like to weed and have a neat garden, but it can be overwhelming if an area is too big.  Also, I have bad knees, so I'm usually in pain after weeding and planting.
~ The garden chore I most dislike it weeding--unless its after a hard rain and then I love it because I can pull them up easily and get the roots.  Also, fertilizing roses. No matter how careful I am, I always manage to get caught on the thorns.
~  The gardening task I dread most is inspecting for deer damage. :( Because it is heartbreaking.
~ The garden task I dread the most is weeding, because it is a never-ending battle. It feels like all of the work that I do is wiped out in a few days especially if I don’t keep up with it regularly. I have a lot invasive that creep into my yard from the adjacent woods, so I can’t eradicate them all, I can only cut them back. Also, some of them are hard to pull as they have thorns or are poison ivy so I can’t do them all on my way in out of the yard for a few minutes. I don’t like to use herbicides but it is tempting.
~  The garden task I hate the most is keeping ahead of the cool weather weeds.  They tend to be hard to pull and often the ground is very cold, they are brittle, and...any excuse not to do it!
~ Emptying and/or moving clay container pots to shed or garage or inside when the weather gets colder.

~ Pruning the climbing rose bush.

~ Raking willow oak leaves anywhere, but particularly out of the perennial garden.

~ The chore I most dread is weeding.  I am not always consistent about it and so when I let it go for too long it becomes a real chore. Moral of the story? (1) Prevention; and when prevention fails (2) Keep up with the weeding!

The winner of our Reader Contest chosen at random from among our entrants is Jeavonna Chapman of Baltimore, MD. She receives our brand new 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 from a local DC-area public gardens’ collection.

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

So what gardening chores do YOU most dread doing and why?

Washington Gardener Magazine PHOTO CONTEST Kicks Off!

The 7th Annual Washington Gardener Magazine Photo Contest kicks off now! Time to start sorting and picking out your best 2012 garden shots. The entry period is January 1-21, 2013.

UPDATE: The entry period has been extended to Tuesday, January 22. Due to the holiday and inauguration on January 21.

Note that eligible entries must have been taken in the 2012 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)

A little tip: we have far more entries in these last two categories than in the first two. Meaning, your odds of winning are far higher in the Views and Vignettes categories.

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.

See this PDF for full contest details:

Open publication - Free publishing - More flower

Local Gardening Task Calendar Contest

For our December 2012 Washington Gardener Reader Contest, Washington Gardener Magazine is giving away one of our brand new 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 from a local DC-area public gardens’ collection.

You can order one for yourself and as gifts for your favorite local gardeners by going to: http://www.cafepress.com/washgardener. (Note that 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 5:00pm on December 29 with “Garden Calendar” in the subject line and tell us: what gardening chores you most dread doing and why. In the body of the email, please also include your full name and mailing address. The pass winners will be announced and notified on January 1.

Video Wednesday: Historic Virginia Gardens

From the Smithsonian Institutions' Archives of American Gardens, Garden Club of America Collections.