Opening Lines

by Janice F. Booth 

Jun. 04, 2024

Okay, I know we don’t need more stress right now. Our gardens are our stress-relievers, our source of peace in a world of struggles. I hate to interject a “call to arms,” but attention must be paid. Gardeners, man your weed-pullers and spades! 

There are strong indications that over 100 invasive plants, commonly labeled “weeds,” will be expanding into the Eastern United States. More than 30 of those species are predicted to “wreak havoc” with our native plants. This migration of weeds to the East Coast is being attributed to climate change, according to a February 2024 article from the Weed Science Society of America (WSSA). Maryland’s own Native Plant Society shares the same concern. (See: mdflora.org/aboutinvasives.html) 

So, I’ll discuss first the most common and serious invasive plants threatening the eco-balance in our region. Then, I’ll review a few of the often-overlooked indigenous plants that will flourish in our gardens. Some of them may be old friends.

Invasive Plants (aka weeds) 

There are six categories: aquatic plants, herbs, grasses, shrubs, trees, and vines. The list below is not exhaustive. They’re weeds with which many of us are already familiar and may even have done battle.

Expand

1. Aquatic troublemakers in our ponds and streams: not an exhaustive list: water hyacinth; water clover; chickweed; fragrant waterlily (sorry, but you’ll have to keep a close eye on those lovely waterlilies in your pond—don’t let them escape into nearby creeks and streams); arrowhead (yes, those graceful wings-on-a-stem are trouble; and loosestrife.

Expand

2. Over-zealous herbs: If you’ve ever grown herbs, you’re already well aware of the impact of these hardy plants: yarrow (all varieties); maidenhair fern (sadly, they can get out-of-hand); garlic mustard and regular mustard; wild onion and wild garlic (stick to the grocer’s offerings if you want to avoid lots of weeding); alyssum; amaranth (yup, those lovely purple tufts are trouble); columbine; and wild celery.

Expand

3. Gorgeous but strong-willed grasses: I’ve written before about the difficulty of maintaining even a single specimen of some graceful grasses; well, here’s another problem with these beauties—they sneak out when you’re not looking, like a bunch of teenagers and find themselves where they don’t belong: wheat grass (popular for planting on beaches to control erosion because they spread tenaciously); bamboo (sneaky rhizomes spread everywhere just below the surface soil—you don’t realize where it’s wandered until it’s in your lawn and flowerbeds); sedge grass; pampas grass; and Mediterranean love grass (I know they’re not used much around here, but I love the name). 

4. Sneaky (i.e. invasive) shrubs: There aren’t many, but, oh, dear, they are popular little guys: Japanese laurel (oh, yes. These guys tend to be the Sumo wrestlers of the shrub world); barberry ; boxwood (those sturdy, old shrubs introduced to the Colonies by the Brits, can be troublesome when they invade! Sound familiar?); cotoneaster; forsythia (our harbingers of spring are easy to propagate and quick to spread); beautybush; and privet.

Expand

5. Avoid planting these trees: They’re not good neighbors to our native species, but the good news might be that they don’t seem to thrive here either: several varieties of maples; hawthorns; eucalyptus; and Bradford pear (don’t be charmed by its pretty, spring blossoms).

6. Vines: I know you’re probably already well aware of how quickly vines “go walking.” Kudzu immediately comes to mind: bittersweet (not including our lovely American bittersweet which we all cherish); bindweed (more likely to be the bane of farmers than urban gardeners, but sometimes they do sneak in); English ivy (yes, I know it’s a staple in my garden plan too. But we have to keep it strictly under control so it doesn’t strangle trees and overshadow native flowers); morning-glory (most varieties only become destructive if they’re left too many seasons to their own devices—chop them back occasionally; jasmine (that intoxicating fragrance makes them tough to eliminate); and wisteria (yes, I fell under this tough fella’s spell, and now I have a huge, beautiful arbor vine that dares me to keep it trimmed! And its suckers show up everywhere!)

And there you have it…some of the most unwanted invaders. But to end on a happy note, here are some lovely native or indigenous plants you might welcome into your garden. 

Let’s begin with those tall, elegant showstoppers, Cardinal flowers. They’re perennial and can tolerate partial shade.

All year long you can enjoy evergreen wood fern. There are lots of subgroups, but they all have those elegant fronds in subtly different colors. 

Another old favorite is the lady fern. Also an evergreen plant, its delicate fronds soften your woodland and shady garden areas.

Creeping phlox are that beautiful blooming groundcover that spills over rock walls and softens our flowerbeds. It’s a native perennial, so it will keep producing its color and fragrance year-after-year.

And finally, a personal favorite, the obedient plant. This quiet darling is just as dear as its name. With pink and lavender blossoming heads, they return season-after-season, easily adjust to moves, and stay where they’re planted—obediently. 

I’m confident that we, gardeners, will do what we can, each in our own way, to support and protect nature’s beauty. We may allow some of these outcasts into our gardens, but we won’t let them overtake our native plants. 

by Janice F. Booth

by Janice F. Booth

published May 2024

A few precautions to help the birds, bees, butterflies, and bugs in your garden.

Pollinators are an essential part of our garden’s success. Seventy-five percent of all plants depend on pollinators. We’re all aware, I suspect, of the dangers facing pollinators and read our share of articles and books explaining how to plant and maintain gardens that attract pollinators: birds, bees, butterflies, and our less popular friends, bugs.

So, rather than go over lists of the pollinators’ favorite flowers and bushes, I have four cautions or advisories you may want to know when gardening with “The Four Bs” in mind.

Expand

Number 1: To feed or not to feed, that may be the question.

If you’re luring pollinators to your garden, particularly birds, plan to provide food and water all year long, including winter months. Bees hibernate. Butterflies may too. Bugs go underground where they sometimes hibernate. If you’ve provided a sanctuary with food and water all summer, the birds may choose to stick around instead of migrating. 

In the autumn you’ll either need to find ways to discourage the cardinals, jays, bluebirds, and finches from staying, or you’ll have to provide their necessities all winter long. 

Discouraging techniques: If you plan to spend the winter away from home, think about removing some of your garden’s tempting treats in autumn. Stop filling the bird feeders; remove and clean out the birdhouses. If you’ve provided a fountain or a birdbath, drain and clean it. Make your garden less inviting. If birds stay anyway, they will have found ways to feed themselves and locate water. (If you’re home, occasionally during the long, cold winter, you can put out a suet cake or pans of seed and water. But only randomly unless you plan to keep up the kindness.) 

Winter Provisioning techniques: Spending the winter in Maryland can be daunting. Watching our feathered friends enjoy our feeders and birdbaths becomes one of winter’s joys. But it is essential that food and water are consistently provided. If the sources of food and water on which they depend disappear, they may die. Think of the birds as pets that live outdoors. If you go away for more than a day, ask a neighbor or friend to stop by to fill the birdfeeder and refresh the water. (You may want to invest in a birdbath water heater.) 

Expand

Number 2: Beware of hidden poisons.

When buying new plants and shrubs for your garden, know your grower, buy your plants from the source. If you are using a professional gardening service, ask if they can vouch for the safety of their growers’ plants. Birds, bees, butterflies, and bugs are extremely susceptible to poisoning by pesticides and chemicals. While you may be very careful to avoid using pesticides in your garden, plants introduced into your garden may carry death warrants for your wild friends, and sometimes even for your pets. 

Neonicotinoid chemicals are often used by large-scale growers to protect seedlings and young plants. Since the chemicals are applied long before they’re sent to be sold in big box and hardware stores, usually the neonicotinoid or other chemical pesticides or fertilizers are not identified nor are warning signs put up by the sellers. You could buy a flat of lovely young bee balm and discover too late that they were laced with a lethal chemical. 

Expand

Number 3: Water, water everywhere, but not a drop to drink!

Birds, bees, and butterflies are not waders! Even though they ingest liquid nectar, they still need fresh water. They need Puddling Stations. Let’s consider how each of these creatures procures water:

1. Birds must be able to stand on a dry or slightly damp surface while leaning forward to take water in their beaks. 2. Bees stand in very shallow water and extend a straw-like appendage (a nose) that inhales water. 3. Butterflies also use a straw-like mouth part. They must settle on a dry or almost-dry surface close to the water without getting their wings wet! 4. Bugs get most of their water from the plants they eat, so we needn’t worry about those little imps.

Check your fountain, pond, or birdbath. Be sure it has relatively dry resting places that are very near the water’s surface. You could add a few flat stones in the birdbath. Perhaps devise a platform around the fountain’s edge. Reorganize the steppingstones or pavers around the edge of your pond so that all these little guys can safely drink the water they need.

Expand

Number 4: A plague of riches!

Unless you have a very savvy professional gardener or you are an experienced gardener yourself, you may be unaware of the headaches you may be planting when you add ornamental grasses and some attractive shrubs to your Pollinator Garden. Yes, the grass provides seeds and cover for little creatures. Yes, the bushes may produce berries that can feed feathered friends. BUT, beware! 

Ornamental grasses are lovely and graceful. They’re easy to grow and settle in happily. It’s that “settling in” that gets us in trouble. Each year the ball or tussock at the base of the grasses gets thicker and wider. After a few years you will have a very difficult time dividing the clump or even paring it down to a more manageable size. These tussocks must be addressed yearly and severely chopped to retain control. These grasses are ruthless, and less inviting to the little creatures as they grow more dense.

Ornamental and berry-bearing bushes may have a similar flaw. Burning bushes and winterberry, for example, are lovely to look at, but they are not native, and they spread and invade areas of your garden and the gardens and woods beyond. 

All these cautions are just my effort to help you and your pollinators live in harmony in your garden. 

by Janice F. Booth

May 08, 2024

JANICE F. BOOTH 

MAR. 09, 2024

Expand

Managing waterflow and run-off in our gardens

Maryland’s weather seems to grow more volatile, with more frequent heavy storms of wind and rain. Periods of drought also prevailed here in early 2023. Thus, it is a wise precaution to prepare our lawns and gardens for both heavy rain and drought during 2024, as the two conditions can wreak havoc. Even the average annual rainfall in Maryland is about 50 inches. 

The preparations you may want to make to protect your lawns and gardens from erosion will be part of what has come to be known as “hardscape” rather than landscape. Hardscaping refers to man-made elements of landscaping that use wood, brick, gravel, and other material to change the lay of the land, often to protect that land from wind and water erosion. Usually, it’s best to have a professional service do your hardscape…because it is hard, perhaps even backbreaking work. 

But, if you’ve got some muscle-builders in the family willing to help, they can assist your lawn and garden hardscaping for potentially extreme weather ahead. 

Let’s consider two approaches: 

1. Repairing and redeveloping lawn and garden areas that are already prone to erosion. 

2. Redesigning the land’s configuration to avoid future water runoff and drought conditions. Since it’s March and the rainy season is fast approaching, if it comes at all, let’s begin with repairs to areas you already know may be problematic.

Common Types of Erosion

You might make a visual survey, a walk-about to look for telltale signs of problems. Here are some common forms of erosion you might observe:

Splash: raindrops hit unprotected soil and splash up, taking the topsoil and leaving stains on walls and walkways. Sheet wash: flowing water from a natural or manmade source washes away topsoil. Tunnel erosion: falling water’s impact on unprotected soil drills into the ground, allowing more water to drill deeper, eventually causing an erosion tunnel and then a collapsed run.Deflation: rainwater erodes soil exposing rocks and tree roots.  Accumulation: soil moved by wind and water creates dunes and berms and chokes up streams.

Steps to Identify Erosion

Look over your lawn and garden for noticeable slopes; more than a 33 percent slope is likely to cause erosion. You can go to YouTube or any handy gardeners web site to learn how to measure for yourself the slopes in your land, or you can call in a surveyor to give you that information. An experienced hardscape service should provide that information, too. Survey your lawn and gardens for ruts and crevices, areas that are beginning to collapse along hillsides and steep slopes. Stake these problem areas so you can see if there’s a pattern, a clear direction of erosion. Do the ruts begin near the downspouts and flow down a slope in the lawn? Are there animals digging or burrowing that form ruts that may be shallow but have potential for collapsing? Are the stakes marking spots where you’ve lost shrubs and/or trees in the last year or two? Draw a map of your lawn and gardens; try to make it to scale. In a bright color, mark the areas where the erosion has occurred. Identify and note the cause of each area of erosion if you can. 

Expand

Devise a Work Plan for The Problem Areas

Here are some of the methods available to repair areas where the earth has been or is being eroded:

For general “wash away” of lawn or flower beds, an erosion control blanket is a useful option. In a woven “cloth” of straw, coconut, or jute, and seeds are imbedded. Spread this net or blanket over exposed soil. The imbedded seeds will soon germinate, take root, and the mat or cloth, which protected the seeds from birds foraging and heavy rain, will disintegrate.  We’re all familiar with good, old-fashioned ground covers such as periwinkle, ivy, and pachysandra. They’ll eventually fill in and protect the soil. (Do not plant ajuga or mondo grass; they’re sneaky little guys and will soon pop up in all the wrong places, plus you’ll never get them out.) Baffles can sometimes solve the rut problem. Use gravel or river-rocks in the rut, being careful to partially bury them so they don’t just wash away. Wood ties can also serve as baffles, laid across the slope and buried sufficiently to prevent their being washed away too. Terracing is a bit more drastic, requiring a careful plan for flattening areas down the slope. This is usually reserved for severe slopes.

Proactive Redesigning

Once repairs have been completed and your lawn and gardens are restored, it may be wise to consider a few ways to prevent erosion and ensure conservancy of precious water during periods of drought. 

Re-examine Sloping. You or your professional have identified any sloping terrain and the percentage of that slope. But what do you do with that information? Generally, if the slope is:

33% or less, application of mulch or planting of ground cover will suffice to protect the soil from erosion. 

33–50%, drip irrigation, an erosion control blanket, deep-root vegetation can help.

Steeper than 50%, terracing, retaining walls, and riprap may be necessary.

Rain barrels at the base of all downspouts not only controls water flow but provide a means to conserve and use captured rainwater during times of drought or for general lawn and garden maintenance. Rain gardens offer an interesting visual component in your garden. Bowl shaped and shallow, they’re usually lined with pebbles and hardy ground cover. When heavy rains occur, properly located rain gardens serve as catchments for excess water which can then be slowly released into the earth. A word of caution: be sure the rain garden is not situated too near any building’s foundation, or a home’s septic system or well. Trees & shrubs: Don’t overlook the practical protection the roots of trees and shrubs offer, holding together hillsides and capturing topsoil. We all know the many advantages and delights that accompany the cultivation of magnolias, crape myrtle, maples, and oaks. Mulching lays down a protective layer over precious topsoil. Mulch holds moisture, releasing the moisture gradually to nourish plants and trees. 

With a little help from Mother Nature, your work restoring and protecting your lawns and gardens from wind and water damage will be well worth the investments in time and resources when March winds and April showers come our way. 

BY JANICE F. BOOTH