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LOOSELEAF

A publication of the University of Maryland Extension

Howard County Master Gardeners.

3300 NORTH RIDGE ROAD, SUITE 240 ELLICOTT CITY, MD 21043

(410)313-2707 FAX (410)313-2712

http://www.extension.umd.edu/mg/locations/howard-county-master-gardener December 2018/January 2019

INSIDE

2 - Holiday Party * Garden News * MG Recognition * Mentor Help Wanted

3 - “New” MG Logo

4 - Record Your Hours * Check the Calendar * Continuing Ed

5 - News from Whipps

6 - BayWise is Making a Difference

7 - Latin for Gardeners

Your gardens, and the MG demonstration gardens that you care for, have been put to bed for this season. I’m sure you left some seed heads out there for the birds!

Now our focus turns to the 2019 MG intern training and the Recognition Event. We are doing something a little different in regard to the training plan. On Tuesday, Nov. 20, the training team met to review and discuss logistics for the 2019 training. The team this year includes Elaine Kielman (Training Assistant), Molly McElwee (Food Hosts), and Bob Doyle (Mentor Coordinator). Barb Langridge is coordinating interviews for our class applicants. She and her team have already begun, and will continue during the second week of interviewing starting on January 7. Lois Savar-Rock will again coordinate our Volunteer Opportunity Fair scheduled for March 6.

Be sure to mark your calendar for our annual MG Recognition Event at Miller Library. It will be on Sunday, Jan 13 from 2:00 pm to 4:00 pm. We’ll honor the Class of 2018 and MGs reaching milestone years. It’s a great opportunity to visit with your MG colleagues, so plan now to attend.

NOTE: The UME office will be closed from Dec. 24 through Wed., January 4. I can be reached at UME, 410-313-1913 or e-mail, geacker@umd.edu, if you have questions.

Best wishes for the holidays and keep in touch in 2019! Georgia Eacker MG Coordinator

Program Update from Georgia —

LooseLeaf * December 2018/January 2019 * Page 2

We need about a dozen mentors this winter for the MG class of 2019. Mentoring is fun and rewarding, and gives you an opportunity to pass on what you’ve learned as an MG to future Master Gardeners. (It’s also an easy way to earn volunteer hours.)

If you would like to help us, just give Bob Doyle a call at 410-465-4883 or send him an Email at gobikebob@verizon.net.

Help Needed to Mentor the Class of 2019

The Holiday Party is December 11 from noon - 2 at Pat Greenwald’s lovely home, Salopha, locat-ed at 691 River Road in Sykesville. Watch your email for an evite and to RSVP with your Potluck contribution to our celebration!

Our annual MG recognition event will be held Sunday, January 13 We hope all MGs will attend and help us honor the Class of 2018. Our recent Interns who com-pleted the required number of volunteer hours will receive their permanent MG name badges. And we will honor the Class of 2016 with three-year pins and the Class of 2014 with five-year pins. We will also recognize MGs who have been ac-tive for 10, 15, 20 and 25 years, and we will acknowledge all of the Howard County MGs who volunteered 100+ hours during the year. The event on Jan. 13 will be held from 2:00 pm to 4:00 pm at Miller branch library. We look forward to seeing everyone…and the amazing array of homemade treats after the ceremony!

It’s been a great year for my camellias. They endured the recent snow and the blossoms are currently visible from both my dining room and sunroom windows. Although they’re not natives, their beauty is welcomed at this time of year. — Sharon Smith, MG class of 2013

UME Master Gardener Holiday Party

MG Recognition Event

Garden News from MGs

LooseLeaf * December 2018/January 2019 * Page 3

Here’s a link to the MG logo page on the Extension website. It’s the one-stop shop for everything you need: logos in black and white or full color, logos for horizontal or vertical shape, and all six of the subset logos. The subset logos are the ones to use for Bay-wise, Composting, Grow It Eat It, Plant Clinics, Pollinators and Na-tives.

Printed pieces: For most printed pieces you’ll want to use the jpg files. You can choose the black and white logo from the jpg files for the majority of your needs. For colorful, printed pieces (tri-folds, fliers, posters, etc.) you should choose the color version (RGB) of a jpg file.

Remember, when you are sizing the logo to make it smaller, always pull from a corner so you don’t skew the logo.

Slide presentations: Beginning and ending slides for PowerPoint are available online. Just use the link above to arrive at the MG logo page. It’s imperative that all of us add these slides to our current presentations as soon as possible. It will reinforce MG branding efforts by the University of Maryland Extension. Note: the ending slide includes a space to fill in “Howard.” Please remove the underline! It’s there just to indicate where to type in our county name.

There are a total of five slides to incorporate into your existing and new presentations. The first three (slides 1 to 3) should be inserted at the start of your presentation. The last two (slides 4 and 5) should end of your presentation.

If you have questions about using the MG logo in printed pieces, or how to incorporate the five slides into your presentations, please contact Roy or Janine.

Roy Heath: therents2001@yahoo.com

Janine Grossman: janinegrossman@gmail.com

Our “new” MG logo is almost a year old!

LooseLeaf * December 2018/January 2019 * Page 4

2018 Continuing Education Speaker Series

Make it a new year’s resolution to regularly check the MG activities calendar. It’s on the Howard County page of the MG website. Here’s what’s coming up.

December 3 Bay-wise meeting at UME

11 MG luncheon

January

13 Recognition Event @ Miller library

23 Training class begins (topic: soil)

Check the MG Calendar

Report Your Hours!

To remain certified, you’ll need to submit your volunteer and continuing education hours. NOW! Remember: MGs are required to spend 20 hours supporting Howard County residents with their gardening and lawn care activities at one of our recognized programs (such as youth education, composting, Bay-wise, plant clinics, Grow It Eat It, etc), or presenting gardening topics at a library or community cen-ter. You are also required to obtain 10 hours of continuing education during the year.

Interns: You completed the education requirement during class last winter. But, be sure to report your 40+ hours of volunteering. Questions? Send a note to Georgia Eacker: geacker@umd.edu.

The Continuing Education coordinators are looking to pass the baton to MGs with fresh ideas for speakers. The role involves meeting with Georgia at the end of the calendar year, brainstorming 7 speaker ideas for the next cal-endar year, reaching out to speakers in January, and introducing speakers prior to the talk. We also arrive 20 minutes before the talk to set-up the room. Talks are normally the second Tuesday from 9:30am-11:00am in the months of February, March, April, May, September, October, and November. If interested, please contact: Karin DeLaitsch kdlaitsch@gmail.com; or, Joanna Cumbie rladywalking@msn.com.

Thank you to all speakers for another great year of garden topics and a bouquet of thanks to all attendees!

LooseLeaf * December 2018/January 2019 * Page 5

As work at the Whipps Garden Cemetery comes to a close for the season, we’d like to recognize the many volunteers who have worked hard this year to maintain and improve the garden and cemetery. Constant watering helped the boxwood and new plants thrive and Whipps has never looked better. Unfortunately, after all the diligent work given to the newly planted boxwood most of them did not make it through the season. Replacements or alternate shrubs will be added in the spring. With the excessive amount of rain and changing temperatures this summer, Whipps also lost its old lilacs. This area was replanted with a dwarf magnolia tree surrounded by Pee Wee hydrangeas. Additional-ly, 400 yellow daffodils were planted around the front entrance.

Many thanks goes to the volunteers (Master Gardeners and Glenelg Country School students) who contributed many hours pushing the heavy wheelbarrows full of mulch and chips, planting and trans-planting plants, making trips to Alpha Landfill, raking the leaves, watering, and turning the compost bins. A very special thanks also goes to the support and donations of both plants and money which are the lifeblood for maintaining the cemetery.

We again received a donation certified daylily rhizomes from Fred and Sue Briscoe, local daylily growers, to be sold at the 2019 annual plant sale. To bring in new varieties every year, he needs to dispose of many prize varieties. Whipps is fortunate to be the recipient again this year.

Mark your calendars:

A volunteer appreciation luncheon/planning meeting will be held in February.

Saturday, April 6, 2019 - Whipps Daffodil Day.

Friday, May 10, * Saturday, May 11, 2019 - Our annual plant sale fundraiser at the First Lutheran Church.

If anyone needs additional Master Gardener hours please let me know. Whipps will soon have a lot of leaves to rake. Regular Thursday workdays contin-ue, starting at 8 a.m. If you cannot make it, you are welcome to come anytime to work.

For questions and/or concerns, please email or call me: Aleta Gravelle 410-465-2398 or 410-274-7795 (cell)

If you have never visited the cemetery, please do so. A self-paced walking tour is available in the brochure box at the parking pad. Everyone is welcome to stroll through the garden at any time.

News from Whipps Garden Cemetery

Paul Kozjar installed a beehive at Whipps this year. See if you can find it during your next visit to the garden!

LooseLeaf * December 2018/January 2019 * Page 6

In November Alison Milligan, Judy Fulton, and Sharon Smith visited a property in Ellicott City to help solve a problem, en-hance existing landscape and create habitat. The team observed moving water from an upstream underground spring that, with the addition of stormwater, was creating a serious issue in the yard. They discussed the negative impact of simply send-ing the water into the nearby stormdrain without first treating it. They were able to suggest multiple ways to slow down, spread out and soak in the water to reduce runoff pollution. Plants to prevent erosion were suggested as well as wetland plants to be used in a future ponding area. Judy identified numerous native and invasive plants in the landscape and Sharon suggested additional ways to capture and treat water elsewhere on the property. The homeowner is in discussion with both of his neighbors to create a conservation landscape that manages regular runoff more judiciously.

Increasingly, homeowners are asking for help managing stormwater runoff during Bay-Wise visits. The more we can learn ourselves, the more we can effectively advise and serve the public. In 2018, 28 Bay-Wise Master Gardener teams visited 44 clients in Howard County! Bay-Wise visits play an important role in educating and helping communities and residents pro-tect our waterways and preserve biodiversity. Did you know - every stormwater best management practice (bmp) involves using vegetation (rain gardens, rain barrels, green roofs, dry creek beds, etc…)? In other words - a native plant! Thanks to all the Bay-Wise volunteers!

Bay-Wise Is Making a Difference

LooseLeaf * December 2018/January 2019 * Page 7

December’s Native Maryland Plant: All of them!

Hello Master Gardeners!

Winter is finally here, it’s time to take a rest from gardening, to enjoy the magic of the season and the holidays ahead. It’s also time for the end-of-year, just for fun quiz. The quiz is meant to help you visually recognize the plants featured this year, in their fall or winter dress, and to test your knowledge of their scientific names.

It’s always best to use the Latin name of plants when you recommend them to friends and the public – there’s only one Latin name for a plant so it avoids confusion and ensures people select the right plant when shopping at nurse-ries. The photos below were all taken in November or December, can you still recognize the plants? I’ve also shown them in bloom to remind you of their beauty and value throughout the year. Don’t feel bad if you can’t match them all – Latin is not an easy language. Good luck, or as they say in Latin, “Fortuna!”

Latin for Gardeners

Alison Milligan ~ Class of 2013

Mstr. Gardener / Mstr. Natural-

ist / Mstr. Watershed Steward

Chesapeake Bay Landscape Pro-

fessional (CBLP)

aligmilligan@gmail.com