J A N U A R Y 2 0 1 1 V O L U M E 1 3 , I S S U E 1

Queen Anne’s County Master Gardener Newsletter

The Watering Can

I N S I D E T H I S

I S S U E :

Coordinators

Corner

2

QAC MG News 2

Holiday Luncheon 3

From the Garden

Library

4

2010 Monthly Meeting 5

Jean Higgins Trip 6

Bay-Wise Advanced

Training 6

Longwood Gardens

Trip 7

Garden Affair Update 8

Bay-Wise 9

Calendar 10

Calendar 11

MG of the Month: Julie Tompkins

Julie joined the Queen Anne’s County Master Gardeners in 2004. Since joining Julie has been a very dedicated member often helping out where ever she can. Recently, Julie agreed to take on coordinating the Holi-

day Luncheon and the Silent Auction to support our Bay-Wise committee. Julie put in a lot of hours into making the event wonderful. Thank you Julie for all of your hard work!

Kate Greer, a resident of Queens-town, joined the QAC MG’s with the class of 2008. Since joining Kate has been an active participant in the planning and implementation of our annual Garden Affair. She regularly contributes to the Grow It Eat It committee and has been a driving

force in the St. Martins community garden endeavor. Additionally, Kate recently took on Bay-Wise co

chairperson for the southern end of Queen Anne’s county

with MG Jane Chambers. Thank you Kate for all of your hard

work and support this year!

Karen Wimsatt, a resident of Stev-ensville, joined the QAC MG’s with the 2004 class. Since joining Karen has been our newspaper consultant, frequently writing articles and tak-ing pictures of Master Gardener ac-tivities. Karen has done an excellent job at making sure that the commu-nity knows about the Master Gar-dener program in QAC through writ-ing articles on Bay-Wise, Grow It Eat It, Garden Affair and our Intern Classes. Thank you Karen for all of your hard work and support of the Master Gardener program!

MG’s of the Year, Kate Greer (Left) and Karen Wimsatt (Middle) were completely surprised to

receive our highest honor

Kate Greer Karen Wimsatt

Volunteers of the Year

Submitted by Julie Tompkins,

with additions by Neenah

P A G E 2

Coordinator’s Corner

T H E W A T E R I N G C A N

QACMG News –Volunteer Hours Needed UPDATE YOUR

CONTACT INFO!

Please send any changes

to Rachel Melvin at

rmelvin1@umd.edu,

505 Railroad Ave,

Suite 4,

Centreville, MD 21617

or fax: (410) 758-3687

Rachel Melvin,

Master Gardener

Coordinator

Thanks to all who have gotten

their time sheets in since our

last newsletter. If you haven’t

done so yet, please take time to

do so right now and record your

hours for 2010. Even if you

have completed your 20 hours

(active MG) or 40 hours

(Intern), please report any ad-

ditional hours. Showing our

hours is how we demonstrate

the impact our program has on

the surrounding community. As

of right now, we have 3,092

hours turned in where as, last

year, we had over 5,068 hours turned in by

December. This compares very well with

2008, which had a total of 3,248 hours re-

ported. If you need help filling out time-

sheets or have questions regarding codes

please contact Pat Bowell or me, and we can

help in anyway possible. You can mail time-

sheets to the office (University of Maryland

Extension, 505 Railroad Ave, Suite 4, Cen-

treville, MD 21617) or email them to Pat

Bowell at bowell74@verizon.net or Rachel

at rmelvin1@umd.edu .

All 2010 Master Gardener Hours are due by Monday, January 24th

As everyone knows, I have the hardest time choosing “Master Gardener of the Year,” mostly because everyone helps in their own unique way. So picking someone who stands out more than everyone else is quite a task. This year was just the same as previous years….. The two MG’s that were chosen (Kate Greer and Karen Wimsatt) have been particularly helpful in the past year. Thank you Kate and Karen

for a wonderful year of service! In addition, 14 other MG’s were recognized for their contributions to the program at the Holiday Luncheon. Thank you everyone who attended and thank you for a very memorable year.

P A G E 3 V O L U M E 1 3 , I S S U E 1

MG’s Gayle Jayne (Left), Margaret Carter

(Middle) and Carol Jelich enjoy the 2010

Holiday Luncheon

Picture This 2010 Holiday Luncheon Continued on page 3

MG’s Jane Chambers (Left), Carole Colavito (Middle)

and Jane Smith (Right) at the 2010

Holiday Luncheon

This year our annual Holiday Luncheon was held on Wednesday, December 15th at the Prospect Bay Country Club in Grasonville. Master Gardeners en-joyed taking a break from the hustle and bustle of the Holiday Season to relish in each others com-pany. Over 40 Master Gardeners and spouses came together to celebrate the achievements of QAC MG’s

throughout the past year. Our silent auction to support our Bay-Wise committee was a huge success, raising almost $900 to help pay for our Bay-Wise signs. Thank to everyone that purchased or donated items for our Silent Auction! Additionally, thank you to everyone for another fantastic year!

3 Year Master Gardeners-2007

Peggie Christie

Carole Colavito

Linda Goldkrantz

Alice Macnow

Colleen A. Raudenbush

Susan Seth

Jane Smith

2009 Master Gardener Intern

Kit Foster

Ruth Menefee

Denise Miller

Lori Sharer

David Taylor

2010 Master Gardener Interns

Dick Crane

Suzanne Craddock

Billie Gibson

Carolyne Grotsky

Joe Jelich

Sarah Johnson

Byron McAllister

Susan McRae

Jim Persels

Louise Shearer

Stephanie Simpson

Casey Townsend

Lynn Wait

Anne Wake

2010 Master Gardener Recognition

Emeritus:

Edith Sakell

T H E W A T E R I N G C A N

From the Garden Library by MG Carol Jelich

Wild Urban Plants of the Northeast: A field guide, by Peter Del Tredici. Cornell University Press, 2010. 371 pages This book is similar to Richard Uva’s Weeds of the Northeast, but just different enough to warrant a look. It is a field guide that includes descriptions of 222 plants that are found in urban environ-ments – think sidewalk cracks and vacant lots. Most of these plants are found in rural and subur-ban areas as well. It is worth picking up this book just for the Introduction, which delves into the historical movement, the how and why, of “weeds” into the region. A table shows that 72 of the plants originated in Central & North America, with others coming from Europe, Asia, and Africa. The photos and descriptions of the plants are excellent, but even more interesting and unique are sections on ecological function and cultural significance of each plant. This information is pre-sented with the goal of helping the reader to “develop an appreciation for the role they play in making our cities more livable.” I have learned a lot from these sections – here is one of my favor-ites entries, regarding Leucanthemum vulgare (Oxeye daisy): “Philadelphia naturalist John Bar-tram was inspired to become a botanist when he stopped in the middle of plowing his fields one day to look closely at an oxeye daisy: ‘What a shame, said my mind, or something that inspired my mind, that thee shouldst have employed so many years in tilling the earth and destroying so many flowers and plants, without being acquainted with their structures and their uses!’ ” One word of caution – while these plants are hardy and can thrive in an urban setting, we shouldn’t forget that some of them become harmful invasives when they move into natural areas. Location is key! As Bay-Wise Master Gardeners, we encourage people to reduce use of pesticides and in-crease diversity in their landscapes. The information in this book could help promote a new ap-preciation of some of the (non-invasive) plants we call “weeds.”

MY TOP TWELVE BOOKS FOR “BAY-WISE” GARDENERS

Here are the books I find most useful or interesting on conservation landscaping, native and invasive plants, and

sustainable “Bay-Wise” gardening. I think the two books marked * should be in every Bay-Wise gardener’s li-

brary.

Burrell, C. Colston. Native Alternatives to Invasive Plants. Brooklyn Botanic Garden, 2006.

Cullina, William. Growing and Propagating Wildflowers in the United States and Canada. Houghton Mifflin

Company, 2000.

Kaufman, Sylvan Ramsey and Wallace Kaufman. Invasive Plants: Guide to identification and the impacts and

control of common North American species. Stackpole Books, 2007.

*Slattery, Britt E., Kathryn Reshetiloff, and Susan M. Zwicker. Native Plants for Wildlife Habitat and Conserva-

tion Landscaping: Chesapeake Bay watershed. U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, Chesapeake Bay Field Of-

fice, 2005.

Thunhorst, Gwendolyn A. Wetland Planting Guide for the Northeastern United States: Plants for wetland crea-

tion, restoration, and enhancement. Environmental Concern, Inc., 1993.

Lathan, Zora, and Thistle A. Cone. Ecoscaping Back to the Future: Restoring Chesapeake landscapes. Chesa-

peake Ecology Center, 2005. (Available from www.ChesapeakeEcologyCenter.org) Maloof, Joan, Teaching the Trees: Lessons from the forest. University of Georgia Press, 2005.

Stein, Sara. Noah’s Garden: Restoring the ecology of our own back yards. Houghton Mifflin Company, 1993.

(This was the book that inspired me to become a sustainable gardener).

Zimmerman, Catherine. Urban & Suburban Meadows: Bringing meadowscaping to big and small spaces. Matrix

Media Press, 2010.

Sawyers, Claire E. The Authentic Garden: Five principles for cultivating a sense of place. Timber Press, 2007.

Summers, Carolyn. Designing Gardens with Flora of the American East. Rutgers University Press, 2010.

*Tallamy, Douglas W. Bringing Nature Home: How you can sustain wildlife with native plants. Updated and ex-

panded. Timber Press, 2007.

P A G E 4

P A G E 5 V O L U M E 1 3 , I S S U E 1

Monthly Meetings are held the

3rd Wednesday of the month and start

at 9:30 AM

104 Tilghman Ave

Centreville, Md. 21617

From South of Centreville

Follow 213 N. into town. Turn right at first light onto Water

street and **pass the PNC bank on your right. Tilghman

Ave will be on your right. Turn right onto Tilghman Ave.

Street Parking is available.

From North of Centreville

Follow 213 S. into town. Turn Left on E. Water St. **Follow

directions above.

Tilghman Terrace

Date Topic Time Place

Wednesday, January 19, 2011 Edwardian Landscapes with

Native Plants Speaker: MG Interns

9:30am to 11:30 am Tilghman Terrace

Wednesday, February 16, 2011 Watercolors in the Garden

Speaker: Patty Mowell

9:30am to 11:30 am Tilghman Terrace

Wednesday, March 16, 2011 Web Soil Survey Speaker: Jim Brewer

9:30am to 11:30 am Wye Research and Education

Center

Wednesday, April 20, 2011 Pollinators Speaker: Mike Embry

9:30am to 11:30 am Wye Research and Education

Center

Wednesday, May 11, 2011 * Week Earlier due to Annual

Training Day*

Composting Speaker: Lew Shell

9:30am to 11:30 am Tilghman Terrace

Wednesday, June 15, 2011 Picnic 11:30 am to 2 pm Linda & Jack Doubs Home

Wednesday, July 20, 2011 Bay-Wise 9:30am to 11:30 am Tilghman Terrace

Wednesday, September 21, 2011

Orchids Speaker: Roger Cole

9:30am to 11:30 am Arbec’s Greenhouse

Ridgeley, MD

Wednesday, October 19, 2011 Bring One Get One, Bring Two Get Two

9:30am to 11:30 am Tilghman Terrace

Wednesday, November 16, 2011

Planning 2012 9:30am to 11:30 am Tilghman Terrace

Wednesday, December 14, 2011

* Week early due to Holiday*

Holiday Luncheon Place???

T H E W A T E R I N G C A N

P A G E 6

to Jean Higgins Studio outside of Centreville, MD

On

Wednesday, January 26th at 10:30 am

Limit 10 people RSVP to Rachel by 1/20/11

QAC Master Gardeners will be taking a tour of Jean Higgins studio outside of Centre-ville on Wednesday, January 26th. Jean is a fabulous artist who works with Raku pot-tery, decorated with animal motifs, jewelry, and much much more. Additionally, Jean has graciously, offered to show us a video that she made about the fox family that lives on her property. This video was recently shown at the Chestertown Wildlife Show and is a real treat to see. Groups of 4 or more receive 20% off purchases! Since Jean’s studio is located in her home we are limited to 10 people for the trip, RSVP to Rachel is due by Thursday, January 20th. Car pooling is suggested and should be ready to leave the extension office by 10:15am.

Join us on Tuesday, March 8 & 15, 2011 9:30 AM to 3:30 PM

LOCATION: Eastern Shore Hospital Center—English Hall 5262 Woods Road, Cambridge, MD 21613

Topics covered: Bay-Wise Consultations, Composting, Hazardous Household Products, Lawn Care, Landscape Management, Private Well Management, Recycling, Septic System Management, Storm Water Management, Water Quality, Water Conservation and more!

Please submit registration form by February 15, 2011 with check in the amount of $40 made payable to QAC EAC (Queen Anne’s County Extension Advisory Council):

University of Maryland Extension-Queen Anne’s County 505 Railroad Ave, Suite 4

Centreville, MD 21617 (410) 758-0166

P A G E 7 V O L U M E 1 3 , I S S U E 1

Longwood Gardens Trip NAME:________________________________________________________________________ ADDRESS:___________________________________________________________________ TELEPHONE: ( )______________ E-MAIL: _____________________________ COUNTY: ___________________________

R.S.V.P and payment due by Monday, March 7th

Please submit registration form by March 7, 2011 with check in the amount of $40 made payable to QAC EAC (Queen Anne’s County Extension Advisory Council):

University of Maryland Extension-Queen Anne’s County 505 Railroad Ave, Suite 4

Centreville, MD 21617 (410) 758-0166

The Queen Anne’s, Talbot, and Dorchester Master Gardeners will be joining together to visit Longwood Gardens on Thursday, April 14, 2011. We will be leaving the route 404 & 50 Park and Ride via motor coach promptly at 7: 15 am and will not be returning until 5:30 pm. The cost of the trip is $40 and includes the cost of the bus and ticket into Longwood's. The trip is limited to 44 individuals so this is a first come first serve basis.

N E W S L E T T E R T I T L E

P A G E 8

Now that the holidays are behind us we can begin to look forward to Spring and planning our gar-dens. This also means thinking about the fourth annual Garden Affair. Plans are underway for the Garden Affair to be held Sat-urday, May 21, 2011 at the Cen-treville Library and Wright’s Chance properties from 10:00AM until 2:00 PM. A preliminary planning meeting was held in November and the next meeting will be held on Janu-ary 10, 2011 at 9:00 AM at the Extension Office. Master Garden-ers are invited to serve on the planning committee as well as sign up to help with various ac-tivities prior to The Garden Affair and on the day of the event. We welcome Master Gardeners to come to the January meeting as we continue planning. As always we are looking for new ideas for demonstrations, displays and ac-tivities. We especially look for-ward to fresh ideas and input from the interns. There will be volunteer sign up sheets available at the Master Gardener meetings. Since profits from the bake sale, plant sale and green elephant sale help us fund various activities please be thinking how you might

donate items for these sales. When your garden catalogs arrive in the mail you can be thinking of growing some plants from seeds or possibly dividing plants for the plant sale. Herbs, vegetables and perennials are always welcomed and sell well. We all surely have some garden related items (pots, tools, etc.) that we no longer use that can be donated to the green elephant sale. Judy Geggis has graciously volunteered to serve as publicity chairperson again this year and she has already begun to get out information to meet early dead-lines. Judy did an outstanding job last year and we had great coverage. If you have ideas for new venues to get out our message please contact Judy. The Garden Affair is a great opportunity to showcase our many activities, provide educational experiences for the commu-nity and raise funds to support our edu-cational programs throughout the year. It is a fun event that requires energy and commitment from everyone. It is also an occasion when we all can accumulate some volunteer hours. This year more so than ever in the current economic cli-mate we need to justify and sell our pro-gram. We all know the value of our pro-grams and our volunteer hours and we need to make sure that those who con-trol funding also see value in what we do in the community.

Garden Affair Update by MG Susan Seth (Garden Affair Chairperson)

Bay-Wise Leadership In 2011, there will be three co-chairs for the Bay-Wise Committee: Vida Morley, Kate Greer, and Jane Chambers. Please contact one of the Bay-Wise leaders if you have any questions about the Bay-Wise program. Thanks to Vida,

Kate and Jane for stepping forward to lead this important committee!

2010 Year in Review In 2010, there were 11 Bay Wise Consultations. Of these, five were Certifications. Four Certifications were for members of the public, including two that were particularly notable. In February, several Queen Anne’s County MGs joined others MGs from Talbot County to do a consultation on a property on the Wye River in Talbot County, owned by Tim Junkin, Executive Director of Choptank River/Eastern Bay Conservancy. In November, Debbie Pusey and Rachel conducted a consultation with Phil Schwartz, Kate Greer’s neighbor, with an emphasis on Bay-Wise lawn care, which was filmed for a video being done for Environmental Protection Agency. The video should be out in the spring and Rachel will get a copy. Thanks to MG interns Stephanie Simpson and Anne Wake for inviting us to do Bay-Wise consultations. Congratulations to MG Cass Smith for Bay-Wise certification of her property, and to Sabine Harvey for certification of her property and also for sponsoring cer-tification of Kent County Middle School (formerly Chestertown Middle School). In the spring, the Bay-Wise committee offered a series of lectures at libraries in Queen Anne’s and Caroline Counties. Rachel, Mar-garet Carter, Debbie Pusey and Carol Jelich gave the talks, which covered gardening for wildlife/native and invasive plants; fertiliz-ing wisely/lawn care; water wise gardening, and IPM/beneficial insects. Carol Jelich team taught the Bay-Wise intern class this year with Talbot MG Joanne Buritsch. Several interns are interested in join-ing the Bay-Wise committee. An article prepared by Karen Wimsatt, Heather Buritsch and Rachel was printed in the Star Democ-rat, regarding the Bay-Wise class for interns and the Bay-Wise program. The article was circulated and we received complimentary recognition of our program from Tom Miller, the Regional Director for Extension and Nick Place, the Associate Dean for the College of Ag. and Natural Resources. We hope that all Master Gardeners and interns, who have not already done so, will schedule a Bay-Wise consultation for the com-ing year. MG consultations give committee members a chance to hone their consultation skills, and it is always a treat to share gardening tips with other MGs. We all learn from each other! To schedule your consultation visit, please contact Rachel. Meeting Report The Bay-Wise Committee met on November 17 at the Extension office. Present were Co-chairs Jane Chambers, Kate Greer, and Vida Morley, members Bonnie Dixon, Kit Foster, Carol Jelich, and Debbie Pusey, and MG Coordinator Rachel Melvin. The commit-tee membership roster was updated. Carol Jelich volunteered to be the secretary for the Bay-Wise committee, to support commu-nications. We discussed ways to promote the Bay-Wise program, the Speakers Bureau, and events upcoming in 2011, including Corsica River Appreciation Day on September 17. We reviewed procedures for responding to information requests and the con-tents of packets that are provided during consultations. We discussed recent consultation visits and scheduled committee meet-ings for 2011. If anyone is interested in seeing the full minutes of the meeting, please contact Rachel or Carol. Meeting schedule for 2011 In 2011, the Bay-Wise Committee will meet immediately following monthly MG meetings, according to the following schedule:

Wednesday, January 19, 2011 – Tilghman Terrace

Wednesday, April 20, 2011 – WREC or at Carol Jelich’s. Wednesday, October 19, 2011 – Tilghman Terrace

In addition, the Bay-Wise Committee will present the program at the monthly MG meeting on Wednesday, July 20, 2011. The next meeting of the Bay-Wise committee will be on Wednesday, January 19, 2011, at the Tilghman Terrace in Centreville, im-mediately following the monthly MG meeting. We will work on preparing packets for homeowner consultations to be scheduled in the coming year. All MGs are invited to join the Bay-Wise Committee and attend the meeting.

Submitted by: MG Carol Jelich, Bay-Wise Secretary

Upcoming Meetings and Trips

P A G E 1 0

T H E W A T E R I N G C A N

Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri

3 4 5 6 7

10 Garden Affair

meeting at Extension

Office 9 am see page

8

11 St. Martins

Meeting at Exten-

sion Office 10 am

12 13 Grow It Eat It

Meeting at Extension

Office 9 am

14

17 Extension Office

Closed

18 19 Monthly MG Mtg

9:30 am see page 5

Bay-Wise meeting

11:30am at

Tilghman Terrace

20 21

24 Newsletter sub-

missions and MG

Hours due

25 26 Trip to Jean Hig-

gins studio see page

6

27 28

31

January 2011

Monday, Jan 10th: Garden Affair Mtg at Extension Office– 9am Tuesday, Jan 11th: St. Martins Mtg at Extension Office-10am Thursday, Jan 13th: Grow It Eat It Mtg at Extension Office—9am Wednesday, Jan 19th: MG Monthly Mtg at Tilghman Terrace– 9:30 am Wednesday, Jan 19th: Bay-Wise Mtg at Tilghman Terrace-11:30 am Wednesday, Jan 26th: Trip to Jean Higgins Studio (see page 6)

Julie Tompkins, Karen Wimsatt, Sandy Simonson,

Jane Smith, Susan Seth, Carole Colavito, Kit Fos-

ter, Genie Fitzgerald, Vida Morley, and Linda Doub

for helping with the Holiday Luncheon. Carol Jelich

for being Bay-Wise Secretary. As always, thanks is due to all of you, but if we

missed a deserved thank you or if you wish to express your appreciation to someone,

please let Rachel know and it shall be acknowledged in the next newsletter.

Thanks To:

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University of Maryland Extension

Queen Anne’s County

505 Railroad Ave.

Suite 4

Centreville, MD 21617

Vision Statement: A healthier world through environmental stewardship

Master Gardener Coordinator,

Queen Anne’s County

QACMG Website:

http://queenannes.umd.edu/QACMG/

index.cfm

University of Maryland Extension

505 Railroad Avenue, Suite 4

Centreville MD, 21617

Phone: (410) 758-0166

Fax: (410) 758-3687

http://queenannes.umd.edu/

February Newsletter Deadline:

Monday, January 17th

Send submissions to Rachel:

rmelvin1@umd.edu

It is the policy of the University of Maryland and University of Maryland Extension, that no person shall be

subjected to discrimination on the grounds of race, color, gender, religion, national origin, sexual orientation, age, marital or parental status, or disability. Equal opportunity employers and equal access programs.

Q: What do you get if you cross a snowman and a shark???? A: Frostbite