Oh, Those Maryland Gardens!

Group photo at Historic Londontown in Edgewater, MD

By Gloria Day

The final Region II meeting of 2018 culminated on October 12 and 13 with tours of the Annapolis, MD area. Autumn temperatures greeted us at our first stop to Dovenest, the home and mini arboretum of Tony and Della Dove. This property has a very personal story behind its evolution, beginning with the purchase of the four acres in 1959. Today, it is a sensuous landscape, with a four-season design planted with diverse collection of trees, evergreen and deciduous shrubs, perennials, and groundcovers.

We were the FIRST group to tour this private garden and to be offered a guided horticultural tour of many of the treasures and gems within.

Always looking to further our knowledge, copies of Essential Native Trees and Shrubs for the Eastern United States authored by Tony Dove and Ginger Woolridge with exquisite photography by Della Dove were available for purchase and personal inscription.

A lunch break at Homestead Gardens and shopping spree was provided next. Homestead offers everything garden related for the retail customer and many happy faces entered the garden center to take advantage of post-season plant discounts, fall décor and to catch a glimpse of Holiday inventory arriving.  

Homestead is notable for their large growing operations located nearby, keeping costs low without incurring the shipping and middle-man costs.

Their Fall Festival is a huge event on weekends for children with family-centered activities and the permanent on-site petting zoo. Additionally, in true Annapolis style, the garden center is dog-friendly.        

Historic London Town and Gardens, a short distance away in Edgewater, MD, is as diverse in its function as the collection of plants it showcases. It serves as an historic site, an educational facility, an event destination, an ornamental garden and a future home for preservation of wild-collected and declining plant specimens. Director Lauren Silberman welcomed us; Tony Dove offered information about his early involvement planning and planting the initial site of the gardens adjacent to the historic buildings and the chief horticulturist gave us an overview of the property and plans for the future. With just two horticultural staff persons, London Town relies on community assistance and maintenance. An opportunity for several story angles and photographs was provided through this visit.

Next on tour was the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center. Again Dove led us into the past with a visit to the ruins on a hillside overlooking the Chesapeake Bay. Structurally reinforced and preserved with a contemporary steel infrastructure it gave us a glimpse to the architectural innovation we were to see at the laboratory. Amidst a native landscape, incorporating a rain garden and a natural pond, we arrived at the LEED-certified laboratory facility. Sustainability and research go hand-in-hand at this environmental research center as evidenced by our stream side visit with senior scientist Tom Jordan.

An add-on tour the next morning took us to the recently opened Glenstone Museum and sustainable landscape in Potomac, MD, was highlighted by our in-depth walking tour with chief sustainability officer Paul Tukey.

Paul structured our hike through the grounds,  detailing the conditions of the original site, architectural planning and incorporation of the green roofs, multi- million dollar costs for planting installations covering massive amounts of acreage with native tree and meadows and the challenge of planting and maintaining the Jeff Koons’ “SplitRocker” sculpture with annuals. Every question was answered and every photo opportunity was taken advantage of. This is a site to be visited as soon as possible and for generations to come.

Contee Farm ruins at Smithsonian Environmental Research Center.

Stream restoration project at Smithsonian Environmental Research Center.

Cypress trees at Tony Dove’s home garden the Dove’s Nest in Harwood, MD.

Meet the Author

Gloria Day is president of Pretty Dirty Ladies Inc. Garden Design & Maintenance; a member of Gardenwriters and the Pennsylvania Landscape & Nursery Association; she serves on the Pennsylvania Governor’s Residence Horticultural Advisory Committee and the Pennsylvania Invasive Species Council.  She recently received a Silver Award from GWA for her column “Get Growing”. Gloria gardens organically on two acres in Southeastern PA and can be reached at Gloria@prettydirtyladies.com.

What Do You Know About the Top 10 Resources of GWA – soon to be known as GardenComm?

Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

by Communications Committee

The Communications Committee created 10 Blogs about the Top 10 Resources available to GWA members. We found that many on our Committee learned a lot about resources we weren’t accessing because we didn’t know about them.

What did you learn? We’d like to find out with this five-minute GWA RESOURCE QUIZ to test your knowledge and more importantly, be sure you’re accessing all that’s available to further your garden communication career.

We know you ALL read our blogs and presentations, so below is a quick refresher.

DID WE MENTION THERE ARE PRIZES? Not that you need an incentive but, YES, all quiz takers will be eligible to win prizes. A big thank you to Gardener’s Supply, Fiskars, Brent and Becky’s Bulbs and more. The winners will be drawn at random from the pool of entrants and will be notified via email. Contest will close December 1st, 2018.

1 – GWA Online Learning Tools and Resources by Jessica Walliser
2 – The Importance of Networking by Deb Wiley
3 – The GWA Job Board by Katie Elzer-Peters
4 – Annual GWA Symposiums by Maree Gaetani and Jessica Walliser
5 – The GWA Power Circles Program by Communications Committee Guest Cauleen Viscoff
6 – The Legal Assist Program by Elizabeth Clark
7 – GWA Webinars by Maree Gaetani
8 – Expert Advice: What’s It Take to Be A Garden Communicator by Jessica Walliser with Guests Nan Sterman, Steve Biggs and Amy Andrychowicz
9 –  On the QT Newsletter by Katie Elzer-Peters
10 – GWA Newsclippings by Maree Gaetani

So, please test your knowledge of GWA Resources and be the first to win a prize!

Contest ends December 1st, 2018

Begin Survey

A GWA Regional Meeting in the Middle of Winter? You bet!

By Diane Blazek

Try something different! Go somewhere new! See something spectacular!

This GWA Regional Meeting is at a time of year when most of us are not thinking about our garden, except maybe wistfully planning what might become reality next year.

But we are very excited to invite you to the Rotary Botanical Gardens Holiday Light Show in Janesville, Wisconsin on December 13, 2018.

We’ll begin our day at local garden center K&W Greenery for a tour, poinsettia painting demo and greenery workshop.

From there we’ll travel the short distance to Rotary Botanical Gardens for an afternoon of learning about plants for winter interest, winter pruning, listening to experts who will inspire your 2019 gardens and…for the grand finale, a private showing of Rotary’s Holiday Light Show by Horticulturist Mark Dwyer. If you’ve never been on a garden tour with Mark, you are in for a treat!

A few key features of this year’s light show:

• As additional 50,000 lights in 2018 for 500,000+ total
• Many botanical themed displays
• Hundreds of lit holiday trees
• Three thousand half-gallon milk jug luminaries
• Decorated Japanese garden trees and shrubs contribute strong form (and color)
• And much more…this will be the biggest show yet and incorporates the new Wellness Garden

Click here to register.

The group will meet at K&W Greenery at 12:30 p.m., located at 1328 US-14, Janesville, WI 53545

(Optional, price not included in event) Meet for lunch at 11:00 a.m. at Road Dawg Janesville, 2419 Morse Street, Janesville, WI 53545 If you wish to join the lunch, please R.S.V.P. to Diane Blazek at dblazek@aaswinners.com

Then each of us will drive to Rotary in our own transportation.

If a hotel is needed, there are several options:

• Baymont Inn and Suites Janesville
• Scarlett House Bed & Breakfast
• Holiday Inn Express Janesville
• Microtel Inn & Suites

We can’t wait to see you there! 

Meet the Author

Diane Blazek, Executive Director of All-America Selections® and National Garden Bureau

For more than 30 years, Diane has been immersed in gardening both personally and professionally. She brings a passion to the subject based on a history in the field of horticulture publishing as well as a love for gardening and culinary exploration. Growing up on a small family farm in northern Missouri, Diane spent years helping her parents plant, tend and harvest a large home vegetable garden. As the president and publisher at Ball Publishing for 15 years, she led the way in connecting the commercial side of the industry with consumers via the live focus groups called Consumer Buzz Live! Diane also managed Ball Publishing’s entry into consumer garden book publishing. Since December of 2009, Diane has been leading both All-America Selections and National Garden Bureau through an exciting period of growth as they establish themselves as inspirational resources in the minds of garden communicators, public gardens, garden retailers and home gardeners. With both organizations, the connection to the consumer is of topmost importance and by using that connection, she provides direction and insights to the industry via both organizations as well as to GWA, An Association of Garden Communicators where she serves as a National Director.

 

 

 

A Makeover Moment for GWA

by Abra Lee

In 2003 Bravo network launched a television show called “Queer Eye for the Straight Guy.” It starts out with a team of men hopping into an SUV. Their mission: work together using their collective talents to help revamp the image of a straight man.

Known as the Fab Five, the team gets ready to take action and make positive change. Tossing on designer sunglasses they march off in formation and the work begins. By the end of each episode their client has become a better more refined version of themselves. The show was a hit and in season three Bravo network recognized the need to evolve its name to “Queer Eye.” The new change broadened the scope of its audience to allow makeovers of individuals regardless of gender or orientation.

The premise of this show sums up the best way to introduce the GWA “New Corporate Entity” taskforce. Led by C.L. Fornari and Kirk Brown, we are group of nine individuals from diverse personal and professional backgrounds. Instead of hopping into an SUV, we hopped onto a conference call and a chain of emails to discuss our mission: rebranding the image of GWA. In order for this beloved association to attain a higher level of success in the future, positive change must be made.

So how did this rebrand thought process work? In January we will officially merge two organizations into one (GWA and the GWA Foundation) and will have to file the paperwork (go to law) as a 501C3.  This makes it the perfect time to call our organization what it is, a group of communicators.

We started by taking a multipronged approach to reassess our name, logo, and  how to market ourselves moving forward. It did not take long to realize we needed to lean in and own who we truly are, an association of garden communicators. So why not just call ourselves that? Well, we already have a name GWA. However, standing on its own without any descriptors the acronym GWA does not reflect garden or communicators. In addition The Association for Garden Communicators is fourteen syllables long, a whole mouth full, and difficult to use in a fluid way for branding purposes. We needed a name that was to the point and stayed true to our authentic self. The end result was the suggestion GardenComm.

Shortening communications to comm makes sense. Step on any college campus and you will see buildings filled with MassComm majors, simply students learning to communicate with the masses. If that visual doesn’t resonate take a look at the ColorComm Network (www.colorcommnetwork.com). In seven short years, what started as an invite only luncheon of thirty-four women has turned into a thriving international organization for Women of Color in Communications. Even more engaging their association takes the name comm beyond a word for communications and uses it as an inclusive term that represents community.

Let’s be clear. GWA is a democracy. No name or logo change happens without a consensus of the creative minds of this association. We must look at ourselves through a critical lens and determine if this is our makeover moment. On behalf of the taskforce I am asking your support to get behind this positive change. With thoughtful consideration we can evolve to become the best version of ourselves. So put on your designer sunglasses, get in formation, and let’s continue the work to build an international community of garden communicators known as #GardenComm.

Meet the Author

Abra Lee is a Horticulturist Extraordinaire speaking truth on plants, fashion, and culture. You can follow her on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter @conquerthesoil

GWA Region II Baltimore Meeting, 9/20/18

By Janet Mackey

Gardens Galore! 15 GWA members from Region 2 enjoyed a lovely September day with a tour of Baltimore’s Cylburn Arboretum, visits to 5 private gardens in the rolling hills northwest of the city, a shopping spree at Babikow Greenhouses (with a wholesale discount), and fellowship at dinner at a local restaurant. We were treated to beautifully designed and tended gardens featuring intimate spaces, sunny borders, woodland walks, and vistas overlooking acres of meadowlands. The day provided inspiration, garden design ideas, and new plants to consider (or purchase!) in addition to time to get to know some of our fellow Region 2 members better.

This railing guides guests to the pool at Walnut Hill

Cylburn Arboretum offers 200 acres of trees, gardens, trails, and an historic mansion in a Baltimore City park. Head Gardener Patricia Sherman highlighted the tropical collection, salvias, and dahlias planted around the mansion.

Penney and A.C. Hubbard, owners of Walnut Hill, and Kathy Hudson, author of On Walnut Hill: The Evolution of a Garden, talked about the

A Joe Pye Weed at Walnut Hill hosts a chrysalis

development of the two-acre property over the years guided by design and plant ideas of the late Kurt Bluemel. A steep slope was transformed into terraced gardens. Stone steps and trails led through the hillside woodland garden of perennials – including yellow wax bells (Kirengeshoma palmata) and white spikes of black cohosh (Actaea racemosa) – and shrubs, understory trees, and stately mature trees.

 

Carol Macht’s nearby 3-acre property also featured terracing that created more useful spaces for perennial garden beds featuring many native plants, outdoor entertaining space, a swimming pool, and a beautiful view down grassy hills to the valley below.

A lovely stone wall with begonias in Nell Strathan’s woodland garden

Nell Strachan and Peter Ward’s multi-level home provided views into an amazing woodland garden that climbed down their steep hillside. A large paw paw tree (Asimina triloba) greeted visitors starting the decent; a nearby pathway, sided by a beautiful hedging of non-variegated Aucuba, provided a shiny deep green accent in the woods. An unusual Hearts-a-Bustin’ (Euonymous) bush still had a few scarlet and orange seedpods hanging from its branches.

The drive to the house at Longview provided views of recent stream restoration work and an orchard. The landscaping around the home included a series of terraces with gardens and a pool, a large fenced vegetable and cut-flower garden, raised beds with greens and berry bushes, and a unique arbor created by 2 espaliered apple trees bearing ripe red apples. Our group relaxed on the terrace for

Espaliered apple trees form an arbor at Longview

lunch and learned about recent garden history in the Baltimore area from Nell Strachan, including innovations in residential gardens by renowned designers such as Kurt Bluemel and Wolfgang Oehme.

 

Marilyn Van Tosh and Bob Thompson’s property featured a terrace surrounding a pool that overlooks a large managed meadow beginning to show its autumn colors. The homeowners continue to develop much of the rest of the property as a woodland garden with large swaths of shade plants including coral bells (Heuchera), Solomon’s Seal (Polygonatum), and turtleheads (Chelone glabra) in spots where sunshine broke through the leaf cover.

Generous sponsors increased our enjoyment of the day. Washington Gardener Magazine sponsored coffee and pastries to start our day. Cavano’s Perennials, Inc. sponsored our delicious boxed lunches. Bower and Branch, Garden Media Group, and member, Wendy Brister, provided door prizes for several lucky members, ranging from homemade garden-fresh Bloody Mary mix to hedge shears. Thank you to each of them from the participants.

A caterpillar serves as a latch on Longview’s gate to the cutting garden

We also send thanks to Kathy Jentz, GWA Region 2 National Director, for organizing the tour, to Cylburn Arboretum for hosting the early morning photo shoot, to the homeowners and garden designers who shared their gardens with us, to Penney Hubbard for copies of On Walnut Hill signed by author Kathy Hudson, and to Babikow Greenhouses for allowing us to shop after hours and receive a wholesale discount.

Meet the Author

Janet Mackey is a Master Gardener, writer, and speaker who loves seed starting, habitat gardening, and coaxing blossoms and foliar display from very shady spots. She is currently growing roots on the Eastern Shore of Maryland after a peripatetic career that included home gardens in upstate New York, Texas, the Washington, DC region, and northern California. Janet can be reached at janetmackey@verizon.net.

 

When the Tables Are Turned

By C.L. Fornari

A garden communicator’s garden is photographed for a national magazine.

Some years ago I’d made an appointment to photograph a Cape Cod garden but when the day arrived it was dead sunny. I called the owner, explaining that the light was too harsh and could we please put the appointment off for a day or two. “No!” was her reply, “You’ll come today or not at all.” It turns out that she’d been up at 4 AM, deadheading, raking, and primping. She was nervous about the garden looking its best, and couldn’t face the possibility of extending that tension another day.

Now I know how she felt. Normally I’m on the garden communicator side of this situation. I show up with my notepad and cameras, take photos of the garden, and jot down plant names and the gardener’s comments. But last week the tables were turned. On September 6^th Kindra Clineff came to my garden take photos for an article that I’ll be writing for Country Garden Magazine.

The focus of the article will be annuals, so needless to say, I put a great deal of thought into which plants I grew and purchased this past spring. Some of those efforts paid off and the visions manifest…others, not so much. I planted Golden Delicious Pineapple Sage next to African Blue Basil as usual in the fragrance garden, but the basil was miss-labeled and the plants don’t have the usual purple colored foliage. Tragic? No. Opportunity lost? Certainly.

I started purple Gomphrena from seed to plant in Annual Alley. I typically mix six or more annuals in this area, planted “field style.” But the Gomphrena only grew was half the size it was touted to be, so the Blue Horizon Ageratum, Nicotiana, and annual Salvias quickly grew over it. The Forecast Zinnias, however, were half again taller than the seed package predicted. So the Gomphrena is hidden and to my eye the zinnias look leggy and awkward.

Opposite that river of color I plant Dahlias and Nasturtiums, and normally in early September both are huge and in full, glorious boom. This year, the Dahlias were barely budded on photography day. Whether it was the cool June weather, the very hot August temperatures, or something else, the Nasturtiums that normally hide the mulch path are feeble. Even the black aphids that like them so much are only making a half-hearted run at the leaves.

In the cutting garden, the Zinnias and Dahlias are also late to mature but the Verbena bonariensis has been this summer’s over-achiever. Two weeks before the photographer arrived all I could see near the garden shed was a sea of purple Verbena. In order to give these beds some definition, I pulled half of it out, filling an entire garden cart with stems, flowers, and dozens of very annoyed bees.

Once the gardens were as good as they were going to get, I worried about photography day. I’m normally a tad weather obsessed (my husband would say completely weather obsessed) and this photo shoot had me checking my forecast app every thirty minutes. Will there enough clouds to shield the sun but not so many that everything is gloomy? Will it pour? Or worse, will we get one of our classic nor’easters that will flatten all the flowers?

Fortunately, none of those fears came to pass. The day arrived and although the weather was hot and humid, there were enough clouds to make shooting without shadows possible. Annual Alley was a crayon box of primary colors, even without the dahlias and nasturtiums. In the entry garden where I mix annuals with perennials, the Senorita Blanca Cleome was a mass of white flowers next to the red foliage of Hibiscus acetosella. Yellow Profusion Zinnias lived up to their name and the Variegated Spreading Salmon Sunpatiens looked like plump, flower-covered pillows all along the front walk. The shed was newly painted and the Verbena bonariensis in the cutting garden was filled with bees and monarchs. None of it was perfect, of course, but it was complete enough.

I’m thankful it’s over, but I’m also grateful to have had the experience. It was instructive to watch someone photograph my gardens from perspectives that I usually don’t take. It was nice to have so many areas deadheaded and weed-free all at once…although I don’t expect that to ever happen again. And from now on, when I make an appointment to see and photograph a garden, I’ll know exactly what the property owner is experiencing.

Meet the Author

C.L. is a writer, speaker, podcaster, and radio host who joyously grows all manner of plants on Cape Cod.

Chicago Botanic Garden | Buehler Enabling Garden

By Toni Gattone

A few weeks ago, I attended the GWA: Association for Garden Communicators conference in my hometown of Chicago. I joined their organization in 2015 when I discovered it was open to all garden communicators, including speakers, writers, and photographers. Three years ago, I was a garden speaker and I was anxious to hone my craft.

Since then, I have become an author, having just finished my manuscript for my upcoming book that will be published next year by Timber Press. It was a daunting task, but I am happy to have accomplished such a goal. Because of my affiliation with GWA, I now have a network with many talented and accomplished authors and speakers.

Why Garden Communicators Might Want a Podcast

By C.L. Fornari

A podcast is just like any other form of communication…it takes work, thought, time, energy, and imagination. It is also a powerful way to build your reputation as a garden expert, sell your gardening books, or make connections to new groups of people.

Why I’m Making it a Priority to Attend Cleveland Grows!

By Susan Martin

BUSY. It is our standard response when someone asks us how we’re doing and there’s no doubt many of us truly are busy. Making a living as a professional garden communicator takes a tremendous amount of effort to stay connected, educate ourselves on current issues and practices, and to keep the work coming.

As the summer travel season is coming to a close, maybe you are feeling weary of traveling to trade shows held in huge conference centers packed to the gills with merchandise, coordinating meetups and dinners with colleagues and schlepping backbreaking loads of catalogs back to your hotel room. I get it. I’ve been there—just a month or so ago, in fact.

But I’m going to the GWA Cleveland Grows! meeting anyway. Why?

First, I’m going because Clevelander Maria Zampini and I have crafted a once in a lifetime experience for you. Our scheming began on a rainy night last October (yes, we’ve been planning this for almost a year!) at my kitchen table over a glass of wine and a map of Cleveland. No huge conference centers, no schlepping, and everything is planned for you.

I’m also attending because I know this event is going to be a ton of FUN. I like to plan the kinds of meetings I like to attend. If you’ve ever attended a meeting I’ve planned, you know I pack a lot of action into a short amount of time and everyone leaves with cool swag. Cleveland Grows! will be no different.

Most importantly, I’m attending because this is going to be one of the best opportunities for professional development I’ve had all year. We’ve planned a wide range of experiences that will offer something for everyone who attends.

We’ll be touring two grower operations I’ve been reading other people’s stories about for years but have never toured myself—Willoway Nurseries and Green Circle Growers. Both companies are rolling out the red carpet for us, giving us private tours, telling us the stories behind their operations, feeding us catered meals and giving out the kind of swag that will make you swoon. The photo opps are bound to be equally valuable.

We’re touring Petitti Garden Center too, consistently ranked in the top 100 garden centers in all of America. Given that IGCs are some of my favorite places on earth, I’m pretty confident I’ll like this place. We’ll also get caught up on trends this retailer has seen this season, which will lead to new story ideas.

For my own personal gardening inspiration, I am looking forward to touring the private gardens of award winning local garden designers Bobbie Schwartz and Nancy Drobnick. Bobbie and I share a love of perennial plants and membership in the Perennial Plant Association. She’ll be signing copies of her new book, Garden Renovation, for us in her garden. For over 40 years, Nancy has studied has intensely studied world metaphysics, mathematics, physics, astronomy and horticulture. People who have visited her garden tell me my mind will be blown. I can’t wait.

The most incredible opportunity we’ve lined up is something unique to Cleveland. This area happens to be the home of many of the industry’s leading trade publications’ editors including Matt McClellan (GIE Media), Jen Polanz (Ball Publishing) and Janeen Wright (Meister Media). They will be joining us on Friday evening during our catered dinner sponsored by Green Circle Growers for a Meet the Editors panel discussion. They’ll share what they are looking for from us and we’ll have a frank discussion of how we can all work better together. Live. In person. Exclusively for our group. What a remarkable opportunity!

At the end of an exhausting but extremely fulfilling Friday, we’ll retire to the Embassy Suites by Hilton hotel in Beachwood, OH. Rooms are large enough to share and the hotel offers a free breakfast. It is conveniently located just minutes from our first stop of the day on Saturday morning.

This meeting is guaranteed to be 24 hours of incredibly worthwhile experiences that will refresh my spirit, renew my way of thinking about how our industry operates, boost my photo library and fill my “fun” quota for the month. I wouldn’t miss it. How could you?

CLEVELAND GROWS!

• September 21-22, noon to noon
• Metro Cleveland, Ohio area
• View full event schedule and online registration

All are welcome—bring a friend!
Member Rate: $60/person
Members can reserve a spot for a guest at their own member rate.
Non-Member Rate: $95/person

Did we mention we’re only holding 50 spots open for this event? Register today while there are still a few spots left!

Questions? Reach me at gardenersuesnews@gmail.com or Maria Zampini at maria@upshoothort.com or call the GWA office at 212.297.2198.

See you in Cleveland!

Meet the Author

Susan Martin is a Regional Director for Region III and member since 2004. She works full time as a professional horticultural marketer, writer and speaker for trade and consumer audiences. After earning her stripes pulling weeds in her mother’s garden since age four, Susan has earned the pleasure of gardening in “black gold” (acidic sandy loam) near the shore of Lake Michigan.

 

More Opportunities to Learn and Connect with GWA

Photo courtesy of Bill Johnson

What? You missed the GWA Annual Conference in Chicago and want to figure out how to catch up?

Or maybe you were in Chicago and want to extend the experience of connecting with and learning from fellow GWA members?

Good.  You are in luck because there are several future events you can still register for and attend. Maybe they are as close as a lovely drive through the countryside!