Spring Beauty or Beast?
When spring finally arrived in the DC metro area, a rather showy groundcover had already made its presence known – lesser celandine or Ranunculus ficaria.
Despite its visual appeal, this groundcover is highly invasive.
Five Things You Didn’t Know About . . . Arlington National Cemetery Memorial Arboretum
Anyone who visits Arlington National Cemetery (more than 4 million people do so every year) knows that America’s most hallowed ground, the final resting place of more than 400,000 service members, veterans and their spouses on 624 acres, is also a sanctuary for lovers of flowers and trees.
Five Things You Didn’t Know About . . . The History of Master Gardeners
In 1971, before Master Gardeners were even a gleam in anyone’s eye, Washington State University assigned two extension agents to the Seattle and Tacoma metro areas. Their job: to help the public with their urban and commercial horticulture questions. And did they get questions! The overworked agents put on radio and TV gardening shows, but that only drew more people to the Extension offices. The agents brainstormed how to handle the crowds. How about recruiting and training volunteers to help backyard gardeners?
Some Native Ground Covers for Spring
Fact sheets for fifteen native ground covers are featured on the MGNV web site under “Tried and True Native Plant Selection for the Mid-Atlantic.” Here are some additional species that are native to our region and that are suitable for use in the home landscape.
More Native Ephemerals
Learn about native spring ephemerals that bloom in April and May.
Spring Ephemerals in the Shade, Part 2
By Mary Free, Extension Master Gardener Originally posted April 2012 Continued from Ephemerals in the Shade Garden – Part 1, featuring bulbs, corms and trilliums. Although Bon Air Park’s Shade …