President’s Perspective
By Gary Cahn
During my presidency, one of our goals has been to achieve greater
outreach for our organization. Nancy Moses Greenblatt, Chairperson of Public Relations, has made a major contribution to that ongoing effort.
July 2009
MEMBERSHIP MEETING
Thursday, July 2, 2009
9:30: Social Time
10:00: Business
10:30: Speaker
Speaker:
Chuck Schuster
Topic:
The Importance of Lime
EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE
Thursday, July 16, 2009
10:00 am
With a degree in journalism from Northwestern University, she
spent her 35-year career in public relations, most recently for 20
years as manager of media relations for PEPCO, and before that
with Montgomery County Police and the Jewish Community Center
of Greater Washington. She has expertise in developing “quotable”
messages; managing press relations; writing speeches, employee
and membership communications; and dealing with hostile audiences. In short, her experience goes far beyond sending out press
releases.
On several occasions this year, MGs have been contacted directly by
the press or have responded to press inquiries. Your first thought
might be, “This is a terrific chance to obtain publicity for our organization. I’ll respond at once.” In this case your intuition would
not be correct.
When presented with an opportunity to talk with the media, 99
percent of the time you should not do so. Instead, you should refer
the reporter to Nancy first and also call/email her yourself to alert
her. A simple response to the reporter (even if it is your next door
neighbor!) would be, “The best person for you to talk to first would
be our volunteer PR Chairperson, Nancy Moses Greenblatt. She’ll
find our expert on that subject for you.” When talking to the reporter, Nancy will find out:
the nature of the story
the reporter’s deadline
the best master gardener to respond;
the possible questions and the appropriate answers
Con’t on page 4
PAGE 2
J ULY 2009
T HE MA S T E R G A R D E NE R
THE MASTER GARDENER
NEWSLETTER
Mission and Vision
The Master Gardener Newsletter is a monthly newsletter
published by the volunteer Master Gardener organization
of Montgomery County, an office of the University of
Maryland Cooperative Extension. Our mission is
Educating People to Help Themselves through a variety
of public service programs.
Vision: A healthier world through environmental stewardship.
Extension Office Contacts
Director
Master Gardener Coordinator
Master Gardener Secretary
**********************************************************
Douglas Tregoning
Stephen Dubik
Linda Waters
Master Gardener Volunteer Organization—2009
President
Gary Cahn
First Co-Vice President
Ron Anderson
Second Vice President
Sheryl Freishtat
Treasurer
Julia Horman
Recording Secretary
Lynn Furrow &
Frances Smithson
For information on the organization and the services
offered by Master Gardeners, contact:
Black Hills Butterfly
Marsha VonDurkheim
Computer /Web Design
Gary Cahn
Derwood Demo. Garden
Martha Fisher &
Maria Wortman
External Special Events
Elsie Sullivan &
Taffy Turner
Fair Demo. Garden
Sheryl Freishtat &
Frank Lostumbo
Grow It Eat It
Erica Smith &
Lynn Neagley
Internal Special Events
Gloria Sherman &
Barbara Waite-Jaques
Landscape Design
Leonard Friedman &
Carol Hall
Newsletter Editor
Stacey Guthrie
Plant Clinics
Hayley Goris &
Frances Smithson
Program/Education
Joe Ginthe & Pat Kenny
Joe Ginther & Kate Crawford
Public Relations
Nancy Moses Greenblatt
Speakers
Paula Jean Hallberg
Strategic Planning
Leonard Friedman
SWAT
Pat Lynch
Telephone Hotline
Nancy Ballard &
Arlene Cole
Therapeutic Horticulture
JoAnn Mueller &
Alyce Wertheimer
Class of 2009 Chairpersons
John Zeglin &
Monica Sirtori
Direct correspondence to:
The Horticultural Consultant, Montgomery County
Cooperative Extension,
18410 Muncaster Road, Derwood, MD 20855.
e-mail: [email protected]
All opinions expressed with reference to commercial
organizations or products are those of the authors and do
not represent an official endorsement by the Cooperative
Extension.
Stephen Dubik
Horticultural Consultant, Master Gardener Coordinator
Mission: The Maryland Master Gardener mission is to educate
Maryland residents about safe, effective and sustainable horticultural
practices that build healthy gardens, landscapes and communities.
How To Submit Articles
Master Gardeners are invited to write articles for the newsletter. Please
keep in mind that submittals may be edited and/or not used until the following month. To submit articles for publication please e-mail in attachment form by the 12th of the month to: Stacey Guthrie:
[email protected]
Deadline for submissions: 12th of the month
**********************************************************
Computer Users Note
Home & Garden Information Center Web site:
hhttp://www.hgic.umd.edu
Montgomery County Master Gardener Web site:
http://extension.umd.edu/gardening/masterGardeners/local/
Montgomery/index.cfm
**********************************************************
Horticultural Hotline: 301-590-9650
March — October: Mon. - Fri. 9 am - 1 pm
Plant Clinic Sites and Leaders
Audubon Naturalist Society
(May-Sept)
Brookside Gardens
(Year-Round)
Brookside Gardens
(Year-Round)
Davis Library
(April-Sept)
Derwood Ex. Office
Gaithersburg Library,
(Apr-Sept)
Germantown Library
(May-Sept)
Quince Orchard Library
(May-Sept)
Twinbrook Library
(Apr-Sept)
Sat. 10 -12
Marlene Cianci
Sat. 10 - 2
Hayley Goris
Sun. 1 - 4
Bev Carragher
Sat. 10 -1
Margaret Edison
M-F
9-1
Sat. 10-2
Wed. 7 - 8:30
Sat. 10 -1
Sat. 10-1
(3rd Sat only)
Nancy Ballard &
Arlene Cole
Frances Smithson
Judi Moline
Bill Connors
Barbara Waite-Jaques
PAGE 3
J ULY 2009
T HE MA S T E R G A R D E NE R
ANNOUNCEMENTS
BOB ALDE MEMORIAL
SERVICE
The Robert O. Alde Memorial Fund has
been established through Epworth
United Methodist Church to: United
Methodist Committee on Relief
(UMCOR) or Epworth United Methodist
Church Memorial Fund (EUMC).
Linda Waters
Dates have now been set for
2009 Close Encounters October: 13,14,15,16
20,21,22,23
26,27,28,29
Mark your calendars and watch
for further info. If you haven’t
participated in previous years,
you’ve missed a fun time.
Despite the slight bit of rain, 60
MG’s participated in our annual
plant swap in May. The plus
side of the weather was that the
plants were in great shape. We
think everyone will agree this
was a successful event
The 2011 International Master Gardener Conference will
be hosted by WVU Extension
and the WVMGA. The conference will be in Charleston, WV
the week of October 10-14,
2011. Some information is now
available on the 2011 web site;
http://imgc.ext.wvu.edu/
Continuing Ed. Corner
Approximately 20 Master
Gardeners were on hand Saturday, June 13, to say farewell
to longtime Master Gardener
Bob Alde.
The memorial service was held
at Epworth United Methodist
Church in Gaithersburg,
where we discovered that Bob
had served the church in
countless capacities. Our own
Paul Jean Hallberg spoke
beautifully about Bob’s dedicated and longtime service to
Master Gardeners, while
Bob’s three sons, Douglas,
David and Stephen told, not
only of their great life with
their father, but of his tireless,
gentle and selfless service to
his career, church, the community, and people in general.
Throughout the liturgy, there
were viola and violin duets
played by Bob’s son and
granddaughter, and other testimonials by former coworkers, Rose Society members, and friends and
neighbors. It truly was a welldeserved tribute to Bob. The
comment most heard, was how
did he find time to do it all? As
Paula Jean stated so aptly,
“We thought we owned him.”
Composed
Ruben-
by L.
stein
7/13, 20, 27: 9 –1. Ornamental
Trees and Vines with Steve
Dubik, WYE REC, Queenstown
7/15: 12-1:30. Totally Tomatoes at Brookside Gardens.
7/15, 22, 29: 6-9 pm. Shade
Trees with Wanda Maclachlin.
4H Center, College Park.
7/16: Trees of the Regional Garden. U.S. Botanic Garden
7/23-25: AHS’s 17th annual National Children & Youth Garden
Symposium, hosted by Cleveland
Botanical Garden
7/29 1-2 pm. The Summer Terrace: Plants as Art. U.S. Botanic
Garden.
8/ 8 9:30-11 am. Building
and Using Cold Frames. Green
Spring Gardens, Alexandria.
8/12 10:30 am - 12 pm. Butterflies and Butterfly Gardening.
U.S. Botanic Garden.
PAGE 4
MASTER GARDENER
JULY 2009
Con’t from page 1
In this way, she builds confidence in our organization’s responsiveness and gardening expertise. She
can establish an ongoing relationship with the reporter for future stories that go beyond your particular
program. Finally she will provide the MG interviewee with a myriad of helpful suggestions for ways to
get our message out more effectively.
Nearly every significant U.S. organization (government, non-profit, profit) has a press office, and all inquiries from the media are directed to that office. While we aren’t big enough to have a press office, we
have the next best thing.
The reason for my request to direct media inquiries to Nancy is not to stifle your freedom of speech, nor
do we wish to be overly controlling. The purpose is to ensure that the message you are trying to deliver
will be the one that actually ends up in the newspaper/magazine, TV/radio or neighborhood newsletter.
Nancy knows how to do this. Unless you’ve been trained to deal with the press, it is unlikely that you
know how to work effectively with reporters. If you are going to a function where you think reporters
will be, call Nancy in advance for interview tips in case of an “ambush interview.”
In addition, Nancy’s job is to protect you and to protect the MG organization. Members of the press can
sometimes ask questions you may not see coming. She can provide you with appropriate strategies for
dealing with the press.
In summary, we have a member who spent her career working in this field. Please be sure to take advantage of the talent we have, and resist your temptation to respond directly to press inquiries.
Contact Information for Nancy Moses Greenblatt:
Home: 301-983-3255; Cell: 301-509-6301; email: [email protected]
PAGE 5
MASTER GAR-
JJULY 2009
1 Million Maryland food gardeners?
Yep, that's the Vision for the state MG Grow It Eat It (GIEI) program. So how do we count? Ria Malloy
and Lynn Jacobson from HGIC have created a map on the Grow It Eat it state website (http://
www.growit.umd.edu/). We are asking anyone with a food garden to register it here. It would be great
if all MGs with a food garden would do this and would encourage their students, friends and neighbors
to do the same. Without ever even
announcing this feature of the website, 644 people have already registered their gardens....that leaves only
999,367 to go!
Go to the website, scroll down until
you see a map in the center of the
page and click on it. Register your
garden and check out all of the locations registered so far. You may also
want to check out some other features of this website: you'll see GIEI videos (in the right column) that have been televised check out
Jon's blog. We're starting to gear up and have some great contributors and more articles going up.
There's a link to his blog at the bottom right of this home page. Lots and lots of food garden information. List of community gardens . Link for public to buy a salad box. Coming soon- a link for public to
buy Grow It Eat It T-shirts
PAGE 6
MASTER GARDENER
JULY 2009
MG OPEN GARDENS
by Taffy Turner, Montgomery County MG
Last year’s Open Gardens were a big success and we’re already seeing a nice turnout again this year. Information for 2009 gardens is on the website and will be sent out on the listserv. There are a few garden spots still open in July, August and September. If you are interested in hosting an Open Garden,
please let me know by phone: 301-681-8133 or email: [email protected] . If yours is a certified
Baywise garden, please indicate. Hosts will provide a brief description of the garden, and, ideally, a
plant list to distribute to visitors. Refreshments are optional. The information, directions, etc. will be
posted on the listserv, newsletter and website—as well as below. And remember - attendees can log up
to one hour of continuing education time. Hosts can count service hours for preparation of plant lists
and presentation, etc. Mulching, weeding, and general garden maintenance cannot be counted for service hours.
I hope you all are enjoying this season's wonderful gardens. Each one has been interesting and
unique, giving many of the visitors ideas for their own gardens. It seems that many MGs have
conflicts that make it impossible to visit during the Open Garden time frame. Most of the hosts
are willing to either extend the time their garden is open or have you visit another time. So if you
find yourself in that situation - give the host a call or email and set something up. With all the
time we spend preparing the gardens, we'd like to have lots of folks enjoy them.
This month we have one garden to visit - that of Karen Eppinger in Silver Spring, near the Georgia
Avenue exit of the Beltway. Following are the description and directions to her garden, open on
Monday morning, July 9 from 9:30 to 11:30. Please make an effort to visit!
PAGE 7
MASTER GARDENER
JULY 2009
Con’t from page 6
Garden of Karen Eppinger
1904 Rookwood Rd, Silver Spring
Monday, July 9 from 9:30 to 11:30am
The first thing you will notice about our yard is its small size. It's compact and full of flowering
plants, especially in the Spring when the camellias, and then the iris and peonies are
bloom. When we moved here 35 years ago the yard was filled with bamboo, non-descript hedges
and ivy running everywhere. We have ripped out almost everything, built raised beds and
amended
the
soil
continually
to
try
and
combat
the
native
clay.
I have birdhouses, birdbaths and assorted rusting stuff all over the yard (some would say too
much stuff), but I love it. All the rocks you see have been uncovered during one project or another (also a toilet, concrete sink and stove). Obviously the previous owners didn't like going to
the dump. It is surprising that anything could grow here. Each year I try to add plants that will
contribute to a multi-seasonal interest. I also add new things I see and can't resist. This garden,
as
many
others,
will
always
be
a
work
in
progress.
Directions: From the Beltway take the Georgia Ave. south exit toward Silver Spring. Make a right
turn at Seminary Rd. (2nd light), then a left on Sutton Place (directly across from Snider's Market). Go around the tree in the middle of the road staying on Sutton Place to Rookwood Rd. Turn
right on Rookwood and the English Tudor (1904) on the left is ours.
email: [email protected]>, phone: 301-587-6635
PAGE 8
MASTER GARDENER
JULY 2009
MG STATE ADVANCED TRAINING COURSES IN JULY
http://mastergardener.umd.edu/AdvancedTraining/index.cfm
LANDSCAPE HORTICULTURE
ORNAMENTAL TREES AND VINES
Location:
Dates:
Field Trip
Presenter:
Tuition:
Wye Research and Education Center, Queen Anne’s Co. (Queenstown)
Monday mornings 7/13, 7/20, 7/27, 9am-1pm;
location on 7/27 TBA
Steve Dubik, Mont. Co. MG Coordinator and instructor, Montgomery College
$45; Registration Deadline: 7/6
Learn the identifying characteristics and cultural requirements of such plants as serviceberry, hornbeam, yellowwood, hawthorn, larch, magnolias, cherries, clematis, wisteria, and so many more (about
40 trees and 11 vines).
LANDSCAPE HORTICULTURE
SHADE TREES
Location:
Dates:
Presenter:
Tuition
4H Center in Prince George’s Co. (College Park)
Wednesday evenings 7/15, 7/22, 7/29, 6pm-9pm
Wanda MacLachlan, Area Educator, Environmental Management, MCE
Tuition: $45; Registration Deadline: 7/8
This in-depth series of classes will really help you know your shade trees. Learn how to tell the difference between one maple or oak and another, which shade trees last the longest, grow the fastest, are the
most pest resistant as well as other ID and cultural information for about 40 of our most common shade
trees.
To register: Send your contact information (including email address), which class you want to take with
payment of $45 (payable to the University of MD) to MG Classes, HGIC, 12005 Homewood Rd, Ellicott
City, MD 21042.
For more information contact Robin Hessey, 410-531-1754, [email protected]
PAGE 9
MASTER GARDENER
JULY 2009
REGISTRATION FORM
Date: ______________ MG County: ________ Phone:______________________ Email:___________________________________
Name:_______________________________ Address: ______________________________________________________________
Please mail in your completed form with checks made payable to the University of Maryland. Please include your tuition and payment for any of the course books you’d like us to order. If you don’t already
have these texts you can purchase them on your own or, for your convenience, you can order them from
us. Delivery on the first day of class. Please fill in and return your application to: MG Classes, HGIC,
12005 Homewood Rd. Ellicott City, MD 21042.
Course
Description
tuition
total
owed
Landscape Horticulture
ORNAMENTAL TREES & VINES—Queen Anne’s Co
SHADE TREES—Prince George’s Co.
$45
$45
_______
_______
Entomology—
Getting Intimate
Tuition
$30
_______
Plant ID/Taxonomy
Tuition
(Indicate location: Harf. How. Mont. & WYE)
Required Test: A Field Guide to Trees & Shrubs
$35
_______
$16
_______
Total Enclosed
$
If you prefer to pay by credit card, please fill in below. and mail or fax (410-531-5567) the form:
Credit card company: Visa MC Discover Your name (as it appears on the card:
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Number on card:_______________________________________________
Expiration Date: ___________________________
MONTGOMERY COUNTY COOPERATIVE EXTENSION
UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND
18410 MUNCASTER ROAD
DERWOOD, MD 20855
NON PROFIT ORG
POSTAGE PAID
GAITHERSBURG, MD 20898
PERMIT # 2356
—————
Return Service Requested
Master Gardener
JULY 2009
A Great Topic Every Month!
MONTH
SPEAKER
ORGANIZATION TOPIC
January
Phil Normandy
Brookside Gardens
Alternatives to Over Used and Invasive Plants
February
Holly Shimizu
U.S. Bot. Garden
Green Garden Sustainability - 21st. Century
March
Jonathan Kays
U. of MD
The Woods in Your Backyard
April
Betty Marose
U. of MD
Weeds
May
Paul Dolinsky
Dept. of Interior
Value of Historic Landscapes-
Paula Shrewsbury
U. of MD
Plant Diversity
June
Evening
July
Chuck Schuster U of MD
The Importance of Lime
August
Randy Best
Behnkes Nursery
Nine Months of Color in the Shade Garden
Doug Tallamy
U. of DE
Bringing Nature Home
October
Stacy Parsons
Brookside Gardens
Getting the Garden Ready for Winter
November
MGs
Miniconference
December
MCMGs
Holiday party
Sept
Fairgrounds