Members Show Their Own Gardens

January 10, 2012: President Vira Sisolak (l) welcomed members back from the holidays.

This was the annual meeting when several members discuss their own gardens. Fran Zaniello was enthusiastic about her front garden and back garden at her Capitol Hill townhouse and especially about the crepe myrtle she could not have in Kentucky.












Carol Casperson spoke about her gardening in Anacostia and also showed slides of a visit last summer to Perennial Pleasures Nursery in East Hardwick, Vt.











As a last minute fill in, Wendy Blair discussed her annual one month of gardening at the family summer cottage in Ontario:

Greens Workshop 2011

December 7, 2011:

The Dish on Indoor Gardening

November 8, 2011: At our regular November meeting, Melanie Pyle, who is in charge of indoor plants at the Smithsonian Institution, presented a slideshow overview of indoor plants in the Smithsonian museums and then demonstrated the creation of dish gardens. Basically she created arrangements using plants rather than cut flowers.

Pyle recommended Home Depot and Lowes as sources for inexpensive plants. To create fuller dish gardens, she removes plants from their commercial pots, minimizes the soil around the roots and divides clumps. Then Pyle creates an arrangement in a container, using flexible plastic liners in porous containers. She uses Spanish Moss to hide the mechanics and give a finished look to the dish garden.

Pyle suggested creating foliage gardens in which the variety of foliage shapes and colors created interest. To remove the dull from foliage, she spritzes the arrangement with a leaf shine product. She warned against combining tropical plants with temperate plants, saying tropicals looked better with tropicals. Pyle said overwatering was the biggest problem for indoor plants. She recommended sticking a finger "up to the second digit" into the soil and, if you feel any moisture, don't water.

At the end of the demonstration, the dish gardens and excess plants were raffled as door prizes.

Thirty Nine Years at Eastern Market

Since 1972, on six or seven Saturdays each fall, the Capitol Hill Garden Club has sold spring-flowering bulbs on the sidewalk market at historic Eastern Market. Along with one or two farmers, we are the longest continuous outdoor vendors at Eastern Market. The annual bulb sale not only raises funds for club programs and activities, but engages the community in horticulture, neighborhood beautification and club membership.

Woody Plants for Capitol Hill

October 11, 2011: At the regular October meeting of the Capitol Hill Garden Club, Kevin Conrad, curator of the Woody Plants Germplasm Repository at the USDA, led us through a list of interesting woody plants appropriate for our local environment. He started with Buddleia 'Purple Haze" and ended with Yucca filamentosa.

Kevin Conrad on Woody Plants

Buddleia 'Purple Haze'

Callicarpa dichotoma
Camellia 'Winter's Charm'
Cercis 'Don Egolf'
Chimonanthus preacox
Chionanthus retusus
Clethra fargesii
Cornus mas 'Variegata'
Corylopsis spicata
Daphne genkwa and Daphne odora
Daphniphyllum macropodum (varigated)
Rhaphiolepsis Gulf Green
Deutzia crenata 'Nikkoi'
Fothergilla gardenii
Gelsmium sempervirens 'Margarita'
Hamamelis 'Arnold Promise'
Hepticodium miconioides
Hybiscus 'Diana' or 'Minerva'
Hydrangea petiolaris
Hydrangea 'Blue Bird'
Ilex 'Red Sprite'
Ilex 'Sparkleberry'
Lagerstroemia 'Seminole', 'Zuni', and 'Chickasaw'
Loropetalum 'Burgundy'
Mahonia beali
Magnolia 'Wada's Memory'
Malus 'Red Jewel'
Nandina domestica and var. alba
Pieris japonica
Rhododendron fortunei
Rhododendron prunifolium
Salix caprea
Stewartia pseudocamellia
Styrax japonica
Syringa
Viburnum 'Eskomo' or 'Cree'
Yucca Recurvifolia

Vice President Carol Edwards welcomed members to the October meeting (l); Treasurer Lorraine Fishback (r) walked us through the budget proposed by the executive board. The proposed budget was adopted.

Bulb sale scheduler Joyce Jones reported on member participation in the bulb sale fundraiser (r); member Charles McMillion (r) introduced the speaker.

New Members Party 2011

September 25, 2011: Members gathered at the Canning home and garden to welcome new members and discuss the new club year. Members provided the finger food and the club provided the beverages.

Community Outreach at Fall Festival

September 24, 2011: Members E.J. Truax and David Healy volunteered at the CSX booth to demonstrate the planting of spring-flowering bulbs to festival goers at the Barracks Row Fall Festival. As part of its community outreach and green initiative, CSX was a festival sponsor and donated Darwin tulips and King Alfred daffodils for planting along 8th Street SE.

Festival goers were asked to plant a bulb in a 1-pint cup for eventual replanting in the community. After planting a bulb for the community, participants were invited to take a bulb home for themselves. This gimmick was as popular with adults, as it was with children. Several participants requested information about our garden club.