Annual Fall Party

September 26, 2010: Joyce and Floyd hosted our annual fall party to meet and greet new or prospective members.

President Vira Sisolak spoke to the gathering:

District Flower Show Awards

Upper Marlboro, MD, September 25, 2010: Two Capitol Hill members received awards in horticulture and in design at the District I small standard petite flower show Memories of a Lady's Manor at Darnall's Chance House Museum.

David Healy received a first place ribbon for his miniature chrysanthemum and Bill Dean received a second place ribbon for his miniature rose:















Bill received a second place ribbon for his garden medley arrangement and David received honorable mention for his. The Garden Medley class required: A traditional line design featuring small vegetables; not to exceed 8” in height, width, or depth. Designs to be placed on white pedestals of various heights.

Think North Carolina

September 14, 2010: Bill McLaughlin, the horticulturist plant curator at the U.S. Botanic Garden, advised members to look to North Carolina native plants when incorporating natives into Capitol Hill Gardens. He said our inner city climate and clay soils were more like the North Carolina piedmont. For more interesting natives, he suggested looking farther afield into Florida, Texas and even Mexico. McLaughlin said closely related plants, despite their geographic differences, tended to serve the same insect and bird populations.

His entire presentation follows:

Native Plants for the Urban Jungle

Vice President Carol Edwards presided at the first meeting of the new garden club year.

Mary Blakeslee introduced the speaker; Bulb Co-Chairs Gail Giuffrida and Sonia Conly gave club members their marching orders for this year's annual bulb sale fundraiser--38 years and counting.

Native Plant Program for September 14, 2010 Meeting

Bill McLaughlin, the horticulturist plant curator at the U.S. Botanic Garden, will present a program on "Natives for Capitol Hill." His focus will be how to integrate native plants into small gardens. McLaughlin was celebrated this summer for his agave at his home in South Arlington.

McLaughlin is a lifelong DC area native with wide experience in local gardens. He has a BS in ornamental horticulture from the University of Maryland and has been with the U.S. Botanic Garden since 1986. In 1996, he was charged with plant selection and design review for the National Garden which features roses and Mid-Atlantic native plants.

The entire 2010-2011 program is listed here.