Takoma Gardener

When Master Gardeners become Whistleblowers

Remember all the cheerful articles I've written about becoming a D.C. Master Gardener?  I wrote excitedly about the classes, then missing everybody when the classes are over, about starting to create an organization of Master Gardeners, and then changing our name to DC Urban Gardeners, independent of the city's Cooperative Extension Service at the Univ. of D.C.  But finally, we started working on Projects, including the news blog those stories are on, and our website.

Well, the time to be coy about what's really going on is over.  (Only readers of our blog saw the clues.) Several of us, after trying to correct a really awful situation from within, have gone to the top.  We've written to the City Council, the Deputy Mayor for Education, and the acting president of the university.  The encouraging elements here are the new mayor and an evolving City Council who are focusing on the university, holding hearings, asking for input and apparently willing to see heads roll.  So at the urging of a staffer at the Council, we've submitted testimony for their oversight hearings.  I've copied my testimony below the "Continue reading" at the end of this article.

I've gotta say it's weird, and not in a good way, for hands-in-dirt volunteer gardeners to find themselves in a role we basically hate - the whistleblower.  But because we're just volunteers we have nothing to lose - at least we don't THINK they can hurt us for speaking up.  Funds for good urban projects are limited, dammit, and we're just trying to correct this total waste of taxpayer money.  Actually, it's worse than that because in this case city employees are working against the mission they're tasked to complete.

Now there's nothing left to be done, except wait to see if anybody gives a damn - anybody who can do something about it.

Calder Tree Art is a Takoma Sensation

Posted below is my GardenRant story about Takoma's Big Art+Nature Event of the Week, worth a mention right here on Takoma Gardener.

Behind the Scenes of a Terrific Community Gardening Project

Notice the components of this large planting project at a subsidized housing project for people with disabilities, mainly AIDS.  Looks to me like a win-win for everyone involved.  And blogging about it, then distributing the link to all the participants, who then put it on their websites and send it to their listservs - well, that's what bloggers do, but it also might light some more fires out there for greening our neighborhoods.

Here's a couple more projects if you're really interested:  landscaping a police station and a traffic triangle+median strip.

Yoko's "Wish Trees" have stories to tell

As part of Yoko Ono's "Imagine Peace" project, she took part in a brief "Wish Tree" ceremony at the Jefferson Memorial,  one of several D.C. sites for her 10-day performance art installations.  The 74-year-old (!!) Ono invited people to write wishes on pieces of paper and tie them to the branches of potted cherry trees.  They evoke the wish trees she knew and loved in her native Japan, and she's intalled them in cities around the world. 

The exhibition is now over but Ono has collected all the wishes (adding them to the 100,000 she already has) and will place them in her Imagine Peace Tower to be installed in Iceland.

Here's a sampling of the wishes, courtesy of the Washington Post:

I wish I was retired.

I wish my Dad would stop smoking.

I wish for a family that loves me.

I wish I could be a Fashion Designer.

I wish my daddy would come home and be a changed man.

I wish I had a half million dollars.

I wish for my Cushings disease to be gone forever.

More guns in my house.

I wish Yoko would clean up this tree.

Peacenik Gardener Makes Friends

Over at the DC Urban Gardener blog I've posted the story behind this photo.

Cherry Blossom Photo Ops

For D.C.-area locals who'd rather avoid the HOARDS of tourists around the Tidal Basin, the Maryland suburban neighborhood of Kenwood is THE place to go to see cherry trees in bloom, so after 30+ years living in this area, I checked it out.  (On a weekday, the only sane way to do it.) 

Gorgeous as this neighborhood is, I can't help feeling sorry for the (admittedly well-off) residents.  According to the Washington Post, more than 30,000 people descend on these few blocks during two weekends each spring to oggle their cherry trees.  Neighbors have resorted to rent-a-cops just to protect their properties and parking spaces. Apparently that doesn't protect them from the time-honored tradition of cherry blossom breakfasts among Japanese immigrants.  One resident told WaPo he's found Japanese families enjoying the view from his front porch, and even settling in for breakfast in his front yard or in the back around his swimming pool.  According to Japanese tradition, the cherry blossoms' short blooming period represents the transience of human life.  (Something I recently reflected upon in lieu of whooping it up on my birthday, getting more philosophical with every passing year.) 

In the grand old American tradition, local kids are raking in the bucks at their lemonade stands.  But just when cynicism starts to rear its ugly head, we learn of the daughters of one cardiothorasic surgeon donating their take ($86 in just three hours) to the Cancer Society.  Ah, there's a breath of fresh air for ya.

Naturally, the Kenwood neighborhood has a garden club, who act as keepers of the cherry tree tradition and report that 1,200 trees were planted here in the 1920s, even before any of the homes were built.  And just like the majority of the trees around the Tidal Basin, they're all Yoshinos. 

Speaking of the Tidal Basin, I couldn't resist checking out the scene there, too, and even on a weekday it was CRAZY CROWDED.  Surely thousands of money shots, like this one with Jefferson in the background, were taken that day, the last warm day before this freakish cold spell, complete with an inch of snow, hit town.  Global warming?  More like global weirding.

Photo Contest Winners

Washington Gardener editor Kathy Jentz has done it again - another successful event, this one showcasing winners of the first-ever DC Garden Photography Contest.  Great turn-out, great photos, and lots of energy.  Yes, she's doing it again next year and keep that in mind this season when you're snapping photos anywhere near Washington, D.C.  (Kathy's all about LOCAL.)  Categories will be Garden Views, Small Wonders and Garden Creatures.

Here's a sampling.  This field of tulips by Iris Posner won an Honorable Mention, but I should add that Iris also won the Grand Prize for a photo I don't have (I actually like this one better, anyway.)  She spotted these tulips at Brookside Gardens in Wheaton, MD.

Next, on the right, won Second Place in the Garden Views Category.  Melissa Clark eyed these cool gloves at the Children's Garden at Green Springs in Alexandria, VA.

This terrific tulip+funky old building shot was taken by my neighbor Rob Rudick.  He spotted it while on a ritzy garden tour in Upperville, VA.  So while most tour-goers were madly photographing every fuschia azalea in sight, Rob was looking for a bit of character, and found lots of it.

This snowy scene on the right reminds us of what we love about winter.  Patricia Deege of Vienna, VA calls it "Meadowlark Snow Bridge."

The last (amazing) shot is by my old Ethical Society friend, Evelyn Jacob.  So maybe for old time's sake she'll tell me how she did it because I'm dying to know.*  It's no wonder it excelled in the Small Wonders category.

Kathy's excellent judge was the terrific photography teacher/garden club speaker, Joshua Taylor.

[This just in from Evelyn: "The butterfly was resting on the salvia and was stationary (they are more likely to do this early in the morning before their bodies warm up). I used a tripod and a macro lens on my digital SLR camera; macro lenses allow you to take closeup shots. I took the photo in the Brookside Gardens Conservatory during their butterfly show last year. I had signed up (and paid) for a program that allows a limited number of photographers to use tripods and come in two hours before the conservatory opens to the public."  Thanks, Evelyn.]

Birth of the DC Urban Gardeners

It's official, as of today - the incorporation of the DC Urban Gardeners.  And who might they (we) be?  The six DC Master Gardeners who've been meeting and scheming since last August to create an association in D.C. for volunteer gardeners, whether Master Gardeners or not, because there isn't one. (And why not? Good question!)  As mentioned here before, we've put on a couple of functions already - a Plant Swap, and a Composting Talk and Demo - and we have a consulting team that's already at work helping folks create school gardens.  Oh, yeah, school gardens are HOT with our group, and we hope there will be lots more. (Our new mayor has deemed education to be his top priority and we're there!)

Along with boring old articles of incorporation, I'm happy to also announce the birth of:

The DC Urban Gardeners site, with a full calendar of gardening and environmental events; links to gardening and environmental groups, both local and national; resources - books, mags, sites and blogs; sources of plants, both local and mail order; volunteer "opportunities," with details galore; sources of in-person training, courses and workshops; plus gardens to visit, in town or within day-trip distance.  So tell us, readers: What else would you want on the site if you lived here?

The DC Urban Gardener News blog, a companion to the site, to carry news and features of interest to the local gardening and environmental community (and, we hope, residents.)  And guess what - I don't have to write it all myself.  I'll be contributing articles but newbie blogger Ed Bruskie, a former Washington Post food reporter, got the ball rolling and has lots of ideas and energy.  We'll encourage other Urban Gardeners to contribute stories, as well. 

The Battle of the Blog
So does anybody remember the old DC Master Gardener News blog that's been sitting in my sidebar since last summer?  Well, it's been "deleted," the weblog equivalent of being put down.  That's because when we decided we'd get waaay more accomplished if we were independent of DC's Cooperative Extension Service, the bureaucrats got testy and started throwing around the L word - lawyers - so we changed our name, shut down our blog, and started all over again.  (Not that we had to legally; even quacks like Jerry Baker can use the term Master Gardener.) But besides creating a bunch of dead links out there on the web, no harm is done.  In fact, this way we can be much more inclusive AND completely free of the stranglehold of restrictions being imposed on us by UDC.  Freedom! (Honestly, we can't understand why more Master Gardener groups haven't gone independent, like our new friends on Long Island.)

[Editor's note:  Here's a later story about UDC's campaign against its Master Gardeners.  And here's an article about my testimony to the DC Council about it. 

Neighborhood Favorite Hits the Big-Time

It's honeymoon time for Adrian Fenty, Washington, D.C.'s 35-year-old mayor-elect, and I'll take the opportunity to join his chorus of supporters before he's been in office long enough to start ruffling some feathers and pissing people off.

First, I love the back story.  Like Barak Obama, he's the product of a biracial marriage, in this case one that's lasted.  His parents own and manage a Fleet Feet store in the hip, gritty Adams Morgan area and everything I've read and heard about them tell me they're unreconstructed hippies - my favorite kind - who've also managed to steer some terrific kids into adulthood.  And Fenty and I went to the same (hippie) college, so I'm biased, okay?

And let's not forget the context.  When you hear "D.C. mayor" what name comes to mind?  Unless you live here, it's probably that favorite of late-night comedians, Marion Barry.  Remember "The bitch set me up"?  That guy.  So anyone in the job inherits a history that's still being lived down, even after 8 years with a Yale city planner in the job (the out-going Tony Williams, the ultimate anti-Barry.)

And I love two of his recent high-profile appointments.  For his top manager he smartly snatched up  wunderkind Dan Tangherlini, a guy I've seen in action in many a meeting, so I understand the excitement about his appointment.  Then there's his pick to head the police department - 39-year-old Cathy Lanier, whose own back story is pure made-for-TV movie, the kind you'd never believe.  Growing up poor in a single-parent household, she became pregnant at 14 and married the day after turning 15.  Divorced by 18, she worked two jobs while achieving her GED degree.  After joining the police force she earned her college degree and two masters, while raising her son, don't forget.  And after 16 years on the force she's reached the top, baby.  Right on!

Then because this ode to Fenty is all visceral, unashamedly feel-good, here's why he's on my mind.  I attended my favorite Christmas party last night - a potluck dinner in a large and funky Victorian house just a few blocks from me in D.C., a party that Fenty has attended for years.  Would he show up this year?  He's awfully busy these days, people were reminding each other.  But of course he didn't climb that high that fast by disappointing the people who love him, and he was there.  So that's cool, I was thinking, but what I really loved was the pride I could see filling all those high-ceilinged rooms.  Especially for the long-time host and hostess, singled out by Fenty for big hugs and the gift of mayoral cufflinks. They're tough civic in-fighters (and she the president of our local horticulture club a few years before me), but with the mayor-elect they looked as proud as they are of their own opera-singer daughter.

So now, before he becomes the target of the media and entrenched forces, especially the encrusted school board he wants to wrest control from, I'll just enjoy the excitement over the young, smart, gutsy and ever-so-handsome Adrien Fenty, a name I predict will become known across the country, and not for jokes on late-night TV.

Get Your Free Garden Right Here

Here's what happens when you've been gardening your butt off in the same place for 20-some years, even if it's a large garden like that of City Gardener Mike Welsh.  Because it's all garden and no lawn and was allowed to seed freely for years, it had become jam-packed with more plants than it can grow well.  Just walking through his garden recently made me want to start pruning and yanking and giving all of his plants their own space.  But better yet, he asked me did I know anyone who could use his extra plants?

Well, it was a lucky day for the family on my street I'll call the Empty-Lotters because that describes the large backyard that came with their recently purchased house.  After which purchase and paying for the changes necessary on the house itself, the plant-loving wife was sadly foreseeing emptiness outside her door for a long time to come.

So like the winners of a timed shopping spree, the family jumped into action.  Enlisting the help of kids and spending $20 for a U-Haul truck for several hours (plus a mileage fee for the 5 miles involved) here's what they hauled home from Mike's garden:

• 3 Chinese elm trees, 8-10 feet.
• 3 American dogwood, (Cornus florida), 6-8 feet.
• 8 Mockorange, (Philadelphus), full grown at 7-9 feet.
• 5 Coralberry (Symphoricarpus orbiculatus), mid-sized at 2-3.
• 6 pots of what Mike called "native orange" and which seem to be Osage-orange (Maclura pomifera), 1-foot.  One fine specimen in his garden is 15 feet and covered with small, colorful oranges and killer thorns. (In fact, the Empty-Lotters will be passing them along to any willing gardener.)

And next spring they'll go back for as many Miscanthus 'Morning Light' as they want after Mike does some serious dividing.  Have you ever noticed the lushing-up effect of large ornamental grasses in a garden?  I hope to be showing you photos next spring of the formerly Empty Lot, and maybe Mike's garden, too.

So I suggest there's a lesson here and it's not just for people with empty lots but also for people whose lots aren't yet full and lush and private. If you need plants, be on the look-out for freebies.  Like if you know of any long-time gardeners near you, tell them you're willing to take some of their extra plants off their hands.  Offer to dig them yourself, ask for suggestions for growing them, and show a little gratitude.  Because often you're getting what even money can't buy - full-grown plants that don't need 3 to 5 years before they fill out and start to look like something.

And if the free plants you're offered aren't your very favorites, take them anyway.  You can replace them over time with plants you like better, but at least you'll have a GARDEN in the meantime.  (Likewise, I try to talk neighbors out of ripping out all the plants they don't love in their newly purchased yards.  They should wait til they have plants to replace them, for crying out loud.  And who knows - if they're not in such a hurry to get rid of those "boring evergreens," they might just come to appreciate them.)

PHOTO:  By Julie Wiatt of the Takoma Voice Newspaper illustrating my column about Mike Welsh, Takoma Park's City Gardener.