Smoke Tree

Mt. Hebron Cemetery, Winchester, VA, Oct. 11: At first glance we thought Spanish Moss but that's impossible in the Shenandoah Valley. It's a smoketree (Cotinus coggygria) with its summer pink turned fall gray.

Milo on the Hill

At the corner of 12th and Independence SE, a solitary milo plant has grown in the tree box. Americans use milo for cattle feed and increasingly for ethanol.

Up on the Roof

Oct. 2: 10 G Street NE, which sits between Union Station and the Government Printing Office, has a partially green roof and a terrace featuring a labyrinth. The terrace was a great venue for the book launching of "Open Spaces, Sacred Places."

Norma Merritt

Fort Washington, MD, Sep. 21: Tanta-Cove Garden Club member Norma Merritt is almost a one-woman environmental protection agency along the Potomac River south of the Wilson Bridge. Sunday was such a beautiful day that she went rather far:

Fall on the Hill

Fungus Invades Hilleast

Sep. 13-14: Appearing seemingly overnight, these mushrooms/toadstools caught our attention and then, a day later, they were huge!

For the Mushroom Festival in Kennett Square, PA go here.

Breeding Breakthroughs at September Meeting

Sep. 9: Dr. Robert E. Lyons, director of the Longwood Graduate Program of Public Horticulture at the University of Delaware, presented a terrific program on breeding breakthroughs in petunias, zinnias and impatiens and a rundown on "edgy" plants, both woody and herbaceous:

o Woody Plants (note that all may not be hardy in the northern zones)

§ Edgeworthia chrysantha/papyrifera

§ Betula nigra ‘Summer Cascade’

§ Ulmus alatus ‘Lace Parasol’

§ Gardenia augusta

§ Emmenopterys henryi

§ Daphniphyllum macropodum

§ Lindera salicifolia

§ Abelia chinensis

§ Wisteria frutescens ‘Amethyst Falls’

§ Ternstroemia ‘Variegata’

§ Ternstroemia ‘Burnished Gold’

§ Heteropterys glabra

· Herbaceous Plants (A – annual/tender perennial; P = perennial)

o Ipomoea batatas (Ornamental Sweet potato) A

o Helianthus hybrid (perennial sunflower) P

o Rudbeckia hirta ‘Indian Summer’ P (et al.)

o Muhlenbergia capillaris P

o Hemerocallis hybrid (altissima hybrids) P

o Cissus discolor A

o Manihot esculenta A

o Kaempferia A

o Solanum quitoense A

o Solanum quitoense (thornless form) A

o Solanum pyracanthum A

o Spilanthes oleracea A

o Cosmos sulphureus A

o Cosmos caudatum (?) A

o Leonitis leonurus A

This was the first meeting for new president Elvira Sisolak, who introduced program chair Alex Belano, who introduced program committee member Ed Peterman, who introduced his former professor Robert Lyons.



















The club bid farewell to Ellen Davis. It was her last meeting before retiring to California.