Sugg-Jeff-Tion: January 2025

Snow better time than now…

Finally, Anne Arundel County received our first big snowstorm in what seems like forever. It was a treat to see the landscape covered in a white carpet of fresh snow, snow covered branches, and birds enjoying the many seedheads still standing high after the storm. It’s hard to believe spring is right around the corner and if you are like me, you miss being outside each day getting your hands dirty.

There are plenty of things you can do on warm(er) winter days to prepare your landscape and get a jump on the spring tasks. See below for a list of things you can do NOW so you can get a jumpstart on spring!

1. Winter Invasive Plant Control: Winter is a great time to focus on removing invasive species from your garden or project area. Many invasive vines such as English ivy (Hedera helix), Japanese honeysuckle (Lonicera japonica), and Oriental bittersweet (Celastrus orbiculatus) are easily recognizable and easier to get to in the winter. Other invasives like vinca (Vinca major), wintercreeper (Euonymus fortunei), and Garlic Mustard (Alliaria petiolate) are still green and can be pulled this time of year before they take off in the spring. Just remember to get the roots!

2. Sowing Native Seeds: Growing native plants from seed can be a long process but is very rewarding. Many species are easily grown from seed. However, some require cold stratification (preparing the seed for germination). You can purchase native seed online or collect seeds from your own yard. There are many techniques such as the “milk jug method” which has become very popular. To learn more about growing plants from seed using this technique, check out Yale’s Milk Jug Wildflower Propagation Guide or join our RePollinate Anne Arundel team for a Winter Sowing Demonstration Workshop at the USGS Bee Lab on January 18th from 10:00AM- 2:00PM.

3. Prune Broken Branches: Winter is a great time to prune your trees and shrubs as needed to remove dead, diseased, and broken branches. Just remember that pruning certain species now can impact blooms and fruits for this coming year, so feel free to check out my post from last spring to make sure you don’t do more damage than good.

So, take some time this winter to do some of the busy work listed above to get a jumpstart on spring. That way when spring rolls around, you can focus on all the fun things like planting all 100 of your newly germinated native seedlings.

Just a sugg-Jeff-tion!

Latin for Gardeners: January 2025

Latin for Gardeners
January’s Native Maryland Plant

Quercus macrocarpa Michx.
(KWER-kus ma-kro-CAR-pa)
Common Name: Bur Oak, Mossycup Oak

Happy New Year Stewards! I hope you’re enjoying this cold and snowy January – brr! What a great time to get outside, contemplate the beauty of nature and consider the ways you can apply your stewardship in the year ahead. This month’s plant is a remarkable oak, the Quercus macrocarpa. It has an impressive acorn among acorns: it’s the largest in North America and it’s almost entirely capped in what appears to be a fringed beanie – a hat suitable for the weather we’re having. Perhaps not surprisingly, this plant has high cold and drought tolerance.

The Bur oak is rare in Maryland, it’s more common in the Midwest and the plains states. Two of the finest Bur oaks I’ve seen were in Baraboo, Wisconsin, at the Leopold Center (1). Living among mainly pine trees - they frame the Aldo Leopold home, a humble home he referred to as “The Shack” (it was previously a chicken coop). This is where he raised his family, observed nature, and coined the term “Land Ethic (2)” something he famously wrote about in, A Sand County Almanac. In this book he dedicates multiple pages to the Bur Oak. He writes, “Bur oak is the only tree that can stand up to a prairie fire and live.” In fact, the bur oaks’ fire resistance is the highest among oaks, its thick corky bark protects the living tissue in the cambium (3) layer, another reason this oak is more abundant in savannas and prairies where fire is common.

“When we see land as a community to which we belong, we may begin to use it with love and respect.”

— Aldo Leopold

Like the opening line in so many celebrated books that are often analyzed and discussed, the opening line in A Sand County Almanac deserves deliberation. It reads: “There are some who can live without wild things, and some who cannot.” Which kind are you?

We each have a lot to learn about land ethics and how even small changes can make significant positive differences in our lives and the lives around us. We can begin by simply using more impactful native plants in our home environments and on projects we lead.

1 Headquarters for the Aldo Leopold Foundation

2 A philosophy about the moral responsibility of humans to the natural world.

3 the growing part of the trunk where new bark and new wood are produced

Alison Milligan – MG/MN 2013
Watershed Steward Class 7/Anne Arundel Tree Trooper
Chesapeake Bay Landscape Professional (CBLP)
aligmilligan@gmail.com

December’s Native Maryland Plant

All of them!

Hello everyone!

I hope you are all well and thinking of how you can use native plants in your gardens next year to provide habitat, filter stormwater pollution, sequester carbon, provide shade and create beautiful natural spaces to enjoy.  Studies have shown that being in nature reduces stress and native plants are so valuable for the environment that creating native places with them helps all living things.

For those of you who have been reading Latin for Gardeners, it’s now time to test your knowledge of the scientific names of the eleven native plants that have been featured this year. It’s always best to use the Latin names of plants when you recommend them to friends and the public – there’s only one Latin name for a plant so it avoids confusion and ensures people select the right plant when shopping at nurseries.

The botanical names of the plants (in alphabetical order) are:

Asclepias syriaca, Clethra alnifolia, Ilex glabra, Juncus effusus, Liatris spicata, Osmunda spectabilis, Osmundastrum cinnamomeum, Parthenium integrifolium, Quercus falcata, Rudbeckia fulgida, Salix discolor

Their common names (in alphabetical order) are: Cinnamon fern, Common Milkweed, Gayfeather, Inkberry, Orange Coneflower, Pussy Willow, Royal fern, Soft Rush, Southern Red Oak, Summersweet, Wild Quinine

The first group of photos shows the plants in their winter dress. The second group of photos shows them during bloom. Can you still recognize them?  I’ve given you a few hints but don’t feel bad if you can’t place them all – Latin is not an easy language.  Good luck, or as they say in Latin, “Fortuna!”

Match the number of each plant to the letter of each plant in its summer bloom (answers at the bottom).

Alison Milligan - MG/MN 2013
Watershed Steward Class 7/CBLP
aligmilligan@gmail.com

Bay Ridge Civic Association Plants Over 100 Trees with WSA's Tree Troopers

Author: Pat Burns, WSA Tree Trooper

I’ve known of the Watershed Stewards Academy (WSA) for about 5 years through their Backyard Buffers Program. In the Spring, WSA offers small bundles of native bare root seedlings for trees and shrubs, which I purchased for a nominal amount and have planted with good success. It feels good to plant a short little stick of a tree and 4 years later it’s 12’ tall.

But it was last Spring, while picking up my BB trees, that I had the chance to meet WSA’s Jeff Popp (Director of Restoration) and Faith Waaramaa (Restoration Coordinator) and be introduced to the Tree Troopers Program. Four informative online sessions later, I had my designation and was ready to plant along with the Bay Ridge Civic Association’s (BRCA) Forest Management Committee (FMC).

Our mission was to plant 100 native canopy and understory trees that would provide beneficial habitat for native pollinators, birds, and animals, including in time food source amendment for the deer population. In addition, we wanted to plant flowering trees that would beautify the neighborhood along community roads. We were excited!

Pictured, left to right: Jennifer Wazenski, Greg Connor, Pat Burns, Bill Davidson, Faith Waaramaa

Tree Project planning

So, you want to plant 200 trees? Yup. How about 100? Okay, 100 it is!

That’s a summation of one of our first email exchanges with Faith and Jeff from WSA. At the outset, it was easy to get super excited about a project like this without realizing what was really involved in doing it well. After that exchange and our preliminary site visit, we had a better understanding of preparations needed and were confident that we could succeed in planting and maintaining 100 trees.

When the planning process began, we had a clear purpose of the benefits it would bring to the wildlife and neighborhood, and we shared the excitement with our community via our newsletter and social media.

The project was broken down into components. Our first step was to identify sites where we could have a positive impact on the forest without overcoming or creating obstacles to our success in planting or maintaining the new trees going forward. We were very conscious of not wanting to plant trees where we would get any pushback. Avoiding neighboring properties and buffer zones, we selected sites that were within 100’ of a road so we could water and maintain them going forward with less difficulty.

After selecting the general sites, we evaluated the soil and growing conditions in each location (soil composition, moisture level, and sun exposure). WSA provided us with their Resilient Tree Species Manual and Usage Grid so we could map and select trees that would have the highest probability of survival in each location. These invaluable tools, including site visits with WSA, helped us make good choices in tree selection and location.

SITE PREPARATION

Long pants tucked into boots, long sleeves, gloves, eye protection and bug spray (lots of bug spray). We had to cut a significant amount of wineberry and remain committed to doing our best to keep it in check. It was important to have the planting sites be easily accessible; we didn’t want our volunteers to walk through high bramble or stilt grass to get to planting spots. These conditions would have been a significant barrier to volunteer engagement.

Remember to call Miss Utility well in advance! They have a waiting period that allows time for marking. That held us up for a few days, but we didn’t want to be the folks that took out the internet for the whole neighborhood.

Once our planting sites were cleared and marked, we staked and labeled tree type for each spot and were then ready to start digging. We wanted to have all the holes pre-dug for planting day. We rented a large power auger to dig holes that worked well but it was cumbersome to move around the woods. WSA chipped in their 2-person portable auger and that worked great (remember to bring the earplugs).

Our trees, mulch, stakes, and caging got delivered two days before our planting day. We distributed a bag of mulch and stakes to each pre-dug hole beforehand. We cut our deer cages to size, sorted the trees by site location, and gave them a good watering. But we kept the trees together and wrapped the perimeter with the cut cages to protect them overnight. The day before planting, we organized our equipment, made sure we had everything sorted properly, and lightly watered the trees so they weren’t too heavy on planting day.

PLANTING DAY

Early morning of planting day, we distributed the trees to the planting sites. Neighbors chipped in with borrowed utility trailers and trucks to get it done quickly.

At the kick-off, we had a great crowd of folks who came to support the effort - neighbors, other WSA Tree Trooper volunteers, WSA staff, and even a couple that lived on a boat that showed up to help. We gave a briefing of how we would work, a planting demonstration, kept our volunteers together and engaged, and moved from site to site with our water truck in tow. We were so pleased at how well and quickly the tree planting happened. Our volunteers had a great time, enjoyed working and talking together, and made an enormous impact on our community, watershed, and environment.

thank you!

There are so many people to acknowledge and thank for making this Tree Trooper Project a success.

Most of all, the Anne Arundel County Watershed Stewards Academy, its staff, volunteers, and especially Faith Waaramaa of WSA for her guidance and assistance throughout. We couldn’t have done it without them. They have been the best in every conceivable way. Tree Troopers, and other WSA programs, are incredibly valuable to our County and are amazing opportunities to learn, engage, and support the health and betterment of our community and the environment.

In addition, the members of the BRCA FMC, including Greg Connor, Bill Davidson, Jennifer Wazenski, and Holly Patterson Moring for their help in planning, community engagement and execution, the BRCA Board for their steadfast support of the project, and to all the community members helping in the background and volunteers who came out on planting day to make it happen. Almost 40 volunteers came out and planted, staked, mulched, caged and watered 100 native trees in less than 4 hours. It was incredible to see the turnout.

For all the FMC members, it was a wonderful validation of the importance of the project and acknowledgement of our efforts to make it happen by our community. We are looking forward to watering our new trees, future plantings, and additional opportunities for community engagement in our forest’s health and continued sustainment.

And to my wife, Avery, our next-door neighbor’s, Richard and Jordan Smith, and all our neighbors who endured the unsightly presence of the unkept gardens in our yard and forestry materials and equipment in our driveway for the last 4 months while I’ve been in the woods. I promise I’ll clean it all up.

Thank you all! You have made this project such a success.