Remembering Zora Lathan

Adaora "Zora" Lathan

June 29, 1952 - April 9, 2025

Slow it down, Spread it out, Soak it in!

It's a phrase every Watershed Steward knows by heart, and it's a phrase we live by. It's so simple - no calculations, no Latin names, no regulations. Yet, it's the one phrase that has changed landscapes across the County through the outreach and actions of hundreds of Watershed Stewards over the last 16+ years.

The phrase was brought to us by Zora Lathan. While she is not the author, she is the person who plucked the concept from among so many environmental slogans and helped to embed it in the fabric of WSA.

Zora was a founding Consortium Member of WSA, helping to guide the development of the Steward Certification Course. Her book "Ecoscaping Back to the Future" was included in WSA's first "Tool Box for Sustaining Actions" and distributed to hundreds of Watershed Stewards over the years.

In 2010, Zora approached me with an idea to spread the word about RainScaping to communities across our County through Watershed Stewards. WSA's Clean Water Communities program was born and the concept of RainScaping was embedded in our Certification Course and all of our outreach materials.

Perhaps she is most well known locally for founding the Chesapeake Ecology Center - both the physical gardens installed at Mary Moss at the J. Albert Adams Academy and the prolific writings and resources on the CEC website.

Personally, I am so grateful to have known Zora and for the gift of her tenacious and passionate commitment to helping us all slow it down, spread it out, and soak it in.

Read more about Zora's amazing life and legacy.

-Suzanne Etgen

Latin for Gardeners: April 2025

Latin for Gardeners
April’s Native Maryland Plant

Acer rubrum L.
(AY-sir ROO-brum)
Common Name: Red Maple

I’m seeing red, are you? 

Acer rubrum is one of the most abundant, widespread trees in North America; it is adaptable to most conditions across its native range and is a prolific seed producer.  It is considered a keystone species1, although its numbers are not in the top five for supporting life. The one growing in my front yard is frequently visited by bees in the spring and woodpeckers year-round, red-bellied, of course. These beautiful birds, with just a blush of red on their bellies can often blend in with the red and black of the tree, it’s just their red cap and nape that are conspicuously red and can give them away – and of course their relentless drumming for insects. With their barbed tongue and sticky spit, they’re able to access insects hiding in tiny crevices of trees.

Acer rubrum is the state tree of Rhode Island, the Ocean State, my original home state.  I grew up loving this tree throughout all four seasons.  In spring and in summer I frequently climbed the one in our front yard, pulled the winged “helicopter” fruits from its branches to press on my nose and raked piles of its leaves in the fall - just so I could jump in them and wrap myself in a blanket of red.  And then in winter I watched from my bedroom window as this beautiful canopy tree held its own against the strong nor’easters that frequent New England. 

My intention in choosing Acer rubrum for this month was to urge you to consider it as a tree to plant on Arbor Day, April 25th.  I do encourage you to find one in your neighborhood, to look at its small flowers which bloom in spring and are a valuable food source for bees, and to plant one if you are really set on a maple.  However, because of its ability to spread so rapidly on its own I’m more inclined to plant a tree that can find it hard to compete and yet, it is one of the most majestic and longest-lived plants, it’s also rated #1 as a keystone species - an oak. I’d urge you to consider a Quercus rubra a northern red oak or maybe a Quercus alba, the white oak, it’s also the state tree of Maryland, the Free State, it’s where I now call home.

1 https://homegrownnationalpark.org/keystone-trees-and-shrubs/

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

Sugg-Jeff-Tion: April 2025

A Beautiful Disaster…

Ahhhh spring! The birds are singing, the spring peepers are calling… and the Bradford pear trees are blooming everywhere, filling the air with their foul stench. YUCK!

The Bradford pear, a cultivar of the Callery pear (Pyrus calleryana), was brought to the United States in the 1960s. It was originally thought to be the PERFECT ornamental tree, due to its fast growth, early and beautiful spring flowers, and uniform and symmetrical shape. It was the go-to foundation tree for new developments for years. With all the positive characteristics of this new horticultural marvel, who would have ever guessed that this beautiful tree would eventually turn out to a beautiful botanical disaster that now threatens our local ecosystems.

When the Bradford pear was originally developed and released to the public, it was carefully bred to be sterile to ensure it would not escape cultivation. However, as more and more were planted, and additional varieties of the Callery pear were developed and planted, the cross-pollination of the different pear varieties led to successful production of viable seeds. Since then, this tree has blossomed into an absolute beast of an invasive species that thrives on disturbed sites, meadows, and forest edges. The fruits, which are consumed and spread primarily by birds, are fast to germinate and can form dense thickets in open areas in just a few years. You can easily see the impacts driving along our highways at this time of year. Those trees were not intentionally planted, they are all growing wild and quickly outcompeting native species of trees, shrubs, and other plants. This invasion can quickly lead to ecological food deserts; where native plants once supported biodiversity, invasive pear trees provide very little in the form of food for wildlife. The flowers, while beautiful, attract mostly flies as pollinators due to their vile scent. Their leaves are not known to serve as preferred food sources for caterpillars. In one study, only one caterpillar was found on a Bradford pear tree, whereas over 400 caterpillars, representing 19 species, were found on a similar-sized native oak.

Unfortunately, the Bradford pear continues to be sold at big box nurseries all over the US. They are usually the cheapest flowering trees you can buy, and people who aren’t aware plant them with good intention. That is where YOU come in! We need YOU to help spread the word and encourage people to plant native! Let them know that at this time of year, they can visually see the effects of invasive species on our wild spaces by just looking down at the Bradford pear-stained highways. There is no better time than now to help reverse the effects of invasive species on our ecosystems and help people understand that while beautiful, they also threaten the birds, bees, and butterflies we all love.

So, if you like the smell of rotting fish, attracting flies, fragile trees that often split in half during windstorms, and contributing to the demise of our local ecosystems, then plant a Bradford pear. Otherwise, plant a native flowering tree like eastern redbud, serviceberry, or flowering dogwood that will last much longer, support local wildlife, and add some color to your early spring landscape. That’s my sugg-Jeff-tion!

Latin for Gardeners: March 2025

Latin for Gardeners
March’s Native Maryland Plant

Geranium maculatum L.
(jer-AY-nee-um mak-yuh-LAH-tum)
Common Name: Wild Geranium, Spotted Geranium, Cranesbill

Wild Geranium is a lovely, low-growing, rhizomatic perennial often found blanketing the ground in woodlands or along roadsides. It’s an adaptable, clump-forming groundcover that thrives in a dry to moist area of my garden. Its dehiscent¹ fruits have allowed it to spread into other areas of my yard which I find a charming feature of this plant. I often find it growing far from where it was originally planted, usually where I’m leaning over to pull weeds – it makes for a welcome distraction from this never-ending chore.

The plant’s five petals range in color from lavender to pink to almost white and feature slightly darker contrasting lines that act as nectar guides – aiding pollinators in their search for pollen and nectar. Each flower has a single pistil surrounded by ten stamens. Beneath the flower are five green sepals and a slightly pubescent stem.

Wild geranium is a larval host plant for the White-Marked Tussock moth (Orgyia leucostigma). The plant may also be visited by slugs and snails - these two garden pests can be managed by creating an inviting habitat, like a compost pile, for ground beetles who will eagerly feed on them.

Having a compost is a great way to recycle yard waste. It also saves time and money and can gain you multiple Bay-wise² points! Top dressing your flower beds with compost, including those with Geranium maculatum, suppresses weeds and adds nutrients to the soil. What better way to keep plants healthy so they can continue to spread their seeds? Happy gardening.

¹ the explosive release of seeds from the fruit

² The Univ. of MD program that focuses on water quality. Find out more here:

https://extension.umd.edu/programs/environment-natural-resources/program-areas/bay-wise-program/

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