Sugg-Jeff-Tion: January 2023

Think Spring….and Stratification!

Happy New Year!

Now that the holidays are over and our daylight hours are gradually getting longer, it’s time to begin thinking about our planting plans for the 2023 growing season.

You likely have already started to receive plant catalogs in the mail. While it may be too early to begin purchasing plants, it is a great time to start purchasing seeds. Seeds are a great and inexpensive way to increase the diversity of your planting project and grow species not commonly available in nurseries. 

Purchasing native plant seeds now allows time to pre-treat the seeds in order to simulate natural conditions that seeds would experience on the soil surface over-winter. This natural process is called cold stratification. The stratification process helps the seeds to break dormancy, encouraging the seed to germinate once the weather warms. Stratification can range from just a few months for some species such as Common Milkweed (Asclepias syriaca) to years for many species of trillium.

While some species do not require stratification, the seeds of many plant species will not germinate without a stratification period. For more information and to learn about the different types of stratification, check out this Seed Stratification Guide.

So, if you want to experiment with growing your own native plants from seed, now is a great time to start! Just be sure to leave enough time for the stratification process.

Just a sugg-Jeff-tion!

Remembering Ann Jackson

It is with great sadness and, also incredible gratitude, that I pass along a message about our dear friend Ann Jackson. Ann was diagnosed with cancer just a few weeks ago, and passed away peacefully in her sleep last night.  Many of you know Ann by her giant smile, boundless energy and consistent presence at all things WSA. Although she was trained as a Steward in Class 1 (almost 14 years ago), Ann built relationships with Stewards in almost every subsequent class, and mentored many Stewards through their own community projects.

I first met Ann in 2009 when she joined the flagship class of the Watershed Stewards Academy.  At that time, we had no idea the long lasting impact Watershed Stewards would have on the local environment, and we hadn’t really even defined what a Steward was. All of our expectations about what Watershed Stewards could be were blown right out of the water by Ann Jackson.

Ann embodied what it is to be a Watershed Steward. Not only in her “walk the talk” personal example, her action-oriented community leadership, and her patient, steadfast mentoring of dozens of other Watershed Stewards, but, Ann embodied Stewardship most distinctly in the value she placed on the people. We like to say that WSA is where plants and people meet…it's where restoration of the land and waters blends with the communities of people who live, work and gather here.  It is the relationship between land and people that makes water clean.  Ann truly blended that love of community and love of the environment into one. And, although she was one of the most knowledgeable people around on environmental issues, Ann never made anyone feel as if their questions were silly or their perspective was wrong.  

While Ann developed, built or mentored hundreds of projects during just the last 14 years, her true passion was ensuring that these projects were well maintained. Ann co-founded the WSA Maintenance Corps, an action group of Watershed Stewards working to ensure proper maintenance. Rather than simply providing maintenance to projects, Ann and her fellow Maintenance Corps Members worked with communities surrounding projects to build skills and efficacy within those communities to ensure future maintenance.  So many projects live on today because of Ann’s hard work and vision.

After 14 years of active environmental leadership, Ann was just as enthusiastic about making our community a better place as she was on day 1. Not only was she great at volunteering herself, she was also great at volunteering Mike. On many occasions, Ann generously offered her home for gatherings, and one time, a gathering fell on a date when she was out of town… “Not a problem”, she said “Mike will host you!”. And Mike did – with all of the amazing generosity that is so characteristic of Ann. This fall, when Ann hosted an event for WSA at the OSPIA beach, our parking logistics hit a snag.  Ann volunteered Mike to shuttle guests from Severna Park Elementary to the beach.  And Mike did – with all of that trademark Ann Jackson generosity and grace.

Perhaps Ann’s greatest gift to all of us was her presence. As the photos with this blog will attest, Ann was always on the lookout for ways to be generous with her time and expertise. Her presence brightened so many gatherings, classes, workshops and projects. She was truly the heart of our organization, and she will be missed by so many. Ann will live on in the incredible impact she’s had, the many, many plants she planted and projects she maintained, and the countless ways she inspired others.

For those who would like to send love to her husband Mike McCormick, you can visit Caring Bridge. 

WSA is also compiling reflections to memorialize Ann. To help us properly honor Ann and her impact, please share your memories with us here. If you have any photos or videos of Ann, please add them here. In the coming weeks, we’ll also be discussing how we can honor Ann’s legacy in a meaningful way as an organization…stay tuned!

Suzanne

Latin for Gardeners Special Edition Quiz: December 2022

Hello Master Gardeners, Naturalists and Watershed Stewards!

It’s been another busy year of planting and learning about the beauty and benefits of native plants.  I’ve learned a lot and I hope you have too.  Now it’s time to test your knowledge of the botanical names of the plants that have been featured in ‘Latin for Gardeners’. 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 first group of photos shows the plants in their winter dress with their botanical name listed. Can you still recognize them?  The second group shows them in spring or summer. Match the number of each plant in winter to the letter of them with their spring or summer bloom. 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!”

Alison Milligan – Mstr. Gardener/Mstr. Naturalist/Mstr. Watershed Steward

Chesapeake Bay Landscape Professional (CBLP), AA County Tree Trooper

aligmilligan@gmail.com

Sugg-Jeff-Tion: November 2022

Leaving the leaves…and stems

We are at peak leaf season and many of us know, or have at least heard, about leaving the leaves on our lawns and gardens to benefit the landscape. Leaves make a great natural mulch to suppress winter weeds and insulate the ground around plants to help them survive the winter, all while adding rich organic matter to improve the soil over time. Leaves can also be moved to areas of your yard where you’d like to convert more lawn area to native landscaping. Just pile them up and let nature do the work for you! Leaves also provide an important thermal refuge for many wildlife species over the winter.

Leaf litter is critical for many insect, reptile, amphibian, and small mammal species to complete their lifecycles. Many species of moth and butterfly, such as the Luna moth (Actias luna), overwinter in the leaf litter taking advantage of both the camouflage to avoid predation and the insulation to protect them from extreme temperature fluctuations. Hatchling box turtles (Terrapene carolina carolina) burry themselves under the leaf litter not only to hibernate, but spend much of their first few years of life using thick leaf litter as cover and places to find food. Ground-roosting bats such as the eastern red bat (Lasiurus borealis) use leaf litter to hibernate. Instead of caves and tree bark used by many species of bats to hibernate, the eastern red bat uses leaf litter to weather the long cold nights of winter.

Speaking of overwintering spots for wildlife, remember that as you prep your gardens for a long winter’s rest, be sure to leave as much cover for wildlife as possible. Seed heads and stems provide food and cover for overwintering birds. If you must cut them back, leave at least 8-12 inches of the stem available. Our native solitary bees use the hollow stems to overwinter and then lay eggs in the spring. Cutting them down too short could result in losing next year’s bees, butterflies, and other insects!

So leave the leaves and keep the stems as nature intended. Be-leaf me, your plants and wildlife will be tree-mendously grateful!

- Jeffrey Popp, Director of Restoration