Save Our Trees Native Plant Oasis Project

We are delighted to announce that the students of Annapolis High School (AHS) have completed a native plant oasis project in Quiet Waters Park!

The plan for this fantastic accomplishment began last June when Save Our Trees met with the IB Program Staff at AHS to discuss the possibility of educating students on the threat of invasives and the importance of native plants.

Last Fall, Save Our Trees made several class and assembly presentations that were followed by three field trips to Quiet Waters Park during the 1st, 2nd and 3rd marking periods. Between 15 and 20 students participated in each trip clearing invasives and planting native shrubs and plants donated by The Friends of Quiet Waters.

The students also took part in a “hike and learn” to the South River Overlook with Quiet Waters’ Park Ranger, Liz Schiller and Horticulturalist and Watershed Steward, Matt Pruett who spoke on invasive plants and animals.

The creation of the oasis will showcase the threat of invasives and importance of native plants as well as the students’ very important contribution to the restoration of the natural environment.

A big thank you goes to the Quiet Waters team - Ranger Liz  Schilder and Horticulturalist Matt Pruett for all the time they spent working with the students and helping coordinate the field trips and to The Friends of Quiet Waters for their generous donation of shrubs and plants.

To visit the “AHS Oasis”, follow the signs to the dog park and look for it to the right of the rest station.

Thank you Annapolis High School!!! 

Save Our Trees Team

Mulch Matters – A Tiny Success Story

Mulch Matters – A Tiny Success Story

By: Nina Fisher

In the early 2000’s, the Naval Academy enhanced the perimeter of its 80-acre stadium property by installing a meandering 1.25-mile multi-use trail lined with native trees and shrubs. I was ecstatic! I live a few blocks from the stadium and was looking forward to a shady place to walk or run without worries of car traffic.

It seemed like a promising start. Landscapers planted the trees and shrubs, installed raingardens and mulched it all. But like many ambitious projects, it lacked a key element: proper planting and mulching.

My blood pressure rose precipitously as I walked the newly planted area. With knowledge and experience thanks to my educational background and my tenure as a Watershed Steward , I saw far too many problems. The trees were planted way too high; their root balls were sitting well above soil level, and were topped with 8 to 10 inches of mulch piled directly against the tree trunks. It was a recipe for disaster. When trees are planted too high and engulfed with excess mulch, they develop collaring roots that encircle the trunk.

Excess mulch also:

• makes trees much more prone to desiccation (when the root ball dries out ultimately causing leaf wilt and drop);

• creates an environment prime for rot and disease; and

• prevents rainwater from reaching the roots.

I contacted the head of the Naval Academy Athletic Association, and he walked the trail with me. I pointed out the assorted problems and told him that they were going to lose a lot of these trees and shrubs. He agreed with my assessment and vowed to do it right going forward. They didn’t.

Over the years, I estimate that at least a third of the original plantings died, and many others are compromised. Last fall, I walked the path with the new Navy landscape contractor and we talked about planting and mulching practices. They had just planted 35 new 10 – 12-foot trees and I pointed out the poor planting. The next day he had his guys replant all the trees properly. A small victory!

This spring, when the Navy landscapers usually swoop in to pile excessive mulch around the trunks, they didn’t! They distributed a couple of inches of mulch around each tree and none of it touched the trunks. My blood pressure stabilized—another triumph!

Mulch can be an appropriate and attractive top dressing for your garden and tree beds, but the adage of more is better certainly does not apply here. Here are a few tips to keep in mind:

• Have you ever noticed that trees have a natural flare just above the soil level. That flare should remain exposed; your tree should not look like a telephone pole planted in the ground.

• Spread the mulch outward rather than up. It should extend away from the tree out to the drip line, the area defined by the outermost circumference of a tree canopy where water drips from the tree leaves and onto the ground of the tree.

• The mulch layer should be only 2 to 3 inches thick, which is thick enough to suppress some weeds, mitigate temperature swings, leach nutrients slowly into the soil and ultimately add organic matter that will enhance soil quality and health.

• Any organic matter can serve as mulch, not just the stuff in bags at the big-box stores. Ground-up leaves, pine fines, shredded barks, wood chips from an arborist’s grinding machine all work. 

• If you do buy mulch, select a type that is not dyed as the coloring chemicals are unnecessary and can leach into the soil.

One more thing—you could be making mulch ado about nothing! If you have a large, planted area with trees, shrubs and perennials with leaves that are left to degrade in place each fall, you can just leave the bed alone. You’ve created your own little functional ecosystem! After all, no one mulches the forest.

Nina Fisher

Watershed Steward Class 5

WSA Board member and Tree Trooper

Co-founder of Save our Trees

Watershed Steward Annie Hilary, In partnership with the Master Gardeners, has a campaign to stop volcano mulching in our communities. In addition to presentations, Annie has created outreach materials in English and Spanish. Visit aawsa.org/seasons and print the proper mulching flier and share it with your neighbors and local landscapers.

Second ANN-ual Day of Maintenance

2nd ANN-ual Day of Maintenance

On Saturday April 13th, 34 volunteers gathered for the 2nd ANN-ual Day of Maintenance to honor the legacy, impact, and hard work of Watershed Steward Ann Jackson, whom we sadly lost in 2022. You can read more about Ann, her dedication to maintenance, and last year’s event here. 

This year, the project site was Native Plant Demonstration Gardens and Groves, a Chesapeake Ecology Center (CEC) project located at Mary Moss @ J. Adams Academy in Annapolis. The project was designed and implemented under the leadership of Zora Lathan. When Zora reached out to Suzanne to ask for support maintaining the project, just as we were starting to plan the 2nd ANN-ual Day of Maintenance, we knew it was the perfect fit! 

Here's why:

1. Maintenance: It's a huge project, right on College Creek, and was in need of a lot of maintenance. Installation began in 2003, and invasive plants had taken over portions of the project. We know that many hands make lighter work.

2. Simple:  There are a few species of invasives we chose to focus on removing. This meant participants would be able to have a big impact fairly quickly, and be a species-specific experts by the end of the morning! 

3. Children: This project is located at an Anne Arundel County Public School site. Ann loved working with children, and children are our future (and current!) environmental Stewards!

4. Connections: WSA is a hub of connections, and so is this project! The partners that were involved in the beginning, in the time since, and the future illustrate that strength and value of community and working together!

5. Momentum: We got the momentum started, and are counting on Stewards and other locals to continue it!

Here’s a recap of the day, by the numbers:

• 20,000 sq. ft. of invasive plants removed including:

  • Wine berry

  • Garlic Mustard

  • English Ivy

  • Bush honeysuckle 

  • Japanese honeysuckle

  • Multiflora Rose

  • Privet

• 7,264 sticks (approximately), gathered and used to line and redefine a path

• 101 trees saved from ivy 

• 20 lbs of trash

• 18 rotten easter eggs (well, they were plastic but littering is rotten!)

• 4  Rainscaping signs replaced

• 1 talented woodworker - Brad Knopf built a custom tabletop to replace the old weathered one and reattached the rainscaping signs to their original home at the path entrance.

• 1 mascot - Ever the naturalist, Lindsay Hollister brought along a rescued and sick box turtle whom we all fed earthworms throughout the day 

A special thank you to these wonderful people who helped lead the day:

• Mike McCormick 

• Amy Clements

• Juliet Page 

• Brad Knopf 

• Jim MacNicholl

• Lara Mulvaney

• Lindsay Hollister

• Cindy Wells

Flip through the photo slideshow below!

About Zora Lathan:

Zora Lathan is a local environmental leader and the founder of the CEC. She is a long time partner and friend of WSA and has had a big impact. The term "rainscaping" has become synonymous with WSA, and she is the one who popularized and elevated that word in the local environmental community.

Latin For Gardeners: April

Latin for Gardeners

April’s Native Maryland Plant

Clethra alnifolia L.

(KLETH-ruh al-nih-FOE-lee-uh)

Common Name: Sweet Pepperbush, Summersweet

April is the month when our gardens come to life – as we pass our last frost date most bees are seen just coming out of hibernation and plants are pushing new buds, some even showing fully developed leaves. That’s not the case for Clethra alnifolia, a shrub that is so late to leaf out that often it fools people into thinking it hasn’t’ survived the winter – but don’t be fooled! Sweet Pepperbush may be late to show life but once it does it’s an impressive plant that blooms in shade and is just as comfortable in a residential rain garden as in a shady moist site or even on a slope or streambank where it is often found providing erosion control.

This plant will sucker slowly, it turns a golden yellow in fall and has a distinct fruiting capsule that makes it easy to identify in the winter landscape. NOTE: The ‘pepper’ in the common name refers to the fruit capsules which slightly resemble peppercorns.

Many pollinators are attracted to the nectar and pollen of Clethra alnifolia. Moths are less studied pollinators that are typically attracted to strongly scented and pale-colored flowers. I can rely on finding moths enjoying the nectar of the ‘Ruby Spice’ in my garden - well after midnight. This plant is host to several lepidoptera including the Sweet Pepperbush Nola Moth (Nola clethrae).

C. alnifolia is considered an ornamental native plant often used in fragrance gardens; it is most often found in nurseries as a shorter cultivar. ‘Hummingbird’ is a 2’-4’ plant, ‘Sixteen Candles’ is 4’ - 5’, and ‘Ruby Spice’ is even taller, up to 6’, with rose colored flowers and dark green leaves.

Whichever you choose, the many pollinators and the very pleasant, sweet fragrance of Sweet Pepperbush will be sure to delight you.

NOTE: When I first began looking for evening moths, I wore a headlamp on my forehead so I could keep my handsfree, good idea, right? Imagine my surprise (silly me) when I encountered many moths flying in my face attracted to the light. I don’t recommend this method.

Alison Milligan – MG/MN 2013

Watershed Steward Class 7/CBLP

aligmilligan@gmail.com