Hello Friends, Neighbors, Fellow Gardeners,

Enjoy the last days of spring as summer is almost here! Hope you all have a Happy Mother’s Day and a happy and safe Memorial Day weekend this month! Here are some garden tips, educational opportunities, and videos for May. Some upcoming events/resources include RainScapes Portal Now Open; Rebates Up to $7,500 for Residents and $20,000 for Businesses Available to Prevent Stormwater Runoff, Native Plant Sales, Birding Events, Brookside Garden Events: In-Person and Virtual Programs, Seneca Creek State Park May Programs, Montgomery College Lifelong Learning Home and Garden Classes – Summer 2025, and more! A lot of gardening events are announced on Facebook as well as on our website. These events will be hosted as online or in-person events. 

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Mill Creek Extreme Clean Up 2025 Recap

Thanks to everyone that made our Mill Creek Drive Extreme Cleanup a success! On Saturday, April 19th for Earth Month, Mill Creek Towne Garden Club partnered with Rock Creek Conservancy and Montgomery Parks to help clean up Mill Creek Stream in our 2025 Extreme Cleanup! All in all, 10 bags were filled, and additional oversized items included a tire, fencing wire, and a toy set, and 14 people participated. Thanks to volunteers from our neighbors, family, and friends with their help to make this project a success! Some people travelled here from DC, Silver Spring, and Carroll County! Here are photos from our Extreme Cleanup. Hope you can join us next year to continue making this a successful venture to help keep our water clean! 

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Thanks to everyone who showed up to support us at our second Plant and Yard Sale! It was a successful fundraiser that helped us cover costs for our upcoming community garden-related events as well as for maintenance of the Mill Creek Towne entrances! Here’s a link to some photos from the plant and yard sale:

If you missed this event and want to contribute, we accept donations year-round. Please visit our Donations page for details on how to donate on our secure online site or how to make offline donations.

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Join Mill Creek Towne Garden Club!

• Are you interested in gardening? Perhaps you’re a beginner, looking to learn more, or an experienced gardener interested in sharing your experiences and learning from others?
• Are you interested in making your home and community a more beautiful place to live?
• Are you interested in getting more involved in your community and getting to know your neighbors better?

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Visit Our MCT Garden Club Website for Gardening Resources

• Local Gardening Resources: Looking for a Master Gardener as a guest speaker, need gardening advice, or want to learn about resources in or near Mill Creek Towne? Visit our Resources page for details.
• MCTGC Blog: Check our monthly blog for garden tips and local/online garden-related events.
• Gardening Books: Looking for a gift for your favorite gardener? Visit our Gardening Books Resources page for holiday gift ideas.
• Local Gardens: Visit our Local Gardens page to learn about local gardens in our area.
• Montgomery County Farmers’ Markets: Support our local farmers. Check this page to learn about local farmers markets in our area or join a CSA and get fresh local produce year-round!
• Online Gardening Resources: Looking for gardening apps or online resources to help with your gardening? Check out our Online Gardening Resources page for some apps for your smartphone and online gardening resources focused on the DMV area.
• Recipes: Looking for a recipe for your home-grown veggies and fruit? Check our Recipes page for ideas.

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Montgomery County Master Gardeners - Maryland

What can Master Gardeners do for you?

• Help you select and care for annual and perennial plants, shrubs and trees.
• Determine if you need to test your soil.
• Provide you with information on lawn care.
• Identify weeds, beneficial and noxious insects, and plant diseases and remedies.
• Teach you how to use pesticides, mulch and compost.
• Guide you in pruning trees and shrubs.
• Provide you with options for managing wildlife.
• Provide you with gardening resources.
• Help you submit a plant sample for diagnosis

Plant Clinics are held at several sites in the county on a weekly basis and at special events such as garden festivals and the county fair. Regularly scheduled Plant Clinics are located at public libraries and farmers’ markets throughout the county as well as at the Audubon Naturalist Society in Chevy Chase.  There are also clinics three days per week at Brookside Gardens.  The busiest season is April through September, but some clinics are open year-round.  Bring your plant samples and questions to one of these locations in Montgomery County, MD (see link below to find a location near you):

https://extension.umd.edu/mg/locations/plant-clinics

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Buy Fresh Produce and Support Farms at County Farmers Markets

SATURDAYS, 9AM – 1PM​
May 3 – OCTOBER 11, 2025

16501 Redland Road, Rockville, MD 20855

Get ready — the Derwood Farmers Market is opening Saturday, May 3rd and we can’t wait to share the amazing flavors our food and beverage vendors are bringing to the table! Whether you’re planning your market brunch, stocking up on fresh-baked treats, or cooling off with a smoothie, there’s something delicious waiting for you. Our market participates in nutrition assistance programs including eWIC & matching dollars for SNAP. The Derwood Market also collects food scraps for composting through a partnership with the Department of Environmental Protection. 

Ready to plan your first taste adventure? See the full list of vendors here:
www.milkladymarkets.org/derwood-market​

We can’t wait to see you! Let’s celebrate fresh flavors, good company, and our amazing community together.

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Flowers and Groundcovers

• After the last frost date, plant warm-season annuals and tender bulbs (calla lilies, cannas, dahlias, gladiolus) in the ground and in containers.
• After spring bulbs bloom, let leaves turn yellow and die before trimming.
• Lightly fertilize bulbs when green starts to show.
• Cut back spent tulip and daffodils, but not the foliage.
• Deadhead spent blooms on your annuals and perennials to encourage re-flowering.
• Remove last of spring flowers, replacing with transplants or seeds.
• Begin hardening off tender transplants. Water tender transplants.
• Walk your garden – look for early signs of fungal diseases.
• Mulch beds with a light hand.
• Provide supports for fast-growing perennials such as delphiniums, peonies, and lilies.
• Tie up clematis and other fast-climbing vines.
• Plant and prune roses. Feed your roses and new plantings with slow-release fertilizer sparingly.
• Check for black spot on your roses. Remove and discard any affected leaves in the trash, never back into your garden or compost – apply a fungicide with Neem oil every two weeks during the growing season.
• Pinch out growing tips of leggy transplants.
• Transplant spring flowering bulbs after flowering. 
• Do not set out seedlings or tender annuals until after Mother’s Day (traditional last frost-free date for entire areas).
• Divide Perennials.
• Cut back and clear out the last of your perennial beds.
• Edge garden beds.
• Rake up weeds and their seedlings.
• Gently clean up the garden.
• Weed by hand to avoid disturbing new forming roots. Especially look for fast-growing vines such as honeysuckle, autumn clematis, bittersweet, wild grape, Virginia creeper, and poison ivy.
• Pests to watch for: Aphids, slugs, snails, spidermites, deer, voles, and whiteflies.
• Diseases to watch for:  Botrytis on peonies, Volutella blight on pachysandra, Blackspot on roses; powdery mildew, rust, bacterial diseases
• See UMD’s HGIC Garden Tips for more details.
• For a list of native plant resources, visit: https://extension.umd.edu/hgic/topics/native-plant-resources

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Trees and Shrubs

• Plant and transplant shrubs that have finished blooming. Check often and water planted and transplanted trees if they don’t pass the “finger test” (stick your finger deep into the soil – dry? Water!
• Directly after blooming, prune flowering shrubs and vines.
• Water shrubs and trees deeply during any dry spells.
• IF YOU MUST MULCH: Remove old mulch, then add 2″ – 3″ shredded pine or pine needles, keeping away from trunk.
• Prune crepe myrtle when you can see what is still alive.
• Do not fertilize newly planted or transplanted plants the first year.
• Soil test established trees that have not been performing well.
• Soil preparation: add lime, compost, etc. as needed.
• Keep mowers and trimmers away from trunks!
• Prune broken, dead, diseased, or damaged branches.
• Prune summer bloomers such as Hydrangeas, Rose of Sharon, Crepe Myrtles, and Butterfly Bushes.
• Prune long shoots on shrubs to keep plant neat looking.
• Plant or transplant trees, shrubs, perennials including berries, roses, and evergreens.
• Keep an eye out for bark damage from rabbits or deer.
• Check often and water newly planted trees if they don’t pass the finger test (stick your finger deep into soil – dry? Water!)
• Check for vole problems and set out traps.
• Spray broadleaf evergreens with anti-desiccant to prevent dehydration.
• Use fallen leaves for mulch or compost.
• Remove Ivy, Pachysandra, and other vine-like groundcover from under shrubs.
• Mulch or compost healthy leaves.
• Continue to remove fallen, diseased leaves.
• Put diseased leaves, pesticide-laden grass clippings and weed seeds in your trash — not your compost pile.
• Turn your compost pile weekly and don’t let it dry out. Work compost into your planting beds.
• Apply dormant oil treatment to ornamentals and fruit trees before dormancy breaks.
• Remove dead and dying trees.
• Pests to watch for: adelgids, aphids, azalea lacebug, borers, caterpillars, Gypsy moths, scale, sawfly, spidermites, leafminers, caterpillar, deer, and voles.
• Diseases to watch for: Anthracnose, Exobasidium gall on azaleas, Apple scab Cedar-apple hawthorn or quince rust, Verticillium wilt, Oak leaf blister, Phytophthora, top dieback and root rot on azaleas.
• For more tips, see UMD’s HGIC Garden Tips for more details.

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Herbs, Veggies, and Fruit

• After the last frost date, plant warm-season vegetables (squash, peppers, tomatoes, corns, beans).
• Divide perennials and herbs.
• Fertilize new growth.
• Prune grapevines.
• Prune fruit trees as their buds are swelling. Check for dead and diseased wood to prune out.
• Keep all transplants watered deeply for 2-3 weeks.
• Thin seedlings.
• Put up trellises and teepees for peas, climbing beans, etc.
• Build a raised bed for vegetables. Add lots of manure and compost.
• Start carrots, turnips, and parsnips in well-draining beds or deep containers.
• Keep cutworms off newly planted edible seedlings by surrounding the seedlings with a collar cut from a plastic bottle or cardboard tube.
• Pick peas often to encourage the plant to produce more.
• Ensure new seedlings do not dry out by installing a drip-irrigation system.
• Start herbs from seed or cuttings.
• Put row covers over vulnerable crops – remove cover to allow for pollinating once they set flowers.
• Thin lettuce seedlings and plant more seeds in new rows. (You can eat the seedling greens you pull.)
• Spread ashes from wood fires on your vegetable beds.
• Remove finished plants.
• Cover strawberry beds with straw or pine needles.
• Thin seedlings.
• Apply dormant oil spray to fruit trees.
• Pests to watch for: Asparagus beetle, aphids, cabbage worms, cutworms, Rabbits, deer, woodchucks, and birds.
• Diseases to watch for: Dampling off of seedlings, Fireblight of pears and apples.
• Here are some more UMD’s HGIC Garden Tips.

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Lawns

• Mow grass at 3 inches and leave the clippings on the lawn.
• Mow zoysia grass at 2″
• Test soil if you haven’t already.
• Dethatch if necessary and plug aerate BEFORE applying weed control.
• To control crabgrass, apply pre-emergent herbicide to lawn (when forsythia blooms drop).
• Calibrate your spreader before fertilizing!
• Fertilize turf only if week: apply 1 lb. N/1000 sq. ft.
• Start lawn seeding.
• Clean yard of leaves and other debris.
• Spread new gravel on paths.
• Mulch bare areas.
• Get your lawnmower serviced.
• Keep newly seeded lawns well watered.
• Apply fertilizer and lime to turfgrass based on soil tests and UME recommendations.
• Sharpen your lawnmower blade.
• Check and tune-up power equipment (mowers and trimmers).
• Clean yard of all leaves and other debris.
• Turn your compost pile.
• Diseases to watch for: brown patch, and red thread
• Pests to watch for: Grubs
• See UMD’s HGIC Garden Tips for more details.

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Indoors/Houseplants

• Repot larger plants that are going outside for the summer.
• Begin hardening off prior to putting outside in shade for the summer.
• Repot root-bound houseplants and start fertilizing them.
• Buy and indoor plant to liven up your office space. Try an orchid or African violet.
• Check indoors for termites and ants.
• Scan houseplants for insect activity.
• Start/keep fertilizing your indoor plants.
• Pinch back leggy plants.
• Maintain moisture in pots, but do not overwater!
• Start new indoor plants from cuttings – try an easy one such as violets.
• Clean the leaves of your indoor houseplants to prevent dust and film build-up.
• Give your houseplants a quarter turn every few weeks.
• Keep all houseplants out of drafts and away from heat vents.
• Keep succulents and cacti on the dry side.
• Check on your container plants daily and keep them well-watered.
• Remove old leaves, damaged stems.
• Pinch out growing tips of leggy cuttings and plants that are overwintering.
• Clean the leaves of your indoor houseplants to prevent dust and film build-up.
• Pests to watch for:  aphids, spider mites, mealybug, scale, and whitefly.
• See UMD’s HGIC Garden Tips for more information.
  

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Indoor/Outdoor Insect and Wildlife Tips

• Ticks are very active now.
• Set out traps for mice, moles, and voles.
• Put up birdhouses.
• Put suet out for birds.
• Keep bird feeders clean and filled and provide a source of water.
• Provide nesting materials (try dryer lint) for birds as well as houses for the start of their family season.
• Wash out birdbaths weekly with diluted bleach solution.
• Switch your deer deterrent spray.
• Set out traps for mice, moles, and voles.
• Remove and destroy gypsy moth egg masses.
• Watch for: eggs, larvae, overwintering stage of many species, carpenter ants, flies, stink bugs, termites, rabbits, raccoons, groundhogs, deer, mice, moles, snakes, squirrels, and voles.
• For more information, see UMD’s HGIC Garden Tips.

Source: University of Maryland’s Home and Garden Information Center (HGIC) and the Washington Gardener.

See more tips from HGIC:

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Montgomery Parks – Events

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The Butterflies are Back at Brookside Gardens

After a five-year hiatus, the Butterfly Experience at Brookside Gardens is back and on view through September 21, 2025. The display features live butterflies from North America, Costa Rica, Africa and Asia. Hundreds of these enchanting insects will delight and amaze visitors with their intricate patterns and delicate aerial flight paths. The exhibit is open daily from 10 a.m.-4 p.m. through June 30. Additional hours are listed on the website. 

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