Hello Friends, Neighbors, Fellow Gardeners,
Enjoy the last month of Summer! It’s harvest time, enjoy your summer garden crops and get ready for fall! Here are some garden tips, educational opportunities, and videos for August. Some upcoming events/resources include the 2025 Montgomery County Agricultural Fair, Beekeeper’s Talk, Wednesday Water Webinars, Brookside Garden Events: In-Person and Virtual Programs, All About Birds, Companion Planting in the Home Garden, Native Shrubs with Master Gardeners, Urban Tree Summit, Seneca Creek State Park August 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.
Planning Tips
- It’s harvest time and also a good time to start taking stock of what worked well for you this season and what didn’t.
- As the heat and humidity move in, take it easy by working in the morning or early evening to avoid intense sun and humidity. Leave the big projects for this fall. For now, concentrate on maintaining the beds you’ve already established and nurturing your plantings.
- Take advantage of plant sales.
- Begin planning for fall plantings.
- Order garlic, onions, and shallots for fall planting.
- Get your fall bulb order in soon for best availability.
- Start collecting plant seeds for next year and for trading.
- Check out gardening books from your local library to read on vacation.
- Check your local garden center for mid-summer bargains.
- Take garden photos and make notes in your garden journal.
- Pick up new gardening books and magazines for inspiration.
- Volunteer at a local public or historic garden.
- Plan for 2026 with these Free resources: Landscaping with Native Plants by the Maryland Native Plant Society, Plant Invaders of Mid-Atlantic Natural Areas by the National Park Service, Master Gardeners of Northern Virginia Reading Room. Visit our Online Gardening Resources page for more helpful online resources.
- Buy a good gardening book or magazine subscription for a gift for your favorite gardener.
- Have a question about gardening? Check the University of Maryland Extension’s New Maryland Grows blog for garden tips.
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?
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.
Maryland Grows Blog
In weekly posts on MD HGIC’s blog, learn about pollinator conservation, growing native plants and food, and how to solve plant pest and disease problems.
Featured Article
It’s too Darn Hot: Garden Schemes for Sweltering Days
Principal Agent Associate Annette Cormany shares garden tips for excessive heat.
Other Timely Topics
MD HGIC Video Tips
Our Extension experts are sharing one-minute video tips to help you in the garden this summer. We’re talking about pest management in the vegetable garden, tree and lawn diseases, native plants, mowing lawns, and more!
For more information, please visit:
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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
UMD Home and Garden Information Center: Ask a Master Gardener
Do you have a gardening question? Our Certified Professional Horticulturists, faculty, and Master Gardener Volunteers are ready to answer – year-round!
See below to ask a master gardener a question on the UMD Extension website:
Buy Fresh Produce and Support Farms at County Farmers Markets
SATURDAYS, 9AM – 1PM
Until OCTOBER 11, 2025
16501 Redland Road, Rockville, MD 20855
Visit the Derwood Farmers Market on Saturdays and enjoy 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.
Maryland’s Best Native Plant Program
The Maryland Department of Agriculture (MDA) in partnership with University of Maryland Extension, the Department of Natural Resources, and the Maryland Native Plant Society is proud to introduce the MDA’s Maryland’s Best Native Plant Program.
This program aims to bring education, awareness, and recognition to consumers and producers about the importance of native plants by:
- creating a Commercial Maryland Native Plant List to help nurseries and consumers choose the most attractive and best plants for the environment
- recognizing retailers, wholesalers, and growers who are selling native plants via a tiered (bronze, silver, gold), voluntary certification program, and helping consumers know where to buy native plants
- providing marketing materials- including a MD Native Plant logo- to help consumers identify what’s native to Maryland
Check out the revised list of Mid-Atlantic native plants for pollinators and beneficial insects, from the Xerces Society.
Flowers and Groundcovers
- Cut petunia stems back by 2/3rds and fertilize.
- Start seeds of pansies, calendula, flowering cabbage, kale, other fall annuals.
- Start shopping for spring bulbs.
- Divide and cut back Bearded Iris and Peonies.
- Divide Hostas and Daylilies.
- Don’t fertilize plants that slow down in the heat, but keep them watered.
- Inspect your garden for powdery mildew. If seen, prune back perennials to create needed circulation.
- As the days get cooler, plant hardy mums.
- Water thoroughly, especially if you receive no rain for more than seven days.
- Pinch buds of fall-blooming plants (asters, mums, Joe-Pye weed).
- Annuals are now hitting their peak. Keep them well-watered and add a little liquid fertilizer every few weeks to keep them going through September.
- Renew your container plantings, which may be looking a bit ragged at this point. Pinch back overgrown plants. Pull out any spent ones and pop in some substitute annuals or mums. Keep them well-watered and add a little liquid fertilizer every few weeks to keep them going through early autumn.
- Gather roses to enjoy indoors and be sure the make the cut just above a five-leaf unit.
- Deadhead spent blooms on your annuals and perennials to encourage re-flowering.
- Check on your container plants daily and keep them well-watered.
- 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.
- Inspect for powdery mildew. If seen, prune back perennials to create needed circulation. Discard properly (i.e., not in your compost bin).
- Rake up weeds and their seedlings.
- 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, 4-lined plant bug, slugs, snails, spidermites, deer, voles, and whiteflies.
- Diseases to watch for: 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
5 Million Trees Initiative
Maryland’s goal is to plant and maintain 5 million native trees by 2031. There are various ways you can get involved – plant trees and register them — or volunteer! A number of tree-planting assistance programs are available at the municipal, county, and state levels.
THIS is the SUPERPOWER of YOUR KEYSTONE NATIVE PLANTS.
- No exotic plant could ever achieve this.
- Want butterflies? Feed the caterpillars with keystone plants!
- Exotic plants will never support as many different species of caterpillars as the Keystone Natives can.
- Find your keystone native plants here by zip code.
If your zip code doesn’t give you enough information try zip codes of the nearest larger town or city. LINK: https://www.nwf.org/NativePlantFinder/
Trees and Shrubs
- Don’t transplant azaleas this month.
- Avoid late summer pruning.
- Thin out small trees and cut off any suckering branches growing from the bottom root ball.
- Hold off on planting new trees and shrubs until the summer heat has passed.
- Prune foundation shrubs and trees to be no closer than 1 foot from the house.
- Prune and thin shrubs that have already flowered.
- Take cuttings from azaleas, boxwoods, and camellias to start new plants.
- Contact a certified arborist to have your trees’ health inspected.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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, bagworms, borers, caterpillars, Gypsy moths, scale, sawfly, spidermites, leafminers, webworm, 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.
Herbs, Veggies, and Fruit
- Attend a county fair and enter some of your garden bounty!
- First week in August is the last week to plant beans, peas, and carrots for fall.
- Buy raspberries and peaches at a local pick-your-own farm or visit a local farmer’s market.
- Harvest leaves of herbs used in cooking (rosemary, basil, sage) in the early morning, for best flavor.
- At the end of the month, begin planting cool-season vegetables (turnips, carrots, beets, spinach, Chinese cabbage, kale, Brussels sprouts).
- Preserve gourds and dry flowers for display in the fall.
- Cut off bottom, yellow foliage on tomato plants.
- Harvest regularly from your vegetable garden to prevent rot and waste.
- Deadhead garlic chives before they go to seed. Makes a nice cut-flower.
- Harvest onions when tops die back.
- Fertilize according to University of Maryland recommendations.
- Water deeply when needed.
- Start planting fall crops.
- Clean up fallen fruit and berries.
- Cover berry bushes and fruit trees with bird netting.
- Dig up garlic when the tops turn brown. Let dry in the sun, then store.
- Divide perennials and herbs.
- Prune fruit trees as their buds are swelling. Check for dead and diseased wood to prune out.
- Put up trellises and teepees for peas, climbing beans, tomatoes, etc.
- Keep cutworms off newly planted edible seedlings by surrounding the seedlings with a collar cut from a plastic bottle or cardboard tube.
- Ensure new seedlings do not dry out by installing a drip-irrigation system.
- Start herbs from seed or cuttings.
- 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.
- Apply dormant oil spray to fruit trees.
- Pests to watch for: Asparagus beetle, aphids, cabbage worms, corn borer, corn earworm, cutworms, squash vine borer, tomato hornworm, rabbits, deer, woodchucks, and birds.
- Diseases to watch for: Powdery mildew, Fungal, bacterial, viral diseases.
- Here are some more UMD’s HGIC Garden Tips.
Lawns
- Cool-season lawns go dormant in hot, dry weather — Do not water.
- Let the lawn go dormant for now; it will green back up in the coming rains.
- Over seeding may be done now through October.
- Keep newly seeded lawns well watered!
- Water established lawns deeply but infrequently!
- Mow grass at 3 inches and leave the clippings on the lawn.
- Mow zoysia grass at 2″
- Test soil if you haven’t already.
- Clean yard of leaves and other debris.
- Mulch bare areas.
- Get your lawnmower serviced.
- Keep newly seeded lawns well watered.
- Apply grub control to your lawn.
- 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).
- 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.
Indoors/Houseplants
- Prune potted bougainvillea or hanging baskets that will overwinter inside.
- Bring Christmas cactus and poinsettias indoors if you took them out for the summer in preparation for holiday blooming. Fertilize them and put them where they’ll get just 10 hours’ bright light per day.
- Caulk and seal your outside walls to prevent insect entry into your home.
- Check for any stagnant water mosquito breeding grounds, especially your gutters. Dump out any standing water that sits stagnant for more than three days.
- Add Mosquito Dunks to any standing water in your yard such as birdbaths, downspouts, plant saucers, and gutters.
- Check your plants at night with a flashlight for any night-feeding insects like slugs.
- If you find slug damage, set out beer traps or Sluggo pellets.
- Check indoors for termites and ants.
- Scan houseplants for insect activity.
- Start/keep fertilizing your indoor 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.
Read and follow label instructions on all pesticides and herbicides.
Start the year off by minimizing your #risk to #pesticides and always #ReadTheLabel! Learn more here: http://npic.orst.edu/health/readlabel.html
Questions about your label? Call us! 800-858-7378 M-F 8am-12pm PST
Navigating the Spotted Lanternfly Buzz Webinar (see below)
Indoor/Outdoor Insect and Wildlife Tips
- Hand-pick Japanese Beetles or shake them off over a bucket of dishwater.
- Watch for insect and disease problems throughout your garden.
- Ticks are very active now.
- Set out traps for mice, moles, and voles.
- Watch for slug damage and set out traps or Sluggo bait.
- Check for mosquito breeding grounds. Dump out any water that sits stagnant for more than three days.
- Hand-pick or cut out any bagworm cocoons.
- Put up birdhouses.
- Put suet out for birds.
- Make hummingbird food by boiling two cups sugar in four cups water.
- Keep bird feeders clean and filled and provide a source of water.
- Wash out birdbaths daily 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:
Wednesday Water Webinars
University of Maryland Extension will be hosting monthly webinars on various water quality related topics. Join Andrew Lazur, Water Quality Specialist, as he dives into water topics that affect us all. These webinars will take place via Zoom on the dates shown below, allowing time for Q & A at the end.
All About Birds
All About Birds: Saturday, August 2 | 10 to 11 am | Ages 14+ | $15
5100 Meadowside Lane
Rockville, MD, 20853
Learn how to spot and identify birds on a Naturalist led birding hike and make your own teacup birdfeeders to use at home. Beginner birders are encouraged to attend!
Beekeeper’s Talk
Saturday, August 9th
1:00pm – 2:30pm
Location:
Benjamin Gaither Center
80A Bureau Drive
Gaithersburg, MD 20878
Phone: 301.258.6380
Alice Gambino, educator and member of the Montgomery County Beekeeper’s Association, will share stories and fun facts about beekeeping and honeybee biology. Safely observe live honeybees in her observation hive. Explore beekeeping tools and equipment, sample local honey, and purchase some honey to take home with you. Jars of local honey will be available for $15 and $28. Lip balms and lotions made with local honey and beeswax will also be available to purchase. Please bring cash. Free and open to all! Call 301-258-6380 to reserve your spot.
Montgomery County Agricultural Fair Returns August 8–16!
August 8 to August 16
Be sure to visit Master Gardeners Demo Garden at the Montgomery County Ag Fair, MD,!! Master Gardeners will be there to answer your gardening questions!
Companion Planting in the Home Garden
August 21 | 12:00 p.m. – 1:30 p.m. | Online
Join Jon Traunfeld, UME Extension Specialist in Fruit and Vegetable Gardening, for an evidence-based look at companion planting in the home garden. This webinar will explore the principles behind plant partnerships, separating garden folklore from research-supported practices. Learn how to use plant diversity, spacing, and timing to improve garden productivity, support pollinators, and reduce pest pressure. Whether you’re growing vegetables in raised beds or backyard plots, this session will help you make informed decisions about what to plant—and what to plant it with.
If you need a reasonable accommodation to participate, please contact Steph Pully on or before August 7, 2025 at pully@umd.edu or (301) 226-7616.
Native Shrubs with Master Gardeners
Saturday, August 23
1:00pm – 2:00pm
No matter how big or how small your growing space, come learn about the importance of native plants and how you can support wildlife through planting native shrubs.
Join Merikay Smith from the Master Gardeners of Montgomery County Cooperative Extension Service as she teaches us about how native plants have evolved locally to become important cogs in the ecosystem wheel, supporting beneficial insects and animals, and protecting our soils. Merikay will touch on specific native shrubs, their growth habits and the benefits to our environment.
About Merikay Smith
Merikay Smith became a Maryland Master Gardener in 2007 and led the MCMG Speakers’ Bureau. Merikay is a Board member of Latter-day Saint Earth Stewardship, launching their first local chapter here in 2016. Check out the native plant garden this local chapter created at historic Pleasant View. She has helped mentor an additional 11 new chapters of LDSES located across the globe. Merikay has also served many years on the Boards of both the Muddy Branch Alliance and Seneca Creek Stewardship Partners, recently as president of SCWP.
Questions about this program? Contact the Gaithersburg Library at 240-773-9490.
Montgomery Parks – Events
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. From July 1 – August 31, the exhibit is open daily: 10am – 1pm weekdays, 10am – 4pm weekends. Additional hours are listed on the website.
Urban Tree Summit
Wednesday, September 17 | 8:30 am to 5 pm | All Ages | $89**
Silver Spring Civic Building at Veterans Plaza
Explore the ways we can all adapt to a changing climate, extreme heat, and declining biodiversity. You’ll hear from an outstanding lineup of experts in the fields of urban forestry, conservation, and environmental sciences.
Whether you’re an arborist, designer, developer, or just someone who believes trees make everything better, this is your chance to learn practical strategies we can all use to protect our urban forest and create greener, cleaner cities.
**Early bird pricing at $10 off until August 1.**
Seneca Creek State Park August Programs
Seneca Creek State Park
11950 Clopper Road
Gaithersburg, MD 20878
Here’s a link to Seneca Creek State Park’s August Programs. Featured events for August include Wildlife Walk, Cicadas & Lace Hike, Birds, Lakeshore Flowers Hike, Bugs, & Blooms at McKee-Beshers, Turtle Talk, and more! These events are provided by The Friends of Seneca Creek State Park.
About Friends Of Seneca Creek State Park (FOSCSP)
The only State Park entirely in Montgomery County, featuring Hiking, Disc Golf, Boating, Fishing, Peony Display Garden, Recycled Tire Playground, and Winter Lights display from Nov. 27th through December 31st. Entrance is free from November through March.
The Friends of Seneca Creek State Park collect dues and donations that are used to support the visitor experience in the park. We are a 501(c)(3) designated charity, so all donations, including dues, are tax deductible as allowed by law.
Montgomery College Lifelong Learning Home and Garden Classes – Summer 2025
See Schedule of Summer Classes below:
| Course | Course Name | Hrs. | Mode | Start Date | End Date | Days | Times | Loc |
| LLI022 | Orchids:How to Grow and Bloom | 3 | Structured Remote | 8/9/2025 | 8/9/2025 | Sat | 1:00 PM – 4:00 PM | DL-WD&CE Virtual- Remote |
Let’s Talk Gardens
Thursdays 12 to 1 p.m.
Smithsonian Gardens
“Grow” your gardening know-how! Our free online gardening program, Let’s Talk Gardens, covers a wide range of topics presented by our own professional staff, as well as guest speakers.
And we encourage you to watch videos in our Let’s Talk Gardens Video Library.
