The MCT Garden Club recently had a farewell gathering for one of our longtime members, Sandy Ceely, a Mill Creek Towne resident, who is moving to Florida to be closer to family. Sandy has been in the club for 50+ years! On behalf of our garden club, Beth Gianone, President of Mill Creek Towne Garden Club, presented an ABCD Award to Sandy Ceely for being such a dedicated, hardworking member of our Mill Creek Towne Garden Club since 1978 serving as Treasurer, Vice President, President, Secretary, Federation Delegate, Roslyn caretaker, and longtime Membership Chairperson, along with a going away gift, as well as an honorary lifetime membership in the Mill Creek Towne Garden Club.
In addition to enjoying our company and delicious food, Beth shared old photos from our albums with pictures of Sandy and the garden club members throughout the years. Past events included holiday parties, luncheons, boat cruises, National Capital Area Federation of Garden Club Flower Shows, an Edible Centerpiece Demonstration by Emily Chiswell, as well as many years of taking care of the Mill Creek Towne entrances! Our garden club was established in 1968, and we also salute Linda Settlemyer, a continually active member serving our club for 50 years! Although it was bittersweet as we bid a longtime member farewell, we will miss Sandy but hope she enjoys spending time with her family in Florida!
About Mill Creek Towne Garden Club
Established in 1968, the objective of the Mill Creek Towne Garden Club is to stimulate and increase knowledge and interest in all facets of gardening among amateurs, establish an active community beautification program and encourage civic beautification, and foster group activities for the benefit of the members and the community. The garden club also landscapes and maintains the Mill Creek Towne entrances and common areas.
Visit our website to learn more about us. Donations to pay for landscaping and maintenance of the Mill Creek Towne Entrances and our garden-related programs at our community meetings are greatly appreciated and accepted year-round! Contact us if you have questions or if you are interested in joining us.
Happy Spring! Here are some garden tips, educational opportunities, and videos for May. Some upcoming events/resources include HGIC Backyard Gardening Zoom Sessions, Natives at Noon: Lunch & Learn Webinar Series, St. Francis of Assisi Plant and Flower Sale, Montgomery Parks – Events, Croydon Creek Nature Center’s Native Plant Sale, Locust Grove Nature Center: Spring Native Plant Sale at Pope Farm Nursery, Gaithersburg, MD; Seneca Creek State Park May Programs; Montgomery College: Lifelong Learning Home and Garden Classes – Summer 2026, 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
Start or update your garden journals.
Take an inventory of pots and containers; clean or replenish potted soil.
Select and order fruit plants. Decide on new tree/shrub locations.
Plan landscape design projects.
Design new beds and gardens.
Clean, sharpen, and store your garden tools.
Repair your shed and repair/paint your fences.
Check out gardening books from your local library to read.
Pick up new gardening books and magazines for inspiration.
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.
Thank You for Your Support for Our Plant & Yard Sale!
On Saturday, April 25th, Mill Creek Towne Garden Club hosted a Plant and Yard Sale. We want to THANK all our our neighbors who visited us at our yard sale to support us, when there were so many other activities happening on Saturday! Your contributions help support the Mill Creek Towne Garden Club help defray the costs for landscaping and maintenance of Mill Creek Towne’s main entrances and garden-related educational programs for the Derwood community! Thank you for all your help and contributions!
If you missed us, and want to make a donation, please visit our website at:
Established in 1968, the objective of the Mill Creek Towne Garden Club is to stimulate and increase knowledge and interest in all facets of gardening among amateurs, establish an active community beautification program and encourage civic beautification, and foster group activities for the benefit of the members and the community. The garden club also landscapes and maintains the Mill Creek Towne entrances and common areas.
Thanks to everyone that made our Mill Creek Drive Extreme Cleanup a success! On Saturday, April 18th 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 2026 Extreme Cleanup! All in all, fourteen bags were filled, and eleven people participated. Our volunteers enjoyed the spring weather and the flora and fauna near the creek. They saw a box turtle, Virginia Spring Beauties, and Intermediate Wood Ferns, a reminder of why we want to keep our waters and parks clean! Thanks to our neighbors, Friends of Rock Creek Conservancy, and garden club friends who volunteered to make this project a success! Some people travelled here from as far as DC! After cleaning up, several garden club members weeded around the blooming pink dogwood. 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!
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.
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):
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
The 9th season of the Derwood Farmers Market launches Saturday, May 2nd, 9am-1pm! Come enjoy fresh produce, live music, friends & food trucks.
16501 Redland Rd, Rockville, MD 20855
SATURDAYS, 9AM – 1PM May 2 to October 10, 2026
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.
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:
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
After the last frost date, plant warm-season annuals and tender bulbs (calla lilies, dahlias, gladiolus) in the ground and in containers.
After spring bulbs bloom, let leaves turn yellow and die before trimming.
Cut back spent tulip and daffodil blooms, but not the foliage!
Divide and replant crowded daffodils.
Replace cool-season annuals with heat-loving ones.
Put out slug traps around your vulnerable hostas.
Feed your roses and new plantings with slow-release fertilizer sparingly.
Provide supports for fast-growing perennials such as delphiniums, peonies, and lilies.
Tie-up clematis and other fast-growing climbing vines.
Hose off aphids, white flies, or spider mites on your roses or other perennials.
Deadhead spent blooms on your annuals and perennials to encourage re-flowering.
Pinch back mums, salvias, and other late-season bloomers to encourage bushy, not leggy growth.
Check pots and containers daily for water needs.
Plant dahlias, gladioli, caladiums, and cannas.
Direct-sow annual flower seeds.
Transplant spring flowering bulbs after flowering.
Plant summer flowering bulbs.
Do not set out seedlings or tender annuals until after Mother’s Day (traditional last frost-free date for our entire area).
Fertilize summer flowering bulbs.
Divide perennials.
Edge garden beds.
Mulch beds with a light hand.
Hand-pull visible weeds to avoid disturbing newly formed roots.
Plant and prune roses.
Look for evidence of pest or fungal disease throughout your garden.
Check for black spot on your roses – remove and discard any affected leaves in the trash, never back into your garden or in your compost – apply 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, especially look for fast-growing vines such as honeysuckle, autumn clematis, bittersweet, wild grape, Virginia creeper, and poison ivy.
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.
Weed – especially look for fast-growing vines such as honeysuckle, autumn clematis, bittersweet, wild grape, Virginia creeper, and poison ivy. 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 scale and dormant oil treatment before dormancy breaks to decrease pest infestations.
Remove dead and dying trees.
Pests to watch for: Adelgids, aphids, azalea lacebug, caterpillars, deer, gypsy moths, leafminers, sawfly, scale, spidermites, and voles.
Diseases to watch for: Apple scab, Cedar-apple, hawthorn or quince rust, Verticillium wilt, Oak leaf blister.
After the last frost date, plant warm-season vegetables (squash, peppers, tomatoes, corn, beans).
New fruit plants – keep watered their first spring, summer, and fall.
Plant tender transplants; tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, okra, sweet potato. Sow seeds of: beans, melons, cucumbers. Put cages/stakes in at the same time you plant them, so you are not disturbing their roots later. Place a collar (cardboard tube or cat-food can) around the tender plants to prevent cut worms. Put crushed eggshells first in the planting hole of tomatoes for extra calcium and mix lime in the soil you surround the plant with to prevent blossom-end rot. Fertilize with kelp extract or fish emulsion.
Hand-pick cabbage worms from cabbage and brocolli.
Keep all transplants watered deeply for 2 – 3 weeks.
Thin vegetable seeds sown directly in the garden.
Gently clean up the garden, add 1 inch of compost.
Build a raised bed for vegetables. Add lots of manure and compost.
Turn over cover crop when soil has warmed enough and is not too wet.
Start herbs from seed or cuttings.
Divide perennials and herbs.
Put up trellises and teepees for peas and beans to climb on.
Clean and organize the garden shed.
Till and add organic matter to annual/vegetable beds.
Pick peas often to encourage the plants to produce more.
Spread ashes from wood fires on your vegetable beds.
Store your fertilizer and seeds in a rodent-proof container.
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: Apple scab, Cedar-apple rust.
Questions about your label? Call us! 800-858-7378 M-F 8am-12pm PST
Indoor/Outdoor Insect and Wildlife Tips
Provide nesting materials for birds (try dryer lint) as well as bird houses for the start of their family season.
Be vigilant for mosquito breeding spots – any standing water from a bottle-cap to blocked gutters – and clean them out immediately. Ask your surrounding neighbors to do the same. Put Mosquito Dunks in any areas that accumulate water.
Keep cutworms off newly planted edible seedlings by surrounding the seedlings with a collar cut from a plastic bottle or cardboard tube.
Ticks are very active now.
Caulk and seal your outside walls to prevent insect entry into your home.
Check indoors for termites and ants.
Put up birdhouses.
Put suet out for birds.
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. Re-apply after heavy rains.
Got some brain FOG about the upcoming gardening season? (Is all of Maryland in the clouds today?) Tune into this year’s Backyard Gardening Zoom Sessions to start thinking of warmer days and all things green!
Hello! I’m your host, Lisa Kuder, from UMD Extension. Join us on the first Wednesday of each month from noon to 1 as we delve into various topics related to native plants. Whether you’re a novice or a seasoned professional, this series provides an opportunity to expand your knowledge and engage with experts in the field. Master Gardeners and Master Naturalists, these sessions are an excellent way to earn Continuing Education Units. Although the presentations are free of charge, registration is required to attend. Don’t miss this chance to enhance your understanding of native plants while enjoying your lunch. Register to attend one or more of the live only sessions:
May 6th—Appalachian Ethnobotany and the Potential for New Horticultural Crops June 3rd—Non-native Earthworms and Their Effects on the Soil Ecosystem July 1st—From Wasteland to Wonder: Easy Ways We Can Help Heal Earth in the Sub/Urban Landscape
Aug 5th—Timing is Everything: The Phenology of Native Plants in a Changing World Sept 2nd—Saving Ash for Future Forests Oct 7th—Sacred Grounds: Moving from Behavior to Action by Growing Joy Nov 4th—Creating Food Forests
Appalachian Ethnobotany and the Potential for New Horticultural Crops
Wednesday, May 6th
12pm – 1pm EST
Dr. Eric Burkhart is a botanist, ethnobotanist, and agroforester in the Department of Ecosystem Science and Management at Penn State. He holds degrees in Botany/Ethnobotany (B.A, Idaho State University), Horticulture (M.S., Penn State University), and Forest Resources (Ph.D., Penn State University). His research and teaching program focuses on wild plant stewardship and agroforestry crop development in Appalachia and the Caribbean. Burkgart will talk about the Appalachian region of the eastern United States, which includes most of Pennsylvania, and is a rich repository of temperate plant biodiversity. In this presentation, Dr. Burkhart will share examples of his work with culinary and medicinal crop development using native Appalachian forest species, and discuss some of the conservation, restoration, and economic opportunities associated with these efforts.
Come join us this Spring for a fun walk around the farm park to see the beauty of nature waking up from its winter slumber! Friendly guides will show you parts of the park you might not have seen before or that look different with each season. We will walk in almost all kinds of weather. If the weather is really bad, we will send an email to let you know if the walk is canceled. Please check the weather and wear clothes that fit the day. We will meet at the activity center. When you get to the park’s main road, continue straight towards the modern building and park in one of the paved lots. The walk is easy and slow, but bring water and be ready to walk on natural paths that might be uneven.
The Butterfly Experience kicks off at Brookside Gardens on April 1. Visitors will be immersed in a dazzling display of butterflies from around the world while learning the important roles these pollinators play in a variety of ecosystems and how to ensure these beautiful insects thrive in our own gardens.
Sunday, May 31, 2026 11:00AM – 12:00PM Brookside Gardens
Croydon Creek Nature Center’s Native Plant Sale
Planning your spring and summer garden? Save the date for Croydon Creek Nature Center’s Native Plant Sale! Saturday, May 2, from 9-11 a.m. at Elwood Smith Community Center.
In-Person Sale: Sat – Sun, May 16-17, 10am-2pm each day
Sale location: Pope Farm Nursery: 7400 Airpark Road, Gaithersburg. Please note: Pope Farm is only open to the public during sale hours.
It’s that time of year again, Locust Grove Nature Center will be having their Spring Native Plant Sale on Saturday, May 16 and Sunday, May 17 from 10am to 2pm each day at Pope Farm Nursery.
Seneca Creek State Park 11950 Clopper Road Gaithersburg, MD 20878
Here’s a link to Seneca Creek State Park’s May Programs. Featured events for May include Peony Watch Hike, Mindfulness Hike, Bluebird Nesting Box Walk, Peony Talks, Mother’s Day Hike, Blue Mash Nature Trail Hike, Miles for Maryland Challenge Hike, City Nature Challenge Info Session & Hike, Take Me Fishing, and more! These events are provided by The Friends of Seneca Creek State Park.
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.
“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.
FOG 
