Written by Cristina Niciporciukas

Maryland Home-Owner Associations (HOAs) can no longer require homeowners to grow turfgrass. the Maryland General Assembly passed House Bill 322, the low impact landscaping legislation. As per the bill, low impact landscaping includes:  bio-habitats, pollinator, and rain gardens, as well as other features to attract wildlife.  Xeriscaping and other forms of landscaping or gardening to encourage water conservation is also referred to in the bill.  This bill responds to homeowners wishes to have a diverse and wildlife-friendly landscape.  It also aligns with trends from other states towards creating environmentally meaningful front and back yards.  The bill is set to become law in October as it waits for the governor’s signature. 

Written by Janet Mackey- Talbot Co. Master Gardener Volunteer
Photo Credits: J. Mackey

Would you like something a little different in your flower garden? You might start seeds for some biennials this summer and enjoy some old-fashioned beauties next spring. Sweet Williams (Dianthus barbatus), foxglove (Digitalis purpurea), and Canterbury bells (Campanula medium) are all beautiful flowers, but not grown as often as they once were. They can be hard to find in nurseries due to the additional year needed for flowering.

The good news is that they are easy to grow from seed. And, NOW is the time to sow those seeds!

Biennials are plants that take two years to complete their life cycle. In the first year, they develop a rosette of leaves and strong roots before they go dormant the first winter. During the second year, the plant sends up flower stalks, flowers, sets seed, and dies. Biennials produce a lot of seed, and new seedlings will sprout the following spring. Those new plants won’t flower until the following year.

To establish a bed of flowers that will flower each year, you should start seeds two years in a row. Your first seeding will produce flowers in Year 2 that will drop seed to germinate in Year 3 and flower in Year 4. The seeds you sow in Year 2 will produce flowers in Year 3 (when your other plants are growing seedlings), drop seed to germinate in Year 4, and flower the following year. You won’t need to do anything except enjoy the flowers and … of course … share extra seedlings with fellow gardeners.

Plant breeders have developed annual cultivars of some biennial species that will flower from seed the first year. For example, ‘Foxy’ Foxgloves frequently will flower the first year from seed if they are started early in the spring. Seed companies often showcase biennial cultivars that are likely to behave as annuals.

Seeds for biennials can be sown during the summer. I prefer to start them inside under lights in the summer. I don’t have much success sowing seeds into my existing flower beds. I find that there are many seed-eating critters happy to foil my plans. And – truth be told – I am not always good about keeping the seedbed watered until the seeds germinate outside, especially if that means watering twice a day in the heat. It is easier for me to remember to keep seeds watered inside.

I pot seedlings up into plugs and let them grow a nice clump of roots before transplanting the little plants into the garden late in the summer.  It is good to get the seedlings into the ground by early September so they have plenty of time to establish strong roots before frost. If I’m growing plants for the second year succession, I will interplant the seedlings with the mature flowering plants. If I am starting a new set of flowers, I plant the seedlings quite close together in an out-of-the-way spot in the garden. The first year seedlings will not get very large. The next spring, I transplant the 2^nd year seedlings to their real homes and space them appropriately so they have room to grow.

Other biennial flowers include hollyhocks (Alcea) and money plant (Lunaria). There is a lovely Mid-Atlantic native biennial plant for shade, Phacelia bipinnatifida, that Mt. Cuba Center uses as a beautiful blue-flowering groundcover in their woodlands. Quite a few vegetables also are biennials, including parsley, carrots, and kale. Since we often treat vegetables as annuals and harvest them the first year, you may not have seen their flowers. If you want to save seed from biennial vegetables, though, you will need to let the plants overwinter, flower, and set seed. I allowed my parsley to overwinter last year so it would be large enough to support and feed the swallowtail caterpillars this spring. The parsley flower stalks grew to 4 feet tall and we have enjoyed watching the caterpillars molt through several instars.

As long as you are a gardener who does not require instant gratification, starting biennials from seed is an easy way to add a set of flowers to your gardens that are often overlooked these days. I recommend giving some a try!

This lemonade is good over lots of ice with a splash of seltzer water. Very refreshing for hot summer entertainment. Makes 6 cups.

Lavender-honey Infusion
1/2 cup fresh lavender flowers (harvested when flowers first begin to open)
2 cups boiling water
1/2 cup honey

Add honey to the hot water and stir to dissolve. Add lavender flowers. Cover and let steep for 10 min. Strain the flowers from the liquid and discard lavender.

Lemonade
2 1/2 cups water
1/2 cup sugar
1 cup lemon juice

Stir sugar into water until it dissolves (water may need to get warm). Tip: Caster or superfine sugar may dissolve more quickly. Add lemon juice.

Add the lavender infused honey mixture to the lemonade and stir to combine. Serve chilled with lots of ice.