Horticultural Society

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match for our Lydia Haviland, she chose to abandon her tepid efforts to recover the bird and Lydia quite rightfully adopted the bird into her more able, worthy, and knowledgeable care.

Questions: Nancy Chance asked how to prune wisteria. Advised to go about it in a major way and September is a good month for it. Mo Chance asked if there was any good corn around. Lydia Haviland allowed as how her first batch was smallish but nice. Other reports were discouraging due to the lamentable shortage of rainfall. Flora Goff offered mysterious seeds for identification. They were tagged as from a luffa sponge plant which does well in these parts. Bill Hartge inquired about deer sightings. A herd of 11 were sighted on Haviland Mill Road and Priscilla Allen spotted a spotted fawn near Amersely. Tom Farquhar is finding it difficult to get his spinach to germinate. Aduna Hanel displayed peat pots with 4 or 5 seeds on top of potting soil with damp paper towel over top of them. Mary Grady wants to transplant lilac bushes. Advised to go ahead. Lydia Haviland's porgilaca has stopped blooming. Suggested she leave it alone. Betty Hartge asked if anyone uses milky spoor any more. Yes, the Extension Service still recommends it highly. Once applied it will maintain itself as long as there are japanese beetles around to prolong the life of the spoor. Does anyone around here use zoysia grass for ground cover? No mention of it - consensus is that it's too ugly most of the year for local tastes. Nancy Pruess pruned back her peonies to the ground. It was advised to just take off flowerhead next time. Consolation was offered that peonies are rugged plants and might come back. More on peonies came from Tom Farquhar whose plants have languished this summer while he's seen others do fine. It was suggested that water may be the problem. John Hartge wondered whether this venerable society could be dragged kicking and screaming into the computer age. Much of the wisdom repeatedly imparted over the decades could be catalogued onto computer disks so that maybe the 7 dozen most often asked questions could become an integral part of our records. The response was mixed and John was encouraged to spearhead the effort as cautiously as possible. Buzz Hussman asked about groundhog control. With gentleness and delicacy, Priscilla Allen suggested smoke bombs, car exhaust, traps, gasoline, lye, guns, waterhose treatment, and voodoo. Beth Bullard mentioned squash borers; while on vacation the bugs back home killed all the Bullard's squash. Advised next

H/6/1989-2-

Lakeview, June 6, 1989 ; page 2

Our last frost date was May 4 although the month's low was recorded as 27 degrees on the 6th. The high for the month was 89 on May 31st. The most notable rainstorm happened on the 6th when 4.5 inches fell and caused major minor (or minor major) flooding in the area. The constabulary fearing that Brighton Dam might break arrived early on Haviland Mill Road to evacuate residents. Most residents chose not to move and the dam chose not to burst. We are 6 inches over the average rainfall to date.

The Exhibits were passed and admired.

The Bird Report brought to notice a hummingbird nest at Clifton. Jim Bullard reports it being about 12 feet off the ground in a norway maple near the front of the house. Jim also gave an exhausive listing of the birds spotted in the lower Seiler woods during pre-dawn bird walks. The large variety was attributed to the wide variety of habitats overlapping that area. The Chances told of a purple martin visiting their martin house briefly and moving on. Caroline Hussman has cliff swallows in her barn but no barn swallows. Iduna Hanel has chirping beasts in an undesignated part of her basement. A postscript mentions that the culprits were birds who had squeezed through a missing brick and nested in some ductwork. John Hartge spotted a white starling. Ensuing comments indicated that this occurrence is unusual but not rare. The Baltimore Orioles have a new ornithologically correct cap that is said to be a best seller. The birds that used to be know as Baltimore Orioles are labeled Northern Orioles.

The Redundancy Committee had nothing, no nothing, to report.

There was no new business.

QUESTIONS

Mary Seiler reports bees in the Sandy Spring Museum attic. Advised to call Extension Service. Ted Fletcher said that early March is the best time to evict bees as they don't have a store of honey to encourage their or another colony's tenure.

Jim Bullard recalled arduously relocating an entrenched hive to a spot within the 3 mile removal limit of which he was unaware. The next day the colony flew back to their old haunt.

Iduna Hanel brought a large book on lichens written by Eric Lundberg, Ashton, Maryland, 1962. Did anyone know this man. None of the membership knew Mr. Lundberg personally but word was that he moved to West Virginia and remains there.

Sylvia Woodward brought in a sampling of rather offensive looking galls that are festering on her azalea. Advised to pick them off and burn them. Save one for the Extension Service.

HORTICULTURAL ---May 6, 1975.

The Horticultural Society of Sandy Spring met with Jennie and Tom Canby at their beautiful home on Haviland Mill Road on Tuesday, May 6th, 1975. As guests the Canbys had their two young sons, [Vertrees Canby|Vertrees]] and Yellett, and Mr. and Mrs. Rudy Hanel, new neighbors who live in Brinkwood.

This was Horticultural's first meeting with the Canbys. Their effective and lovely landscaping should certainly stimulate some of us older members. From the dining room window one had a charming view of a long expanse of green leading into woods at the brow of the hill thru which we had a glimpse of a marvellous sunset. To the right is their beautiful boxwood garden.

After a delicious supper Robert Miller called the meeting to order. May is the month for collecting the members' annual dues, 50 cents per family. The secretary, who also acts as the Treasurer, reported that there was a balance on hand of $6.11. The amount realized at this collection was $5.50; which made a total of $11.61 now held in the Society's treasury.

Claire Hutton, our reader for the evening, talked about bristlecone pines. About 2 1/2 years ago, she said, Pete Hutton planted some seedlings which are now about so high; she indicated about two to three feet, I believe. She read from an article on such pines in the March, 1975, issue of the Natural History Magazine entitled "Living Links with the Past." Bristlecone pine trees are the world's oldest oldest organisms. They grow in six states of the U.S.A (California, Nevada, Utah, Colorado, New Mexico and Arizona). The most a found in the Bristlecone Pine Forest in the White Mountains of eastern