Hello, I am a teacher running a gardening club at Roberto Clemente Middle School in Germantown and I was wondering what kinds of community resources might be available to us. I was wondering specifically about seeds/starts, soil, or garden building materials. Some goals we have are to build cold frames for our raised bed veggie garden, planting a Monarch Waystation on campus, and creating a native pollinator garden. I am new to the area so I am unfamiliar with what community supports are available so any information is welcome. Thank you so much for your help and support! Cheers, Chelsea Smith

I have a 4-trunk, 5 year old white crepe myrtle that appears to infected with scale. I also have another single trunk crepe myrtle on which I see no signs of scale, yet. Looking for a solution I found both imidacloprid and dinotefuramin to be effective drenches. However, I am unable to find any product anywhere that contain either one. Amazon has a product but will not deliver to my address. I now wonder if these chemicals are banned in Maryland, and if so, what I can use instead to combat the scale.

I’ve been trying to care normal this plant but by the time it looks worst then before and now has dots or open cuts.

I have found a lot of these seeds (?) in my yard over the years.  It is hard. Sometimes they appear to be buried and other times just in various parts of the yard.  I have a 300+ year old oak tree in my yard. Many little creatures come through: squirrels, chipmunks, red foxes, deer, ground hogs, raccoons, along with lots of birds.

Just recently I found a crepe myrtle growing in my garden that I did not plant.

Thank you for your time to help me with this question as to what this seed might be.

Gigi Friedman

My son is 10 and we just enrolled him into the 4H club and was hoping to show his chickens at the Oakland county fair this summer. Unfortunately our township where we live (Clarkston/independence ) doesn’t allow chickens under one acre, we only have .7 acres. We were told we have to rehome our chickens but there’s no rules stating you cannot home 4H poultry for educational youth projects. The zoning officer would like me to send him info of the 4H and he will submit it to the township board. Is there a name or contact I can give him to help support our case as we are trying to keep the chickens as 4H projects. Thank you for any help you can provide.

I am trying to identify an flower I saw on the road to Hope, AK this summer. I have a photograph that I will attach to this request.

We followed your advice last year for controlling Mummy Berries on our 11 mature Blueberry bushes. We applied 3 inches of Douglas Fir Sawdust beneath them last winter. We had improvement with less Mummy Berries than the year before. There is still work to be done. Will this same application of sawdust continue working or do we need to add more Douglas Fir Sawdust this winter? Thank you.

Will there be a Small Woodland Association seedling sale in 2025? In the past I have purchased seedlings each year. The last several years they have been at Alton Baker Park in Eugene. If there will be a sale could you give me a date, time and place?

Hello, this Portuguese laurel was in my yard when I moved here 23 years ago. It has been doing fine until just lately. The only thing that has happened to it was a hard trim given to it by neighbors (on their side of the fence) in summer, which removed perhaps about a 1/6th to an 1/8th of the canopy. It seemed ok after that but now a huge amount of the leaves are yellowing & falling off and I notice many of them have large and small holes. I guess this is maybe ‘Shot hole’ infection? Please see pictures. Is there anything I can do to help this tree survive? I know many might consider this a "garbage" tree but it's the tree I have and it does supply worthwhile coverage and habitat. Thank you for your help!

We have planted a hedge in our rear property line without much success, losing 60% of plants. Was advised to have the soil tested. Where/how can I have this done. Thank you