Anne Arundel County Master Gardeners, University of Maryland Extension

09/18/2026

🌻🌿 The Master Gardeners have been working hard at the fair! 🌿🌻

Come see all the beautiful plant and flower entries at the Anne Arundel County Fair! From gorgeous blooms to impressive plants, there’s plenty to admire and enjoy. 🌸🌱

Stop by and see the wonderful work of our community’s gardeners and Master Gardeners!

🎡 Anne Arundel County Fair
📅 Now through Sunday, September 20

Come celebrate gardening, agriculture, and our amazing community! 🌼

Learn more about the fair: https://aacountyfair.org/the-fair/

09/18/2026

There is still time to see a composting demonstration.
“Master Gardeners maintain the Composting and Native Gardens site and give hour-long compost demonstrations. On scheduled days, talks are given by those on the team that are Master Composters. Anne Arundel County residents receive a free compost bin, provided by the Anne Arundel County Department of Recycling and information bag filled with printed materials explaining various ways to compost.”

With the cooperation of the staff of Quiet Waters Park in Annapolis, the Composting and Native Gardens project began in 2003. From late April to early November, Master Gardeners teach the public how to successfully compost their yard waste and kitchen scraps.

09/17/2026

Are you a home fruit grower or are you looking forward to fall apple picking? Check out this Maryland Today article to find out why trees may not have many fruits this year (primarily apples, peaches,and grapes, maybe other stone or pome fruits too).

https://today.umd.edu/where-have-all-the-apples-gone

09/17/2026

How cool is this?!

These images from photographer and soil ecologist Frank Ashwood's new book The World Beneath Our Feet zoom in on life for the weird and wonderful creatures that call soil home

09/16/2026

🌻 Come out and visit with our Master Gardeners at the Anne Arundel County Fair! 🌻

The Fair is open Wednesday, September 16 through Sunday, September 20. Stop by, say hello, and learn more about gardening from our knowledgeable Master Gardeners. 🌱🌼

We’d love to see you at the fair!

🎡 Learn more about the Anne Arundel County Fair:
https://aacountyfair.org/the-fair/

09/16/2026

Ah, Fall. Getting ready to buy mums? Read this first.

https://www.ruralsprout.com/fall-mum-buying-guide/?utm_source=fb&utm_medium=PIB2SSGH&fbclid=IwY2xjawTz8uhwZG9mAWV4dG4DYWVtAjEwAGJyaWQRMXg3TUM3MFZVRDJtNUYwMkVzcnRjBmFwcF9pZBAyMjIwMzkxNzg4MjAwODkyAAEeyGeljfh-H0Jad1I0ezomcyxeUWkdHEpHueWPKWeP72Wk1wB-G4m3PrFP-mY_aem_6HLimLxZCNQr1Iz_rJoHpA

Mums are everyone's favorite fall flower. If you want gorgeous, healthy blooms that last through Halloween, it starts when you buy them.

09/15/2026

🌿 A creative way to build a brush pile! 🌿

One of our Bay-Wise teams spotted this great idea during a yard visit in Glen Burnie.

We love recommending brush piles because they provide valuable habitat for wildlife. But not everyone has a tucked-away spot for one—and traditional brush piles can look a little messy.

This homeowner came up with a clever solution! Her property backs up to a creek. The fenced portion of her yard was beautifully neat, while the area between the fence and the creek had several traditional brush piles. But look what she created in the “neat” part of her yard!

She pounded stakes into the ground to form a large rectangle, then used skinny fallen branches to weave a wattle fence along the sides. Larger branches and other yard waste are piled neatly inside.

The result is compact, tidy, and visually interesting—and, best of all, provides valuable habitat for wildlife. 🐦🐿️🦋

This is a great example of Bay-Wise Habit 1: Recycle organic yard and kitchen waste on-site. ♻️🌱

Want to learn more about the Bay-Wise habits or request an Anne Arundel County Bay-Wise yard visit? Find out more here: https://go.umd.edu/aaume-baywise

09/15/2026

Are you wondering why we are posting about IPM again when we posted about it on 02 Sep? It is just a gentle reminder that IPM is always an important tool and we should not let it fall to the bottom of our gardening tool bag where it goes unnoticed.
“All of the practices we are going to talk about fall under the category of Integrated Pest Management or IPM for short. When using IPM techniques, we begin by trying to control the environment in such a way that it minimizes the need for us to intervene with chemicals.”

In last week’s article we talked about the decline in population of pollinating insects and how that adversely affects our ability to grow food with the primary reasons for this likely being loss of habitat, our use or misuse of pesticides, and climate change.

09/14/2026

From our friends at AACPL.

Learn how simple fall yard maintenance can help support pollinators and wildlife all year long!

09/13/2026

“I really am passionate about native plants, especially getting them everywhere we can,” says Heffner. “I think that our urban landscapes are really under-utilized spaces for increasing biodiversity."

If you think of a bird bed, what comes to mind? A cozy naptime spot tucked into an existing bird house? For plant science undergraduate Andrew Heffner, it's something more dynamic; a curated garden plot of native plantings where insects and other beneficial species multiply as tasty treats for visit...