Updated 6/24 after visits to 8 more garden centers (Frank’s in Bowie; Spicknall’s Farm Market in Beltsville; American Plant, Good Earth and Petals and Plants in Bethesda; and Johnson’s, Grey Goose and Stadler in Gaithersburg.) The dreaded closing of the … Read More
When people first buy a home in Old Greenbelt’s housing coop (GHI), they become members (not owners), and begin to learn what living in co-ops means, especially if they’re historically significant co-ops like ours. So for reference by new and … Read More
Greenbelt’s historic housing coop has a new Gardening Subcommittee, which I’m part of, and we recently visited the yards of the three members who won our random drawing for a garden consultation. It was fun and we thank the winners … Read More
It’s official. In today’s press release, Behnke Nurseries announces that after 89 years, it will be going out of business in June. Thousands of local gardeners will mourn this incalculable loss. Why It’s Closing It seems that the time has … Read More
Horticulturist Sam Bahr, like so many people who work at the University of Maryland, is a Greenbelter, having purchased his GHI townhouse in 2016.. Sam got a coveted job at the university back in 2008 thanks in part to his good … Read More
The original large shade trees planted in the town of Greenbelt are now 80 years old, close to or beyond their expected lifetime. To take their place we need lots more trees to be planted but for understandable reasons, residents … Read More
Old Greenbelt is surprisingly affordable, especially its historic housing cooperative (GHI). If you can’t swing the required 10 percent down payment, are priced out of the single-family homes in Old Greenbelt, or just aren’t ready to buy, renting is still … Read More
Greenbelt is one of three New Deal-era “greenbelt” towns created to provide housing and jobs during the Great Depression. It was recognized as a National Landmark Historic District. for its architecture, planning, landscape, and community attributes, but here we’ll focus … Read More
Since moving to Greenbelt I’d become interested in Radburn, the New Jersey development that was America’s first garden city and the predecessor to Greenbelt. So I visited Radburn this past October, and had the good fortune to be connected … Read More
GHI members and visitors will remember this main entrance to the office on Hamilton Place, where old, overgrown Junipers encroached on the doorway and were then sheared back with electric tools. This is the view leaving the building’s other entrance, … Read More
Last fall I wrote about the jungle-to-garden make-over I’d just started at the corner of Westway and Ridge Roads. To refresh, here’s what it looked like. I passed it every day and let’s just say it didn’t help my mood. I … Read More
I was asked to write a short article for the GHI Communicator about what to do in the garden, for their April issue. So I enlisted help from the gardeners in GHI’s Yard Solutions Task Force, and then boiled it … Read More
Much has happened at the corner of Ridge Road and Westway since I posted “Corner Make-over in Old Greenbelt” just three weeks ago – thanks to the removal of two massive trees there by Pepco. I posted this “after” photo to … Read More
Did you ever notice this weedy mess at the corner of Westway and Ridge Road, diagonal from Mishkan Torah? Weed shrubs were blocking driver visibility – MY visibility, since this corner was on my regular route home. Walking by, I … Read More
Walking down Ridge Road from Westway to my house, I stopped to admire and capture what may be the smallest and prettiest “court” in all of GHI: 8 Court Ridge. Just four homes, and their front gardens are a delight. (I … Read More