Five Hills Garden Club

06/17/2026

06/17/2026

Five Hills Garden Club had their installation lunch at Nostos in Vienna as the outgoing board changed over to welcome the new slate for 2026-2028.
Congratulations outgoing and incoming FHGC President Joy and President Valerie!
Thank you, Joy, for a memorable past two years of service, enlightenment and great fun, and same is confidently wished for you, Valerie, for these next two years!
Centerpieces were made by Anne and Karen and 13 lucky member were able to take them home to grace their tables.
Danielle and Kay of District III were on hand to preside over the transition of officers.

06/17/2026

06/09/2026

06/09/2026

The water from rinsing raw rice before cooking is one of the most underrated things you can pour on your garden. It feeds soil microbes directly and provides trace minerals and B vitamins. Don't drain it — use it. 🌿

Six kitchen scraps worth keeping, and which plants benefit from each:

Coffee grounds → hydrangeas, azaleas, strawberries, tomatoes: adds nitrogen and organic matter. Mix into soil rather than piling on the surface. Particularly useful around acid-loving plants like blueberries, hydrangeas, and strawberries. Use in moderation — too much compacts and repels water.

Vegetable cooking water → tomatoes, peppers, zucchini, lettuce: the water you boiled or steamed vegetables in contains dissolved minerals that would otherwise go down the drain. Must be completely cool and unsalted before using. Salt accumulates in soil and harms plants.

Banana peels → roses, tomatoes, peppers, strawberries: high in potassium, which supports flowering and fruiting. Chop and bury near the root zone, steep in water for 48 hours for a liquid feed, or dry and grind into a powder. Most effective worked into the soil rather than left on the surface.

Rice rinse water (from uncooked rice) → basil, parsley, orchids, houseplants: the cloudy water from the first rinse of uncooked rice contains starch and trace minerals that feed beneficial soil bacteria. Use at room temperature. This is one of the gentlest plant inputs on this list — effective for seedlings and delicate houseplants.

Crushed eggshells → tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, roses: slow-release calcium that helps prevent blossom end rot in nightshade crops. Crush as finely as possible — coarsely broken shells take years to break down. Work into soil at planting time or top-dress throughout the season.

Used tea bags or loose tea leaves → ferns, orchids, basil, leafy plants: tea leaves add tannins and mild organic matter. Empty the bags directly into potting mix or compost. Works as a surface mulch for moisture retention in containers. Green tea has a milder pH effect than black tea. 🌱

Before you throw something away from the kitchen, check if a plant can use it first.

06/09/2026

A tree frog sheltering in your vegetable bed eats several hundred insects per night through the entire growing season. This shelter costs under five dollars in materials and takes fifteen minutes to build.

A frog hotel is a terracotta pot with river stones at the bottom, a thin layer of water, and several short vertical PVC pipe sections. Frogs enter during the day to shelter from heat and dryness, and emerge at dusk to hunt.

What you need:

🪴 A wide terracotta pot, 10 to 12 inches in diameter
🪨 Smooth river stones for the base
💧 Enough water to cover the bottom 1 inch — a thin film, not a pond
🔧 Four to six PVC pipe sections, 1.5 to 2 inches in diameter, cut to 6 to 8 inches long
🌿 One small shade plant, optional

How to build it:

Place river stones in the bottom to create a stable, uneven base. Add water to just cover the stone surface — the moisture is what makes it useful, not the depth. Stand the PVC pipe sections upright on the stones at varying heights so frogs can choose their preferred position. Add a small shade plant if desired — a fern or small hosta works well.

Where to put it — this is the most important decision. Direct sun dries it too fast and the frogs won't use it. Place it in shade: against a north or east-facing wall, under a shrub, between raised beds, or in a shaded corner. Proximity to a water source (rain barrel, birdbath, garden pond) increases use.

Maintenance: top off the water every three to four days in dry weather, more often in peak summer heat. Rinse the pot once a month. In zones with hard frost, empty the pot in winter.

Which American tree frogs will use it:

🐸 American green tree frog (Hyla cinerea) — southeastern US, zones 6–10
🐸 Gray tree frog (Hyla versicolor / chrysoscelis) — eastern US, zones 3–8
🐸 Pacific tree frog (Pseudacris regilla) — western US, zones 5–10

One frog. Several hundred insects per night. Fifteen minutes of your time. 🌿

06/09/2026

You planted milkweed for monarchs, and now something else is eating it. Before you pick anything off, look closer. Most of what shows up on milkweed is supposed to be there.

The monarch caterpillar is smooth, ringed in yellow, black and white, with thin black filaments waving at both ends. The fuzzy ones clustered together, tufted in black, orange and white, are milkweed tussock moths, native, and they go for the older leaves monarchs ignore. The bold orange-and-black insects are large milkweed bugs and red milkweed beetles, seed and leaf feeders that borrowed the plant's toxin and wear it as a warning.

They all depend on this one plant the same way monarchs do. Anything you spray to clear them off kills monarch caterpillars too.

A milkweed patch isn't just a monarch nursery. It's a whole town.

06/09/2026

I know 5HGC just went but these seem worth a return trip, maybe if you are in the area. You have all the other recommendations for the Richmond area.

06/08/2026

06/06/2026