“How about a little Joe-pye weed? They’ll give you some color, purple flowers in late summer. Butterflies love them,” Elmer Dengler suggested. Bowie City Green Team member Dengler was dispensing advice to a customer at the Bowie-Crofton Garden Club’s 30th annual native plants sale, one of the ways the team promotes its mission of Bringing Back Birds and Butterflies.        In a public lecture the night before, researchers...

The Blues are Back Good music for good causes at Chesapeake Bay Blues Festival   Blues is a tonic for whatever  ails you. I could play the blues  and then not be blue anymore. –B. B. King         Born in the Deep South at the turn of the 20th century, blues music has evolved through time and space to reflect the heart and soul of America, Twenty years ago ­— in the pouring rain –— the inaugural Chesapeake Bay Blues Festival brought...

An Easy Story to Navigate        Kudos to J. Alex Knoll for that very wonderful and clear May 10 article on the expansion of the Severn River Bridge. I had no idea of how they were expanding the bridge. I thought they were expanding the bridge itself. The idea of reducing the widths of existing lanes and using the shoulder of the eastbound lane to create a new fourth eastbound lane is real genius. The inclusion of the diagram in the article was perfect, as I could read the...

       Horticulture is the second largest income-producing agricultural industry in the state of Maryland and the third in the nation. There’s way more to this field than digging holes or filling pots. Horticulture is an evolving science. The efficient production of fruits and vegetables, 60 percent of our daily diet, requires a thorough knowledge of plant and soil sciences as well as tons of experience.        Growers of greenhouse and nursery...