In Memoriam: Marion Mistrik

By MG Michaela Barnes

Former MG Marion Mistrik was a dedicated Master Gardener in our Walter Reed USO Garden. She could be counted on to cheerfully show up every time and offer to do any chore. She passed away in 2024. We contacted her son and asked what her favorite flowers were. Here's a picture of the white peony planted in her memory in the Walter Reed USO Garden. She is missed.

L-R: MGs Yumiko Miura, Michaela Barnes, Aloha Keylor, Andrea Tasan, Edith Boehler, and Mary Olson. Photo taken by a USO volunteer.

White Oak Day 2026

People wait to talk with Master Gardeners at White Oak Day.

By MGs Cat Kahn and Sue Kuklewicz

White Oak Day once again proved why it’s one of the most anticipated MCMG community events of the year. Despite the heat, Master Gardener and HarvestShare volunteers, along with local residents, came together on June 6 with enthusiasm, curiosity, and a shared love of gardening and community connection.

The event included a seedling giveaway, a container gardening station, and tours of the White Oak Youth Garden. One attendee summed up the mood of the day perfectly, saying, I’m so excited to get these plants! That excitement echoed throughout the day.

Plant Giveaways

MGs Linda Weiss, Eniko Csikos, Terese Bouey, Alison Edwards,
and Tom Mulczynski prepare to give away plants.

This year’s event saw remarkable engagement. The seedling giveaway was bustling from start to finish, with a near‑constant line of eager residents. At the registration table, HarvestShare volunteers Ling Yu and Blair Zucker welcomed 180 households representing 678 family members. Over 85% of participating families lived in the Silver Spring area, underscoring the event’s deep roots in the community. MGs Linda Weiss, Terese Bouey, Eniko Csikos, Alison Edwards, and Tom Mulczynski spent meaningful time with residents selecting plants suited to their needs.

In total, we estimate that about 461 plants found new homes—far more than expected, especially since no seedlings were solicited from MGs this year. As one volunteer joked, “They just seem to find Cat.” Plants given out were predominantly tomatoes, peppers, and basil at the seedling giveaway tent; basil from the container gardening station; and marigolds from the Youth Garden. Even the Recreation Center staff got in on the excitement, happily adopting 19 tomato plants that might otherwise have been composted.

A Welcoming, Educational Space

MGs Robin Ritterhoff and Pat Lynch at the
container gardening table. 

This year’s layout created a true destination feel. With the large plant giveaway tent in the parking lot, the container gardening station to the right, the Master Gardener tent centered between them, and the Youth Garden behind it, visitors were drawn into a vibrant hub of activity and learning.

The container gardening table, staffed by MGs Robin Ritterhoff and Pat Lynch—two Master Gardeners with deep expertise—saw steady traffic throughout the day. Many visitors were already familiar with container gardening, but they appreciated the variety of plants and containers on display and left feeling newly inspired.

Youth Garden: Growing the Next Generation

MG Mary Lou Johnson talks
with a young visitor.

The Youth Garden enjoyed higher than usual turnout, with MGs Kara Singh, Mary Lou Johnson, and Rosemary McCabe leading tours and hands‑on planting activities. Children were delighted to pot up marigolds to take home—a small but powerful way to spark a lifelong interest in gardening.

The garden also welcomed special guests, including a young spring session gardener, Mexlie, who proudly returned to show her mother the space. At the same moment, volunteers were joined by County Executive candidate Will Jawando, who toured the garden, learned about the program, and expressed a strong interest in addressing food insecurity. Maryland State Delegate Lorig Charkoudian visited as well.  

Gratitude for a Dedicated Volunteer Team

We would like to emphasize one message: gratitude. Gratitude for the hard work, the preparation, the expertise, and the heart that each volunteer brought to the day; gratitude for the community members who showed up eager to learn and grow; and gratitude for a day that, despite the heat, felt “perfect.”

We thank all of the volunteers for sharing their expertise with the community. This was a team effort rooted in service, learning, and joy. With the HarvestMobile unloaded and another successful White Oak Day behind us, the planning—and dreaming—for next year has already begun.

All photos: Sue Kuklewicz

An Unexpected Gardening Lesson

By MG Leonard K.

Several weeks ago, I noticed a small spot on my forearm, about the size of a large freckle. It was innocuous, entirely ordinary. I assumed it was a bruise or other minor skin irritation. After six or seven weeks, it had not changed or disappeared, so I decided to have a dermatologist examine it.

The dermatologist did not think it appeared particularly concerning. Nevertheless, she suggested a biopsy “just to be safe.” About a week later, she telephoned me with an unexpected question:

“Have you recently traveled to Africa or South America?”

The biopsy showed a condition called chromomycosis (sometimes grouped under the broader category of chromoblastomycosis), a fungal skin infection caused by pigmented environmental fungi. These fungi are associated with soil, decaying vegetation, wood debris, mulch, compost, and similar organic material. They can occasionally enter the skin through tiny cuts, scratches, punctures, splinters, or thorn injuries and often so minor they go unnoticed.

As gardeners, we work constantly with exactly these materials:

• compost piles,

• mulch,

• decomposing leaves,

• woody debris,

• potting soils, and

• fungal-rich organic matter.

We can’t know the precise source of my exposure, but environmental contact through gardening and compost handling appears most plausible. Fortunately, these infections are usually localized, and when identified early, can be treated with a simple outpatient excision. Left untreated, they may slowly enlarge and become more difficult to eradicate, requiring more burdensome treatment.

My experience serves as a gentle reminder to others to be mindful of small lesions and spots. There should be no cause for alarm. Cases such as mine are uncommon. Nonetheless, awareness is valuable.

Gloves can protect skin from disease.
Image generated by MG Len Friedman using ChatGPT.

Of course, some sensible precautions for gardeners may include:

• wearing gloves when handling compost or thorny material,

• cleaning scratches and punctures promptly,

• protecting forearms when working in dense vegetation, and

• paying attention to skin lesions that persist for weeks without healing.

As Master Gardeners, we know humans are participants in the ecological web. Perhaps we don’t want to get quite so close to some organisms!

Additional Scientific Notes

Chromomycosis/chromoblastomycosis is most often caused by darkly pigmented (“dematiaceous”) fungi such as species within the genera Fonsecaea, Cladophialophora, and Phialophora. These organisms are more commonly reported in tropical and subtropical climates, but environmental exposure can occur elsewhere, including North America. The infection is usually acquired by traumatic implantation into the skin rather than by inhalation or person-to-person transmission.

Common features include:

• slow growth,

• persistence,

• nodules or plaques,

• pigmentation, and

• in some cases, crusting or wart-like lesions.

Diagnosis is generally made by biopsy and special fungal stains.

Suggested References

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) — Fungal Diseases (https://www.cdc.gov/fungal/).

DermNet NZ — Chromoblastomycosis (https://dermnetnz.org/topics/chromoblastomycosis).

Merck Manual Consumer Version — Fungal Skin Infections (https://www.merckmanuals.com/home/skin-disorders/fungal-skin-infections).

American Academy of Dermatology (https://www.aad.org/).