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Earth Sangha seed cleaning, Dec. 9 & 16th

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Photo by Barbara J. Saffir (c)

1400 South Edgewood St, Arlington, VA 22204

In the Community Room, which is located through the basement door at the corner of the building, near the brown sign with the address

Saturdays, 9 December and 16 December 2018

10 am – 1 pm

Join Earth Sangha for their first seed cleaning events of the season at the community room at Arlington Village. Help clean seeds from a variety of native species. Please call Rodney Olsen at (703) 216-4855 if you have difficultly finding the community room.

Earth Sangha Fall Native Plant Sale– September 30th

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Earth Sangha Wild Plant Nursery

6100 Cloud Drive in Franconia Park, Springfield VA

Sunday, 30 September 2018

9 am – 12 pm

Many folks could not attend last week’s sale so Earth Sangha is having a second sale!

Fall is really the best time to visit the nursery. In the Spring, the plants are still emerging from winter dormancy, and Earth Sangha cannot offer as many species. The Fall, as experienced gardeners know, is also the best time to plant. Trees, shrubs, and perennials like the cooler weather and greater rainfall lets them establish robust roots. Late blooming annuals can make great additions to your garden, and many will “volunteer” from seed next year. Click here for the Wild Plant Nursery Species List.

If you are interest in volunteering at the sale, please email Katherine Isaacson at [email protected].  There will be a morning shift (9:30 to Noon) and an afternoon shift (Noon to 2:30).

Help at the Earth Sangha Pull-a-thon 10-12 August

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Join Earth Sangha for a Pull-a-thon at the Marie Butler Leven Preserve this weekend!  The group is going to continue to focus on pulling mile-a-minute and Japanese stiltgrass from the woodland edge. It’s crucial to remove these invasives now before they set seed.

Marie Butler Leven Preserve, 1501 Kirby Road McLean, VA 22101

Friday, Saturday, and Sunday 10-12 August 2018

9 am – 12 pm

For more details, click here.

Apply for Earth Sangha plant grant

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The Earth Sangha Plant Grant supports small-scale, citizen-led restoration efforts across Northern Virginia. Twice a year, they accept applications for restoration projects on public lands in need of local-ecotype native plants. They then offer a matching grant on plants purchased (essentially a buy-one, get-one free offer) good for one season up to a certain dollar amount. No project is too small, whether it’s a community-led invasive pull, or a larger project with multiple partners, they want to support thoughtful restoration efforts on public lands.

More info and application

Volunteer opportunities at Earth Sangha

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Founded in 1997, the Earth Sangha is a nonprofit public charity based in the Washington, DC, region. Their mission is ecological restoration as a form of socially engaged Buddhism. Volunteers come from a wide variety of backgrounds, and the work is secular and science-based.

In the DC area, they operate a volunteer-based program to propagate local native plants, restore native plant communities, and control invasive alien plants. The Wild Plant Nursery is the region’s most comprehensive effort to propagate native plants directly from local forests and meadows. Nursery and office addresses are different. Click here for directions to the Wild Plant Nursery.

The summer nursery workdays are Sundays, Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays from 9 AM to Noon.  Please be sure to bring a water bottle and stay hydrated.  There is no indoor space, air conditioning or even fans at the nursery.  Keep a close eye on the volunteer calendar.  For safety reasons, they may have to cancel volunteer workdays and nursery hours on short notice because of high temperatures, poor air quality, and thunderstorms.  Contact Matt Bright, Conservation Manager, to RSVP to volunteer or for questions or concerns at [email protected] or at his cell: 703-859-2951.

Volunteers can help with watering, weeding, pot preparation, transplanting, and sowing seed.  Gloves and tools will be provided.

In addition to environmental work, Earth Sangha hosts weekly meditation sessions in Alexandria, Virginia, along with discussions of what it means to live in a responsible way. These sessions are free and open to all.

Shop for native plants at the Earth Sangha Summer Open House

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Earth Sangha is offering some specials for this event. Here are some highlights:

Pinxter Bloom (Rhododendron periclymenoides) is available, but only a limited number of pots. Earth Sangha doesn’t take pre-orders and so please come early if you want to get it.

They will also offer True Solomon’s Seal and False Solomon’s Seal. It took 3 years to just germinate these species from the seeds! This is the first year that Earth Sangha is able to offer them in sizable quantities.

They are also offering something rarely found in the wild: Curlyheads (Clematis ochroleuca). It is a Piedmont species, and according to the Digital Atlas of the Virginia Flora is found in, “dry forests, rocky woodlands, barrens, clearings, and road banks, usually in moderately to strongly base-rich soils. Frequent in the Piedmont; rare in the mountains and inner Coastal Plain.” Only a few pots can be offered for this species. This is the first time Earth Sangha is offering this!

Also, there is something special for members: Earth Sangha will offer a surprise 50% discount for select species for this occasion on June 16th only. That is, if you are a member, it will cost just $3.50 per pot instead of $7. Annual memberships start at $35.  Click here to join.

Earth Sangha Wild Plant Nursery

6100 Cloud Drive in Franconia Park in Springfield, Virginia

Saturday, 16 June 2018

10.00 am – 2.00 pm

Volunteer for Earth Sangha Nursery workdays

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Join Earth Sangha on Sundays, Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays from 9.00 am to 2.00 pm for regular nursery workdays. Volunteers can help with the whole range of native plant propagation activities  from weeding, watering and transplanting.

Please wear shoes that can get muddy and bring your own water.

Please email Matt Bright if you’re interested in attending.

The nursery is in Springfield, Virginia, in Franconia Park, which lies just south of the Beltway, and just east of the Beltway’s intersection with Routes 95 and 395. Access is from Franconia Road (644). From Franconia, turn north on Thomas Drive, less than half a mile east of the 395/95 intersection. There is a traffic light at Thomas. From Thomas, turn right onto Meriwether Lane. Turn left onto Cloud Drive. Please park in the parking lot at the bottom of the entrance road, then walk down the dirt road along the community gardens. Our nursery lies beyond the community gardens.

Help Earth Sangha Nursery on Volunteer Workday: Sunday, 18 February

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Meet at the nursery in Springfield (6100 Cloud Drive in Franconia Park) at 10 am on Sunday, 18 Febrary. You’ll be spreading gravel, weeding and preparing soils for germinating woody plants. If it rains or the temperature dips into low 40 degrees, the workday will be cancelled.

The Wild Plant Nursery is a resource for ecological restoration in the greater Washington, DC, area. Established in 2001 in Springfield, Virginia, under an agreement with the Fairfax County Park Authority, the nursery is the region’s most comprehensive source of local, wild native-plant material (“local ecotypes”).  Learn more here.

Apply for Earth Sangha plant grants for spring 2018. Due 28 February

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The Earth Sangha Plant Grant supports small-scale, citizen-led restoration efforts across Fairfax County. Twice a year, they accept applications for restoration projects on public lands in need of local-ecotype native plants. They will then offer a matching grant on plants purchased (essentially a buy-one, get-one free offer) good for one season up to a certain dollar amount. No project is too small, whether it’s a community-led invasive pull, or a larger project with multiple partners, they support thoughtful restoration efforts on public lands.

To read The Acorn article outlining the Plant Grant see here.

To take advantage of the Plant Grant. See the criteria and application below.

Selection Criteria

Projects should have the following:

  • Ongoing conservation or restoration work occurring on public lands in Fairfax County (projects outside Fairfax County will be reviewed, but our current focus is to support public lands in our home jurisdiction)
  • Letter of support from a relevant public agency (whoever owns or administers the area in question), an email is fine
  • Proposed plant list for the site in question (we can help you refine this, if needed)
  • Timeline for the planting
  • Plan for maintenance of the planting site

Click here for the Plant Grant Application

How to Apply:

Fill out the pdf form (see below) and email it to Matt Bright, [email protected] along with a letter of support from your agency sponsor and 2-3 photos of the site.

Spring Grant Period: For projects to be planted in Spring 2018. Applications due by February 28, 2018.