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Great winter gardening lectures at Green Spring

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Photo: (c) Barbara J. Saffir

WINTER LECTURE-IDEAS FROM EUROPE FOR U.S. GARDENS

(Adult) Winter is the perfect time to plan improvements to our gardens. Garden designer and international traveler Carolyn Mullet shares design images from her European garden travels that we can adapt and use for our own garden designs. Carolyn will show us how we can modify these “foreign” inspirations, both fun and functional, and how to find inspiration of our own.

Register

WINTER LECTURE-PUSHING LIMITS OF TROPICAL PLANTS

(Adult) Botanist and plant breeder John Boggan grows and writes about hardy palms, bananas, begonias, gesneriads, and just about anything else that’s tropical or exotic to the DC area. John shares his experience and trials of growing these beautiful tropicals and how you can have success pushing the growing zones.

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WINTER LECTURE-ROSE CARE 101

(Adults) Learn the fundamentals for selecting and growing fabulous roses. Lewis Ginter Botanic Garden horticulturalist Laurie McMinn will introduce you to old family heirloom roses as well as many new roses that may become your favorites! Laurie shares the essentials of rose care and beyond, including pruning for spring plant health, nurturing great blooms, and identifying pests and diseases. Your roses will thank you.

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WINTER LECTURE-SELECTING AND PLANTING TREES

(Adult) Trees are the keystone plants of a garden. With careful selection and proper planting, they can thrive with minimal care, rewarding us with beauty, shade, energy savings, and wildlife habitat. National Arboretum Head of Horticulture Scott Aker turns us into smarter consumers and gardeners as he illustrates how trees are marketed to homeowners. He offers, tips on proper planting techniques, and demonstrates a quick and easy way to determine a tree’s health. Learn about trees that are well-adapted to our area and that Scott recommends to homeowners.

Register

WINTER LECTURE-THE GARDENS OF PIET OUDOLF

(Adult) Join the Friends of Green Spring in viewing the documentary, Five Seasons: The Gardens of Piet Oudolf. This documentary immerses viewers in Oudolf’s work and takes us inside his creative process, from his beautifully abstract sketches, to theories on beauty, to the ecological implications of his ideas. Discussion to follow.

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WINTER LECTURE-UNCOMMON CUT FLOWER

(Adults) Make the most of your gardening efforts by growing plants that are beautiful outside and inside as cut flowers and fillers. Horticulturalist Karen Rexrode shares some favorite plants that are both beautiful ornamental garden plants and unusual cut flowers. These lovely arrangements exercise your creativity, give you confidence in plant combinations and allow you to appreciate individual plants details.

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WINTER LECTURE-VEGETABLES LOVE FLOWERS

(Adults) Learn how to grow an organic garden where good bugs eat bad bugs, pollinators are abundant and the beautiful bouquet on the table came from your garden! Flower Farmer Lisa Ziegler tells all as she shares why flowers are the missing piece in many vegetable gardens as they attract pollinators, beneficial insects and other good creatures to complete the circle of life. Learn how to garden without using any pesticides that can harm and kill the very beneficial creatures we want to live in the garden.

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WINTER LECTURE-WHAT’S BUGGING YOU?

(Adults) What was that insect I saw in the garden last summer? Why didn’t I see many butterflies last summer? How can I have more fireflies in my backyard? Bring your bug questions and stories to this mid-winter information exchange about insects. Join entomologist Nate Erwin for a colorful slide show of insects and their associated plants and then join a lively discussion about those spineless creatures that do so much for and in our gardens.

Register

How Plants Move: A Talk by Charles Smith

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Thursday, January 10, 2019

7:30 – 9:00 pm

Green Spring Gardens

4603 Green Spring Road

Alexandria, VA 22312

VNPS programs are free and open to the public.

No reservations are necessary for lectures

Please join us for a talk by Charles Smith, to kick off our lecture series again this year.  Charles explores the ways plants disperse across land and water and discusses reproductive strategies, niche exploitation, plant community composition and what the future may look like considering the fragmented condition of our landscape and climate change.

Charles is a native of Arlington, VA, and a naturalist and ecologist with 25 years of experience working primarily in natural resource management, including the Fairfax County Park Authority and five years with Northern Virginia Regional Park Authority.   He is currently branch chief of Fairfax County Stormwater Planning Division, focusing on stream and natural area restoration.  Charles is a US Army veteran; board member of Virginia Native Plant Society, Prince William Wildflower Society and Prince William Conservation Alliance; and member of Friends of the Potomac River Refuges.  He is a popular VNPS speaker and has served as an instructor for three chapters of the Virginia Master Naturalists.

Opt outside on Black Friday and visit our parks

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Embrace the cooler weather at Ellanor C. Lawrence Park as you learn about the signs of fall. Visit the Walney Visitor Center and get a fall identification chart for your park exploration.

At Frying Pan Farm Park, you can borrow a program backpack at the Country Store. Inside you will find instruction for activities at six trail stops to help your child learn about the natural wonders found at the park.

Visit Hidden Oaks Nature Center to enjoy a visual scavenger hunt along the 1/3-mile Old Oak Trail. There are options available for preschool and elementary age children and their families. Hidden Pond Nature Center is also offering a scavenger hunt to explore the surrounding trails.

Discover the plants and animals of Huntley Meadows Park. Come to the front desk in the Norma Hoffman Visitor Center and ask to borrow a scavenger hunt sheet to aid your outdoor adventure.

At Riverbend Park, families can look, listen, learn and create along the Duff N Stuff Trail. Stop by the Visitor Center to get a copy of a new Scavenger Hunt, designed by a local Girl Scout.

The county’s lakefront parks have ways to keep you busy, too. Burke Lake Park offers a tree scavenger hunt. At Lake Accotink Park, there are self-guided hikes, or you can go on a scavenger hunt at Lake Fairfax Park. Lakefront parks are open from 9 a.m. – 5 p.m.

All of these activities are free, and no registration is required. Please call the park offices for site specific check-in locations and activity times. Add to your day of outdoor fun by doing a little hiking, biking, picnicking or fishing on your own.

For more information and directions to each park visit Fairfax County Park Authority or please call their respective offices at:

Burke Lake Park 703-323-6600; Ellanor C. Lawrence Park 703-631-0013; Frying Pan Farm Park 703-437-9101; Hidden Oaks Nature Center 703-941-1065; Hidden Pond Nature Center 703-451-9588; Huntley Meadows Park 703-768-2525; Lake Fairfax Park 703-471-5414; Lake Accotink Park 703-569-3464; Riverbend Park 703-759-9018.

See your feathered friends prepare for winter

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Photo by Ana Ka’ahanui

Bring the kids to Green Spring Gardens for the “Family Fun: Bird Walk” on Saturday, November 10, 2018.

Wander through the autumn gardens where birds are making their preparations for the cold winter ahead. Bring field glasses, if you have them, and Green Spring will provide a bird search sheet. Warm up with some hot cider and talk with your guide about the birds you see and hear.

This event runs from 9 to 10:30 a.m., and the cost is $10 per person. The program is designed for family members age five to adult, and children must be accompanied by a registered adult. Register here

Green Spring Gardens is located at 4603 Green Spring Rd., Alexandria, VA. For more information, call 703-642-5173 or visit Green Spring Gardens.

Marion Lobstein presents the Flora of Virginia App

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Photo: Barbara J. Saffir (c)

Sunday, November 11, 2018
1 – 4 PM

Green Spring Gardens
4603 Green Spring Road
Alexandria, VA 22312

Everything wonderful from the print version of Flora of Virginia can now fit in your pocket and make you feel like a pro in the woods. The app, for Android and iOS devices, features an easy-to-use Graphic Key, in addition to the traditional dichotomous keys. Species descriptions include photographs, and many include a botanical illustration.

Marion Blois Lobstein is Professor Emeritus of NVCC, where she taught botany, general biology, microbiology, and other courses over her thirty-seven-year teaching career.  For many years she conducted tours and taught classes for the Smithsonian Resident Associates Program.  Her academic degrees Include a BSEd (Biology) from W. Carolina Univ., MAT from UNC-Chapel Hill, and MS in Biology from George Mason Univ.  She is co-author of Finding Wildflowers in the Washington-Baltimore Area.  Marion serves on the Board of Directors of the Foundation of the Flora of Virginia Project and is a former Board Member of the Foundation of the State Arboretum. Marion is a founding and active member of the Virginia Native Plant Society.

Virginia Native Plant Society  programs are free and open to the public. Prior to the talk, VPNS will conduct the business of their annual meeting, voting for chapter officers and approving the 2019 budget.

 

 

Green Spring Garden Talk: Planting Trees and Shrubs

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In this program at Green Spring Gardens, learn how to select trees and shrubs that thrive in Northern Virginia, and how to handle bareroot, balled, wrapped, and container plants. Receive helpful guidance from Virginia Cooperative Extension Master Gardeners on planting, feeding and caring for new trees and shrubs.

4603 Green Spring Rd, Alexandria, VA 22312

28 September 2018

Cost: $10 per person

Register online

For more information, call 703-642-5173

Counts for continuing education credit for FMN members

 

Volunteer with the Virginia Native Plant Society Potowmack Chapter at Green Spring Gardens

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Join the VNPS Propagation Crew on Wednesday mornings to learn how to divide, pot and grow from seed a wide variety of native forbs. 

The native plant beds are a demonstration garden and source of plants for our spring and fall plant sales. VNPS gathers every Wednesday morning from April through October to maintain the beds and pot plants for these sales. The beds are located at Green Spring Gardens behind the Horticulture Center.

You’ll enjoy light physical exertion, and have lots of fun getting your hands dirty and your spirit full. Tools and gloves provided.

Learn more

Help tend healing gardens at Crisis Care Center in Annandale, 14 April

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The Crisis Care Center in Annandale is looking for volunteers to tend to its healing gardens (right next to the parking lot at Fairfax Hospital). You may remove debris (fallen branches, trash, leaves) and invasive plants, place mulch, add plant, harvest produce from a vegetable garden, and water. The Center will provide lunch.

No prior experience is necessary. Bring a hat, work gloves, sunscreen, bug spray, and water. Organizers suggest that you wear pants, long sleeved shirt, and sturdy shoes. Bring garden clippers and a digger if you have them. Since the CCC is a community treatment facility, volunteers will need to complete required paperwork when they arrive on-site. This will include an application gathering some basic information, criminal/cps history disclosure form (self report), role description, and confidentiality statement, as well as handouts to read. Volunteers can register on site when they arrive

Crisis Care Center

3300 Woodburn Rd

Annandale, VA, 22003

Saturday 14 April 2018

9 am-1 pm

For Fairfax Master Naturalists, this work counts toward Service Project S257

The healing gardens are a joint venture between Green Springs Gardens Master Gardeners and the Fairfax-Falls Church Community Services Board. The gardens serve the residents of the CCC as a place to practice mindfulness and to find peace. Learn more

Find service opportunities with the Fairfax County Parks

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New education, stewardship, and citizen science projects for Fairfax Master Naturalists have just been added to the Service Project Calendar. (If you are reading this and are not yet a naturalist, please consider applying for basic training.) You can also find opportunities by contacting the parks directly: Hidden Oaks, Huntley Meadows, Riverbend, Ellanor C. Lawrence, Frying Pan, Green Spring Gardens, Hidden Pond, and Cub Run RECenter all have opportunities for FMN members. Here’s a small sampling:

Spring-Fest at Historic Sully, 21 April, 9:45am–4pm – assist with interactive nature experiences at FCPA table

Meaningful Watershed Education Experiences, Hidden Oaks, 3, 4, 5, 6, 27 April; 1, 2, 3, 4 May 9:15am -1pm – assist at stations including stream studies, stewardship, benthic macroinvertebrate study or live animal exhibits for 7th grade classes

My Sky Tonight Campfire, 7 April, 7-9:30 pm, Hidden Oaks – assist with family campfire program about constellations

Touch this Fox, 28 April, 12-2:30, Hidden Oaks – assist with family program where participants can touch real specimens and bones, educate about taxidermy and specimen care, dissect an owl pellet

Habitat and Parkland Management, dates & times flexible – perform maintenance of trails and other natural resource protection projects, such as with native wildflower garden or storm damage cleanup

Animal care, dates & times flexible – feed and care for animals on exhibit.  Animal care volunteers are needed at Hidden Oaks, Hidden Pond, Ellanor C. Lawrence and Riverbend.

To volunteer for Hidden Oaks programs, contact Suzanne Holland, [email protected] or 703-941-1065.  For other locations, contact the nature center or park.

Sign up for Harvesting Garden Water, at Green Springs, 25 February

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Green Spring Gardens Park, 4601 Green Spring Road, Alexandria

25 February 2018, 1.30-2.30 pm

Water harvesting involves strategies to manage and enhance the water resources on your land, leading to healthier plants and lower water bills. Understanding and implementing just a few simple water harvesting techniques, such as swales, hugelkultur beds, and rain gardens can improve the way water moves through your yard and how effectively your plants are able to use it. Designer Michael Judd shows you designs that best fit your land, how they are created and how to make them look good. These principles will help make your land more diverse, productive, and ecologically friendly. Register via ParkTakes. Fairfax County residents $10, others $12.

Counts toward continuing education credits for master naturalists.