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Greetings!
February's unpredictable weather may impact GCV meetings but it certainly doesn't halt planning and hard work. The
Historic Garden Week Guidebook
is being printed after months of preparation, and member clubs are finalizing tour details.
Centennial
planning continues, Virginia State Parks grant recipients
are being notified, 2017 GCV
legislative positions
have been established and members are contacting representatives. Gardeners from our
Restoration projects are gathering at the Kent-Valentine for our biennial workshop, and graduate-level restoration Fellowship applications are being accepted.
Member clubs are submitting proposals for prestigious GCV
Awards
. The
2017 Daffodil Show
is approaching (don't miss February 1 deadline to enter Photography). The 2017 Lily Show is on the horizon. Input from members is shaping
Strategic Planning
implementation, resulting in exciting programming innovations which continue to evolve.
Enjoy learning about all this and more as you continuing reading.
My best,
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Faith Kauders
"Boyd" watercolor
The Garden Club of the Northern Neck
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Thursday, February 2
Centennial Committee KVH 1:00 pm
Friday, February 3
Executive Committee, KVH 10:30 am
Thursday, February 9
Massie Medal Committee, KVH 10:30 am
Wednesday, February 22
Restoration Committee Workshop, KVH 9:00 am
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The flowers of late winter and early spring occupy places in our hearts well out of proportion to their size.
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~Gertrude Smith Wister (1905-1999)
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The Nominations Committee of the Garden Club of Virginia presented the following names to the Board of Directors at its January 19 meeting.
- District 2 Meg Laughon, Hillside Garden Club
- District 5 Tuckie Westfall, The Garden Club of Alexandria
- District 6 Ellen Upton, Elizabeth River Garden Club
The names will be presented to voting members for approval at the 2017 Annual Meeting.
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The GCV 2017 Fall Symposium will offer many of our traditional September events during two fun-filled days of educational opportunities for all. Plan to spend time with friends, welcome new members, and celebrate all that GCV has to offer.
Judged horticulture and photography exhibits will take center stage at the John Marshall on Tuesday, along with a featured horticulture speaker. Flower arrangers and artistic judges will fill the Kent-Valentine House with an exhibit of judged floral designs. Add workshops, lunch, shopping at the Symposium Boutique, and a cocktail with friends at the KVH to make the day complete before having dinner on your own with friends.
Wednesday will feature our most popular tradition, Flower Arranging School at the University of Richmond’s Jepson Center. Enjoy coffee, continental breakfast and fellowship as you watch flower arranging demonstrations.
Plans are underway and details will follow.
Tuesday, September 26 and Wednesday, September 27
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Please consider proposing worthy members, clubs or projects for these awards. It is quite an honor to be recognized, and funding provided by the Bessie Bocock Carter and Common Wealth Awards makes a tremendous difference in communities statewide.
The Bessie Bocock Carter Conservation Award
provides funds for the implementation of a conservation project that will serve as a catalyst for community action. It is a monetary award for natural resource conservation or environmental protection within the Commonwealth.
The Common Wealth Award Nomination
provides annual grants to community projects of Garden Club of Virginia's member clubs. The projects must be in the areas of conservation, beautification, horticulture, preservation or education. Submit p
roposals to Candy Carden at cancarden@gmail.com by March 1.
The de Lacy Gray Conservation Medal re
cognizes an individual member or a member club of the GCV for outstanding effort to further the knowledge of our natural resources and to encourage their wise use.
Horticulture Award of Merit recognizes
individual members of the Garden Club of Virginia who have achieved significant accomplishments in horticulture, both personally and in the community at large.
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2017 Legislative Issues of Concern to the Garden Club of Virginia have been compiled by the Conservation and Beautification Committee and approved by the Board of Directors at its January 19 meeting. Click Here to read the compilation report which includes bill status updates as of January 24.
Please contact your legislators and assigned committee members, asking their support or opposition to bills summarized in this document.
If you would like to track a particular bill of interest, Click Here and enter the bill number.
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The Restoration Committee will host its biennial Workshop for Restoration Property Gardeners this month at the Kent-Valentine House. Historic property gardeners will spend the day hearing about topics ranging from seed saving at historic landscapes, to turf grass management. GCV Landscape Architect Will Rieley will provide attendees with an overview of GCV restoration projects and policies.
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Applications are now being accepted for our 2017 Restoration Research Fellowships.
The Rudy J. Favretti Fellow will research and document the Berkeley Plantation landscape. One of the “first great estates in America”, Berkeley is the site of the first official Thanksgiving, the birthplace of “Taps”, and the ancestral home of Benjamin Harrison V, a signer of the Declaration of Independence, and his son, William Henry Harrison, the ninth President of the United States.
In 1691, the property was purchased by Benjamin Harrison III who established the first commercial shipyard on the James. The 3-story Georgian brick house was constructed by 1726 for Benjamin Harrison IV and his wife Anne Carter, daughter of Robert “King” Carter. The plantation was a major force in colonial Virginia’s economic, cultural and social life, and passed to Benjamin Harrison V, a signer of the Declaration of Independence and three-time governor of Virginia, and then to Benjamin Harrison VI. Harrison V’s younger son, William Henry Harrison, was born at Berkeley in 1773 and became the ninth President of the United States in 1841.
The William D. Rieley Fellow will research and document the Westover Plantation landscape. As early as 1616, John Rolfe wrote about West Hundred, and in 1637, 2000 acres of the plantation called Westover was patented by the Colonial Governor to Captain Thomas Pawlett. He sold the property to the Bland family who in turn sold it in 1688 to William Byrd I. His son, William Byrd II, founder of the city of Richmond, is known for the diaries he kept in which he documents his life in Virginia and England. His library at Westover was the largest in the colonies, with over 4,000 volumes. Both William Byrd I and II are buried at Westover with William Byrd II’s tombstone located in the center of the garden.
A quintessential James River plantation house, Westover is one of the country’s premier examples of colonial Georgian architecture. Until recently, history has supported William Byrd II as the builder of the current house, but dendrochronologic testing on attic beams indicate that they may date to circa 1750, thereby making William Byrd III the builder. Georgian design elements are exemplified in Westover’s symmetry, elegant proportions, distinctive brickwork and pedimented entrances.
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The deadline for applications for 2017 Virginia State Parks grants was December 10. A variety of proposed projects and programs relating to education, conservation, beautification and restoration was reviewed by the grants review committee and approved by the GCV Board of Directors at its January 19 meeting.
It is tempting to share the news immediately about these exciting projects, but we must wait until applicants have been notified and confirmed. Stay tuned!
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Quick Links to Websites, Publications, Social Media & More
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