|
Greetings!
Thank you to members of the Garden Club of the Middle Peninsula for hosting the 2017 GCV Lily Show in Tappahannock. The show was beautiful and we are all so appreciative of your efforts. Exhibitors outdid themselves and we offer congratulations to award winners! Click here for photos.
Thank you also to the GCV Horticulture Committee for planning our 2017 Horticulture Field Day. With tremendous support from members of the Garden Club of Gloucester, garden owners, Brent & Becky Heath, and perfect weather, the sell-out event was spectacular. Click here for photos.
Read on for announcements and exciting news.
Happy and safe July 4 to all,
|
|
|
Nancy Spilman
Martinsville Garden Club
|
|
|
Thursday, July 13
GCV Restoration Fellowship, KVH 10 am
Saturday, July 15
GCV Board of Directors, Blandy, Winchester
Monday, July 24
Journal Editorial Board, KVH 10:30 am
Symposium Logistics, KVH 10:30 am
|
|
|
That beautiful season the Summer!
Filled was the air with a dreamy and magical light;
And the landscape
Lay as if new created in all the freshness of childhood.
~Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
|
|
|
Ashland
Laura Liebert
Lindsay Ryland
Augusta
Kathy Bishop
Beverly Coffman
Beth Rowe
Carroll Weatherman
Charlottesville
Anne DeMaso
Amy Harris
Lawson Jenkins
Christy Wenzel
Ames Winter
Harborfront
Teal Desai
Susan Einhorn
Harper Lea
Brenda Walters
|
|
|
Hunting Creek
Ana Anderson
Claire Edwards
Leslie Golden
Betsy Regnell
Middle Peninsula
Karen Bowman
Sally Pearson
Winston Sheffield
Agnes Stillfried
Rebecca Townsend
Princess Anne
Jan Fine
Roanoke Valley
Justine Jones
Beth Macher
Noelle Milam
Williamsburg
Elgin Morris
|
|
|
Conservation and Environmental Fellowship Recipient
|
|
|
|
|
Kate LeCroy has been awarded the 2017 Garden Club of Virginia Conservation and Environmental Studies Fellowship for her Mason Bee Monitoring Project.
The project
seeks to track the presence of spring-emerging mason bees across the Commonwealth of Virginia. Mason bees are solitary bees in the genus
Osmia
, and they readily nest in empty cavities in nature. These bees have been found to use “bee hotels” (see photo). This monitoring project is led by University of Virginia graduate student Kate LeCroy and her advisor, Research Associate Professor T’ai Roulston at Blandy Experimental Farm. Read more..
|
|
|
Upper Left: Kate LeCroy A.
“Wood” bee hotel. B. “PVC pipe” bee hotel. C. A map of participants (red dots) across the Commonwealth of Virginia.
|
|
|
Conservation Educator Award Recipient
|
|
|
|
|
Jody Ullmann, Director of Lynnhaven River Now (LRNow) Pearl School Program, has been selected to receive the 2017 Garden Club of Virginia 2017 Conservation Educator Award. Nominated by the Princess Anne Garden Club, the award will be presented at the 59th Annual GCV Conservation Forum, October 27 in Charlottesville.
Jody has been a passionate environmental educator since the late 1970s. Throughout her career as science teacher, storyteller, garden teacher, education consultant, museum consultant and grant writer, her passion for science, the environment and for working with children has been evident.
Since joining LRNow in 2013, Jody has doubled the number of Pearl Schools in Virginia Beach, with plans to reach a goal of 100% participation in 2017.
|
|
|
She has been instrumental in developing a number of educational programs.
- The Growing Wetlands Project provides grow-lab systems, grow lights and plant plugs to grow wetland plants in the classroom. Students transplant the plants around the city, and the project has restored Spartina grass to the shoreline of Crab Creek, the lake at Mt. Trashmore, floating wetlands on stormwater ponds at Hampton Roads Sanitation District properties, schools, and the shoreline at Pleasure House Point.
- Train the Teacher is a workshop based training program to educate teachers on topics ranging from wetlands, watersheds and stormwater runoff to starting a green club at the school.
- The Science Preschool Activity Time (SPAT) program for preschoolers allows 3-5 year olds to bring their favorite adult out to Pleasure House Point and the Brock Environmental Center for crafts, stories, music and outdoor adventure. These programs are designed and taught by retired teachers and librarians.
- Trashion Show is an annual fashion show produced by middle and high school students and teachers featuring clothes made exclusively from trash such as plastics, newspapers and straws.
- The Bucket Program (Bundled Curriculum Kits for Environmental Teaching) is built around hands-on, project based learning activities for students of all ages.
- The “Watersheds and Me” quilt project was designed to celebrate the 15th Anniversary of LRNow. Each school was invited to submit quilt squares expressing their feelings about the water.
- Field guide to Flowering Plants at Pleasure House Point
- Junior Master Naturalist Program
Please join us in offering congratulations to Jody Ullmann as we present the 2017 Garden Club of Virginia Conservation Educator Award to her at the Conservation Forum in Charlottesville, October 27.
|
|
|
Elizabeth Cabell Dugdale Award Recipient
|
|
|
Blue Ridge Partnership in Regional Invasive Species Management (PRISM)
has been selected to receive the Garden Club of Virginia's 2017 Elizabeth Cabell Dugdale Award. Nominated by the Albemarle Garden Club, the award will be presented at the 59th Annual GCV Conservation Forum, October 27 in Charlottesville.
Blue Ridge PRISM was organized to confront problems in controlling alien, invasive plants, to encourage neighborhood cooperation, and to e
ncourage private landowners, governmental agencies and non-profit organizations to co-ordinate their efforts and work together to control the most problematic species. While the organization spans a 10 county region along the northern Blue Ridge comprising the counties of Nelson, Albemarle, Augusta, Greene, Rockingham, Madison, Page, Rappahannock, Warren and Clarke, it hopes to serve as a model for the creation of additional regional invasive species efforts in other parts of Virginia.
The PRISM Speaker's Bureau offers presentations on the PRISM in particular, but also on the problems associated with invasive plants more generally, as well as control methods and ideas for restoration of areas cleared of invasives.
Visit the PRISM website at
http://blueridgeprism.org/
Please join us in offering congratulations to Blue Ridge PRISM as we present the Dugdale Award to PRISM leaders at the Conservation Forum in Charlottesville, October 27.
|
|
|
Horticulture Tips for your Garden
|
|
Are you up to your elbows in those pesky summer weeds that seem to grow by the minute in your garden? Horticultural vinegar is an effective and more natural alternative to harsh chemical weed killers. Horticultural vinegar has a much higher acidity content (20%) than the typical 5% found in regular grocery store-purchased varieties, and for that reason it is more successful at ridding your garden of those stubborn weeds. Most horticulture vinegar products also contain a sticky substance like yucca extract so the vinegar will adhere to the weed. It can be purchased online or in some nursery centers. Because of its stronger acidity level it is advisable to use gloves and eye protection when using horticultural vinegar. It works the best when used in a regular garden sprayer on sunny days in temperature of 70 degrees or more. OSM, Nature’s Wisdom, and Maestro-Gro’s are three brands that produce 20% horticultural vinegar.
|
|
|
Conservation Project, Funding and Speaker Opportunities
|
|
|
- Dominion Energy has launched “Wings at Work” Initiative is for the Birds and Bees," a multi-faceted environmental effort to create more natural habitats for butterflies, bees, birds and other pollinators. Click Here to see the Press Release for project and funding opportunities.
- The Chesapeake Bay Restoration Fund Advisory Committee provides grants that “emphasize environmental education or restoration and conservation of the Chesapeake Bay." Grant Applications due October 1, 2017. Click Here for information.
- Could your town turn kitchen compost into gas? Food for thought. Click Here to read article.
|
|
|
2018 Historic Garden Week Poster
|
|
|
The 2018 Historic Garden Week poster was revealed at HGW Boot Camp this week with 76 members in attendance. The Kwansan Cherry was inspired by the cover photo shoot at Auburn in mid-April when the cherry blossoms were spectacular.
|
|
|
Historic Garden Week Media Awards
|
|
|
The 2017 Historic Garden Week Guidebook and the Historic Garden Week Website have each received an Award for Publication Excellence. The publications were among 100 selected out of a field of 1400.
|
|
|
September 26-27 Fall Symposium
|
|
|
Symposium plans are in full swing, and registration is filling quickly. The Artistic Schedule is completely filled with over 30 exhibitors. The Luncheon Lecture with Karen Rexrode seats 150 but has only 25 available seats remaining. Flower Arranging School is half filled with 150 registrants but we do plan to open registration to the public August 1 with a statewide publicity campaign, hoping for a sellout crowd of 300. Don't wait too long!
|
|
|
Quick Links to Websites, Publications, Social Media & More
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
