Greetings!
The energy generated during the Garden Club of Virginia's spring season is AMAZING! Final touches to member club Historic Garden Week tours and fundraising events take center stage, the guidebook arrives and ticket sales begin soaring. Excitement for Daffodil Day is building as volunteers and exhibitors continue to sign up en masse and special events with plantsman Tony Avent begin filling with registrants. Horticulture Field Day in Lynchburg details are revealed, along with the usual rush to register. P
lans for Lilies in Bloom continue to move forward with full sponsorship secured!
All of this comes on the heels of 3 sell out Flower Arranging workshops as members prepare to exhibit floral designs and fill HGW homes with stunning creations.
Yes, amazing is the perfect word!
My best,
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Diane Ginsberg, photograph
The Garden Club of the Eastern Shore
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A day comes in the springtime
When Earth puts forth her powers,
Casts off the bonds of winter
And lights him hence with flowers...
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~
Dora Read Goodale "The Chorus"
Country Life in America: A Magazine for the Home-maker, the Vacation-seeker, the Gardener, the Farmer, the Nature-teacher, the Naturalist April 1902
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Thursday, March 1
Awards Deadline
Monday, March 5
Conservation Awards Committee, KVH 10:30
Tuesday, March 6
Conservation Forum Planning, KVH 10:30
Tuesday, March 13
Horticulture Committee, KVH 10:30
Wednesday-Thursday, March 14-15
Restoration Committee
Thursday, March 15
HGW District 1, KVH
Monday, March 19
Daffodil Day Meeting, KVH
Flower Show Committee, KVH 10:30
Judges Workshop, KVH 1:00
Tuesday, March 20
Workshop Review, KVH 10:30
Tuesday, March 27
Cocktails and Travels with Tony Avent,
John Marshall, 7:00 pm
Wednesday, March 28
GCV Daffodil Day
Friday, March 30
GCV Restoration Fellowship, KVH 10:30
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Boxwood
Kate Kerns
Marty Parrish
Kate Whitehead
Sarah Wooton
Elizabeth River
Denise Parrocol
Gabriella
Susan Pritchett
Linda Taylor
Cynthia Wright
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Garden Study
Terresa Leopold
Jackie Van Dyke
Gloucester
Tina McManus
Harborfront
Tejal Desai
Susan Einhorn
Harper Lea
Brenda Waters
Princess Anne
Theresa Briggs
Pam Jewett
Spotswood
Tammy Lyon
Mary Stickley-Godinez
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GCV Daffodil Day March 27-28
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Join us as we celebrate daffodils with horticulture exhibits and photography displayed in the historic John Marshall, artistic floral creations filling our Kent-Valentine House headquarters, and plenty of fun to go around.
Register for Special Events!
March 27 Cocktails and Travels with Tony
Guest speaker Tony
Avent will join us at the John Marshall for cocktails and hors d'oeuvres, sharing highlights of exotic travels in his life long quest for rare specimens around the world.
March 28 Lucheon Lecture
Mr. Avent presents "Surrounding Yourself with Shady Characters: Planting and Maintaining a Woodland Garden, followed by luncheon.
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Horticulture Field Day June 5-6 Lynchburg
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Old City Cemetery, Lynchburg
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The GCV Horticulture Committee invites you to join garden club members from across the state to Lynchburg for 2018 Horticulture Field Day. This year’s event takes place June 5-6 with headquarters at the Old City Cemetery.
Two optional tours are offered in the afternoon of June 5 - the Poplar Forest landscape and a private garden tour. Four private gardens will be open June 6. Lunch is included, and two different tours of the Old City Cemetery will be offered during the lunch break.
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Lilies in Bloom June 19 Goochland
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The Garden Club of Virginia cordially invites you to
Lilies in Bloom
on June 19. This horticulture event will be staged at St. Mary's Episcopal Church, 12991 River Road in Goochland and will offer a comprehensive North American Lily Society (NALS) schedule. GCV members only trophy classes will be included as well. We encourage novices and amateur growers to participate and will provide tips for growing and showing throughout the day.
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Our GCV website has a new look! The HOME page offers a variety of lists to lead you in the right direction. It also includes a menu bar and picture links, providing access to just about everything you're looking for. It will prompt you for our password if you happen to select a secure link, allowing you to keep moving forward.
The MEMBER page reveals a brand new library of Resource Documents, and of course includes the familiar Online Directory.
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Our 240 page 2018 Historic Garden Week guidebook cover features Auburn, an historic plantation on the banks of the North River, and is filled with expertly crafted tour descriptions, signature watercolors, colorful ads and a stunning overall design to pull everything together.
Congratulations to all who contributed, and thanks to very generous sponsors and advertisers who have made this edition one of the best ever.
Enjoy!
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As I peer out my window to see the first signs of spring emerging, my mind begins to imagine sweet tasting tomatoes growing in my straw bale garden. What is a straw bale garden? It’s a container garden that can be grown virtually anywhere, as long as the location gets full sun and water is accessible.
I’ve been growing tomatoes and other vegetables using this method for over five years and find it the easiest way to grow wonderful tasting, pest and weed free organic produce.
Want to get started with a straw bale garden?
First, select your location and design layout. Then you’ll need; straw bales (
DO NOT USE HAY
), fertilizer, steel fence posts and some wood, potting soil and a source of water. Once the bales are in place then it will be time to start conditioning the bales with water and fertilizer. This process takes about 2 weeks. When the bales are “cooked” it is time to do a little digging in the straw. Make a hole with a hand trowel to remove some of the straw and fill the holes with potting soil. Add your transplants or seeds. Then, enjoy your harvest. At the end of the season, the bales and plants can be put into a compost bin.
The average last frost date in our region is April 15. Around this date, I will start to condition the straw bales. The bales will produce more heat which means the root zone is a lot warmer than surrounding soil temperatures. Earlier planting should produce an earlier harvest.
For more information on this subject, I recommend
“Straw Bale Gardens” by Joel Karsten - Amazon
Contributed by Sandy Geiger, Garden Club of Gloucester member and GCV Horticulture Committee member.
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Quick Links to Websites, Publications, Social Media & More
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