August 2018 Greetings! August brings us the very best of summer. Long lazy days, abundant vegetables, family time, beach reads. These are the moments we wait for all year long.  I hope that you are having the chance to relax and enjoy that which is wonderful in your lives. Soon enough we will all be spinning once again in our crazy busy worlds. I will look forward to seeing each of you, refreshed, at our GCV Fall Symposium in September.

GCV Member Photography Missy Janes Fauquier and Loudoun Garden Club

Mark Your Calendar   Wednesday, August 8 Restoration Fellow Presentations Monday, August 27 Artistic Design Committee, KVH 10:30 am Adopt the pace of nature: her secret is patience.                                                 ~Ralph Waldo Emerson

Centennial Daffodil 'Green Arrow'

This mid-season daffodil, offered for the first time and developed by Brent and Becky Heath, celebrates the Centennial of the Garden Club of Virginia. The white perianth se gments show heavy substance while the funnel-shaped corona transitions from white to a yellowish-green base or eye, representative of the “Green Arrow,” the iconic directional signage of GCV’s Historic Garden Week in Virginia. 'Green Arrow' 2W-GWW (M) is destined to be a winner in the garden and on the show bench. It will be offered to GCV members only until 2020 when it will be available to the public. Order 'Green Arrow' in packs of 5 bulbs at $30 per pack. Limit 3 packs (15 bulbs) per member. Bulbs will be distributed in the fall.

Order Now!

Member Clubs in the Community

Mill Mountain Garden Club Redefining "Garden Club Activities"

Mill Mountain Garden Club is redefining “garden club” activities to include the appreciation of Virginia's natural resources that GCV members work so hard to protect. In an effort to get younger and more active members involved and engaged in garden club activities, then president Janet Frantz developed  Get Outside , an initiative designed to interest members in Roanoke’s growing list of available outdoor activities. The program has been a huge success with members of all ages.   Get Outside has provided members with adventures that include hiking, biking, bird walks, paddle boarding on the Roanoke River, kayaking and fly fishing. Members are not just having fun. They are seeing firsthand the importance of preserving natural resources and beauty in the community.   Last June, 25 members of all ages biked the trail from Old Town Alexandria to Mount Vernon where they were greeted by Dean Norton, Director of Horticulture. After touring the gardens and house, the group then took a boat ride back to Old Town.    A recent adventure had members kayaking on Carvin’s Cove Natural Reserve, the second largest municipal park in the nation. Managed by Roanoke Parks and Recreation for watershed protection and public recreation, the park offers hiking, fishing, boating, kayaking, mountain biking and equestrian use. The Cove includes 11,363 acres that are protected by the largest conservation easement in Virginia’s history. The day ended with a lovely cove side picnic.

Ashland Garden Club Making a Difference

The Ashland Garden Club has a long standing commitment to community and ongoing efforts are directed toward local projects. This summer, the club elected to send four children to camp through Circles Ashland, a nationally based program established to ‘inspire, inform and equip individuals, families and community to resolve poverty and thrive.’ Two campers recently spent a week at 4-H overnight camp in New Kent. Two additional campers will attend Lewis Ginter's nature day camp in late July and early August.  Club members are providing transportation and camp supplies for each child.

Traditional Floral Styles and Designs

The Garden Club of Virginia's newly revised online edition of Traditional Floral Styles and Designs is now available! Mary Lou Johnson and her associates Meredith Lauter and Elise Pitts of the GCV Artistic Design Committee have compiled a beautifully illustrated volume of 17 styles that includes European, English and American, and ranges from fifteenth century Italian Renaissance to twentieth century American geometric designs. Traditional Floral Styles and Designs is available on the GCV Website Home page. Select "Horticulture and Artistic Design" under Our Work. View Now

.....so much fun! Learn More

Photography Class 6 is filled.

Conservation Awards

Elizabeth Cabell Dugdale Award   The Elizabeth Cabell Dugdale Award is presented to an organization, industry or individual who is not a Garden Club of Virginia member for meritorious achievement in conservation. This year’s recipient, the Piedmont Environmental Council (PEC), is eminently qualified. The community-based organization has at its roots the preservation of Virginia’s natural resources and beauty. The PEC promotes land conservation in the piedmont area of Virginia, was an early sponsor of the farm-to-table movement, and works as a partner with groups to support sustainable energy, wildlife habitat restoration, and protection of air and water quality. To learn more about PEC visit www.pecva.org. Conservation Educator Award Established in 2016, the Conservation Educator Award recognizes individuals or organizations whose work in an educational environment supports the conservation ideals of the Garden Club of Virginia. This year’s recipient is Nancy Newman of Charlottesville. Nancy has spent her life working in elementary education. Upon her “retirement” in 1977, Nancy began developing an outdoor science curriculum at Venable Elementary School. This includes classrooms which are home to birds, invertebrates, snakes, mammals and plant life, all thriving in the middle of an urban setting.  Nancy is a guide at Ivy Creek Natural Area where she leads wildlife walks. She gives programs on flora and fauna throughout the state, and she volunteers at the Rockfish Gap Wildlife Rehabilitation Center. We thank Nancy for her dedication to increasing our knowledge and understanding of our natural world.

Virginia State Parks

Shenandoah River State Park 2018 Grant Recipient

Goals Provide habitat for pollinators. Provide bee habitat and ongoing maintenance. Protect hives from predators. Provide interpretive programing and signage about pollinators and their host plants available to the more than 280,000 annual visitors to Shenandoah River State Park.

Project Activities Design, prepare, plant, and maintain a 1.4 acre pollinator meadow with regionally desirable perennial plants. Construct or purchase and maintain hives working with the Beekeepers of the Northern Shenandoah. Construct solar powered electric fencing. Develop and construct permanent signage explaining pollination and the need of the plantings for various pollinators. Develop an interpreter lead pollinator program for park visitors. Develop a brochure for self- guided visits. Develop presentations for electronic media that will allow visitors to see and understand the necessity and importance of pollination and to see pollination in action even when the meadow is not in bloom. The Shenandoah River State Park grant application was submitted by the Garden Club of Warren County.

Expected Outcome New habitat for pollinators in a wooded and hay field area. Source of bee pollinators. Protection of the hives from bears, skunks, raccoons and other predators; separation (physical but not visual) of the hives from human visitors for protection. Education of visitors about the importance of pollinators and their habitat.

Conservation Forum

Online registration coming soon!

Ashland Kathy Boggess Margaret Copeland Shannon Taylor Brunswick Nancy Riddell Marilyn Wright

Franklin Nita Holt Lynchburg Heather Harris Petersburg Jean Day Sarah Drake Ann Riggs Roanoke Valley Amy Brisley David Charles Campbell London Ray Marti Turner Carole Whittle

Quick Links

www.gcvsymposium.org June Journal www.gcvirginia.org www.vagardenweek.org

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