Greetings!
The heat of the summer is on! Many of us are enjoying these last weeks at the beach or lake. There is something so calming, so refreshing, so beautiful about being near the water. As you relax with your beach reads and your toes in the sand, I ask that you think about our responsibilities of stewardship, not just of the landscape, but of our waterways and oceans.
The Ocean Conservancy, 4oceans, One Green Planet, Clear Blue Sea, 5 Gyres Institute, and many other organizations speak to the importance of limiting the use of plastics. In this month’s newsletter you will find a pledge,
Refuse to Use
. I encourage you to sign up. Each time we refuse to use a plastic bag, a straw, a bottle or cup we are committing ourselves to the preservation of important ecosystems and the prospect of a cleaner planet.
Your GCV committees are busy planning September meetings and activities. I can’t wait to begin my next year with all of you.
Warm regards,
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Tuesday, August 6 Mt. Airy
Restoration Fellowship Presentation
Wednesday, August 28 Farmington
Restoration Fellowship Presentation
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Making the decision to be mindful when it comes to choosing products with less packaging and not to use disposable plastic or paper bags is a small and simple change that each one of us can make. A conscious choice now that becomes second nature later.”
~credobags.com
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We're looking for ways we can reduce our consumption of single use plastics. We have 3500 Garden Club of Virginia members and together we can make a difference.
Please join us in our search for earth friendly alternatives. Take the pledge and make choices now that will become second nature later.
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Conservation Educator Award
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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
James E. Jones,
Manager of Natural Bridge State Park. Jim began his career with Virgina State Parks in the 1980’s and has spent the last 4 years at Natural Bridge. He has helped establish NBSP as a “teaching park” and has been instrumental in expanding environmental and naturalist programs. Jim is the driving force behind construction of the Children’s Interactive Classroom which has had more than 16,000 student visitors to date. The classroom, a result of GCV State Parks Grants, includes touch tables, aquariums, static, interactive and digital exhibits, native plant and pollinator educational programs and more. GCV is proud to congratulate Jim and honor him for his steadfast commitment to education and appreciation of our natural world.
Join us at
Back to Nature
September 24 - 25 and enjoy all that Natural Bridge has to offer.
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Elizabeth Cabell Dugdale Award
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The Elizabeth Cabell Dugdale Award is presented to an organization, industry or individual who is not a Garden Club of Virginia member for outstanding work in conservation. This year’s recipient,
Nansemond River Preservation Alliance
, is eminently qualified. Founded by 17 Suffolk citizens, NRPA has at its roots the preservation of the Nansemond River and its tributaries. It is now led by a 22-member board which manages K-12 educational programs, grassroots lobbying, monthly monitoring and sampling of water quality, as well as conducting workshops and forums. NRPA advises citizens on the eradication of invasive plants and, in addition, it maintains a native plant arboretum and oyster reef sanctuaries. NRPA works as a partner with businesses, foundations, community and education groups to support wildlife habitat restoration, to conserve the region’s waterways, and to educate the next generation. To learn more about NRPA visit
www.nansemondriverpreservationalliance.org.
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Conservation and Environmental Studies Fellow
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Heather Kenny, a graduate student from The College of William and Mary, has been awarded the 2019 Garden Club of Virginia Conservation and Environmental Studies Fellowship. Heather's project is titiled, “Using Animal Personality to optimize Conservation Programs in Virginia: a case study of Eastern Bluebird Nesting and Noise Pollution”. Heather will experimentally apply traffic noise pollution to nesting Easten Bluebird pairs to determine whether their "personality" on the boldness-shyness spectrum interacts with a response to noise pollution. According to the Chancellor Professor of Biology at William and Mary, her study has strong implications for understanding how the human-built environment may pose novel threats to animals, and how genetically-determined behavioral tendencies might determine which individuals are able to adjust to "city life." Heather’s project has the ability to provide valuable research for the management and conservation of wildlife.
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Photography: A Sense of Place
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A Retrospective Photography Exhibit for the Centennial Celebration of the Garden Club of Virginia will showcase the many historic landscape and garden restoration projects throughout Virginia. Members of GCV are invited to join in commemorating these beautiful and important projects through their photography. Images should inspire and celebrate the important work that GCV has championed since 1929.
CLICK HERE
for schedule.
Deadline for sign up is July 31. However, the photographs do not need to be submitted until January 15, 2020. Finalists’ images will be displayed at the Kent-Valentine House May 2020
Claire Mellinger will be leading a photography workshop on September 12 to help guide us through the process. All levels of photographers are encouraged to participate.
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Centennial Club Liaisons Meeting
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Centennial planning has has been ongoing throughout the summer. Centennial club liaisons will be invited to meet at the Kent-Valentine House on Wednesday, September 11 when up-to-date information will be provided, and liaisons will be prepared to share that information at early fall club meetings.
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Centennial Daffodil 'Green Arrow'
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‘Green Arrow’ daffodils will once again be available to GCV members through Brent and Becky Heath.
Click here
to download the order form, or call Brent and Becky at 877-661-2852 to place your order. Supplies are limited.
The American Daffodil Society Fall Forum will be held Friday, Saturday & Sunday October 25-27, 2019 at the Hilton Garden Inn Lynchburg. Included in full registration is Lunch and Learn “Small” Symposium, a demonstration of planting bulbs in pots plus talks on the growing of daffodils in small spaces: pots, miniature daffodils, small garden spaces. $40 if registering as a separate event.
Advance registration required. There will be no on-site registration. Registration deadline by October 1.
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Chateaux & Gardens, Food & History of Normandy
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Garden Club of Virginia Trip
June 2 - 10, 2020
This “One of a Kind” trip has been specially arranged for the Garden Club of Virginia! We will visit chateaux and gardens, and journey to GCV’s adopted city, Ver-sur-Mer in Normandy. It is there that Virginian explorer and aviator Richard E. Byrd landed his airplane in the surf during his historic transatlantic flight and was rescued by the town’s people. We will see the twelfth century church of St. Martin whose 10 windows were restored by GCV and view the marble plaque placed in gratitude and in memory of the sons and husbands of GCV members killed during the war. We will tour the British Normandy Memorial under construction on nearby Gold Beach, which has received funding from the GCV. Space is limited and the deadline for sign up is September 30. Please join us as we trace the steps of our past during this special year of the Garden Club of Virginia’s Centennial.
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Fauquier and Loudoun Garden Club
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Fauquier and Loudoun Garden Club is entering its second year of sponsoring the Foundation of the State Arboretum’s Public Garden Intern. This year’s intern, Caroline Bowman, grew up in Alexandria, Virginia and is a junior at Virginia Tech studying Environmental Science. In addition to maintaining the Herbaceous Gardens and Native Plant Trail, Caroline is using GPS to map trees in the Arboretum collections. After college, Caroline hopes to pursue work in sustainable land-use planning.
Last year’s intern, Cara Potter, was an Environmental Science major at Oberlin College. Cara’s key project was creating an inventory of the Arboretum’s Dogwood Collection and researching dogwood species for addition to the Collection. Her re-design of the Collection area was achieved with the aid of photography from a drone!
FLGC’s internship program aligns perfectly with the mission of GCV and provides inspiration to us all.
Pictured: President Christine Purdue Smith, Patty Warrender, Caroline Bowman, Daphne, Jolly de Give, Jacquie Gammons, and Carrie Whitaker.
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Nansemond River Garden Club
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The Nansemond River Garden Club
presents
Southern Seasonal Sensations
Floral Designs by Buffy Hargett
October 29, 2019
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Holly Heider Chapple, floral designer, educator and former speaker at Fall Symposium is hosting a one of a kind workshop,
Meet the Master Workshop with Gregor Lersch
, at her Hope Flower Farm on September 1, 2019. She is offering a $50 discount to GCV attendees, and for each GCV ticket sold, a donation to GCV. Use discount code
GCV50
to register. Lunch is included by Tuscarora Mill Restaurant.
Gregor is a world-renowned designer and educator who has taught in 57 countries and has won many national and international awards in the floral industry. He specializes in European style, combining his many talents as an artist, being both a maestro of color and a magician of mechanics. Gregor is also the author of 25 books. He continues to inspire the world with his works.
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Join award winning author Matthew Benson on October 8, 11:00 a.m. at the Middleburg Community Center to learn how to turn your manicured lawn into a beautiful edible landscape.
Matthew proposes that growing your own organic food is not simply better for you and the planet, but the connection with the land can be a deeply transformative experience.
Tickets are $55 and available until October 8. For more information on the lecture and luncheon, please contact Margaret Littleton
at 540-687-6246 or email Piedmont Garden Club at
piedmontgardenclub@gmail.com
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Blue Ridge
Jaime Spencer
Danville
Kristen Barker
Catherine Bendall
Brenda Rowland
Hunting Creek
Ann Morton Habliston
Emily Jones
Lynchburg
Sarah Elizabeth Sterne
Martinsville
Robin Summerlin
Lora Ware
Mill Mountain
Aimee Conlee
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Norfolk
Donna Alexander
Ann Bisese
Mary Elizabeth Bisese
Angie Counselman
Meg Forsberg
Colleen Hamlin
Jessica Labrie
Allison Lavigne
Maggie Moore
Marta Nelson
Lisa Rabinowitz
Sharon Salyer
Lorraine Schreiber
Northern Neck
Dale Coburn
Vicki Levering
Emily Wilkinson
Margaret Withers
Rappahannock Valley
Kim Mitchell
Warren County
Lorraine Hultquist
Michelle Napier
Warrenton
Anna Maas
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