Pictured here is an iris named 'Again and Again', which blooms each May and reblooms each October. It will be transplanted into the Walter Flory Memorial Iris Garden this spring.

Want to Change the Look of Your Garden? Four Spring Transplanting Tips for Perennials

Carrie Whitacre, Assistant Curator, Herbaceous Gardens, has been busy over the winter working with a team to manage the renovation of the Walter Flory Memorial Iris Garden. Blandy's iris collection has been in a holding bed while work is completed regrading and reshaping portions of the garden beds and adding paths, stone walls, and shrubs. If you're thinking about doing some spring transplanting in your own garden, the arboretum experts from Blandy have some tips. Read more.

Blandy Environmental Educator, Stefany Feldbusch, outside in nature with a group of preschool students and a "Discovery Tree."

Teaching Our Youngest Learners to Explore the Natural World at Blandy

At Blandy, we encourage our young learners to explore the natural world by engaging in playful learning experiences, an approach supported by years of education and cognitive development research. Candace Lutzow-Felling, Director of Education, writes here about how learning about our natural world is most effective when children can explore the outdoors. Read more.

Blandy offered native seed packets of Late Purple Aster, Goldenrod, and more at the Annual NSVMGA Seed Exchange in January.

Using Seeds from Native Plants This Spring? Arboretum Staff Offers Tips

Arboretum Assistant Curators Jack Monsted and Carrie Whitacre gave away all 600 of the native seed packets they assembled for the Northern Shenandoah Valley Master Gardener Association's (NSVMGA) Annual Seed Exchange held at Blandy in January. Let us know if you were one of the lucky ones to walk away with a part of Blandy and how your plants are coming along this spring. For tips from the arboretum staff on growing native plants from seeds, click here.

A photo from the early 1900s of the Tuleyries mansion.

"Remembering the Enslaved at the Tuleyries" Presentation Available for Viewing on Blandy's Youtube Channel

W. Antonio Austin, a Ph.D. student at Howard University and a 2021 summer intern at Blandy, gave a talk called "Remembering the Enslaved at the Tuleyries" as part of a public program at Blandy in February. The Tuley family and their relations were prominent families in the Frederick and Clarke County, Virginia areas. Though part of their notoriety comes from the construction of the Tuleyries mansion in the early 1830s, it was also a site of enslavement for generations of African-descended people whose labor assisted the family in maintaining their wealth. The mansion stands just west of Blandy. Read more.

A page from Ariel Firebaugh's first entry in her nature journal.

Spring into Nature Journaling

Ariel Firebaugh, Director of Scientific Engagement, decided to give nature journaling a try and offers some tips she learned from Eleanor Harris, the Managing Director of the Clifton Institute, who presented a program in mid-March at Blandy. Read more.

Arborist Chris Schmidt (center, blue shirt) with some of her past and present co-workers who joined her at her retirement party at Peetwood Pavilion.

Long-time Arborist Chris Schmidt Retires But Leaves Arboretum "In Good Hands"

Long-time Blandy Arborist Chris Schmidt is retiring, but says she's leaving things "in good hands." Schmidt started working at Blandy in 2013 as an arboretum specialist and became only the second Arborist in Blandy's history in 2017. Jared Manzo, Arboretum Specialist at Blandy, has been named the new Arborist. Read more.

Shop for Plants at Our 33rd Annual Garden Fair at Blandy on Mother's Day Weekend

We’re looking forward to seeing you at Blandy for Garden Fair 2023 on Mother’s Day weekend! Tickets go on sale April 1. Follow us on our Blandy Garden Fair Facebook page for announcements leading up to event.

Photo by FOSA Member Kathi Groover.

FOSA Member Benefit Includes Special Admission Privileges at 345 Gardens No, you won't find these gorgeous plants in the above photo at the State Arboretum! They're happily growing at Phoenix Botanical Gardens. FOSA Member Kathi Groover and her husband took advantage of the Reciprocal Admissions Program that is part of their FOSA membership to gain free entry to the Phoenix gardens last year: "We had a great time and appreciated the reciprocal membership to these incredible gardens!" The American Horticultural Society's Reciprocal Admissions Program (RAP) gives you special admission privileges and discounts at 345 gardens throughout North America and the Caribbean as part of the AHS Reciprocal Admissions Program.

Coming Up at Blandy . . .

Early Migrants Bird Walk, March 31 (SOLD OUT) Blandy Photo Club Meeting, April 4 Full Moon Walk, April 6 Blandy Sketch Group, April 6 Native Beekeeping, April 11 Al Gore's Climate Reality Project -- Updates on a Changing World, April 16 Neotropical Migrants Bird Walk, April 21 Wildflower ID Walk at Blandy, April 20 Wildflower ID Walk at Blandy, April 21 April Wildflowers for Pre-K. April 26 How to Manage Your (Private) Land Sustainably, April 27 2023 Tree of the Year Announcement and Tree Planting, April 28 Wildflower Walk at the Thompson Wildlife Management Area, May 4 Full Moon Walk, May 5 Peak of Spring Bird Migration Walk, May 12 33rd Annual Garden Fair, May 12-14 2023 Tree of the Year! Public Program May 18 Insect ID for Pre-K, May 31 Research for Undergraduates (REU) Program, May 22-August 4 Summer Nature Day Camps, June 16-August 4

Foundation of the State Arboretum's FY2022 Annual Report

The Foundation of the State Arboretum Annual Report for Fiscal Year 2022 is now available for viewing on Blandy's website.

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Your gift is vital to maintaining the outdoor laboratory and living museum at the State Arboretum of Virginia and Blandy Experimental Farm. Thank you!

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