Greetings!
Temperatures are still fluctuating, but it is undeniable that spring is around the corner. The robins are back, the days are getting longer, and bulbs are poking through the soil. There is a wonderful fragrance to spring, and it puts a smile on our faces and a spring (pun intended) in our step!
The Garden Club of Virginia is ready. The Historic Garden Week Guidebook is out and is simply stunning. Be sure to read it cover to cover and see the photographs of KVH, so beautiful with all of the special care it has had over the winter. Our restoration sites and work at VA State Parks are highlighted amid the spectacular centennial tours you all have worked hard to organize. Daffodil Day is coming soon, and details for Founders Day events are being finalized.
The excitement is building, and I hope each of you will join me in the celebration.
Warm regards,
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Gwenn Litchfield
The Garden Club of the Middle Peninsula
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Half the interest of a garden is the constant exercise of the imagination.
~Alice Morse Earle
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Monday, March 9 KVH 10:30 am
Horticulture Committee
Monday, March 16 KVH
Conservation Awards Committee
Artistic Design Committee
Lewis Ginter
Wed-Thu, March 18-19 Fredericksburg
Restoration Committee
Monday, March 23 KVH 10:30-2:00
Daffodil Workshop (sold out)
Thursday, March 26 KVH
Strategic Planning Committee
Monday, March 30
Restoration Fellowship Committee KVH 10:00
Daffodil Day Set Up Lewis Ginter
Tuesday March 31 Lewis Ginter
Daffodil Day
Wednesday April 1 KVH 10:00
Conservation Committee
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Conservation and Environmental Studies Fellow 2019
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Using animal “personality” to optimize conservation programs in Virginia: a case study of Eastern Bluebird nesting and noise pollution.
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Heather Kenny, Masters Student at the College Of William and Mary, was awarded the 2019 Garden Club of Virginia Conservation and Environmental Studies Fellowship for her project studying the behavior of the Eastern Bluebird. Among the questions she poses:
- Are bold birds more likely than shy birds to settle in nests with higher levels of background noise?
- Do shy-type birds alter their behavior more than bold-type birds in response to experimentally applied noise?
- Are shy birds more likely than bold birds to fail at nesting and move away from sites where noise was experimentally increased?
She will investigate how variation between individual animals, also known as “animal personality,” can shape their responsiveness to conservation programs, in this case, nesting success in quiet and noisy bird houses by shy or bold bluebirds.
Heather has been invited to give a brief presentation at the 2020 GCV Annual Meeting. Final results of her study will be available to the GCV membership upon completion.
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Heather Kenny (far right) with her undergraduate research assistants.
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2020 Conservation and Environmental Studies Research Fellowship Applications are due May 15.
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Beginning March 1, ParkMobile will be the new parking provider in the lot behind Kent-Valentine House. As always, should you have problems, Ann Heller or Quan McGough will gladly help.
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Click Here
to read about the Garden Club of Virginia's carriage turnaround restoration project at Poplar Forest.
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Historic Garden Week 2020 Guidebook
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Garden Club of Virginia's 2020 Historic Garden Week Guidebook has arrived!
The cover, shown at right is just one of numerous stunning photos of the newly refurbished Kent-Valentine House by noted photographer Ben Greenberg. Restoration projects and Virginia State Parks projects are featured prominently with a 2-page locat0r map and photographs throughout.
Each tour section begins with a redesigned full page that includes a photograph, brief description and tour key. Advertisers have provided stunning artwork with frequent references to our centennial.
Thanks to members, staff, advertisers and sponsors, the 2020 Historic Garden Week Guidebook is a beautiful centennial celebration of the Garden Club of Virginia.
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Gathering Plant Material for HGW
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Historic Garden Week is fast approaching! For all the hunters and gatherers out there, below is a list of plant material frequently requested by arranging teams for Historic Garden Week.
This is meant to serve only as a guide. Don’t limit yourself! Anything that you believe is pretty, interesting, and useful will work well when properly conditioned. Remember to harvest your material in the cool morning or evening, and allow sufficient time for a second cutting and conditioning. A wide variety of plant material will allow your creative juices to flow—of course, Mother Nature will dictate what you find!
- Azalea
- Blooming branches from small trees or shrubs, like weigelia, spirea, Kerria Rose, Scotch Broom, viburnum and lilac
- Branches in general - magnolia, Harry Lauder Walking Stick, Pussy Willow, Japanese Maple (both red and green), Palm Leaves, Long Russian Olive Branches, Horse Chestnut
- Variegated foliage, such as Acuba or ivy
- Twisty shapes to create movement - Curly Willow or vines, plain or with flowers
- Foxglove
- Tulips
- Delphinium
- Iris, including Dutch Iris
- Hellebores (These need special conditioning or they will droop too much to hold up.)
- Peonies are an absolute favorite, especially tree peonies
- Solomon’s Seal and Pittosporum
- Greenery, such as Fatsia, Ferns, Hosta, Ruscus, Aspidistra
- Rosemary
- Euphorbia
- Small Flowers, such as Lily of the Valley
Wendy Walker, GCV Horticulture Chairman
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Bessie Bocock Carter Award
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The Bessie Bocock Carter Award
provides funding to member club conservation or environmental protection projects that will serve as a catalyst for community action within the commonwealth. Each member clubs will vote on the two nominees presented below by April 30 and the winner will be announced at the GCV Annual Meeting in May.
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In my part of the state spring has sprung! Some daffodils have braved the February sun and bloomed. It warms my heart to see them knowing that in just a few weeks time we will celebrate them at Daffodil Day in Richmond at the Lewis Ginter Botanical Gardens on March 31 with the doors opening at 2:00.
Come join us for a delightful day of flowers -- on our show room floors and photography and in their natural surroundings in the lovely gardens of Lewis Ginter -- free of charge for all our members.
There is lunch in the cafeteria and plenty of shopping in the gift shop. A perfect day for all.
Want to volunteer to help and get to know others from around the state? Go to
www.gcvirginia.org/daffodilday
and pick a spot to volunteer. Betsy Brantley will be glad to assist you.
Adele Smith, Daffodil Day 2020 Chairman
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New Daffodil Award
A special class will be available at Daffodil Day 2020 in recognition of GCV’s Centennial.
The Frances Moreland Lewis Centennial Daffodil Award
will be given for the first time to the winner of the class exhibiting daffodils from the first GCV Test Collection list.
Frances Lewis was a member of the Garden Club of Gloucester and began her love of exhibiting daffodils in 1960. For the next 40 years, she won many ribbons and awards at both regional and Garden Club of Virginia shows. She became an ADS Accredited Daffodil Judge, and went on to become an accomplished hybridizer as well. Frances lived to be a centenarian, so it is fitting that the GCV Centennial Daffodil Award be named in her honor.
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Please help us with future GCV travel plans. The brief survey attached will provide us with valuable information in determining interests and preferences. We look forward to hearing from you.
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Albemarle Garden Club, the Charlottesville Garden Club and Rivanna Garden Club celebrated the GCV Centennial with a commemorative sugar maple tree planting at Monticello on Monday, February 24.
Leslie Greene Bowman, President of the Monticello Foundation, welcomed attendees at the David M. Rubenstein Visitors Center with remarks about the long-standing relationship between the GCV and Monticello, beginning with the first HGW fundraiser to help with the preservation of Monticello's trees.
A shuttle ride up to the mountaintop followed, where attendees gathered at the planting site of three ‘Commemoration’ sugar maple trees. Peggy Cornett, Curator of Plants, opened the ceremony, followed by a surprise visit from Thomas Jefferson who joined in the ceremonial tree planting.
The day concluded with a tour of the flower gardens and social gathering at the Monticello Café.
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The Petersburg Garden Club
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The Garden Club of Gloucester
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The Rappahannock Valley Garden Club
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Ashland
Lorie Lower
Spotswood
Sherry Satin
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Founders Day Events Registration
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Centennial Flower Design Exhibit
Each club is invited to exhibit an arrangement at the Virginia Museum of History and Culture during Garden Club of Virginia festivities.
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