N° 204 — July 3, 2024
Enjoy regular updates and insights from FONA, the U.S. National Arboretum, and our award-winning Washington Youth Garden.
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We are taking next week off from FONA Field Notes so our team can enjoy their summer vacations. Happy Independence Day, we will see you on July 17th! | |
National Arboretum at APGA |
Staff from both the National Arboretum and FONA attended the American Public Gardens Association's annual conference last week in Boston, Massachusetts.
The conference was centered around the theme "rooted in resilience." Garden tours, workshops, and lectures all explored how public gardens can promote sustainable practices and empower the next generation of environmental stewards. Over 1,100 people from arboreta, botanic gardens, and other horticulture institutions from across the country gathered for this week-long conference.
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Dr. Richard T. Olsen, National Arboretum Director, and Anne McGarvey, FONA Marketing and Communications Manager, both attended the APGA conference. | |
Highlights from Anne's conference garden tours included the Global Flora conservatory at the Wellesley College Botanic Gardens (above) and the Trial Garden at the Massachusetts Horticultural Society's Garden at Elm Bank (below). | |
In addition to attending the conference, Dr. Richard T. Olsen, National Arboretum Director, also co-presented a session about the role that public gardens can play in supporting native seed and plant supply chains. Michael James, National Bonsai & Penjing Museum Curator, co-presented a session about the state of bonsai collections in North America and their role as both living art and collections.
Anne McGarvey, FONA's Marketing and Communications Manager, represented FONA while attending the conference. She appreciated the chance to visit, connect, and learn from other public gardens both large and small. Anne particularly enjoyed hearing how marketing, horticulture, education, and visitor service teams at other institutions interact and work together to sustainably maximize visitor engagement.
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Green Ambassador Program Update |
Our 2024 Green Ambassador Program (GAP) is officially underway! GAP is a six-week-long paid summer internship program based out of the Washington Youth Garden. It teaches DC high school students hands-on gardening, cooking, and carpentry skills, as well as interpersonal skills like communication and collaboration.
This summer's participants include eleven Green Ambassadors who are new to the program and three returning crew leaders. During GAP's first week, participants got to know FONA, the National Arboretum, the Washington Youth Garden, and each other. They spent time harvesting vegetables from WYG and learning how to cook them into tacos and salsa.
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Join us on Tuesday, September 17th for our 28th annual Dinner Under the Stars! Mix and mingle with friends, colleagues, business leaders, and government representatives under the light of a full moon. Enjoy cocktails in the National Herb Garden and a tented, seated dinner in the Ellipse Meadow against the backdrop of the Capitol Columns.
Reserve your table or tickets before they're gone! Last year this event sold out by mid-August.
Reserve Your Spot at the Dinner >
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In Mexican cuisine, nopales, the young pads of prickly pear cacti, are commonly eaten as a vegetable and the tuna, or prickly pears, can be made into sweet syrups and jellies. Opuntia humifusa is a species native to the dry, sunny areas of the eastern United States and is just as edible and beautiful as its Mexican cousins. The Dakota and Pawnee people use the pads topically to treat wounds, and the Lakota people use the stems to treat snake bites. Recent studies have shown that eating prickly pear pads in food had anti-diabetic effects in mice.
In the DMV, lovely yellow flowers bloom late May or early June and fruit can be harvested when it turns completely red in late summer, but be careful to remove bristles and spines before eating the cactus pads or fruit! The eastern prickly pear has also been used medicinally by many cultures, being rich in antioxidants and other beneficial components.
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Photo by U.S. National Arboretum. | |
Photo by U.S. National Arboretum. | |
Plant Opuntia humifusa in sandy or rocky areas in your yard that get lots of sun and little moisture or put it in a container to keep it from spreading. Enjoy this useful plant in front of the Administration Building or in the Herb Garden this spring and summer.
Thanks to Erin Holden of the National Herb Garden at the National Arboretum for her help with information on medicinal uses!
Kamala Codrington-White, an ORISE fellow at the National Arboretum, shares plants of note at the Arboretum in this recurring segment. Find these plants on your next trip to the Arboretum.
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Movie in the Meadow:
The Hidden Life of Trees
July 20, 8 PM - 11 PM
Outdoor movie in the Ellipse Meadow
More Info & Tickets >
4th Fridays Summer Evening Hours
July 26, 5 PM - 8 PM
August 23, 5 PM - 8 PM
Arboretum grounds stay open to the public
Community Fishing
August 24, 9 AM - 12PM
Free fishing along the Anacostia
Save the date — registration coming soon!
Dinner Under the Stars
September 17, 5:30 PM - 9 PM
Cocktails & tented dinner in the Meadow
Purchase a Ticket or Table >
Forest Bathing Walks
Various dates and times
Meditation and mindfulness
Upcoming Dates & Registration >
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