Master Gardeners of Northern Virginia
Promoting environmentally sound gardening practices for over 35 years!
One of the joys of spring is Historic Garden Week in Virginia. Sponsored by the Garden Club of Virginia, “America’s largest open house” features tours of historic homes and gardens across the commonwealth from Winchester to Virginia Beach. The 2022 event will feature 28 unique tours organized and hosted by members of garden clubs of 128 private properties from April 23 to 30.
Every year Shakespeare gardens throughout the country and world plan special events around April 23 to honor William Shakespeare on his birthday. Until 2020. This year most gardens are closed to the public temporarily during the coronavirus pandemic.
But anyone can have a Shakespeare garden at home. Just plant some of the many herbs and flowers Shakespeare mentions in his works.
Anyone who visits Arlington National Cemetery (more than 4 million people do so every year) knows that America’s most hallowed ground, the final resting place of more than 400,000 service members, veterans and their spouses on 624 acres, is also a sanctuary for lovers of flowers and trees.
In 1971, before Master Gardeners were even a gleam in anyone’s eye, Washington State University assigned two extension agents to the Seattle and Tacoma metro areas. Their job: to help the public with their urban and commercial horticulture questions. And did they get questions! The overworked agents put on radio and TV gardening shows, but that only drew more people to the Extension offices. The agents brainstormed how to handle the crowds. How about recruiting and training volunteers to help backyard gardeners?
Leslie Fillmore is proof you don’t have to be born with a trowel in your hand to become a Master Gardener. Her parents don’t garden and the closest she came to gardening growing up was spreading pine needles, a “prickly and hot” task she hated.
Unlike perennials, which live for more than two years, annual plants sprout, bloom, produce seeds, and die in a single growing season. If the garden was a stage, perennials would be the leads and annuals would be supporting performers.
In honor of World Bonsai Day on May 12, we looked into the history and art of bonsai. You may know the proper pronunciation is “bones-eye” or “bone-sigh,” but did you know the Japanese weren’t the first to practice the art or that a gardener of tiny bonsai plants might need a crowbar?
Master Gardeners of Northern Virginia extend sincere thanks and wish happy trails to Paula, who resigned Feb. 27 after serving for MG Coordinator for nearly two years. Her last day …
Master Gardener Judy Funderburk has just won Arlington County’s Bill Thomas Outstanding Park Service Volunteer for 2015, an honor richly deserved. You know Judy as a stalwart and universally beloved member of MGNV and an enthusiastic and indefatigable leader at the Glencarlyn Library Community Garden in South Arlington, where she gladly shares her vast knowledge about horticulture and plants.
Did you know that one-third of the world's pine species are represented at the State Arboretum of Virginia? Do you its history, including the "radiation pit" era? Check out five things you probably don't know about the State Arboretum of Virginia!
Our occasional series on “five things you don’t know about…” covers all things gardening and DC area. This month, we highlight Virginia Cooperative Extension Agent, Kirsten Conrad.
Our occasional series on “five things you don’t know about…” covers all things gardening and DC area related. This month, we explore Fairlington Community Center.
Written by the MGNV Organic Vegetable Demonstration Garden Master Gardeners, with special thanks to Debbie Siegel and Tom Laughlin. Five Things About Growing Tomatoes Are you growing tomatoes this year? Here are …
