Our March 20, 2014 meeting begins with a business meeting at 10 AM; our program begins at 11 AM.  Our Program Speaker is Alonso Abugattas, naturalist, educator, native plant expert and Natural Resource Manager for Arlington County.  His topic is “Pollinators in the Garden” Bees and other pollinators.   Our meetings are free and open to the public. If you would like to stay for a hot luncheon, there is a nominal donation of $5.00   Please RSVP to [email protected]   – We look forward to having you join us!

Our meetings are free and open to the public. Please RSVP at [email protected] or just click ‘contact’ above.  Our business meeting begins at 10AM, our program begins at 11AM.  A hot lunch is available to guests for a nominal fee.  Little Falls Presbyterian Church, 6025 Little Falls Rd., Arlington, VA 22207

WHAT ARLINGTON GARDENS WANT

Our speaker, Rod Simmons, plant ecologist and Natural Resources Manager for the City of Alexandria, will provide a

discussion of native plants, soils and pest control for our area. A collaborator to the Museum of Natural History and

active member of various botanical and native plant societies in the region, Rod will talk about herbaceous and flowering

plants native to our region which flourish in our gardens and public areas. He will be able to answer your questions about

what to plant in our area.

Happy New Year to all from the members of Rock Spring Garden Club!  Perhaps you are considering joining a garden club. Come to one of our meetings and find out what we’re all about.  Our next meeting is Thursday, January 16, 2014. Our business meeting begins at 10 AM, and our program begins at 11AM. Our meetings are free and open to the public.

This month’s program is “Creativity in Flower Design” with Sandi Piccirillo.  Sandi is a member of National Garden Club’s national Flower Show Committee, a Master Judge, instructor in Landscape Design, Garden Studies and Environmental Studies Schools.  Sandi bring to our club her expertise in Ikebana, Historical, Traditional and Creative Designs.

In addition to our program, our monthly floral design challenge is  “Make it Creative!” – members will submit a creative Line Design or a Creative Line Mass Design using a fresh plant material.   Our members will also submit horticulture specimens for judging.  These monthly exercises offer all members an opportunity to practice and improve their floral design skills to compete in future Flower Shows.

We’d love to have you join us!

FMI : [email protected] or use click our ‘contact’ button above.

Rock Spring Garden Club’s 2013 Holiday Floral Design Event was a success – thanks to you –  our members and guests.

What’s great about this education event is that even though our attendees may not be able join a garden club because of other commitments, they are still passionately interested in learning the mechanics of floral design so that they can express their artistic interpretations of the natural beauty that surrounds us into their homes – during the holidays and all year long.

This year our tickets were sold out!  Thank you very much to the Arlington County public and surrounding communities for joining us for this event. Profits from our entrance fee and sales go to support our new and continuing community outreach programs and civic projects.

And big thanks to club member and designer Sheila Moore and  Washington DC floral designer Sarah Von Pollaro, for sharing their expertise and love of floral design with our members and our public.   For more information about our exciting event, check out this article with photos in the Sun Gazette:

http://www.sungazette.net/arlington/news/floral-expert-highlighted-at-garden-club-holiday-event/article_62e065d0-5b41-11e3-a748-001a4bcf887a.html

Please join us for our October 17 General Membership Meeting.  Our guest speaker is Lisa Zeigler, commercial cut-flower grower/farmer from Newport News, Virginia. Lisa will talk to us about organic and sustainable gardening.  Stop by her website www.thegardenersworkshop.com

The business portion of our meeting will begin at 10 AM and our speaker series begins at 11:00 AM.  This month we have an Autumn “Bread Spread” bake sale and a holiday shop in October sale as well as our monthly floral design and horticulture specimen challenge.

Our general meetings are held at Little Falls Presbyterian Church, 6025 Little Falls Rd., Arlington, VA 22207, and are always free and open to the public. FMI, just click our ‘contact’ button above.   Hope to see you!

Rock Spring Garden Club Sends Two Campers to APS’s Outdoor Lab!

Hooray!  We sent two campers, Waala and Hosanna, both from Barrett Elementary School, to Arlington County Public Schools’ Outdoor Lab this summer!  With funds raised from the Holiday Design Event, RSGC awarded two camp scholarships to two wonderful young girls.  Outdoor Lab is sanctioned by APS.  It is a 210 acre facility that supports their science programs as well as the Virginia Standards of Learning.  It provides a place for environmental educational experiences of upper elementary and secondary students to study plant life and terrain, water study, wildlife, and ecology.

The Outdoor Lab has made a major and positive impact on the welfare of thousands of school children for decades. In the natural classroom, urban youth, often for the first time, can run in a meadow, climb a mountain, hike beside a stream and study the flora and fauna.  Our campers wanted these experiences but could not attend without our scholarships.

Waala, an active member of 4-H, wants to work in “nature” someday.  She wants to study human interactions with the environment so that we have cleaner and safer communities.  Hosanna is deeply concerned about “green spaces” in Arlington.  A Peer Mediator, she sees the need to have wide open spaces for children to play and explore nature.  As a budding artist, she often draws cityscapes with interactive playgrounds.

On a personal note, I want to tell you that these girls were so touched by our scholarships.  We gave them our RSGC totes filled with essentials required by the camp prior to leaving on the bus.  They were overwhelmed with gratitude.  Camp for these girls is a life changing experience.  It was their first time to be away from home and to have some independence. You only need to see the smiles on their lovely faces to know how much they enjoyed Outdoor Lab!   Thanks to you, we made it happen!

I would like to thank the Ad Hoc committee, appointed by Past President Thea McGinnis, who helped me implement this new scholarship program.  Renee Bayes, Anita Brown, and Ann Kelly provided wise counsel and supported the process.  Special thanks to Mary Cottrell for lovely photography.

Hmmm… how many can we send next summer?! ?  Dorinda Burroughs, Scholarship Chair

Member Dorinda Burroughs sends off our first scholarship recipient to APS Outdoor Lab

And we’re back!  Our first meeting will be held Thursday, September 19, 2013 – our business meeting begins at 10AM and at 11 AM our Program, FUN WITH DESIGN, a flower design workshop filled with fun and ideas to help all or members learn more about flower arranging. Club member and floral designer, Sheila Moore, will lead this program.   Our meetings are free and open to the public.  Lunch will follow.

design by club member Kari Rush

Thinking about joining our Garden Club? You are very welcome to come see what Rock Spring Garden Club is all about.  For more information, use the ‘contact’ button above, or email us at [email protected]

Thank you to the Arlington Sun Gazette for a wonderful article about of 2013 Garden of the Year Program! Here’s the link with photos! http://www.sungazette.net/arlington/news/a-long-term-vision-leads-to-garden-of-year-accolades/article_f6039114-d501-11e2-a5bb-001a4bcf887a.html