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

Congratulations to John Auditore and Ted Williams of 5th Street North for their first place garden in Rock Spring Garden Club’s 2013 Garden of the Year.  Their garden provides a feast to the senses. Yearly mulching has created rich, friable black soil about a foot deep and planting thrive in this humus-rich environment. Variety and diversity in the plant mixture of this garden means beautiful blooms almost all year long. Textures and colors and a diversity of habitats counters the sleep slope of the terrain and show off a unique collection of specimen plants, some rarely seen in this region.  the division of plants and their spread across this landscape provides the glue that holds this garden together. Petals and leaves in different hues – green, blues, yellow, whites and reds, delight the eye. Highlights in this garden include 17 different camellias that provide a riot of magnificent blooms in spring and a rock garden, filled with miniature treasures and regional quartzite stones. Plant varieties, hostas, rare peonies and azaleas and an assortment of full sun and shade flowers fill this gem of a garden. Unique and colorful pots are tucked in throughout the garden providing height and interest, and showcase varieties of flora.

l. to r. John Auditore and Ted Williams, First Place Garden winners

Second place winners, Paul and Pam Gibert, on 35th St North recreated their backyard garden from a sloping hill completely covered in invasive ivy into a lovely terraced garden. Two serpentine stone walls within the garden itself separate the garden into lower and upper sections, and a stone stairway follows the right hand border of the garden. The upper section is dotted with yews for year round greenery. Most of the plantings are perennials including Lenten roses, peonies, columbine, bachelor buttons, spiderwort, irises, camissia, foxglove and dahlias. A unique feature is a beautyberry that has been trimmed to look like a miniature tree. the lower section features knockout roses, pia hydrangea, miniature lilac, euphorbia and herbs. Scattered throughout the garden are several types of allium and a selection of annuals.

Our Third place winner are Lynn and Bob Pollock of North Harrison St. Their front yard oasis provides a quiet and tranquil setting pleasantly screened from the street with mature azaleas and shaded by oaks and poplars.  Sitting by the pond allows a person to enjoy the many flowers and plants while the soothing sound of the stream and the frogs gently croaking add to the ambiance of this garden. The garden includes mature oak and poplar trees as well as a pleasing array of azaleas, ferns, astilbe, jack in the pulpit, and other plants provide sprays of color through the year. The stream and pond bring many birds and wildlife to the garden so that sitting near the pond or on the front porch provides wonderful wildlife watching. the shade in this garden means that it is always pleasant to sit and enjoy this hidden garden even in summer.

And kudos to our Honorable Mention to gardener, Meme Shumaker of 26th St. North.  Hers is a relatively new garden.  You’d never know that at first glance.  Apart from a few trees along the driveway, planting started about four years ago. The garden incorporates many native trees, shrubs and perennials. Native trees include river birch, serviceberry, scarlet oak and black gum. The dogwood is Cornus ‘Rutdan’ Celestial, a cross between our native Cornus florida and Cornus kousa. Some native shrubs in the garden are winterberry, red twig dogwood, Arrowwood viburnum, American cranberry bush viburnum and oak leaf hydrangea.  In the front beds many edibles are also used as ornamentals-strawberries, fennel, and sorrel. The back gardens include many native perennials to attract pollinators and a small vegetable and her garden.

These gardens, as well as previous years’ Garden of the Year participants, are a significant part of why Arlington County is truly a beautiful place to live. 

Our next Garden of the Year will commence in early spring 2014.  Follow up here at our website!

Coming off a wonderful Garden Club Year, culminating with the announcement of the winners of our 2013 Garden of the Year program, we would like to take this opportunity to thank our Arlington County Community leaders and Press Corps for supporting our Club’s efforts to encourage us in our continuing beautification and educational efforts.    Thank you especially to Arlington County Parks and Recreation Department, Arlington County Board, Rock Spring Civic Association, friends, neighbors and Arlington’s Sun Gazette Newspaper.  Our monthly educational programs, November Floral Design Event, our Garden of the Year Program, and the continuation of our 40 years of service to Rock Spring Park gain strength from the support of our community and we very much appreciate it.  Thank You, Arlington!

Here’s the link to the Sun Gazette Article, including some great photos! We have much to celebrate!  Enjoy!  http://www.sungazette.net/arlington/news/rock-spring-garden-club-turns-clock-back-to-at-celebration/article_bfa6e9c4-c6c2-11e2-914b-0019bb2963f4.html