ATTENTION ARLINGTON CO. VIRGINIA GARDENERS! You’ve worked on your garden for years – plotting, planning, digging, watering – and your efforts have given you, your family and your neighbors a tremendous amount of pleasure and satisfaction.  You are a major part of what community beautification is all about. Enter your garden in our 2012 GARDEN OF THE YEAR AWARD competition.  Download your entry form here: Garden of the Year 2012 APPLICATION  – for further information, use our ‘contact’ button above.  Competition entry forms must be received no later than MAY 1, 2012. Judging will begin mid-May and winner will be announced on June 14, 2012 at our Rock Spring Garden Club meeting.  FMI, see application form.

Our Garden of the Year Award recognizes outstanding and unique gardens in the Arlington County community! This year, enter YOUR garden in our competition!  Details will be announced soon!

http://www.facebook.com/#!/groups/148155358579274/ – check out our member page on Facebook!

For more information about our Club, please click  ‘newsletter’  above. Our latest issue, February 2012, is posted. Just click one it, or any of the others listed.

“America’s Treasures – Our Native Azaleas” – we welcome Don Hyatt, national authority on azaleas and rhododendrons, to the Club on Thursday, February 16, 2012.  Our business meeting begins at 10 AM, and our exciting educational program begins at 11:00AM.  Lunch follows at noon.  Our meeting is held at Little Falls Presbyterian Church, 6025 Little Falls Rd, Arlington, VA 22207.  Our meetings are free and open to all, but please RSVP  by clicking ‘contact’ above, or email us at rockspringgardenclub@gmail.com

The Botany, Horticultural History and Future of Chrysanthemums

     On Sunday, February 12^th, The Old Dominion Chrysanthemum Society will present a 3/4 hour pictorial program and discussion.  Drawing on publications from the early 1800s from Europe and the United States, Todd Brethauer will cover  the “Botany, Horticultural History and Future of Chrysanthemums.”  The meeting will be held at the Falls Church Community Center, 223 Little Falls Street, Falls Church, VA starting at 2:30PM. Open to the public. Free Admission and refreshments.

Call Jim Dunne (703-560-8776) for more information.

Here’s the link:  http://planthardiness.ars.usda.gov/PHZMWeb/

Click this link to find out more about gardening seminars being held at Merrifield Garden Centers:http://www.merrifieldgardencenter.com/What-s-Happening/12-01-eBlast.aspx

Keep busy with your gardening interests until Spring let’s us back into our gardens!

Join us!  RSVP using our ‘contact’ button above.  (Photo courtesy of Flickr.com)

Thursday, January 19, 2012, at 10 a.m.

at Little Falls Presbyterian Church

for a program on

Raptors (Hawks, Owls and Falcons)

presented by

Kent Knowles of The Raptor Conservancy of VA

            The birds are coming!  Raptors, to be precise.  They are bringing their friend Kent Knowles so he can tell us why raptors are valuable to gardeners, their place in our local ecosystem, and how we can help protect these beautiful birds and conserve their habitat.  In addition, we will learn about the work involved in caring for over 200 new raptor patients each year in addition to the Conservancy’s resident birds that are too handicapped to return to life in the wild.  This is your chance to see some of our native Virginia birds of prey up close and to appreciate just how magnificent and special these birds are.  And yes, these will be live birds.

design by Ann Kelly

Click our ‘Newsletter’ page above to see current and previous Gardenzettes – these are our Club’s monthly member newsletters.  Find out more about what our Club activities are.  Enjoy!