NCA GARDEN CLUBS CELEBRATES 60th BIRTHDAY

Alexandria VA, September 27, 2011: District I presented corsages to the past presidents and elected officers of National Capital Area Garden Clubs, Inc., at the organization's 60th birthday party. Thank you to members of Cheverly Garden Club who fashioned the corsages.

Among the past presidents were (from left): Libbey Coffey 1995-97, Anne Bucher 1991-93, Marion Caldwell 1989-91 and Helen Reed 1983-85:
--photos by Mary Cottrell.

Moss for Beginner at Woodward Garden Club

September 21, 2011: Linda Davis presented a program on Moss for Beginners to the Woodmoor Garden Club. Davis and her husband Charlies have inventoried mosses and liverworts for the National Park Service at Great Falls Park in Virginia and at Piscataway and Fort Washington Parks in Maryland. Her presentation involved a demonstration on reproduction of mosses, a microscope viewing to observe moss uptake of water and valuable information about this great groundcover.

For more information on moss check out the Natural History Society of Maryland.

Woodmoor Garden Club Plants at Decatur House

September 18, 2011: Seven members of the Woodmoor Garden Club redesigned a flower bed at Decatur House on Lafayette Square in downtown Washington, DC. Woodmoor President Betsy Scroggs arranged this project with Butch Winters, a Woodmoor neighbor and Facilities Manager for Decatur House. Two focal bushes, a fall-blooming Camelia and a Pieris japonica 'Variegata', were planted along with 55 hostas of different varieties, sensitive fern and Christmas fern, Chrysogonum virginianum, and spring-flowering bulbs (scilla, hyacinth and crocus).

--Danielle Brabazon

Rain Gardens and Conservation Garden at Fall Meeting

September 13, 2011: Kit Gage of National Capital Region Watershed Stewards Academy gave an excellent presentation on the use of rain gardens and conservation gardening as a solution to stormwater runoff at District I's annual fall meeting.

Then Scott Aker from the National Arboretum gave an overview of the five rain gardens that the arboretum will install to handle stormwater runoff from the parking lot at its headquarters. Each rain garden will have its own kind of plants and signage to educate the public about rain gardens and the variety of plants for sun or shade or other situations.

These rain gardens are the president's project by current National Capital Area Garden Clubs president Vickie Godwin.

THE GARDEN POST Fall 2011

Garden Post Fall 2011

The Cheverly Garden Club Bench

August 18, 2011: The Cheverly Garden Club bench has arrived. The town will place the bench near the town Christmas tree, which is between the town hall and the public work department. A dedication ceremony is being planned.

UPDATE August 23, 2011: The bench has been placed:

Container Gardening Trend

California, July 2011: For container gardening it's back to the farm or ranch supply store for galvanized stock tanks to be used in even the toniest neighborhoods.