HORThappenings

By Melinda Thompson Green Spring Garden’s 2021 Fall Garden Day

As far as the eye could see, there were both plants and customers lined up for Green Spring’s 2021 Fall Garden Day event on Saturday, September 25. Booths featured had a variety of houseplants, perennials, trees, and succulents. The crowds continue to stream in as the day went on—so busy that cars were lined up on the side of the road. Along with the plant vendors, there was a bake sale, silent auction, book sale, and plant-related activities for children to have as much fun as the parents. Carol Edwards, a volunteer at the Four Seasons Garden Club booth and a regular attendee of the event, said, “The Green Spring Fall Garden Day gave my spirits a wonderful lift. The weather was perfect for buying interesting plants to add to my garden, supporting garden clubs and industry vendors, and watching families enjoy the natural world.” Even the Gourmet Food Truck was swamped. They were so busy that they had to close early after running out of food. There wasn’t a period of time during the day where talking and laughter wasn’t heard throughout the crowd. Overall, the event was a rousing success. o Georgetown Glow Pop–Up Walking Tour

The Glow Pop-Up Walking Tour, hosted by the Association of Landscape Designers, showed the glowing lights and interesting outdoor locations of the four art installations featured in the Georgetown Glow Lighting Exhibition in Washington, DC. This was a spur-of-themoment event on Friday, September 24. The free event included various art pieces, including display using bungee cords and metal framework titled “Canopies,” designed by Hiroshi Jacobs. Tony Weaver, one of the organizers of the event and a lighting designer for Olson Weaver LLC, Lighting Design & Installation, said about organizing the tour, “We wanted to open it up to a larger group of people and just all meet up, and we had a pretty good turnout. We had fun just enjoying each other’s company and looking at the art installations.” o

The Georgetown Glow installation “for the alley” by Emily Fusnner of Arlington, VA, consisted of transparent-colored acrylic panels with laser-cut words suspended, canopy-style, across the top of the alley to form a site-specific poem.

FONA Bulb Sale

Friends of the National Arboretum (FONA) hosted a fall bulb sale on Saturday, October 2, at the U.S. National Arboretum’s New York Avenue entrance. The selection included a variety of tulips, hyacinths, irises, and more for local gardeners to splurge on. Ann McGarvey, who does marketing for FONA, said that they ordered 16,000 bulbs for this event. “We usually have the spring Garden Fair sale,” she said, “but we wanted to have an offering in the fall this year for all those who want to get a head start on spring gardening.” Volunteers were available around the event to help customers with every gardening need. Virginia Kromm, a volunteer and a FONA board member, said, “What is great about this sale is that there are so many expert volunteers that helped me figure out what’s right for my garden. As someone who’s relatively new to gardening, I find that it is such a great service that FONA is doing for the community to help people understand how to make their gardens beautiful all year round.” This event was good for more than just early garden prep. It was a great place to grab presents! “I am trying to gather bulbs for myself, my daughter, and a friend of mine,” customer and plant lover Nicola Haim said. “It’s their 10-year wedding anniversary and I’m trying to find something special for her.” On October 9, FONA held a Buy-OneGet-One Bulb Sale outside the Arbor House to sell the remaining bulbs. o

Melinda Thompson is a senior journalism major with a vocal performance minor and a concentration in women’s studies at the University of Maryland, College Park, MD. She is an intern this fall with Washington Gardener.