LOCALevents

Classes, Events, and Plant Shows/Sales

• Saturday, September 24, 1–4pm Uncommon Evergreen and Deciduous Azaleas Plant Sale Conducted by the Northern Virginia Chapter of the Azalea Society of America (NV-ASA). All sales will be outside the Kirkwood Presbyterian Church, 8336 Carrleigh Parkway, Springfield, VA. See details at www.nv-asa.org/sale.

• Saturday, September 24, 8–10am Weed Wrangle at Tudor Place Historic House and Garden Participate in the Weed Wrangle at Tudor Place to help remove invasive species from a historic house museum in the heart of Georgetown. Tudor Place was home to the Peter family from 1805 until 1983. The estate’s first owners were Martha Custis Peter and Thomas Peter. Martha Custis was born at Mount Vernon, the granddaughter of Martha Washington and step-granddaughter of George Washington. More info at TudorPlace.org.

• Saturday, October 1, 10am–2pm USNA Fall Festival & Bulb Sale Buy bags of flower bulbs, enjoy familyfriendly activities, and visit with local vendors. They’ll have wide varieties of tulips, irises, muscari, hyacinths, alliums, and more. Registration is preferred, but not required, at FONA.org.

• Saturday, October 1, 8am–3pm Mt. Vernon Plant Sale Shop for Plants Grown at Mount Vernon: The cooler fall weather makes it a great time to plant perennials, trees, and shrubs. In addition to heirloom plants, Mt. Vernon sells many plants native to our region that are beautiful and support the local insect, bird, and wildlife population. The exclusive General’s Choice line features plants propagated from seeds or cuttings collected from plants growing on George Washington’s estate. Details at https://www.mountvernon.org/plan-your-visit/calendar/ events/mount-vernon-historic-plant-andgarden-sale/. • Thursday, October 6, 10:30 am Managing Deer and Other Mammals in the Garden Bambi may be cute, but he and his mother, cousins, and the rest of the herd are very hungry and would love to make a feast of your garden. This talk will cover proven and humane tactics for protecting your garden from deer, rabbits, squirrels, rats, groundhogs, and other creatures that are attracted to both edible and ornamental gardens. Speaker: Kathy Jentz, publisher of Washington Gardener Magazine and host of the GardenDC podcast. Register at https://ladewgardens.com/.

• Friday, October 7, 10–11:30am Leave the Leaves! and Other Beneficial Composting Practices Fall is the perfect time to practice good composting and mulching practices for your trees and plant beds and to start a compost system to create black gold for your spring garden. Instead of raking leaves to the curb, allow fallen leaves to feed your trees, enrich the soil, and provide overwinter protection for roots and habitat for insects. Northern Virginia Extension Master Gardener Nina DeRosa discusses where to compost, what to compost and what not to compost, and how to manage your compost system. Free. Held via Zoom. Register at https://mgnv.org/.

• Saturday, October 8, 10am–3pm U.S. Botanic Garden’s Fall Festival A day of plant fun at their fall festival celebrating agriculture. Bring all of your senses to explore your connection to plants through food, music, and science. Discover activities for all ages including cooking demonstrations, making your own seed paper, opportunities to engage with the garden’s experts, and more. Held on the Terrace of the U.S. Botanic Garden (Rain Location: Conservatory). Free: No pre-registration required. This program is sponsored in part by the Friends of the U.S. Botanic Garden. See https://www.usbg.gov/.

• Saturday, October 8, 9am–3:30pm African Violet Sale The Baltimore African Violet Club will be selling African violets and gesneriads (AV “cousins”), leaves, pots, and other plant-related items. Held at the Joppatown Amish Market. Find out about this event or about joining the club at www. baltimoreafricanvioletclub.com.

• Thursday, October 20, 6:30–8pm Getting Your Garden Ready for Winter Gardeners are often overwhelmed by the long to-do list of garden tasks. Learn what chores are essential and which you can safely skip as you prepare your garden for winter while making a big difference to the success of next year’s garden. Kathy Jentz shares her best cost-saving tips and teaches you how to “batten down the hatches” for winter’s worst weather. Held live online. Hosted by Brookside Gardens. Fee: $12 | FOBG $10. Register for class #PBG0062 300001 at ActiveMONTGOMERY.org.

Looking Ahead

• Saturday, October 29, 9am–12pm Garden Symposium: Urban Gardening and Design 101 Do you have a small space, but big garden dreams? In this half-day symposium, turn your growing dreams into reality and learn how to build a gorgeous and unique garden that showcases your personal style, while still being functional and productive. Presenters Kathy Jentz and Teri Speight share tips and tricks from their new book, The Urban Garden: 101 Ways to Grow Food and Beauty in the City, to bring style and practicality into your own garden. $62 per person. Code 52Y.ZVNK. Register online at www.fairfaxcounty. gov/parks/parktakes or call Green Spring Gardens at 703-642-5173.

Event Listing Updates

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How to Submit Events

To submit an event for this listing, email washingtongardenermagazine@gmail. com with “Event” in the subject line. Our next deadline is October 5 for the October 2022 issue, for events taking place after October 15. o