THE

GARDEN CLUB OF VIRGINIA

Journal
VOL LVI, NO. 4, DECEMBER 2011

The Garden Club of Virginia exists to celebrate the beauty of the land, to conserve the gifts of nature and to challenge future generations to build on this heritage.

From The Editor

In the season of giving, I think of the generous nature of gardeners. Call it a bouquet, a cutting from grandmothers hardy gardenia, or a historic restoration, but the gesture is the same. I had to miss the October lecture on the importance of native plants by Doug Tallamy, put on by our foresighted GCV Horticulture Committee, so a dear and generous gardener shared Dr. Tallamys book with me. Through the efforts of many, I heard firsthand the important debate on uranium mining in Virginia at the Conservation Forum. I think of the ladies who worked selflessly in the overlooked garden of a poet of the Harlem Renaissance, and look forward to hearing from world-class experts in February at the GCV Symposium in Hot Springs, organized through the tireless efforts of members and staff from across the state. Counting my blessings, Im reminded of Englishman Peter Collinson, who wrote in 1735 to his friend John Custis, the Virginian with whom he exchanged seeds and plants, I think there is no greater pleasure than to be Communicative and oblige others Wee Brothers of the Spade find it very necessary to share.

Journal Editorial Board 2011-2012

Editor and Chairman: Jeanette McKittrick, Three Chopt Garden Club ExOfficio Members GCV President, Kimbrough Nash, The Warrenton Garden Club GCV Corresponding Secretary, Nina Mustard, The Williamsburg Garden Club GCV Photographer, Casey Rice, Harborfront Garden Club Journal Business Chairman, Fleet Davis, The Garden Club of the Eastern Shore Journal Advertising Chairman, Katya Spicuzza, Albemarle Garden Club, The Garden Club of the Northern Neck Former Journal Editor, Jeanette Cadwallender, The Rappahannock Valley Garden Club Members Mason Beazley, The James River Garden Club, The Garden Club of the Northern Neck Betty Anne Garrett, The Garden Club of the Middle Peninsula Julie Grover, The Blue Ridge Garden Club, The James River Garden Club Mary Ann Johnson, The Roanoke Valley Garden Club Susan Morten, The Martinsville Garden Club WWW.GCVIRGINIA.ORG

The Garden Club of Virginia

The Garden Club of Virginia Journal

The Garden Club of Virginia Journal (USPS 574-520, ISSN 0431-0233) is published four times a year for members by the GCV, 12 East Franklin St., Richmond, VA 23219. Periodical postage paid in Richmond, VA. Single issue price, $5.00. Copy and ad deadlines are: January 15 for the March issue April 15 for the June issue July 15 for the September issue October 15 for the December issue Email copy to the Editor and advertising to the Ad Chairman President of the Garden Club of Virginia: Kimbrough Nash Journal Editor: Jeanette McKittrick 5111 Cary Street Road Richmond, VA 23226 Phone: (804) 288-2512 Email: journal@gcvirginia.org Journal Advertising Chairman: Katya Spicuzza 500 James Wharf Road White Stone, VA 22578 Email: ksspicuzza@yahoo.com Journal Business Chairman: Fleet Davis skipandfleet@verizon.net Vol. LVI, No. 4 Printed on recycled paper by Carter Printing Company Richmond, VA

ON THE COVER... The pomegranate, Punica granatum, is among the plants listed in 1736 by William Byrd II at Westover, and is included in Thomas Jeffersons plant list at Monticello. A winter fruit in the northern hemisphere, it is an ancient symbol of humanitys most fundamental beliefs and desires, fertility and abundance, resurrection and the hope of eternal life. IN THIS ISSUE ...
Restoration Story .......................................... 2 Fellows of the Summer ................................. 5 Want to Feed the Birds? ................................ 6 Daffodil Notes ............................................... 7 53rd GCV Conservation Forum ................... 8 The Mattaponi River Runs Free .................... 9 Think Symposium for Christmas .................. 10 73rd Annual Rose Show .........................12-13 Common Wealth Award ............................. 14 Lily Notes .................................................... 15 Ex Libris ...................................................... 16 Theyre Back! Stink Bugs Have Returned .... 17 Green Spring Gardens ................................. 19 Club Notes .................................................. 19 Club Notes .................................................. 20 Club Notes .................................................. 21 Club Notes .................................................. 22 Contributions .............................................. 24 Statement of Ownership .............................. 25

OTHER REFERENCES...

Kent-Valentine House Phone: (804) 643-4137 Fax: (804) 644-7778 Email: director@gcvirginia.org Historic Garden Week Office Phone: (804) 644-7776 Fax: (804) 644-7778 Email: gdnweek@verizon.net www.VAGardenWeek.org

DECEMBER 2011

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Restoration Story: A Poets Garden

By Susan Morten The Martinsville Garden Club

ne spring day in 1983, Jane Baber White stepped into the remnants of a garden born and tended by Harlem Renaissance poet Anne Spencer. What had once been a profusion of bloom amid rooms, allees, arbor and pergola had greeted 20th century luminaries: W.E.B. DuBois, Martin Luther King, Jr., Langston Hughes, James Weldon Johnson and Marian Anderson. They sheltered at the poets Lynchburg home while traveling during segregation, a time when hotels werent accommodating to African-Americans, not even the intelligentsia. On that spring day, as honeysuckle vines and weeds were choking the surviving Anne and Edward Spencer in the garden roses, peonies, daylilies and English boxwood, with their granddaughters. a collective journey to restoration began. The story is told in Janes new book, Lessons Learned from a Poets Garden. Anne Spencers garden spoke to me from the first moment I saw it, Jane recalls in the book. My life has never been the same since, she told the Journal. Nor, likely, were the lives of members of her club, Hillside Garden Club. They came from old Lynchburg, white and affluent. It had never occurred to me, nor to the other members of the club, that there was an African-American woman on the other side of town who had been an important poet of the Harlem Renaissance, who was a scholar, a librarian, a political activist, and who had a lovely garden, she writes. We just never thought about it. Jane asked for club members help. They spent much of the next decade digging in the gardens dirt, supplementing its plantings with their own, and raising more than $81,000. These ladies did so much, and, the main thing is, they crossed the racial barrier, she told the Journal. They joined ongoing efforts by Anne Spencers family and local supporters to preserve the poets house and its garden cottage, built by husband Edwards hands to be his mates writing sanctuary. Many of her poems celebrate the wonder of being through the plants and creatures she met daily in her garden. She noted their struggles and transcendenceand, thus, mankinds. Mrs. Spencer was born in Henry County and attended school in Lynchburg. There she met and married Edward Spencer, later the citys first parcel postman. She died in 1975 at age 93, having achieved national and international notice, including publication in the Norton Anthology of Modern Poetry (1973). Preservation proponents had succeeded in 1976 in having her 1313 Pierce Street home declared a Virginia Historic Landmark and listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The group included her son, Chauncey Spencer, an aviator cited in the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum. It was Mr. Spencer who first showed the garden to Jane, a landscape designer. He asked if she and her business partner, Mina Walker Wood, could help.
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With the assistance of the Hillside Garden Club and preservation proponents, much of Anne Spencers life has been preserved. Restoration of the garden won support from the Garden Club of Virginia through two Common Wealth Awards (1985 and 2009). A 1987 article in American Horticulturist focused national attention on the garden and on Anne Spencer, and in 2008, Garden Conservancy representatives congratulated the Anne Spencer Foundation and Hillside in an assessment requested by Hillside. Jane would go on to restore another historic garden, Lynchburgs Old City Cemetery. She says she wrote about Anne Spencers garden to help other groups interested in restoration. In her book, Jane writes, It is an enormous privilege to be able to work in the same soil Anne Spencer tended. The book brims with old photographs, garden plans, news clippings and even unpublished poems homage to a woman she never met, but came to feel she knew so well.

This small garden is half my world I am nothing to it when all is said, I plant the thorn and kiss the rose, but they will grow when I am dead.
From Anne Spencers poem, Any Wife to a Husband: A Derived Poem.

Harlem Renaissance poet Anne Spencer in her Lynchburg garden With thanks to the Anne Spencer House and Garden Museum for permission to use photos and excerpt from Anne Spencers Any Wife to a Husband: A Derived Poem.

DECEMBER 2011

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Seasons Greetings from Thomas Jeffersons Poplar Forest

In this season of giving the Board of Directors and staff at Poplar Forest give their sincere thanks to the Garden Club of Virginia and others for their help in launching the restoration of Jeffersons landscape at his retreat home in Forest, Virginia.
To commemorate our partnership with the Garden Club of Virginia were pleased to introduce an exclusive Poplar Forest scarf adapted from original watercolor painting, Flowering Poplar Tree by Anita Walter Cooper. 36 x 36 square, 100% silk twill, rolled edges. Printed in the USA. $70.

Visit the museum shop or shop online at

www.poplarforest.org/shop
h o l i day to u r s december 11th.

to find u n i q u e g i f t s for the holidays.

Call 434.534.8120 to purchase tickets and to order the flowering Poplar tree scarf or other gifts.

Plan your Visit at www.PoPlarforest.org

oPen seven days a week, MarCh 15 deCeMber 15, 10:004:00

(434) 525-1806 | Forest, Virginia

Garden Club ad, Fall 2011

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The Garden Club of Virginia

Fellows of the Summer

By Sally Guy Brown, Chairman of the GCV Fellowship Committee The Garden Club of Alexandria

he Garden Club of Virginia offers two fellowships to graduate students across the country in landscape architecture and historic preservation. Each fall, the GCV Fellowship Committee studies historic landscape properties to select the projects of documentation. These fellowships are paid for with monies from Historic Garden Week. William D. Rieley, landscape architect for the Garden Club of Virginia and former professor in the graduate school of landscape architecture of the University of Virginia, oversees the projects and gives guidance to the young scholars in researching and documenting the landscapes. The purpose of the fellowships is to build a comprehensive record of historic gardens in the Commonwealth of Virginia. Former GCV President Helen Murphy conceived of this program, and it was first implemented in 1996 under the direction of then GCV landscape architect, Rudy J. Favretti. Today, we have two fellowships. The William D. Rieley Fellowship documents landscapes and historic properties publicly held. The Rudy J. Favretti Fellowship documents historic properties that are privately owned. Both create important records of landscapes that could disappear should they be sold or demolished. Applications are made online at our website. The committee calls all the graduate schools in the United States with programs in landscape architecture and historic preservation to alert them to these paid summer internships. We had 22 applications for the summer of 2011. This summer, Emily Peterson, a graduate student in landscape architecture at the University of Virginia, was the Rieley Fellow. She documented an Ellen Biddle Shipman garden at Springsbury in Millwood, Virginia. This once-private residence is now owned by the Casey Tree Foundation in Washington and used as the Casey Tree Farm. Emily visited Cornell University, the main repository for Shipmans drawings, and uncovered heretofore unknown photographs and information on Springsbury. Ashley Allis, a graduate student in Urban and Environmental Planning, with an undergraduate degree in landscape architecture, was the Favretti Fellow. She documented the landscape at the old Western State Hospital in Staunton, now owned by a private foundation that is turning the old buildings into condominiums and a luxury hotel. She uncovered a wealth of historic information and documentation that will be useful in the foundations future plans. Both scholars have given us a great legacy of important information about these historic landscapes. Their finished documentations can be 2011 GCV Fellows Emily Peterson viewed in the archives at www.gcvfellowship.org. and Ashley Allis with Will Rieley.
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DECEMBER 2011

Want to Feed the Birds? First Feed the Bugs

By Lea Shuba, GCV Horticulture Chairman The Hunting Creek Garden Club he GCV Horticulture Committee was delighted to host a workshop featuring Doug Tallamy in Richmond on October 18. Dr. Tallamy is a renowned speaker on the topic of supporting our threatened native insect and bird populations, and is Professor and Chair of Entomology and Wildlife Ecology at the University of Delaware. He is the author of Bringing Nature Home, a book that belongs in the library of every GCV member. His message begins with a graphic presentation of the lack of remaining natural habitat in this country, particularly along the eastern seaboard, which serves as the flyway for most of our migrating birds and butterflies. Their arduous flight requires plenty of nourishment along the way, and without sufficient natural resources, they perish. An equally important factor is that when birds attempt to nest, our yards lack the native insect life required to feed their young. The truth is that migrating and young birds require insects as food, not seeds and berries. Furthermore, the insects they require can only reproduce on very specific native plants. The result has been that almost a third of our native bird species is imperiled and, therefore have lost their function as part of the food chain. He stressed that this lack of biodiversity in our yards is due to more than overdevelopment; it is also due to the unwise plant choices made for landscaping our backyards. We are part of a global food chain, and plants are not optional. None of us can live without them. However, not all plants are equally useful. While this may seem like a gloomy message, Dr. Tallamy speaks on the subject with a mixture of scholarly erudition and humorous optimism. One cannot doubt his facts, but his optimism and scrupulous research point us in the direction of change in which all of us can participate. His challenge to us as gardeners is to make the planting choices that support our native wildlife, instead of opting for exotic and potentially invasive species found in the landscaping trade. Fortunately, many local garden centers now offer native species, as the demand for them has increased. Our part is clear. We must contribute to a band of interconnected healthy plant communities that function in part like our lost native habitat. We do this by recreating it in our own backyards. So ladies, you may keep your boxwoods and crepe myrtles for now, but opt for native species in the future. If you need to plant one new tree, make it an oak. Doug maintains a website at www.bringingnaturehome.net. On it, he includes a list of appropriate plant choices for our landscapes.

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Location, Location, Location

By Lucy Rhame, GCV Daffodil Chairman Fauquier and Loudoun Garden Club, The Hunting Creek Garden Club

Daffodil Notes

ts that time of year again when what you ordered from all those catalogues last June starts to arrive, and eventually youll have to decide where to plant it all. For daffodils, think location, location, location. The first factor to consider: the division of daffodil purchased. The Royal Horticultural Society categorizes daffodils into 13 divisions characterized by the shape of the corona, the number of florets per stem or the position of petals. Generally speaking, the majority of daffodils prefer well-drained soil with plenty of light. All blooms need sunshine during the flowering season and for the following six weeks as the leaves absorb the nutrition from the sunlight, ensuring the following years bloom. Still, some divisions need more summer sun than others, which prefer a bit of cover. Some bulbs can tolerate, or might even need, more water; others will rot at the slightest drop during summer. Lets consider planting requirements from June to September by division, as different divisions have different needs. Divisions 1, 2, 3 and 4. Find a well-drained site where the bulbs can bake in the summer. These divisions like hot sun and dry conditions. Avoid planting under irrigation systems or in pots. Division 5. These need the most drainage of all. Sandy soil is preferable, as they will not tolerate standing in water or being wet during summer. Under a shade tree on the Eastern Shore or in raised beds in direct sun would suit this group well. Division 6. These are the most water-tolerant and may even appreciate wet feet during springtime. In summer, they prefer a cooler, shadier area to escape intense sun. Divisions 7, 8 and 9. These like a bit of shade in summer. A deciduous-shaded hillside that drains well might work perfectly. Take extra care in planning where to plant division 7 and 9 bulbs, as they do not like to be moved once established. Divisions 10 and 11. The bulbocodiums of division 10 are happy wherever a division 1 bulb might be planted, as are division 11 bulbs. (It would be impossible to offer tips for division 12, as its a catch-all category for daffodils that do not fit into any of the other divisions. The same applies to division 13, wild daffodils distinguished solely by their species name.) While these rules are not hard and fast, a bit of consideration can ensure happy, healthy bulbs for years to come.

Daffodil in the Snow

by Sharee Basinger

DECEMBER 2011

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53rd GCV Conservation Forum Draws Crowds, Praise and Generous Support
By Jeanette McKittrick Editor, GCV Journal Three Chopt Garden Club n Associated Press reporter sent this tweet from the GCV Conservation Forum in November: big crowd for Garden Club of Virginia forum on uranium mining at U of Richmond. Impressive program, too. Nearly 250 people, including a considerable turn-out by the press, came to hear a remarkable range of speakers debate the pros and cons of uranium mining in Virginia. The event was organized by the GCV Conservation Committee and chaired by Peyton Wells of The Tuckahoe Garden Club. In January, the General Assembly is expected to consider lifting a 30-year moratorium on mining uranium, a radioactive metal which is used to fuel nuclear power plants. The GCV was praised by one speaker as an organization that could lend civil discourse to Hollis Stauber, Peyton Wells, Karen Jones and Kim Nash a potentially rancorous subject. at 53rd GCV Conservation Forum in Richmond. Kim Nash, GCV president, expressed her delight and gratitude to The Robert and Bessie Carter Foundation for its generous grant, underwriting the forum. The quality of public discourse and exchange of information that characterized the day seemed befitting the gift that helped make such a thing possible. Since 2008, the family of Bessie Bocock Carter carries on her deep commitment to conservation in Virginia.

Want to know more about whats afoot in the General Assembly? Join us for Garden Club of Virginia Legislative Day 2012
DATE: TIME: Monday, January 23, 2012 Registration 8:30 AM, Program 9:00 AM

WHERE: Richmond Center Stage, 600 East Grace Street, Richmond, VA 23219 WHAT: Learn about the issues coming before the 2012 General Assembly.

Visit your legislators. Become an informed citizen. Check www.gcvirginia.org for more information

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The Garden Club of Virginia

The Mattaponi River Runs Free

By Marilyn South The Garden Club of the Middle Peninsula highlight of the 2011 Conservation Forum was the announcement of the recipient of the Elizabeth Cabell Dugdale Award, the Alliance to Save the Mattaponi. Delegate Albert C. Pollard, one of the founding members of this grassroots group of citizens, political representatives and non-profit organizations, accepted the award on behalf of the group, which also included such noteworthy organizations as the Chesapeake Bay Foundation and the Southern Environmental Center. Thirteen years after its inception, the alliance was successful, and the building of the reservoir was stopped. More than 1,500 acres of a diverse upland/wetland ecosystem, a great blue heron rookery, two federally listed endangered plant species (the sensitive joint vetch and the small whorled pogonia), and a fledgling shad fishery were saved. In addition, Native Americans in the region were saved from the loss of numerous archeological sites, and the rivers basic ecology, such as the waters salinity, was protected. The Garden Club of the Middle Peninsula recognized the alliances invaluable contribution to preserving the river and its environs, and nominated it for this important award. Alliance members proved that hard work and grassroots support do make a difference. People signed petitions, wrote letters to officials, attended hearings, marched in parades, bought T-shirts, and displayed bumper stickers and yard signs. The alliance members learned to get the facts straight, tap knowledgeable resources and speak up. The Mattaponi River runs free today because of the many hundreds of involved alliance members, Delegate Pollard, and concerned citizens who chose to make a difference.

The sweet smell of history.

The Gardens Of

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(804) 493-8038
Located on Route 214 off Route 3 in Westmoreland County

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DECEMBER 2011

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Think Symposium for Christmas

By Clarkie Eppes, GCV Symposium Committee 2012 Hillside Garden Club re you difficult to shop for? Do you know someone who is? Then we have the perfect holiday gift for you. Here is an opportunity to enrich your knowledge of gardening and landscape design, to be captivated by expert lecturers and presentations, and to meet with friends from all over Virginia. Think GCV Symposium as a holiday gift. The Homestead in Hot Springs is the site of the The GCV Symposium GCV Symposium 2012 2012 features guest speakers from around the country and from across the pond. Featured speaker Mathew Dickinson is hailed as one of the foremost wedding and party designers in the U.K. He heads up a list of noted guest speakers, all experts in their fields of design, horticulture and event planning, several of whom have been commissioned by U.S. presidents and British royalty. Our speakers will delight, entertain and educate guests in the art of flower and garden design, edible gardening and native plants, and entertaining style. You will not want to miss this three-day event on February 27, 28 and 29 at The Homestead. Special events have been planned for guests arriving on Monday, February 27. The Garth Newel Center will hold a concert with afternoon tea prepared by Master Chef Randy Wyche. Or perhaps you have an item you would like to have appraised by Ken Farmer of public television fame? Mr. Farmer will be available to discuss and appraise your family heirloom. (Only small items, please.) And, for exercise enthusiasts, yoga classes are scheduled each day of the Symposium -- so dont forget to pack your gear. Shopaholics will be thrilled with the selection and variety of boutiques that will set up shop at The Homestead exclusively for our three-day event. Gardening items, designer clothing, unique jewelry, home accessories and art will delight and tempt shoppers. In addition, The Homestead will offer 10% off purchases, spa, and activities at the hotel for Symposium participants only. Look for your GCV Symposium brochure in the mail, complete the registration form, and return it by the deadline. Bring a friend, daughter or daughter-in-law. Husbands, too, are graciously welcome. So sign up now as space for special events is limited. Additional information on the Symposium may be found on the GCV website, www. gcvirginia.org. The Garden Club of Virginia appreciates responsible advertising and reserves the right to accept or reject submitted advertisements. Inclusion in the Journal is not to be construed as an endorsement by the Garden Club of the advertised goods or services.

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The Garden Club of Virginia

Take the Leap To Timeless Trends February 27-29, 2012 The Homestead
Guest Speakers Seminars Special Events Vendors
Three-Day Registration: $250 (includes all lectures, two lunches, Monday night cocktails and buffet dinner, and Tuesday night cocktails and banquet) One-Day Registration: $125 (includes lunch) Special Events: Additional fee Room Rate: $165 per night for single occupancy, plus tax. Contact: Elaine Burden, Symposium Chairman (540) 687-6940 elaineburden1@aol.com All GCV members and their guests are welcome.

An additional $82.50 will be charged for each additional adult, plus tax. Suites available upon request.

Toll Free 800-889-7688 or go to www.Hubspeanuts.com

DECEMBER Hubs.GCV10.08.indd 1 2011

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The Elizabeth Bradley Kincheloe Stull Award Best Arrangement by a Novice Jennifer Kelly The Garden Club of Alexandria

The 73rd Annual

Sponsored by The Harb

Gardens Within the Garden

Artistic Awards

Inter Club Class 40D Framed Spatial Leesburg Garden Club Inter Club Class 40A Echo Arrangement The Mill Mountain Garden Club - Quad Blue Inter Club Class 40B Creative Line Mass (Blue) The Rappahannock Valley Garden Club

Inter Club Class 40C Creative Abstract (Blue) The Petersburg Garden Club

Class 45 - Designers Choice (Blue), The Virginia Brown Guild Perpetual Award & The Flower Shows Chairmans Cup Matilda Bradshaw, The Mill Mountain Garden Club

Grateful appreciation extended to Mary Wynn and Charles McDaniel

The complete list of winners and additional

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The Garden Club of Virginia

arborfront Garden Club October 5-6, 2011

Rose Show, 2011

NUMBER OF HORTICULTURAL EXHIBITORS: 93 NUMBER OF ARRANGEMENTS: 66 NUMBER OF HORTICULTURAL STEMS: 393

Horticulture Awards

Queen Marilyn Monroe Bernice Walker Dolley Madison Garden Club

King Randy Scott Mr. & Mrs. Howard Jones

Best Floribunda Europeana Section 1, Class 3 Kathy Watson The Tuckahoe Garden Club

Best Hybrid Tea Spray Gemini Emily V. Barbee The Garden Club of Gloucester

Best Polyantha Spray The Fairy Joyce Moorman The Lynchburg Garden Club

and Hilldrup Transfer & Storage for support of the GCV Flower Shows.
photographs can be viewed at www.gcvirginia.org.

DECEMBER 2011

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Common Wealth Award

By Betsy Worthington, Common Wealth Award Chairman The Lynchburg Garden Club he Common Wealth Award, established in 1979, provides a grant or grants to support and promote the projects of GCV member clubs in the areas of conservation, beautification, horticulture, preservation and/or education. The 2011 Common Wealth Award was presented at the Board of Governors Meeting in October to Rivanna Garden Club for its project at Hatton Ferry, the last pole-operated ferry in America, on the James River near Scottsville. The award check in the amount of $10,500 will be used to assist in replacing the information kiosk, to install substantial picnic tables and trash receptacles, and to provide new landscaping. The club has identified plantings it will install both for beauty and erosion mitigation at the waters edge, on higher banks, and near the parking lot. The deadline for applications for the 2012 Common Wealth Award is March 1, 2012. The application form and information on how to submit a proposal can be found on the GCV website under Awards. The Common Wealth Award Committee looks forward to receiving many applications from the GCV member clubs. The Editorial Board welcomes submissions and reserves the right to edit them.

434-872-9053
info@coryspencer.com www.coryspencer.com 306 East Main strEEt CharlottEsvillE va 22902
The Garden Club of Virginia

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Which Comes First the Chicken or the Bulb?

By Mary Queitzsch Zocchi GCV Lily Committee Dolley Madison Garden Club

Lily Notes

Lily scales with bulblets

elieve it or not, you can propagate the genus lilium by scale, and its easy. The first order of business is to identify the scale. A true lily bulb is similar to a garlic knob, and those cloves are called scales. To get scales to produce mini bulbletsbaby liliestake three steps:

Place the scale in a plastic baggie with some damp peat moss (about one-quarter of a sandwich baggie). Label the baggie. Usually, when I plant bulbs for next year, I pull a couple of scales off a bulb. It wont hurt the plant. If your bulbs are already in the ground, get some more bulbs at the store. Place the baggie in a dark spot for a couple of months. Under the sofa is where I first misplaced my baggies of lily scales. Three to four months later, youll notice some mini-bulblets growing on the scale. Bulblets are usually white, ranging in size from a pimple to a pea. Not all scales produce bulblets, though; sometimes, not a trace of the scale or bulblet can be found in the baggie. Some possible explanations: the peat moss was too wet or contained some contaminants. Maybe the scale was simply not cooperating. If you put up a variety of scales, however, you will be sure of some success. I leave the scales and bulblets in the baggies in indirect sunlight, until they sprout small leaves. Next step: buy a roasted chicken. The plastic container makes the best greenhouse. After eating your chicken and cleaning out the plastic container, add damp potting mix. Place the scale with the tiny bulblets still attached onto the dirt. You can bury it a little, although its not necessary. Eventually, the scale will disappear, as the bulblets grow and create a root system. With the lid on, place your greenhouse on a window sill until the leaves touch the top. The two small vents in the plastic chicken roasters top seem just right for ventilation. My recommendation is to buy a chicken for each variety of lily bulblet; in that way, you can keep the lilies straight, plus you wont have to worry about the dinner menu for a while. When the baby lilies are ready to transplant, place them in plastic pots and bury the pots. Leave the rims above soil, though, so you will know where to find them the following spring. Be sure to label them. Eventually, the bulbs will outgrow the small pots and need their own garden spaces. It can take two to three years before you will have a strong enough stem to show. The GCV Lily Show has a special perpetual silver trophy for growing lilies from seed, scale or bulbils. It is called the Violet Niles Walker Memorial Trophy.

DECEMBER 2011

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Ex Libris
A Review of Designing by Types
By Molly H. Sammler, GCV Library Committee The Petersburg Garden Club hether you are struggling over a competitive floral design in a category that is completely new to you or just looking for that perfect arrangement to place in the foyer, Designing by Types is both a thorough and beautiful resource. It was recently published by National Garden Clubs (NGC), Inc., and edited by Harriet H. Osborne, with advise from Jena Ohlmann and coordination by Deen Day Sanders and Tony Todesco. This elaborate reference guide was produced to fulfill what the NGC Flower Schools Committee saw as a need for more extensive clarification of the newer NGC design types. More than 45 design types are detailed throughout the book. Each design type is illustrated by brilliant and vibrant full-color photographs by renowned photographer Terry Miles. The arrangements photographed were the work of 31 floral designers who were assigned a specific floral design type. The designers were asked to create two or more designs of a particular design type in order to help emphasize that there is no one single interpretation. They also were asked to stress diversity, the effect of background color, and the staging in a design type. In all, there are more than 190 photographs in the book, and, as noted in the NGC presidents message of appreciation, A picture is worth a thousand words.... Along with each design type photographed, there is a detailed and instructive breakdown of the arrangements components. The arrangements are judged on three qualities: conformance, artistic concept and distinction. The breakdown is again both instructive and interesting, especially if you are trying to create that new design type category. Designing by Types does achieve its goals to provide clarity and enjoyment. It also further stimulates creativity and interest in the more recent floral design types. The GCV was fortunate to have this book donated as reference for our library, and it is strongly recommended to arrangement enthusiasts.

Reversible Umbrellas
right umbrella, Under the

Emilys
540-765-5311

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Theyre Back! Stink Bugs Have Returned

By Clarkie Eppes Hillside Garden Club y husband and I live in Bedford County in an old log cabin, and share our house with a plethora of stinky stink bugs. The pests have found our dark, warm house to be hotel-central. We are infested, as many of you are. The summer brought some relief because the bugs preferred the out-of-doors, but with cooler weather approaching, the pests are coming back in. So we have done a bit of research to see what works. We suggest that you try to do what you can to keep the stink bugs outside. Remove window air conditioners, seal cracks around doors and windows, and keep your doors and windows closed. You do not want the bugs coming into your house to nest. We tried spraying the outside of our cabin with a stink bug retardant/killer, which worked briefly. Sunlight breaks down the chemicals effectiveness, and you have to reapply every few weeks. We found a website on how to make stink bug traps and made our first traps last spring just before our winter visitors departed for the warm, sunny outdoors. We are testing them again this fall. The traps are simple to make and a lot cheaper than the store-bought contraptions that work on a similar premise. There is a clever YouTube video that gives you step-by-step instructions. All you need is an old soda jug, tape and an LED light. For instructions, go to: www.youtube.com/ watch?v=VwUuHhWYvDA. Stink bugs like the eastern exposure, and you will find most of them on windows and curtains at that end of the house. Locate your traps there. Turn on the LED light in the trap at night. During the day the bugs are attracted to the natural sunlight of your windows. We hope some of these suggestions will help you. We will 111 Lee Highway, Verona, VA, 24482 540-248-4292 report back on the success of our Open Daily 9:30am- 5:30pm Sun 1-5pm homemade traps, and we encourage fashiongalleryva.com other GCV members to report on what works for you.

in every size for every lifestyle need.

An adventure in shopping

DECEMBER 2011

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The Garden Club of Virginia

Green Spring Gardens

By Kim Turpin Davis, Conservation Chair The Hunting Creek Garden Club

reen Spring Gardens is a lovely park located in Northern Virginia dedicated to the preservation and interpretation of the areas horticultural, historical and natural resources. The 28-acre property is centered on a renovated 18th-century manor home, and consists of a horticultural center, gardens, forested paths and ponds. It includes a garden area originally designed by landscape architect Beatrix Farrand, the designer of Dumbarton Oaks. The only Farrand garden in the state of Virginia, it was recently announced that it would be a GCV restoration project. Hunting Creek Garden Club donated $2,000 to Green Spring two years ago to assist with native plantings for the park. Recently, club members were treated to a wonderful tour by Gardens Director Mary Olien to see firsthand how our funds were being utilized. Our tour began on the forested path where we stopped at a beautiful gurgling stream that is part of the parks stream bank stabilization project to minimize erosion. The stream is fed by underground springs and is liberally populated with natural cobblestones. We then passed through a remnant magnolia bog, a designated wetland that protects lands within 100 feet of moving water. As we entered the pond areas, Mary pointed out an imbricated (tiled) rock wall employed to maintain structure in the streambed farther upstream. Gabion baskets, sturdy wire mesh that secures large rocks lining the stream, help prevent erosion and stabilize the stream bank. Hunting Creek Garden Clubs donation was instrumental in stabilizing the island in the large pond with plantings and to purchase and plant trees around the pond. The pond area is fed by three springs and adorned with many beautiful lotus plants. The ponds are home to frogs, geese, blue herons, three kinds of turtles, dragonflies, insects and birds. Like the many visitors who tour Green Spring annually, we enjoyed the stunning horticultural specimens and this island of beauty. We urge you to visit, too.

Club Notes
Albemarle, Charlottesville and Rivanna Garden Clubs he Presidents Project annually brings together the Albemarle, Charlottesville and Rivanna Garden Clubs to decorate the local Amtrak station for the Christmas holidays. On the Monday after Thanksgiving, the three club presidents and helpers arrive at the station bearing beautiful holiday greens and red bows. The station master brings out our stored tree, lights and ornaments. In a few hours, these clubs transform the station Santas helpers decorate the into a festive and welcoming venue for Charlottesville Amtrak station. passengers, friends and family. Since 2003, responsibilities have rotated yearly one president takes charge, one president handles publicity, and the third brings the greens and bows. All aboard! Katya Spicuzza

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Club Notes
The Garden Club of Alexandria ooking good and doing good what could be better? When The Garden Club of Alexandria needed to raise funds for civic projects four years ago, we decided to tie one on, literally. One of our clever members came up with the idea of designing a necktie with a gardening theme. Our fundraising tie was so successful that we have sold out of them, and this fall were introducing the second in our series of neckties. This one has both a gardening and a Virginia theme. Now, garden club husbands, fathers and sons across the commonwealth will be recognizable when sporting our latest creation. The spring green arrows of Historic Garden Week form the background, while the foreground is a repeating pattern of a pergola and an American dogwood tree, our state flower. The fundraiser has been a fun and rewarding endeavor, and we think Will Rieley Will Rieley sports Alexandrias new tie. is the perfect model! Mimi Conger

Stranges has a passion for plants and we have been growing local beauty in Virginia for over 75 years. Locally owned and operated means fresher owers and healthier plants for your home or to share with someone special. And when you order online, you (up to a $14.99 value) for owers sent anywhere in the US and Canada.

Richmond, Virginia

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The Garden Club of Virginia

Talking Turkey: Revitalizing Feathered Icons

The Spotswood Garden Club urkeys can continue to welcome visitors to Harrisonburg and Rockingham County, thanks to The Spotswood Garden Club. Statues of the birds have performed that civic function for more than half a century, the result of an effort to show, subtly, that it is possible to promote an area without billboards. The year was 1951, when The Spotswood Garden Club, under the direction of Mrs. George D. Conrad, chairman of the Road Beautification Committee, initiated a project with that purpose: a contest in schools asking students for ideas to publicize Harrisonburg and Rockingham County. A sixth-grader at Lucy Simms School, Gerald Harris, won the contest by capitalizing on Rockingham Countys prowess at the time as one of the nations top turkey producers. He submitted a drawing that depicted a statue of a turkey, along with a sign welcoming visitors to the Turkey Capital. With projects to raise funds and with the help of local poultry businesses, the Spotswood club was able to purchase three 400-pound bronze turkeys. The turkeys would stand on blue limestone bases, which would be placed at main entrances to the area. The statues were erected in 1955. All projects require maintenance. In the past, local poultry companies and businesses funded much of the upkeep. Help also came from a local couple, who took it as their personal project to care for the statues, applying a special protective wax. Occasional foundation maintenance also is needed. Last year found The Spotswood Garden Club again caring for its own major project. Weathering had caused extensive damage to the statues foundations. After a wide-ranging search, the club found just the right stonemason and matching stone. The revitalized, iconic turkey statues serve as a welcome reminder of club members successful efforts 56 years ago. Glenna Graves
Hardcover 192 pages LavisHLy iLLustrated witH more tHan 300 pHotograpHs
ANNOUNCING

ClubNotes

Lessons Learned from a Poets Garden

a beautiful and practical guide to restoring an historic garden, as told through photos, notes, and friendships. Price $45, Plus $2.25 Va. tax, $5 shiPPing Per book check Payable to anne sPencer book baber White, 1616 langhorne road, lynchburg, Va. 24503
WWW.GCVIRGINIA.ORG

to: Jane

DECEMBER 2011

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ClubNotes
Leesburg Garden Club

embers of the Leesburg Garden Club felt that the club needed to be more visible in our community and to make people aware of the positive impact we have. Two committees were formed. A Ways & Means Committee was created to generate funds and a Community Outreach Committee was created to find ways to disseminate those funds in the community. The Ways & Means Committee held silent auctions during our annual club picnic and an annual plant sale open to the public. Both events have been very popular. With the funds generated by these activities, the Leesburg Garden Club has been able to award a $500 scholarship in 2006 and $1000 scholarships to Loudoun County graduating seniors who met our criteria for the last four years. The club has given these scholarships with the guidance of the Community Outreach Committee working with the Guidance Department of Loudoun County Public Schools. The club has used funds raised also to make donations to various historic properties in Loudoun County. We are pleased to have helped graduating high school seniors as they embark on college educations that will, with luck, one day put them on the leading edge of protection and development of Virginias natural beauties. Jean Brown

For the way you live

434-297-3881
ms@madisonspencer.com www.madisonspencer.com 306 East Main strEEt CharlottEsvillE va 22902
The Garden Club of Virginia

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THE BIZARRE BAZAAR

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DECEMBER 2011

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Report Period from 7/01/11 through 9/30/11

Provides essential ongoing support necessary to maintain GCV operations. Donor Anne Baldwin Barbara B. Merchant Lynn Gas Mrs. Grace Battle Betty M. Michelson Jean Gilpin Charlotte S. Benjamin Nina Mustard Agnes Gant Harrison Mrs. Ronald W. Bevans Kathleen O. Pearson Ann Harry Mrs. Alex G. Brown III Lea C. Shuba Mary K. Hubard Trusts Mrs. Charles K. Hutchens III Isabella Williams Smith Missy Buckingham Karen O. Jones Deedy Bumgardner Dianne Nea Spence Carolyn Kahn Sharon Byrd Joan Sprinkle Donna P. Lawhon Jeanette Cadwallender Mrs. Norman E. Tadlock Barbara B. Luton Meg Clement Jane B. White Julie W. MacKinlay Linda Linens Consolvo Catherine C. Whitham Catherine Madden Anne Geddy Cross Nancy McWane Ann Gordon Evans Donor In Honor of The Mill Mountain Garden Club to the GCV Flower Committee . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Cyndi Fletcher Kimbrough K. Nash . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Jeanette Cadwallender Ann Gordon Evans Nina Mustard Dianne Spence In Memory of Donor Cabell Goolsby West . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Judith Burnett Halsey Sarah Harrison Provides monies to individual clubs for local civic beautification efforts. Donor In Memory of Margaret W. Wood Mrs. John R. Morris, Jr. Supports the ongoing preservation of the historic Kent-Valentine House, headquarters of the Garden Club of Virginia and Historic Garden Week.

CONTRIBUTIONS
Annual Fund

Common Wealth Award Fund

Garden Club of Virginia Endowment

Donor The Brunswick Garden Club The Spotswood Garden Club Donor In Honor of The Brunswick Garden Club . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Sandy Hart The Garden Study Club . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Lucy Wilson Kathryn Q. Wafle. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Margaret Bemiss Suzanne Wright Donor In Memory of The Hampton Roads Garden Club . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Nancy Grier The Huntington Garden Club. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Katherine Porter Read The Tuckahoe Garden Club of Westhampton . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Judith Burnett Halsey Mrs. Phillip G. Arnest . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Polly Tayloe Jeanette Cadwallender . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Frances Dawson Mr. and Mrs. Richard E. Carter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Mrs. John R. Morris, Jr. Mary Hart Darden . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Eugenia Diller

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The Garden Club of Virginia

Eileen S. Nelson . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Eugenia Diller Judy and Steve Perry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Irma Frances Hall Ayers Clyde and Carolyn Ratcliffe . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Mrs. John R. Morris, Jr. Mary Ellen Wildman. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Katherine Porter Read Supports GCV clubs in local and statewide conservation projects. Donor In Honor of Hollis Stauber . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Peyton Wells Supports GCV Restoration projects across the Commonwealth. Donor In Honor of Mary Ann Johnson . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Margaret Bemiss Mary Wynn and Charles G. McDaniel Judy Perry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Suzanne Munson Dianne Nea Spence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Margaret Bemiss Rieley & Associates Suzanne Wright Donor In Memory of The Garden Study Club . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Elizabeth Kearfott Supports Events, Education, and Development.

GCV Conservation Fund

Restoration

SEED Fund

Donor In Memory of Dr. and Mrs. John Gregory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Gladys M. Blanks

The ownership, management and circulation of the Garden Club of Virginias Journal, published four times a year in Richmond, Virginia, is hereby stated in the first issue published after the first of October 2011. The name and address of the publisher is: Garden Club of Virginia, Kent-Valentine House, 12 East Franklin Street, Richmond, Virginia 23219. The name and address of the editor is: Jeanette McKittrick, 5111 Cary Street Road, Richmond, Virginia 23226. The owner is: Garden Club of Virginia, Kent-Valentine House, 12 East Franklin Street, Richmond, Virginia 23219. There are no bondholders, mortgages, or security holders. The purpose, function, and non-profit status of this organization and the exempt status for Federal Income Tax purposes have not changed during the preceding 12 months. The total number of copies published nearest the filing date is 3,400. The average number of copies published in the preceding 12 months is 3,400. There are no sales through dealers, etc. Paid subscriptions average 3,291; the number nearest the filing date is 3,270. Other mailed copies average 0. Free distribution averages 35. The average number of copies not distributed for the preceding year is 74. The average number of copies not distributed nearest the filing date is 90. The Journal Editor requests permission to mail Garden Club of Virginias Journal at the phased postal rates presently authorized on form 3526 for USPS #574-520 (ISSN 0431-0233). I certify that the statements made here are correct and complete as listed in the Statement of Ownership, Management and Circulation. Jeanette McKittrick, Journal Editor 5111 Cary Street Road Richmond, VA 23226 October 15, 2011

Statement of Ownership

DECEMBER 2011

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Periodicals Postage Paid 574-520 At Richmond, Virginia And Additional Offices Forwarding Service Requested

Deadline for nominations for the Massie Medal and the de Lacy Gray Medal Jan. 15 Deadline for March Journal Jan. 23 Legislative Day, Richmond Feb. 2729 GCV Symposium, The Homestead Mar. 1 Deadline for nominations for the Common Wealth Award, the Bessie Bocock Carter Conservation Award, and the Horticulture Award of Merit Mar. 15 Judges Workshop, Kent-Valentine House Mar. 2830 78th Annual Daffodil Show The Garden Club of Gloucester

Dec. 1

The Garden Club of VirGinia Calendar 2011 2012

The Garden Club of Virginia

Dates and events as posted on the GCV website at http://gcvirginia.org. See website for further additions.