Organic Certification Workshop at VSU in Petersburg, VA on August 30, 2016

Wildflowers of Southside Virginia - South Boston, VA - August 19, 2016

The Southside Master Gardener Association will present a two hour program (11am-1pm), August 19, 2016 on “Wildflowers of Southside Virginia”. 

Alex Reddy, an up and coming Liberty University student studying plant sciences, along with Kathy Cornell, Master Gardener educator, will discuss ten wildflowers that can be found locally in the Southern Piedmont region of Virginia, focusing on the many uses of these plants, how indigenous people in our region used them, and the value of these plants to our wildlife.  Also, they will share ideas and thoughts about the beneficial ways they might work in your garden.

You don’t want to miss this opportunity to hear these two presenters share their enthusiasm for these native wildflowers.  To register for this free program given at the South Boston-Halifax County Museum located at 1540 Wilborn Avenue in South Boston, please contact the Halifax VA Extension Office at: 434-476-2147 ext. 0.

Seating is limited to 50, so register as soon as possible.

Virginia Cooperative Extension/Nursery/Greenhouse Growers- Hydrangeas A to Z: Producing Excellent Hydrangeas Workshop -- Virginia Beach, VA and Smithfield, NC -- JULY 28, 2016 REGISTRATION DEADLINE

Please join us in Virginia Beach on August 2nd for a day long workshop that includes lunch: “Hydrangeas A to Z: Producing Excellent Hydrangeas”. The workshop will include presentations and hands-on demonstrations encompassing growing media, fertility, bluing, growth control including plant growth regulators, propagation, breeding, new releases, disease management and an update on Redheaded Flea Beetle by Dr. Pete Schultz. Register @ http://tiny.utk.edu/producinghydrangeas by July 28th to reserve your space. The workshop and low registration rates are made possible by our sponsors: Harrell’s LLC, Bailey Nurseries Inc., and OHP, Inc. A workshop flyer is attached below. More details, including other locations and dates, available via registration link and information below.

Hydrangeas A to Z: Producing Excellent Hydrangeas Workshop

Dates:

-August 2nd - Virginia Beach, VA
-August 4th - Smithfield, NC

Cost: $50
Registration closes after the July 15 (TN) and 28th (VA and NC) deadlines.

Kelley Gaske Writes about her first MG College Experience in the Central Rappahannock Area's Newsletter!!

Arlington/Alexandria August Events

The following events are scheduled by VCE Master Gardeners in Arlington and Alexandria in August. August events will be posted online at https://mgnv.org/events/mgnv-events/ after July 15.

Wednesdays in the Garden, August 3, 10, 17, and 24 (No program on August 31), 7 to 9 p.m., Arlington Central Library, 1015 N. Quincy St., Arlington 22201. This series of indoor and outdoor programs, taught by Arlington Food Assistance Center volunteers and VCE Master Gardeners, is designed to teach gardening skills to a wide audience. Topics by date: August 3, Food Preservation: Can, Freeze, Dehydrate, Ferment (meet in Second Floor Conference Room); August 10, Hydroponics & PVC Pipe Gardening; August 17, Vegetables for Fall;August 24, Preparing the Garden for Winter, Tool Care. No registration required. To confirm topic and room number, check the Arlington Library Events Calendar at http://library.arlingtonva.us or call the library at 703-228-5990.

Saturday, August 13, Fall & Winter Vegetable Gardening: Extending Your Harvest, 10:30 to noon, Burke Branch Library, 4701 Seminary Rd., Alexandria 22304. Join us for a terrific session on fall gardening―what to plant when and simple tips for success. Think healthful greens like kale, collards, bok choy and a wealth of lettuces. Fall is a delightful time to garden, with cool autumn days and waning pest populations. Learn inexpensive techniques to extend your harvest and even how you can enjoy some of your crops in the dead of winter! We'll also cover end-of-season clean up, putting your garden to bed and tool care to give you a head start for next spring. Advance registration requested at mgnv.org. Questions, telephone 703-228-6414 or email mgarlalex@gmail.com.

Sunday, August 14, Sunday in the Organic Vegetable Garden, 1 to 4 p.m., 2845 Marcey Rd, Arlington 22207. If you have questions about what is ailing your tomato plants or eating your zucchini, stop by the Organic Vegetable Garden to speak with a Master Gardener. The garden is located beyond the Nature Center. No registration necessary. For questions, telephone 703-228-6414 or email mgarlalex@gmail.com.

Wednesday, August 17, through Sunday, August 21, Arlington County Fair, Thomas Jefferson Community Center, 3501 Second St. South, Arlington 22204. “Groovy Since 1977, the theme of this year’s fair, celebrates the first fair and subsequent fairs that have showcased the best of Arlington. VCE Master Gardeners will provide staffing and judges for the Open Flower Show and the Open Herb, Fruit and Vegetable Competitive Exhibits.Together with members of Arlington Regional Master Naturalists, Master Food and Energy Masters volunteers, VCE Master Gardeners will staff the all-VCE booth on Thursday, August 18, from 5 to 10 p.m.; Friday, August 19, from4 to 10 p.m.; and Saturday, August 20, from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Master Gardeners will provide information and answer questions about gardening. More information is available at http://arlingtoncountyfair.us/

Virginia Treasures - Cultural and Recreational Spaces - Looking for Nominations!

Go to this link for more information: http://www.dcr.virginia.gov/virginia-treasures

A focus on quality

The Virginia Treasures initiative focuses on quality rather than just quantity. The program stresses safeguarding significant sites and assets rather than just the numbers. The idea is to preserve, protect and highlight Virginia’s most important ecological, cultural, scenic and recreational assets as well as its special lands.

The conservation of working farms, forests, waterways and open space will continue. Most of this effort will be accomplished through conservation easements, which preserve land and improve the health of waterways, including that of the Chesapeake Bay. Particular attention will be paid to land with rare and endangered species and habitat.

The initiative also aims to identify and expand public access to the great outdoors through playgrounds, boat ramps, scenic byways, public gardens and so on. By increasing public access to and appreciation for Virginia’s outdoor treasures, public support for conserving, protecting and maintaining Virginia’s natural resources will likewise grow.

Virginia Treasures will be the scorecard by which the McAuliffe administration measures success at protecting land, water and recreational space. The goal is to identify, conserve and protect at least 1,000 treasures by the end of the governor's term.

Land Conservation Treasures

A land protection treasure is one permanent, fee-simple conservation or open-space easement, or an amendment of an existing easement that permanently protects significant resources. Significant resource protection is measured by means of 14 metrics; a treasure must protect at least one metric.

• Cultural or historical assets
• Agricultural land
• Local agricultural and forest districts
• Forest land
• Virginia Natural Landscape Assessment
• Natural Heritage Conservation Sites
• Wetlands
• Forest land with high water quality value
• Riparian buffers
• Recreation land
• Land near protected land
• Land near scenic rivers, scenic byways, the Appalachian Trail or the Potomac National Scenic Trail
• Virginia Outdoors Foundation special project areas
• The Nature Conservancy Focus Areas

Contact DCR's Natural Heritage Program staff for details about the above metrics.

A few land conservation treasure examples

• Natural Bridge and more than 1,600 acres of wildlife habitat, streams and caves that are home to hundreds of wildlife species, rare bats, invertebrates and unusual communities of plants.
• Dundas Granite Flatrock Natural Area Preserve in Brunswick County, which supports a globally rare plant community and two rare plant species.
• Richmond National Battlefield Park, which added nearly 300 acres in 2014 through a partnership between the Civil War Trust and the National Park Service.

Natural, Cultural and Recreational Treasures

A recreational treasure is a one that provides new public access to a natural, cultural or scenic outdoor recreation resource. These are projects that help the public by enhancing outdoor recreation and foster stewardship of natural and cultural resources. Emphasis is on ventures that meet the public’s most needed outdoor recreational offerings. Treasures are added when they are opened to the public. To be eligible, recreational or cultural treasures must be owned by the federal, state or local government or, if privately owned, accessible to the public.

An asset must consist of at least one of the following:

New facilities

• Trails
• Water access
• New park facilities
• Gardens and arboretums
• Playgrounds and natural play areas
• Historic rehabilitation
• Newly restored habitat for wildlife viewing

Special designations

• Historic or cultural sites that receive state or national register designation and provide public access
• Trails special recognition, such as national trail designations
• Scenic river and scenic byway
• Scenic viewshed
• Recreational use agreement

A treasure is not

• An event or program
• A management or maintenance function (e.g., stocking a lake with fish, bush-hogging an existing viewshed, painting a building, dredging a boat ramp or conducting a routine prescribed burn)
• Ball fields, golf courses, sports facilities, zip lines… i.e., facilities in which the primary focus is not on natural or cultural resources

Contact Virginia Treasures Program Coordinator Robbie Rhur, 804-371-2594,robbie.rhur@dcr.virginia.gov, for details on recreational treasure criteria.

A few recreation treasure examples

• Tobacco Heritage Trail, a 17-mile multi-use trail in Southern Virginia.
• Pitts Landing Boat Ramp, providing universal access to the Chesapeake Bay in Accomack County.
• Canoe access at Crow’s Nest Natural Area Preserve in Stafford County, providing access to the Captain John Smith Trail, the Potomac Heritage Trail and the Star Spangled Banner Trail.

The Big Bug Hunt! Growing Interactive needs your help!

Knowing when pests might strike is an essential part of any gardener’s strategy to protect their crops from marauding bugs; if only we could predict exactly when they will arrive!

Big Agriculture depends on warning systems for major pests of crops such as corn and soy. Now a citizen science project is working to bring state-of-the-art pest and disease prediction systems to gardeners.

The Big Bug Hunt, a major international research project, is asking gardeners across the United States to report sightings of bugs as they appear this year. In what is possibly the biggest project of its kind, every report will then be analyzed to identify patterns in pest behavior with the ultimate goal of notifying gardeners when pests are heading your way.

Everything from aphids to slugs can be reported and it takes just seconds to register a sighting. Head over to http://bigbughunt.com/ to report a pest or register for updates about the project.