April Showers Bring GARDEN Events Galore (and Dirt-Streaked Toes too!)

Here are some of my April event schedule highlights. Keep checking on on this blog,  Twitter feed, and Facebook page for many more.

~ Thursday, April 8 for the Anacostia Watershed Society (AWS) Spring Gardening Lecture Series: "Preparing Your Garden For Spring" by Kathy Jentz, Editor/Publisher, Washington Gardener Magazine
from 7:00 - 9:00pm at the AWS Office in Bladensburg, MD. It is free to AWS members. Directions and Details at: http://www.anacostiaws.org/calendar/aws-lecture-series-2. I may even be extra nice and have some freebies to pass out to the first 40 folks who show up there for my talk.

~ The Washington Gardener Magazine Photo Contest Opening Reception is Friday, April 9 from 6:30-8pm at the Adams Bank Lobby in the World Building on Georgia Avenue in downtown Silver Spring, MD. The reception is open to the public and is free to attend. After the opening, you may come by and view the photos any time during the normal bank lobby hours (M-F 9am-4pm, Sat 9am-12noon). The show runs through May 27. I'm baking yummy PINK strawberry cupcakes for this. If you miss them, too bad for you, they'll be gone in the first hour I predict.

~ 20th Annual Leesburg Flower & Garden Festival on April 17-18, 2010 in downtown Leesburg, VA. I'll have a booth and will be talking on the demo stage about "Pruning"on Saturday, 4/17 at 4:30pm. I'll also be doing most of my spring planting shop there so I WILL be checking out your little red wagon full of plants as you stroll on by -- scoping out what my own selections will be when I get my booth breaks.

~ Monday April 19 The Artful Vegetable Garden 7:30-9:30pm Brookside Gardens Wheaton MD
The Silver Spring Garden Club invites you to this talk by Robin Ripley on how to elevate your edibles garden from good to great. Illustrated with photos, Robin offers ideas and inspiration to make this your best—and most beautiful—veggie gardening year yet. Doors open at 7:30pm, speaker starts at 8pm. Free and open to the public. Directions at http://www.brooksidegardens.org/. (And yes, I AM the club president, so I get to book my garden blogger friends as our featured speakers :-).

~ The 19th Annual FONA Garden Fair will be Friday, April 23, 11a-4p (Members-Only Day - you can join up right there so don't let that hold you back) and Saturday, April 24, 9a-4p, at the U.S. National Arboretum. I'll have a booth there. You can see the Plant List already here. People print this and mark it up like a Orange County housewife's face before her botox injections. By 10:45am on the first day, the line of shopping carts encircle the vendor area and do NOT get in their way when the opening whistle blows!

~ The Franciscan Monastery Garden Guild will be holding its Annual Herb and Plant Sale on Saturday, April 24th 10 am to 6 pm and Sunday, April 25th 8 am to 3:30 pm at the FRANCISCAN MONASTERY, 1400 Quincy Street NE, Washington, DC 20017. Washington Gardener Magazine will be there with a vendor table. Cheval Force Opp of GardenTours will staff our table on Saturday there. Pick her brains for great local gardens to see.

~ Sunday, April 25 2-3:30pm Taking the Pesky out of Pests or How to Keep Your Sanity While Dealing with Bugs in the Garden! Part of the DC Urban Gardening Talk series
Presented by Washington Gardener Magazine and the Historic Society of Washington DC
So much energy goes into putting in a garden: the expectations, deliberations, and finally the sweat. Don't let all of your hard work go for naught when you get those pesky uninvited guests! Spend time with Carol Allen while she gives you sound, common sense ways of taking control of your garden again while still maintaining a healthy environment. Whether you grow veggies, flowers or care for a home landscape, there are safe, sane ways of controlling pests. Carol will present information on many wily pests and their control, so bring your questions!  The talk is free and open to the public. It is at the HSW-DC, directions at: http://www.historydc.org/
 
Yes, those are my post-gardening dirty dogs pictured above. I had closed-toe gardening Crocs on and I wasn't even spreading mulch, just cleaning out beds and weeding. Before you ask, yes, I always wear my toe ring, even when gardening and the polish color is "Oyster." Ah, the glamour of it all.