Last month, Sierra and I were in Washington D.C. for the American Public Gardens Association annual meeting. We didn’t get to visit nearly as many gardens as I would have liked. Time was limited, and rain spoiled things a bit. However, we did get a chance to take an all day field trip to a few gardens in nearby Virginia. A couple of the gardens we visited on that trip were Green Spring Gardens in Alexandria, VA and Meadowlark Botanical Gardens in Vienna, VA.
Both gardens are quite large – Green Spring is over 30 acres and Meadowlark covers over 90 acres – and there wasn’t time to get the full experience at either location. Thus, my photos are scant and obviously not fully representative of either place. Either way, we had a good time visiting both gardens.
Green Spring Gardens
The Fairfax County Parks Authority owns and operates Green Spring Gardens. Among other partnerships, they receive considerable support from a non-profit organization called Friends of Green Spring. Although it was the wrong time of year to see them in bloom, Green Spring Gardens has a nationally accredited witch hazel collection that I’m sure would be worth checking out in the winter months. I enjoyed walking through the native plant garden, seeing the newly planted crevice garden, and learning about magnolia bogs from a friendly and enthusiastic volunteer.
the pink form of smooth azalea (Rhododendron arborescens) in the Virginia Native Plant Garden
jewelweed (Impatiens capensis) in the Virginia Native Plant Garden
bush honeysuckle (Diervilla lonicera) in the Virginia Native Plant Garden
hornbeam inflorescence (Carpinus sp.)
newly planted crevice garden
rain lily (Zephyranthes sp.) in the crevice garden
Meadowlark Botanical Gardens
Meadowlark is owned and operated by NOVA Parks. Its immense size made it difficult to decide what to check out in the little time we had, but we were happy with our decision to stop by the wetlands (to see the knees on the Taxodium distichum) and walk through the forested nature trail. We also had fun watching all the bumblebees lumber about from flower to flower.
lichen on Yoshino cherry (Prunus x yedoensis)
bumblebee on common milkweed (Asclepias syriaca)
bumblebees climbing inside leatherflower blossoms (Clematis viorna)
scarlet beebalm (Monarda didyma)
A small peak into what was a very large Fairy Garden
blue leaf form of dusty zenobia (Zenobia pulverulenta)
bear’s breeches (Acanthus sp.)
Armenian cranesbill (Geranium psilostemon)
awkward botany 