Category: Horticulture

Jeremiah 29:5 “Build houses and live in them; and plant gardens and eat their produce.”

Winter did not want to let go in Northern Virginia this year, but it seems spring is finally here. There is a great place to enjoy its beauty at the annual Spring Plant Sale at Monroe Technology Center in Leesburg, Virginia. You will experience beauty in color and fragrance from hundreds of annuals, perennials, aquatic plants, trees, shrubs, herbs, fruits, vegetables and hanging baskets.

Be sure to visit our new “Wellness Center” where you can find many items to help you look and feel healthy with laughter. We are offering;

Aromatic soaps, donated by Tammy Mar, and custom made 3D soap holders by Chris Mar to protect your soap for health and longevity. Chris has also brought back his popular and best selling, Pokémon, bulbasaur holders for our air plants with a few new designs added for joy. We are offering companion essential oils and aromatherapy plants to partner with our soaps and holders.

So, come and enjoy! Students and volunteers will be ready to help you wearing purple T-shirts by Custom Ink. Check out our new Bulletin Board on your way in or out to get to know friends of our community. Looking forward to seeing our return friends and meeting new. Please look for Debi and introduce yourself.

Sale days and times are Wednesday, April 25 from 10-8pm; Thursday, April 26 from 10-6pm; and Friday, April 27 from 10-5pm.

Monroe Technology Center is located at 715 Childrens Center Rd, SW in Leesburg, VA.

Photos by DC Wedding Photographer Emily Clack

Change is in the air here in Northern Virginia. The night temps are lowering, some leaves are starting to change colors, summer flowers are fading while fall flowers are getting a kick-start. Hardy winter pansies are beginning their bloom cycle that will take color into the winter and next spring. Fall mums are putting on a show that will last four to six weeks. Ornamental cabbage and kale are frost-proof additions to pots and garden beds as are grasses, asters and cold hardy fall annuals.

If you are in the Leesburg, Virginia area, you will find all these and more at the Monroe Technology Center’s annual Fall Plant Sale. Agriculture department students are eager to help you make selections and proceeds from the sale help support their scholarships.

The dates and hours are Wednesday, Sept 13, 10-6pm; Thursday, September 14, 10-5pm; and Friday, September 15, 10-4pm. You will find us at 715 Childrens Center Rd, SW. Hope to see you there!

“Neonicotinoids are a group of insecticides that are used widely on farms, as well as around our homes, schools, and city landscapes. Used to protect against sap-sucking and leaf-chewing insects, neonicotinoids are systemic, which means they are absorbed by the plant tissues and expressed in all parts, including nectar and pollen. Unfortunately, bees, butterflies, and other flower-visiting insects are harmed by the residues. Extremely concerning is the prolific inclusion of these insecticides in home garden products. Home garden products containing neonicotinoids can legally be applied in far greater concentrations in gardens than they can be on farms – sometimes at concentrations as much as 120 times as great which increases the risk to pollinators. As a gardener, you have an unique opportunity to help protect pollinators by avoiding the use of these insecticides, asking your local nursery or garden center if plants have been treated with neonicotinoids, and encouraging your city or park district to use alternatives to neonicotinoids on plants that are visited by bees or are bee-pollinated.”

http://www.xerces.org/wings-magazine/neonicotinoids-in-your-garden/