Celebrate Arbor Day with a Tree Id class. Senior arborist Scott Diffenderfer will take you through the gardens of Green Spring and show you different ways to id trees through leaves, flowers, fruit, bark and cell phone apps. Class takes place outside, weather permitting.

(Adults) Learn to prune like a pro with this walk and talk led by pruning instructor Peter Deahl. Discover which shrubs and evergreens need pruning in late winter and learn techniques for keeping your plants healthy and beautiful. Bring gloves and disinfected pruners.

(12-Adult) Create a moment of unexpected joy for a loved-one with a handmade, cherry-blossom-themed pop-up card brimming with paper flowers. Book artist Bel Mills will teach you the simple but dynamic pop-up mechanism that makes a bunch of flowers “bloom” every time the card is opened. You will personalize your card with postage stamps, mailing labels, washi tape, and other mail-art supplies.

(16 Adult) Explore the concept of data gathering that is available to and for all of us. Gardeners at every level of experience, naturalists and entomologists are recording the world around them through web based social media applications. Bird migration, butterfly numbers, invasive plant spread and insect populations are just some examples of data that is collected from a cyber-community of ecologists and citizen scientists. This is a new source of critical information to scientists in our changing world. Karen Rexrode will introduce you to some applications that will interest you as a gardener and a nature lover.

(5-Adult) Come on an exploration through Green Spring Gardens to look for clues about the lives of animals that live here. Who has been visiting? What are they eating? What are the clues and what do the clues tell us? Use these skills to discover animal visitors in your own yard and what your family can do to protect wildlife in the area.

(3-5yrs.) Your preschooler enjoys nature-themed activities while you meet other playgroup parents one Monday a month. Through games, songs, activities and a garden walk, we explore seasonal topics.

(3-5 yrs.)Your preschooler enjoys nature-themed activities while you meet other playgroup parents one Monday a month. Through games, songs, activities and a garden walk, we explore seasonal topics.

(Adults) Do you want to branch out and try growing something different? Extension Master Gardeners will show you the wonderful world of cacti and succulents, which draw the eye through a wide range of color, texture and form. Not only are they beautiful, but cacti and succulents are easy to grow.

(Adults) Put out the welcome mat for pollinators such as birds, bees and beneficial insects by providing an environment rich in plant diversity for food and habitat. Master gardeners will help you with plant lists and share how.

(Adults) Instead of dragging your kitchen, garden and yard waste out to the curb week after week learn how to turn it into valuable compost to use throughout your yard and garden. Why buy compost when you can easily make your own? Extension Master Gardeners show what you need to do to have your own compost pile.

(Adults) Remember last year’s spring rains, followed by a blistering hot summer and fall drought? Extension Master Gardeners discuss how climate change is affecting our area, how it’s impacting our garden practices and offer suggestions to adapt using plant selection, water management and other practices to help gardeners adapt to our changing environment.

(Adults) More than anything else in the garden, there is nothing like a freshly picked tomato! Growing your own gives you flexibility, picking whatever variety best suits your own taste. Extension Master Gardeners show you how to healthy ways to grow tomatoes, types of varieties available, and how to manage pests and diseases.

(Adults) Celebrate fifty years of Green Spring and our signature shrub! A docent-led tour showcases our nationally-accredited witch hazel collection, featuring over 200 specimens with blooms that glow red, yellow, purple, and copper from fall through March. Warm up afterwards with hot drinks in the Historic House.

Master gardener docents lead a special “Grand Tour” of Green Spring! View some upper demonstration gardens, then take the garden path less travelled to explore the naturalistic lower garden areas: the Virginia Native Plant Garden, woodland stream valley, and Ponds. Complete the extended tour with refreshments at the Ponds gazebo. Tour involves a steep slope with loose gravel.

(Adults) Horticulturalist Brenda Skarphol highlights beautiful flowering shrubs that grow well in Virginia home gardens. Get to know seasonal standouts for winter and spring. Learn the culture and care of these beauties and how to best showcase them in your garden. Dress for outdoors.

Come sketch and paint in watercolor at Green Spring Gardens on the first and third Wednesday of the month. The group focuses on a different technique each week, led by artist Ruth Altheim.

Learn how to identify common weeds and invasive plants in your garden and natural areas on this walk with horticulturist Brenda Skarphol. Learn about weed life cycles and how weeds end up in your yard. Come away with some weed management techniques with a special emphasis on organic strategies.  

What is mindfulness? How would you practice in the gardens and at home? Discover the benefits of a mindful practice and learn how to explore life with purpose. Through mindful exercises lead by site manager Nicole Conners, practice meditation and walking Green Spring Gardens in a mindful way to reduce stress and increase joy. Practice what you learn at home and whenever you visit the gardens.

(Adults) Gardeners will share ideas for easy to grow colorful annuals to grow in your gardens and containers. Discover a collection of plants that will add a burst of color to your landscape with exciting textures and blooms.

(Adults) Learn techniques and timing of correctly pruning various shrubs, trees and perennials. Discuss why we prune, when, where and how to prune. Train your garden plants so you can enjoy them.

(16-Adult) Learn how to create a beautiful, scrapbook-style garden journal to customize to suit your style and your garden. Need a section for vegetable recipes? No problem! Want a space for pressed flowers and leaves? You’ve got it! With the help of book artist Bel Mills, you will leave with a full-size journal complete with sections separated by dividers and a variety of papers to suit particular needs, including lined paper, graph, ledger, patterned, and plain sturdy cardstock. Best of all, the loose book ring binding means pages can be added, removed or shuffled as needed, so your journal can evolve right along with your garden! Core bookbinding concepts, including respecting paper grain and proper gluing techniques, will be covered. No prior bookbinding experience required.

(Adults) Come and discover the history in your backyard as archaeologist Aimee Wells highlights a number of archaeological projects that have gone on, or are ongoing, in Fairfax County, including archaeological testing right here at Green Spring Gardens.