(8-12 yrs.) Let nature be your classroom as you experiment outdoors with different art media. Our colorful gardens, streams, ponds and woodlands provide creative inspiration. Each day features different artists and art forms, honing your skills as you create your own work of art. Once registered, download camp forms from website.

(6-14 yrs.) Join Green Tea Ideas to make necklaces, wristbands, earrings and a wearable jewelry set for holidays. Supply fee of $10 is due on the first day. No camp June 19 and July 4. Once registered, download camp forms from website.

(6-13 yrs.) This Silver Knights (formerly Magnus Academy) camp has taught the great strategy game to more than 100,000 children including national champions. This camp is for advanced players to sharpen their skills or beginners who want to learn the game. Campers will learn the rules, openings, tactics, strategy, endgames, while playing games and taking outdoor breaks. Bring a lunch, snack, and drink. Campers will receive a t-shirt and chess set on Friday. No camp June 19 and July 4. Camps the week of June 9 for non-FCPS participants. Once registered, download camp forms from website.

(8-12 yrs.) Discover the secrets of soil, exploring archeology, geology, and the critters that live beneath our feet! Daily nature walks, crafts, and experiments. Bring drink, snack, and lunch daily. Once registered, download camp forms from website.

(5-9 yrs.) Explore the enchanting lands of Green Spring Gardens with different activities, from daily scavenger hunts looking for magical creatures to fantastical nature-themed games, stories and crafts. Help us add homes to our fairy village in the forest. Once registered, download camp forms from website.

(8-12 yrs.) Explore the enchanting lands of Green Spring Gardens with different activities, from daily scavenger hunts looking for magical creatures to fantastical nature-themed games, stories and crafts. Help us add homes to our fairy village in the forest. Once registered, download camp forms from website.

(5-Adult) Escape the cold winter weather and transport yourself to the tropics. Explore our glasshouse and learn about their history as well as the plants in our collection and their warm native environments. Create your own mini glasshouse with seeds to take home. All attendees, including parents, must be registered for the program.

(5-Adult) Branches may be bare, but your garden can still be a place for birds to thrive. Create a natural bird feeder mobile out of pinecones, it even doubles as an art piece! Hang it in your garden and watch the birds flock. All attendees, including parents, must be registered for the program.

(5-Adult) Discover how the animals of Green Spring survive the cold of winter by either hibernating or migrating. Join one of our educators for a walk around the park as we search for signs of spring. All attendees, including parents, must be registered for the program.

(4-6 yrs.) Curious minds explore nature on “seek-and-find” walks and daily visits to the garden as they learn about plants, animals and food. Enjoy nature crafts, stories, games, puppets and songs. Children must be potty-trained. No camp June 19. Camp the week of June 9 for non-FCPS participants. Once registered, download camp forms from website.

(3-5 yrs.) Your preschooler will enjoy nature-themed activities and crafts while you meet other playgroup parents one Monday a month. Through games, songs, activities and a garden walk, we will explore seasonal topics. Kids must be accompanied by a parent or guardian who does not need to register for the program. Register now.

(16-Adult) Do you have an area of your garden that you want to plan or rework? Are you tired of your current landscape design or lack of one?   Does your landscape meet your needs? With a little bit of knowledge, planning and effort you can brighten your garden with dazzling color. Extension Master Gardener docents lead you through this “do-over” class to help you determine your needs and rethink your garden space to better match your style.

(16-Adult) Bring out the best in your cooking with herbs grown in your own garden. You’ll be amazed at the difference it can make, adding fragrance and flavor to your recipes. Join Extension Master Gardeners to learn to how to plan, plant and harvest them in your garden or in a container that look as good as they taste.

(16-Adult) Whether its flower pots, hanging baskets or window boxes, container gardens are beautiful, easy and rewarding for winter gardening. Learn how to create a dazzling display with eye-catching colors of perennials and annuals. Join Extension Master Gardener docents to gain information and inspiration for your container.

(16-Adult) Did your hydrangea fail to bloom? Nervous about shaping your specimen tree? Green Spring Gardens staff will teach you about timing, tools and techniques for pruning common woody plants to keep them healthy and looking their best. Dress for the weather.

(16-Adult) Take a guided walk through some of the gardens at Green Spring with curatorial horticulturist Brenda Skarphol and learn about lovely native and non-invasive non-natives in this eagerly anticipated season. Get design ideas that work well in this season. Eco-friendly care and garden tasks for the season will be highlighted. 

(6-10 yrs.) SteamKidz Lab introduces campers to the science behind magic and how to be the best spy. Spend mornings making vanishing illusions and performing color-changing tricks. Through magic, explore chemistry, optics, physics, engineering, and life sciences. In the afternoon you’ll enter the spy training program and solve mysteries using handwriting analyses, secret codes, and special gadgets. Experiment with cool tools like periscopes. Bring lunch, snack, and drink daily. No camp June 19 and July 4. Once registered, download camp forms from website.

(8-12 yrs.) Investigate the world around us and learn what it takes to be a natural scientist. Explore geology, biology, zoology and conduct experiments to prove your hypotheses. Different subjects are explored daily, from animal behavior to the layers of the Earth. Bring lunch, snack and drink daily. Once registered, download camp forms from website.

(16-Adult) The Philadelphia Flower Show is the nation’s largest and longest-running horticultural event. It features stunning displays by some of the world’s premier floral and landscape designers. Immerse yourself in the spectacular and decadent floral displays and the exciting, energetic and passionate side of flowers, gardens and horticulture. Bring a lunch or enjoy the atmosphere and food at the Reading Terminal Market located across the street. Trip includes motor coach and admission. March 3 trip departs Green Spring at 8 a.m. and returns at 8 p.m. March 5 trip departs at 10 a.m. and returns at 10 p.m. Trip cancellation deadline is February 16, 2025.

(16-Adult) Join us for Green Spring Gardens' fourth annual Plant Swap. Bring your unwanted houseplants, cuttings and containers to swap with others or simply give away. A lecture will be included. Leave with new plants, containers, garden friends and expert advice.

(16-Adult) Grow flowers, vegetables and herbs from seed and expand your garden. Be inspired by Green Spring staff members as they discuss potting mixes, containers, seed treatments, lighting, fertilization, watering, seed sources and timing. Then take home a few seeds to start your own collection.

(5-10 yrs.) Build projects inspired by cool machines while applying real-world concepts in physics, engineering, and architecture. Then, venture into the world of Minecraft in Play-Well TEKnologies unique LEGO® experience. Build your base, craft your tools, use your Minecart to harvest raw resources, and battle to stop the Ender Dragon from ending the world. No camp July 4. Once registered, download camp forms from website.

(Adults) Washington Gardener Magazine is co-hosting the annual seed exchange at Green Spring Gardens with lectures and a face-to-face seed swap. Bring your extra seeds to swap and leave with a bag full of seeds, new garden friends, and expert planting advice. $15 for verified Friends of Green Spring members and Washington Gardener subscribers; $20 for guests.

(16-Adult) John Singer Sargent was a master of color. His blacks were textured, his whites were complex, and his side-by-side use of warm and cool colors gave his work vibrancy. Artist and instructor Dawn Flores presents a history of Sargent’s life and work, then shows you how to copy Sargent's techniques and create your own compelling piece inspired by his use of color. A supply list will be emailed before class. Bring a lunch.

(16-Adult) You will learn everything you need to build a strong foundation in getting started in watercolor. Learn detailed information on paper, paint and brushes explained clearly and demonstrated with helpful visual aids. Practice mixing colors, learn how to do basic washes and find out about special techniques unique to watercolor. A supply list will be emailed before class. Bring a lunch.

(16-Adult) Green Spring historian Debbie Waugh explores the social phenomenon of the 18th century pleasure garden. These vast landscaped entertainment spaces, originating in London and later adopted in America, offered a host of attractions - refined and risqué - set amid ornamental gardens, arbors and pavilions. At night, many became disreputable venues for scandal, intrigue and worse.

(16-Adult) The Fairfax County Park Authority (FCPA) teams up with Future Acres Urban Farming to give you the 411 on composting. Learn how to drop off your food scraps at the FCPA’s 10 Farmers' Markets and meet the company responsible for turning it into nutrient-dense compost! Dave Littere, owner of Future Acres, shares what happens to your food scraps after they leave the Farmers Market, the various methods of composting that you can do at home and what the future of composting holds. Another way that you can be part of the solution to food waste management.

(16-Adult) Researcher Jordan Thompson will dive into the impacts of the invasive Asian jumping worms on soil health and garden ecosystems. Learn about the unique challenges these worms pose to soil structure, nutrient cycling and plant growth and get practical advice and actionable steps to preserve your garden in the face of this growing threat.

(16-Adult) Join us for a behind the scenes look at the amazing planning and work that goes into creating one of Britain’s most iconic gardens—Great Dixter. Green Spring Gardens staff Judy Zatsick and Parker Jennings will share photos and notes from a weeklong symposium they attended at Dixter in September. Known for brilliant and artistic plant combinations, incredible horticulture skills and vision, Head Gardener Fergus Garrett offers four symposia each year to share his expertise. Judy and Parker attend lectures and work in the gardens. Learn tips and tricks from one of the world’s greatest gardeners. You can expect to see a little bit of Dixter in Green Spring’s gardens this year!

(16-Adult) Join the conversation with JC Raulston Arboretum director, Mark Weathington as we assess what is a native plant and what plants are truly invasive. Mark shares his insights into these complicated issues and proposes ideas about where we should be focusing our time, energy and money. Exclusionary ecology cannot put the genie back in the bottle, so let's rethink our approach to invasive plants to achieve realistic, optimum outcomes.

(16-Adult) Make a hand-bound journal by sewing signatures together filled with watercolor paper and various types of paper. Then create a unique cover and add other special touches to some inside pages. Your journal will be a unique treasure ready to be filled with drawings, paintings or writing. It will be special, but it is made to be used often.