(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.