N° 231 — January 22, 2025

Enjoy regular updates and insights from FONA, the U.S. National Arboretum, and our award-winning Washington Youth Garden.

Illuminating the Ilex

Looking for a bright spot in the winter landscape? The National Arboretum’s Holly Collection dazzles. With about 1,400 individual living plants in the gardens, and over 10,000 preserved specimens in the Herbarium, this collection holds an incredible amount of variety and diversity. The Holly Collection is a nationally and internationally recognized research and display collection. It holds some of the Arboretum’s earliest plantings, dating back to 1943. Many of the original plantings stand full-grown today, some towering 60 feet tall.


Read our new Stories from the Field article to learn more about what makes the Arboretum’s Holly Collection such a treasure to visitors, researchers, and home gardens.


Read Illuminating the Ilex >

From top: Ilex cornuta 'Bostic', Ilex glabra 'Gold Mine'. Photos by Molly Patton, courtesy of the National Arboretum.

Paste & Rind is a long-time vendor at FONA's Garden Fair & Plant Sale.

January Member Social

Our January member social is open to all, not just FONA members! Stop by Paste & Rind next Wednesday, January 29th from 5 PM to 7 PM for a happy hour and bite to eat. You might recognize Paste & Rind from the incredible cheeses they sell at many FONA events. We're now taking the party to them at their new cheese counter and wine bar in the H Street neighborhood!


A portion of all purchases from this event will be donated to FONA. Simply order at the counter and mention this fundraiser. No registration is necessary for this casual, family-friendly, drop-in event. Stop by and meet others in the FONA community!


Learn More About Paste & Rind >

Educator Coaching Program Update

The fall semester was incredibly busy for FONA’s Educator Coaching Program (ECP). It was filled with lots of opportunities to grow gardens and build community at the eight D.C. schools FONA has partnered with for the 2024-25 school year. 


Bruce-Monroe Elementary School at Park View installed a new raised bed for early childhood play. Burrville Elementary School established a regular after school garden club. Students from Friendship Blow Pierce Public Charter School distributed 113 pounds of fresh produce to their school community. Educators at Houston Elementary School conducted a school-wide taste test of pumpkin pie smoothies.

A Friendship Woodridge PCS student pedals a smoothie bike to make a pumpkin pie smoothie.

Houston Elementary School's 18 garden beds prepped for winter.

Ashley Rattanawan, FONA’s program manager, is thrilled by how the school garden program at Friendship Blow Pierce PCS has flourished during the three years it has participated in ECP. When it joined the program, Blow Pierce only had one or two educators leading the charge to start a school garden program, and it did not have any growing spaces. Now, the school has a robust garden team, hosts regular garden workdays with several classes signing up, and even hosted our winter ECP cohort gathering.


Now that the fall semester is done, we are working with partner school garden teams to plan projects for the spring semester. Our School Garden Support Program team is particularly excited to completely renovate Hendley Elementary School’s garden and help bring the garden team’s vision to life!

Mail Considerations

Please let us know if you mailed a check to FONA in 2024 but have not yet received an acknowledgement of receipt. Mail sometimes gets lost or delayed in the U.S. Postal Service system. Please email us at donations@fona.org if you think your check or other mail to FONA might have gotten lost.


Email FONA >

Upcoming Events

Spring into School Gardening

Saturday, March 22

Free resources for educators, in WYG

Save the date — more info coming soon


Flowering 5K

Sunday, March 23, 8:30 AM

Run or walk through collections in bloom

FONA members get 20% off registration

Register for the 5K >


Native Plant Sale

Saturday, March 29

Local native plant vendors, hosted by FONA

Save the date — more info coming soon


38th Annual Lahr Native Plant Symposium

Saturday, March 29

Learn from experts about native plants, pollinators, and ecosystems, hosted by USNA

Save the date — more info coming soon

The Arboretum is open every day from 8 AM to 5 PM except December 25th.

Check Our Website for Full Details >

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Friends of the National Arboretum
3501 New York Ave NE
Washington, DC 20002
202.544.8733
FONA is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit membership organization with the mission to preserve and enhance a vibrant public space and support experiential programming that instills a love of plants, nature and the outdoors in all who visit, while promoting the overarching research and education mission of the U.S. National Arboretum.

Since its inception, FONA has helped support the Washington Youth Garden, Capitol Columns, Flowering Tree Walk, horticultural and research internships, restoration of Springhouse Run, and much more.

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