Happy Spring! Despite its crazy swings from sunny and very warm to very rainy and cold with variations in between, this Spring still evokes a sense of newness, color, clarity, and optimism motivating gardeners of all stripes to clear away the remains of winter and reimagine the pallet of colors, textures, and fragrances for their gardens.

Spring has evoked this same desire to reimagine the color, tone and structure of Groundbreakers, the “Voice of Green Spring Extension Master Gardeners” as we continue our mission of “Growing gardeners’ knowledge and know-how across generations.”

This edition of our Groundbreakers newsletter has a new look, a new feel, and a new group of staff writers who will curate new individual columns expanding the breadth of current topics and issues within the sphere of horticulture across future generations of gardeners.

Pam Smith's GSEMG Coordinator's Corner will remain the cornerstone of our newsletter, setting the tone for each edition highlighting key events, accomplishments and issues having specific interest to our Green Spring Gardens unit.

Kay Gill, who has been on the Groundbreakers editorial team for two years, is now collaborating with Pam to develop themes and topics of interest and importance from VCE and our Advisory Council. In this issue, Pam recaps the successful 19th annual EcoSavvy Symposium: Feel-Good EcoSavvy Gardening, Good for You, Good for Our World, congratulates the two GSEMG project team winners of the 2023 Search For Excellence Awards and the Children's / Pollinator Garden Team for their winning "Environmental Stewardship" VCE Mini-Grant proposal. Pam also salutes Joan Richards, Green Spring Master Gardener Emerita, for her historic service record since becoming a Master Gardener in 2006. 

Our “Grow With Us” Campaign is entering its third year. This column will continue to report the combined efforts of the Publicity, New Class Support, Newsletter, and EcoSavvy Symposium teams to integrate and evolve GSEMG recruitment, trainee selection, training and development, retention of master gardeners – and to expand our educational outreach to meet the need of the ever more diverse community we are serving today and in the future. In this issue, Steve Cooper's article provides an update on 2023 trainee selection and training course development.

You will absolutely love our new Reading Room section. Mariel York, Ellen Perrine, and Jennifer Roache-Buchanan will highlight current horticultural literature and writing for all ages and horticultural interests. Each Groundbreakers issue will include at least one review of current books that stimulate thoughts, pose unique views, and expand the horticultural knowledge base. All three will identify candidates to add to the GSEMG Continuing Education reading list and provide updates as new books are approved for CE credit. This issue's review is the book Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teaching of Plants.

We’re also expanding our review of books and horticultural learning activities for children and young gardeners. In the future, you can anticipate seeing interactive learning articles, instructional material and resources, plus – this is really cool – reviews of books for children and young people by children and young people.

In our new Perspectives column, Lisa Lofton (2022 intern) brings her passion for EcoSavvy gardening, her personal research and writing about broad horticultural issues, and her experience as the Landscape Committee Chair for her homeowners’ association to the Groundbreakers staff. The title for this column, Perspectives, was chosen very specifically to describe a forum for differing views about current technological, scientific or horticultural advances while avoiding any perception that it would advocate for/against use of any horticultural techniques or a particular law or policy affecting good stewardship of our environment.

In each issue, Lisa will write and curate articles from other gardeners providing individual insights and thoughts (as well as questions) about current horticultural practices and initiatives by analysis using accredited authoritative research. In this issue, Lisa sets the context for future topics discussed in this forum in Master Gardeners: Context and Commitment, juxtaposing the enduring mission of Master Gardeners with the rapidly changing demographic makeup of our community. You can look forward to Lisa’s next article, Roundup: Controversy and Caution in the Summer edition.

Our What’s New? section puts a new spin on the traditional “upcoming events” section of our newsletter. Carly Redrow has combined significant events and individual/ unit awards with short articles that highlight what's new in the many scientific disciplines within the Northern Virginia biosphere. So, please read Bill Gorham’s fascinating article Warning Coloration. We did…and discovered beauty can also provide protection beyond camouflage. We're still practicing the pronunciation of “aposematism” (a-pose-ma-tism).

Next, spread the word about the exciting children's educational outreach program, the Children's Discovery Cart. Master Gardener Pauline Vander Veer and a team of 2022 interns have re-established a popular children's educational program which languished due to the pandemic.

Then decide if you'd like to attend the International Master Gardener Conference (IMGC) or the Virginia Master Gardeners College, both coming up in June! 

Finally, give it up for the two GSEMG project teams that are being honored with prestigious Search For Excellence awards the two GSEMG teams that are being honored with prestigious 2023 Search For Excellence awards at the IMGC!

And be sure to check out the Upcoming Events section for key dates including the Spring Plant Sale at GSG on May 20!

Let us know what you think about our new look and focus as well as your ideas for future articles. We’d love to hear from you, so send us an email.

The GSEMG Nonprofit Feasibility Study Group presented at the

The 2023 GSEMG training class will start on Thursday, September 7th and graduate the first week in December. The class of 2023 is the second training class to be recruited and trained under the "Grow with Us" integrated approach focusing on Learning Generations to increase the diversity and ranks of GSEMG to expand and improve our educational outreach to the increasingly diverse communities we serve now and into the future....

Book Review: Braiding Sweetgrass

Nya!wenhah!ska The Potawatomi greeting of health and peace is the way botanist Robin Wall Kimmerer often begins her lectures. Kimerer is an enrolled member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation. She is the author of the nonfiction book Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teaching of Plants ....

As an educational outreach component of Virginia Cooperative Extension (VCE), the Extension Master Gardener program brings the resources of Virginia’s land-grant universities – Virginia Tech and Virginia State University – to the people of the commonwealth. Extension Master Gardeners (EMGs) are trained volunteer educators who work within their local communities to encourage and promote environmentally sound horticulture practices ....

The term “warning coloration” was coined by Alfred Russell Wallace to describe the bright colors of dangerous or poisonous animals that served to warn predators away from them. The term “aposematism” has largely replaced Wallace’s term (derived from the Greek root “away” and “sign”).

Everyone knows about the bright coloration of the monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus) serving as a warning to predators that “I taste bad” (due to glycoside toxins they consume as larvae feeding on milkweeds) ....

Don’t miss out! Registration is still open for the 2023 International Master Gardener Conferece (IMGC). Those who enjoyed the 2021 virtual conference are sure to love the opportunities available during this year’s in-person event. Learn more here >

Learn more about the tw0 GSEMG project teams that have been recognized as winners in the 2023 David Gibby Search for Excellence (SFE) Awards, held in June in partnership with this year’s International Master Gardener Conference (IMGC) ....

Click here to view the poster for the LEAP team's project >

Click here to view the poster for the Garden Talks team's project >

Local garden vendors descend on GSG with beautiful

and unusual plants to fill your spring gardening needs. Growers and EMGS will be on hand to help with plant selections and offer gardening advice. Home-baked goods and treats will be available at the bake sale at the Horticulture Center, plus check out the used book sale. This annual event is sponsored by FROGS. For event details, click here > It's also at the FROGS Facebook page.

Don’t forget to sign up for Master Gardener College on June 8-11 at Virginia Tech. More information is at this link. If you would like to attend the college but could use some financial help, scholarships are available. Contact pamela.smith2@fairfaxcounty.gov.

Groundbreakers Co-Managing Editors:  Stephen Cooper and Diane Hill. Thank you to all our GSEMG Newsletter team section leaders, authors, and editors. Email the team at groundbreakers.newsletter@gmail.com.

Read Groundbreakers Past Issues

Fairfax County Parks website: www.fairfaxcounty.gov/parks

Email the Groundbreakers Editorial Team