100-Year-Old Georgetown Garden Club Preparing May 11 Garden Tour   

Though the weather’s still damp and chilly, there are a few spring buds and green shoots peeking out, here and there, all over Georgetown, and in some spots the bright yellow winter jasmine is starting to flower. Spring is coming, and the Georgetown Garden Club has been anything but dormant during the winter months, as it gears up for its busiest season.

Garden club members are already scouting out the hidden gems tucked behind high brick walls that bring neighbors and tourists to town for the garden tour on Saturday, May 11. The event will showcase an array of interesting plants, architectural features, and some grand spaces east and west (of Wisconsin Avenue, of course).

As part of its 100th anniversary celebration, the Georgetown Garden Club fills the garden beds at the Georgetown Neighborhood Library with native plants. The new plantings will (hopefully) attract pollinators like birds, butterflies and bees, as well as non-pollinators like D.C. residents and library users. Later in the year, also part of the garden club’s centennial festivities, look for “flash flower” creations, unexpected street art popping up in trash cans. The garden club is also working on a brochure about local trees for children, designed to encourage their curiosity and love of the environment.

Finally, the Georgetown Garden Club is delighted that its past president and past Garden Club of America president Dede Petri will receive the Distinguished Service Medal at the GCA’s Annual Meeting in Hartford this April. Petri is currently the president of the Olmsted Network, which promotes the work of Frederick Law Olmsted, America’s great 19th century landscape architect and the designer of the U.S. Capitol grounds and New York’s Central Park, among many other spaces.

tagsDede PetriGarden Club of AmericaGeorgetown Garden ClubGeorgetown horticultureGeorgetown Neighborhood Library