Georgetown Garden Club Begins Centennial at Evermay with Edwina von Gal
By • March 25, 2024 One Comment 421
Members and friends of the Georgetown Garden Club gathered March 14 at one of Georgetown’s most revered garden estates, Evermay, for the first in a variety of events this year to celebrate its 100th anniversary.
“For this first event of our centennial year, we invited a leading voice in sustainable gardening and landscape design — Edwina von Gal of the Perfect Earth Project — to speak to us about ways to create a sustainable ecological infrastructure that promotes beautiful and inviting individual private gardens and public spaces,” Club President Liz Evans told The Georgetowner. “At the same time they contribute to a healthier, chemical-free habitat for all.”
Von Gal founded the Prfct Earth Project to promote nature based, toxic free land care that recognizes the interdependence of humans, plants, and animals. “We are redefining what it means to be perfect in the garden. To be PRFCT is to work toward an ideal that is biodiverse, non toxic and beautiful.”
In a lively presentation, the energetic landscape designer spoke in Evermay’s elegant sunroom at 1623 28th St. NW, how to make a garden thrive using nature-based practices.
For instance, she urged that tree-based volcanos (heaps of mulch piled up around the trunk of a tree) be banished. “They are the bane of suburban existence. These mulch cones aren’t just unattractive, they’re lethal. They essentially suffocate the tree by covering the root flare and starving the roots of oxygen. They can also rot the trunk.”
Instead, she advised leaving the root flare exposed and filling the ground beneath the tree canopy with a carpet of native ground covers like violets, bluets and ferns — a home of biodiversity.
“Breakup with the gas-powered leaf blower and mower, for good,” von Gal urged. “Think about trying an electric robot mower instead.”
She also suggested Georgetown gardeners adopt an attitude of “Let it be. Don’t freak out over nibbled leaves. Natural predators will take care of pests, especially if your yard is a diverse ecosystem.”
The Georgetown Garden Club was founded in 1924 by a small group of of women who wanted to share their love of gardening, beautifying every corner of Georgetown that was “susceptible to improvement.” Their first civic project was the planting of a community Christmas tree in Montrose Park in 1926 that still stands today. Since then the club has encouraged the planting of native trees and plants that nourish birds and butterflies and pollinators. The Georgetown Garden Tour on May 11 this year has become a well established spring tradition, supported by and for the community. Hats off to the Georgetown Garden Club for embellishing our neighborhoods for 100 years.
Dr. Sachiko Kuno of S&R Evermay, Edwina von Gal with Garden Club members Liz Evans, Corbin Harwood and Lee Child. Photo by Peggy Sands.
The Georgetown Garden club was founded in 1924!!