Please join the Beltsville Garden Club for a monthly meeting at the Duckworth School, 11201 Evans Trail, Beltsville, on Wednesday, February 26, 2020, at 7:30 pm.  We are pleased to welcome speaker Ann McClellan. “Cherry Blossoms, Symbols of Friendship and Courage” will explore the images and tales associated with the ethereal Japanese cherry blossoms.  People have celebrated the blooming of these trees for more than 1000 years, and today they serve as instruments of diplomacy and signifiers of military fortitude, as landscape enhancements, and as eternal signs of spring and romance. 

Ann McClellan is the author of two books about the flowering cherry trees of Washington, D.C.: National Geographic’s Cherry Blossoms and The Cherry Blossom Festival, Sakura Celebration. She is also the author of a book about the National Bonsai & Penjing Museum at the U.S. National Arboretum. All three books reflect her lifelong love of trees that came from her growing up at an arboretum-like campus in New Jersey laid out by Frederick Law Olmsted. Earlier in her professional career, she held executive positions at several renowned non-profit organizations, including the Smithsonian Institution and World Wildlife Fund. We thank Ms. McClellan for bringing samples of her three books for us to look at. We can purchase or order them from our chosen book stores.  She will also bring cherry blossom bookplates that she can customize which sell for $1.00.

Meetings are open to the public, there is no fee.  Refreshments are served after the speaker’s program.  We thank all attendees who contribute to the refreshment table, and who bring a plant or plant-related item for the door prize drawing.  

If Prince George’s County Public Schools are closed due to inclement weather, the meeting will be canceled.