Celebrate National Public Lands Day at the White Gardens
The public is invited to celebrate National Public Lands Day on Saturday, Sept. 28, at the John C. and Margaret K. White Gardens Horticultural Park.
The event, at 10 a.m.-noon, is hosted by the Park Authority. The White Gardens are located at 6722 Princess Anne Lane in the Falls Church area of Mason District.
National Public Lands Day was launched in 1994 to honor the volunteers who help to preserve, restore, and improve America’s public lands.
Related story: Park Authority is considering budget cuts
Mason District’s Park Board member Ron Kendall will be at the White Gardens event along with staff from Green Spring Gardens, who will lead tours and discussions about the property and recruit volunteers. Park Authority ecologist David Alexander will talk about how the meadow is being restored. He has been working on removing porcelain berries and other invasive plants over the last few months.
Green Spring staff have been leading efforts to restore the site. Staff have been going to the park regularly to collect downed trees and fallen branches, says Judy Zatsick, site manager at Green Spring.
“We’ve been trying to establish a volunteer team to manage that property,” Zatsick says. “Volunteers would help remove invasives such as the ivy choking trees, help with weeding and pruning around the horticultural areas, and keep the paths cleared.”
The Park Authority doesn’t have big plans for the park. “It’s going to be a low-scale operation,” Zatsick says. “The goal is to maintain the site so it can be enjoyed by the public.”
She would like to see benches and signage installed in the future. The park is hidden within a residential neighborhood and many people don’t know about it.
Related story: Park Authority drops plans for a resident curator at the White Gardens
She acknowledged access is a challenge. “The neighbors don’t want a lot of people coming there. How do we allow access while not bothering the neighbors?”
Fairfax County acquired the 13-acre site in 1999. The Park Authority had initially planned to select a resident curator to live in and restore the house on the property.
That plan was dropped following extensive opposition by community members and the White family. The house was demolished in May.
Thanks for letting me know about the existence of this park. I’m going to annoy the NIMBY neighbors by visiting this weekend on my bicycle.
It’s a horrible disaster of a park. You’ll get ticks. Enjoy.
That place is full of homeless people doing drugs and pooping everywhere.
Doug, don’t listen to the non-truths of these other two commenters.
I travel through this area almost every day and I have never one individual who appeared to be homeless.
Regarding ticks, there is no reason this park would have more ticks than Mason District Park other than it has been less cared for.
What appears likely is that these two comments were posted by a person or persons who live in the neighborhood and are dead set against seeing “outsiders” enjoy this beautiful and serene public park.
NIMBY indeed. I’m going to also annoy the NIMBY neighbors by visiting this weekend with my gas-guzzling carbon-belching internal combustion engine automobile.
Nope, not true