GPARC

#2 Market Square Plaza on a blazing hot 🥵 Friday!

It’s Parks and Recreation Month in the City of Gaithersburg! That means it’s time to get out and enjoy one or more of the 30 parks in the City of - A great way to do that is to fill out your Explore! Gaithersburg Park Passport - and enter for a chance to win some great prizes! More details available here: https://www.gaithersburgmd.gov/recreation/parks-fields/park-passport Have Fun!!

We would love to have a few more helping hands! If you are interested, email us at [email protected] and we will give you all the specifics.

We are happy to have anyone help us and have tasks for all levels of creative, but we are especially looking for an artist or two that might be able to freehand the designs onto the storm drain covers late next week. It takes about 45 minutes to an hour per drain and there are only three this year. Email us!

Gorgeous day for a cleanup! We covered Diamond Farm and Robertson Parks today - and competed against other MD municipalities for the most interesting piece of trash! The near full skeleton (possibly fox 🦊) seemed to be the big winner! Though the piece of an engine/car - which we prefer to think of as the shield of came in a close second! Thanks to everyone who came out! .tam_15 and anyone else I missed!

It’s going to be a gorgeous day for the final event of Green Month!! Join us on SUNDAY 11-1 to Clean-up Diamond Farms and Robertson Park!! Meet at Brown Station Elementary parking lot - and don’t forget your trash grabbers! Hope to see you there!

We are here with our fabulous partners - the - on this last weekend of Green Month distributing more than 1500 to over 100 customers at the 5th Annual Native Plant Sale!! If you missed it we will be back next year - check out the Muddy Branch Alliance (muddybranch.org) for more info!! Big thanks to and for the space - it’s perfect!

GPARC and Montgomery Art Association will sponsor a Plein Air Painting opportunity on Saturday, April 27th at Bohrer Park, near the Activity Center. All are welcome, young artists should be accompanied by a parent.

We will paint from 10 am-2 pm, then gather at 2 pm near the white barn by the parking lot to admire each other’s art and take photos.

Snacks and coffee will be available free of charge at the pavilion, courtesy of Starbucks while supply lasts.

Congratulations to the four honorable mention artists for the 2024 Storm Drain Art Contest!

Their work will be featured in educational materials about protecting the Chesapeake Bay Watershed.

Roxana Arvand
Andralyn Chou
Naman Kedilaya
Lizzie Varner

It was such a tough decision for our jury team to pick the winners and honorable mentions from so much great work! We truly appreciate all who entered and shared their fantastic ideas and designs.

🤩🎉🏆Congratulations to the winners of the 2024 Storm Drain Art Contest!

Carina Araujo
Kimberly Lee
Alexis Limpiado.

They will be painting their designs on three of the City's storm drains later this year, bringing attention to the need to protect our Chesapeake Bay Watershed.

There were so many great designs! And ....

It’s almost over!! GET YOUR NATIVES WHILE YOU CAN!! (PS, my little native garden is blooming beautifully and I don’t have to do a thing to it!)

Gaithersburg

Where do you plan on watching the Solar Eclipse?
How about the Observatory Park home to the historic Gaithersburg Latitude Observatory?
It's a historic place to watch a historic event!

Y’all know we ❤️ Native Plants, in addition to our partnership with the Muddy Branch Alliance on the Native Plant Sale (happening now!) our friends at the Episcopal Church of the Ascension’s Green Team are hosting several Native Plant events - see below for more details!

“Do you want to learn more about the benefits of native plants? Are you thinking about making a pledge to receive a free native plant starter kit for your garden? You can learn more about native plants and the free starter kit by attending our upcoming Zoom presentation on “Why Plant Native Plants?” hosted by the Ascensions’ Green Team, the Saint Martin of Tours Green Team, and the National Wildlife Federation https://nwf.org . This event is on Sunday, April 7, at 7:30 p.m.”

Register Here: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdXWiHI6ujabDe6rYHdWDcELEk0Edn2P6j42WemNroM70izNA/viewform?usp=pp_url

Our Sacred Grounds: Caring for Creation with Native Plants! You are invited for this Sacred Grounds National Wildlife Federation presentation on the importance of native plants in the preservation of our watershed, birds, and other wildlife! https://nwf.org/ This year a cohort of Gaithersburg churches, including ours, is participating in an exciting new prog...

Participating in community science is as simple as snapping a photo with your phone! Marylanders can contribute their flooding photos through the MyCoast app, an effort to learn about storm flooding, tidal flooding, and storm damage led by the Maryland Department of Natural Resources and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Learn more and submit your photos: https://loom.ly/9rphdaQ

It’s getting closer!! Can’t wait!!

We were honored to receive an Environmental Appreciation Award from the City of Gaithersburg to kickoff Earth Month. Grateful for all of our partners and supporters - this one’s really for you! 🌎🌱💧

This is awesome! And you can get your own natives from the Muddy Branch Alliance Native Plant Sale! Happening now…

A new study in the journal Hort Technology finds that 60% of US homeowners bought a native plant in 2022 and spend 80% more on plants than do their conventional counterparts.

"This is the era of native plant gardening and ecological horticulture!" says Native Plant Trust CEO Tim Johnson. "Demand for native plants grown without harmful chemicals is on the rise. For those marketing native plants, add to their known value to pollinators and regional fauna the perception that native plants are better adapted to difficult sites." He adds, "The challenge for us is to make sure there is a sustainable and ethical supply of seed to meet the demand."
Read the article here: https://journals.ashs.org/horttech/view/journals/horttech/34/2/article-p153.xml

Photo: New, expanded native plant sales area at Garden in the Woods, Framingham, MA, being stocked for the April 14 public opening. Bess Paupeck © Native Plant Trust

Contest has been EXTENDED TO MARCH 29! We can't wait to see your artwork!

Apply here: https://fs30.formsite.com/GBurgMD/mmby1guzw9/index

🌊🎨 Attention all artists and advocates for our environment! 🎨🌊

GPARC in collaboration with the City’s Stormwater Management Program and Cultural Events and Services Division invite artists of all ages to submit designs for a Storm Drain Art project to call attention to the importance of protecting our Chesapeake Bay watershed.

The deadline to enter is March 22 visit https://gburg.md/StormDrainArtProj for details!

Get your natives while there are still some left!!

The Seneca Creek/Muddy Branch native tree give-away will be this Friday, March 22 from 5:30 - 7:00 pm (please do not arrive early, we will not distribute until 5:30). As usual, trees will be available at two sites: Seneca State Park and at 14909 Spring Meadows Drive (Jeff and Merikay's home).

Trees not given out on Friday will be available Saturday just at 14909 Spring Meadows Drive from 10 am to noon. This is the 10th year the Smiths have organized this event for Seneca Creek/Muddy Branch.

This year we'll have 450 trees -- all native seedlings. If planted immediately and protected from deer (and watered as needed) they will grow vigorously and in a five years or so be healthier than large (expensive) container grown trees.

This year's picks: pin oak, serviceberry, redbud, river birch, hazelnut, black cherry, indigobush, silky dogwood, and American sycamore.

So many options!! How will you choose? Sale is open now!

The Gaithersburg Parks, Arts & Recreation Corporation (G-PARC) Arts & Culture Alliance, in conjunction with the City's Stormwater Management Program & Cultural Events & Services Division, are pleased to announce the 2024 Storm Drain Art Contest, designed to bring attention to the importance of protecting our Chesapeake Bay watershed.

Artists of all ages are invited to submit designs either online or through the mail. You can find the online application at : https://fs30.formsite.com/GBurgMD/mmby1guzw9/index.html?1645472148283.

All artwork must be submitted electronically or postmarked by March 29, 2024 (extended by one week!). Members from the local artistic community will review the submissions & choose the designs to be displayed on the storm drain covers at selected locations within City limits. The selected designs may also be used in banners, posters, coloring books, other educational materials, and social media. Selected artists will be announced on Earth Day, Monday, April 22, 2024.

For more information, please contact the Arts & Culture Alliance at 301-258-6350 or via email at [email protected].

The Native Plant Sale is getting closer!! Sign up at https://muddybranch.org/subscribe/ to get all the updates! 🌱🌾🌼

We are proud to partner with the Muddy Branch Alliance Native Plant Sale - their online store is open for browsing now! - sales start March 17 - Spring is coming people!!

Very excited for the upcoming Native Plant Sale, in partnership with the Muddy Branch Alliance! Stay tuned…

Alert: Plant sale approaching! The fifth annual Lands Green Waters Clean native plant sale opens in just a few weeks. You won’t want to miss 43 species of native flowers, grasses and ferns - plus the first vine to appear at this popular event! These hard-to-find plants always sell out quickly. Be the first to know when they’re available: subscribe to our email list for all the updates.

muddybranch.org/subscribe

Fresh snow is a great time to look for tracks - can you identify 3 animal tracks in this picture?

The application to become an Arts Barn summer camp volunteer counselor is open! Help make our campers' summer great and earn epic SSL hours. We love our counselors!! Apply here: https://fs30.formsite.com/GBurgMD/form2/index. The application closes April 30th - note this is earlier than past years, to give us time to get back to everyone in a more timely fashion.

Sometimes the first step to changing a habit is realizing how easy it can be. If you are headed to the grocery store today why not give one of these switches a try. You might even find yourself making more plastic free choices on the next visit to the store when you realize how simple it can be.