Green Spring Docents Lead the Way
by Debbie Waugh, Green Spring Historian and Garden Tour Coordinator
Spring is in the air. Trees are budding, birds are warbling, bulbs are blooming ... and docents are leading tours in the gardens again! As light levels and temperatures increase, more and more outdoor visitors are eager to experience early signs of the new season and learn all about Green Spring. And our talented group of Extension Master Gardener docents will lead the way.
Since 2007, when we began a special docent training program for interested Green Spring Master Gardeners, over 8,500 visitors attending public and private garden tours have benefited from the knowledge, passion, and dedication of our docents.
The term “docent” is from the Latin word docere meaning to teach. Docents guide our visitors on a journey of discovery and engage discriminating audiences in many different ways. They use themes that are relevant to visitors to connect them to Green Spring. They tell stories that inspire and promote understanding. Ultimately, they provoke our visitors to care about this place. To become such proficient provocateurs, they must complete rigorous training and work to continually refine their skills.
Docents tap into their passion for Green Spring to create original one-of-a-kind tours, bringing their own personalities and experience to the process. There’s no such thing as doing “the tour” of Green Spring – it’s no cookie-cutter experience. Different docents mean guests will be treated to a different perspective each time.
Docent-led garden tour at Green Spring Gardens. Photo credit: Green Spring Gardens photo collection.
These front-line ambassadors face unique challenges in the gardens: inclement weather, ambient noise and other distractions, and, of course, an ever-changing exhibit! Unlike a static museum display, changing seasons and new plantings yield a myriad of plant displays in each demonstration garden in just one year. Yet, this resourceful and diligent group rises to the challenge and keeps up with the changes.
They also create specialized garden tour experiences that may focus on the edible landscape, the witch hazel collection, trees, or poisonous plants! The popular extended “grand tour"— “Green Spring Up and Down”— also takes the garden path less traveled to explore the shady, naturalistic lower garden areas and the Virginia Native Plant Garden.
Not surprisingly, garden tours have been among the first of Green Spring’s programs to bounce back since the worst days of the pandemic, and we anticipate a full return to pre-covid tour attendance levels this season. Already we have two very large groups lined up to tour the gardens this spring: the Southern Garden History Society and the Garden Club of Virginia will bring up to 130 visitors each!
Green Spring’s outstanding docents will be leading the way. Look out for them— they’re a sure sign of spring.
For information on public and private tours of the gardens, please call 703-941-7987.
