VA Native Plant Society: Quarry Gardens


VNPS Jefferson Chapter Meeting: "Quarry Gardens"

Wednesday, April 13, 7:00-9:00 pm, Education Building at Ivy Creek Natural Area, 1780 Earlysville Road, Charlottesville.

The presenters will be Armand and Bernice Thieblot, owners of Quarry Gardens.

Neither Armand nor Bernice Thieblot has any formal education in botany, environmental science, or garden design. Armand was a professor at the University of Maryland's School of Business and Bernice ran a company that consulted with and provided creative services for the marketing programs of a national clientele of colleges and universities. They lived over the company's store in a converted firehouse in downtown Baltimore until 2013.

Their native plants education has been a slow process, begun when they purchased land in Schuyler in 1990. Since 2015, they have had a continuing relationship with Charlottesville's Center for Urban Habitats, which surveyed the quarry site's biota and designed the plant galleries. Both Armand and Bernice are Master Naturalists and QGs' tour guides. They know they are stewarding more than 500 species of native plants—and are still learning new identifications every day.

The meeting is free and open to the public.