Author: Elizabeth McCoy

JCCW Master Gardener Association / JCCW MGA Leadership Team

 by Elizabeth McCoy

Get to Know Our JCCW Master Gardener Association Board for 2025

  Our new leadership team took office in January, with a combined 81 years of Master Gardening experience to guide them in leading our organization this year.  Most have been gardening since childhood and bring tremendous knowledge and practical experience to their work as Master Gardeners. Please get to know these outstanding individuals who have stepped up to positions of leadership this year.  You may learn a few new things about old friends and colleagues from their interviews.  Many hands...

Conservation / Deer / Garden Design / Gardening on the Wild Side: Working in Harmony with Nature / Hedgerow / Ornamental Shrubs / Poisonous Plants / Resource Protection / Sustainable Gardening / Tree Care / Trees / Wildlife Gardening / Winter Gardening

 by Elizabeth McCoy

Oh Deer!

  Fallen leaves carpet the ravine behind our home, broken only by thick green stems of bamboo, taller than most of our trees; a few young pawpaw and scarlet buckeye trees; and the thick trunks of century old beech trees.  There are also a few fallen, decaying trunks of trees lost to storms, but none of the undergrowth you might expect to find in a wild ravine bordering a small lake.  The soil is rich and deep.  Dappled sunlight illuminates...

Citizen Science / Conservation / Evergreen trees / Gardening on the Wild Side: Working in Harmony with Nature / Sustainable Gardening / Trees in Winter / Wildlife Gardening / Winter / Winter Gardening

 by Elizabeth McCoy

Celebrate the Winter Solstice by Honoring Our Earth

The Shortest Day of the Year On Saturday, December 21, 2024, indigenous people and others who practice nature based spiritual paths celebrate the Winter Solstice.  Winter Solstice has been observed as a holy day for millennia, since before humans kept records, because it marks the shortest day of the year and the return of the sun to warm the Earth for the growing season ahead.  Historians have found that ancient stone circles, pyramids, and other prehistoric stone constructions are oriented...

Citizen Science / Conservation / Evergreen Shrubs / Garden Maintenance / Master Gardener Home Visits / Native Trees / Pruning Clinic / Sustainable Gardening / Tree Care / Trees / Trees in Winter

 by Elizabeth McCoy

The Annual Pruning Clinic

  Woody plants remain healthier, more productive and more beautiful with strategic, well-timed pruning.  Pruning young plants guides their growth into a strong and balanced structure.  Pruning older plants opens them up to sunlight and airflow, limiting the opportunities for disease to infect them.  Proper pruning can also rejuvenate them with new, more vigorous growth. Pruning wisely is both an art and a science.  Some homeowners and gardeners may have questions about how and when to prune the many shrubs...

Citizen Science / Conservation / Evergreen Shrubs / Evergreen trees / Flowering Shrubs / Garden Maintenance / Gardening on the Wild Side: Working in Harmony with Nature / Master Gardener Home Visits / Native Trees / Permaculture / Tree Care / Trees in Winter / Wildlife Gardening

 by Elizabeth McCoy

Pruning: Dos and Don’ts

  Pruning woody shrubs is both art and science.  Selecting which branches to leave and which to remove allows a gardener to train a woody plant into a pleasing, balanced shape that fits the available space.  Some gardeners use pruning techniques to create neatly trimmed topiary, elegant hedges, or espaliered fruit trees.  Gardeners may also prune roots and branches and remove leaves and buds to train trees to live as bonsai in shallow containers.  Woody plants are extremely adaptable and...

Plant Literacy

 by Elizabeth McCoy

Unlocking the Secrets of Plant Species Names

  A plant’s botanical name, which consists of its genus and species name, may at first look unfamiliar and daunting to pronounce or to understand.  These names are Latinized and so follow the rules of Latin language.  They are intended to describe and give important information about the plants they name.  Botanical names help botanists, horticulturalists, gardeners, and those breeding and selling plants to communicate precisely about specific plants, their varieties, cultivars, and hybrids.  Every plant, historic or newly discovered,...

Brickyard / Conservation / Garden Design / Grasses / Native Plants / Plant Literacy / Restoration / Soil Conservation / Wildlife Gardening

 by Elizabeth McCoy

Landscape Grasses Every Master Gardener Should Know

  Perennial Grasses have many uses in the landscape, including helping to control erosion and adding structural interest to the landscape.   They tend to be very drought tolerant, tough, and seldom will be grazed by deer.  Most grasses are left standing through the winter and cut back in early spring, making room for new growth to emerge.  Some grasses, like river oats, self-seed freely.  Clumps of grasses expand as the plants mature.   Perennial Landscape Grasses Andropogon spp., Bluestem,  Beardgrass,...

Edible Plants / Evergreen Perennials / Garden Design / Heirloom plants / Herbs / Hummingbird Gardening / Plant Literacy / Summer Color Plants

 by Elizabeth McCoy

Herbs Every Master Gardener Should Know

Evergreen Herbs Lavandula spp. and hybrids, Lavender L. angustifolia (L. officinalis), English Lavender L. stoechas, Spanish lavender, which withstands humidity and blooms in late spring L. x intermedia ‘Phenomenal’, Hybrid ‘Phenomenal’ Lavender that withstands high humidity and heat Mentha spicata, Spearmint Mentha x piperita, Peppermint Petroselinum crispum, Parsley (Biennial) Salvia officinalis, Culinary Sage Salvia rosmarinus , Rosemary Santolina spp. Santolina, Cotton Lavendar Thymus spp., Thyme Teucrium chamaedrys, Germander   Landscaping with Herbs in Williamsburg:  Part I Evergreen Herbs    ...

Citizen Science / Gardening on the Wild Side: Working in Harmony with Nature / Tree Identification

 by Elizabeth McCoy

Plant Literacy: Common Landscape Plants to Know and Love

Plant Literacy Many people assume that Master Gardeners know a lot about plants.  When neighbors request a home visit from the Landscape Love or Tree Call team, they often have three questions about certain plants in their yard:  First, “What is it?” Some will follow up with, “Is it a native plant?”  And then finally, “Will deer eat it?”  If the homeowner already knows that deer will eat certain plants, then they may ask for advice about how to either...

Uncategorized

 by Elizabeth McCoy

Ferns Every Master Gardener Should Know

Native Ferns Adiantum pedatum, Northern maidenhair ferns Adiantum capillus-veneris, Southern maidenhair fern Asplenium platyneuron, Ebony Spleenwort Athyrium filix-femina, Lady ferns Onoclea sensibilis, Sensitive ferns Onoclea struthiopteris, Ostrich ferns Osmunda spectabilis, Royal ferns Osmundastrum cinnamomeum, Cinnamon fern Polystichum acrostichoides, Christmas ferns Woodwardia areolata, Netted Chain ferns   Non-native Ferns Athyrium niponicum, Japanese Painted ferns Cyrtomium fortunei, Fortune’s Japanese Holly Fern Cyrtomium falcatum, Japanese Holly Fern Dryopteris erythrosora, ‘Brilliance’, Brilliance Autumn fern Polystichum polyblepharum, Korean Tassel Fern     All photos by...