Author: Elizabeth McCoy

Beneficial Insects / Birds / Edible Plants / Fragrant Plants / Garden Design / Garden Maintenance / Gardening on the Wild Side: Working in Harmony with Nature / Larval Host Plants / Native Plants / Perennial Care / Permaculture / Propagation / Wildlife Gardening

 by Elizabeth McCoy

Featured Plants for 2025

  Let’s celebrate some of our more unusual and lesser-known native wildflowers in 2025.  The Virginia Native Plant Society has chosen the Mayapple, Podophyllum peltatum, as its 2025 Wildflower of the Year.  The Perennial Plant Association has also chosen a native wildflower, indigenous to Virginia, as its pick for 2025. Perennial Plant of the Year for 2025 The 2025 Perennial Plant of the Year is clustered mountain mint, Pycnanthemum muticum, a native wildflower in the mint, or Lamiaceae family.  It attracts...

Young tree in hand

JCCW Master Gardener Association / Native Plants / Native Trees / Planting Trees / Trees

 by Webmaster

James City County Tree Seedling Giveaway

A Public Service Announcement James City County is launching a new initiative to provide residents with free tree seedlings. The seedlings are all native species and will be available in various sizes according to their mature height (small, medium, or large). If you want a few tree seedlings for your property, please sign up using the link below. They may be out of the small trees but have medium and large trees available.  They will go quickly, so if you...

Food Forest / Foraging / Garden Maintenance / Gardening on the Wild Side: Working in Harmony with Nature / Larval Host Plants / Native Trees / Ornamental Shrubs / Planting Trees / Spring Flowering Trees / Trees / Wildlife Gardening

 by Elizabeth McCoy

Burst Into Spring with Eastern Redbud

  A Beacon of Spring A blooming redbud tree grabs my attention like no other spring flowering tree.  It just suddenly lights up like a neon beacon glowing brightly in the edge of the wintery forest; transforming from non-descript to gorgeous in the space of a day. Unlike other spring blooming trees which show visibly swelling buds for weeks, while they wait for winter’s cold to pass; clusters of redbud blossoms simply break directly out of its bark, anywhere and...

Soil Conservation / Vegetable Gardening

 by Janet Rochester

Home Food Production: Tools and Soil Preparation

If you are starting a vegetable garden in an area that is already tilled, you probably have all the tools you need and the soil will not need much preparation. If you start from a lawn or untilled area, you will need some hand tools, and the soil will need attention.   Tools Start with a few basic tools; a digging spade, garden fork, rake, and trowel are enough to get you started. If you decide to continue gardening, then is the time to...

Bulb Gardening / Container Gardens / Deer / Edible Plants / Fragrant Plants / Garden Design / Gardening on the Wild Side: Working in Harmony with Nature / Heirloom plants / Herbs / Vegetable Gardening

 by Elizabeth McCoy

Protect Your Garden with Alliums, Gingers, and Herbs

Have You Eaten? Animals engage in the business of eating;  there is no common ground between our desire for a beautiful and productive garden and a deer or rabbit’s need for lunch.   While we may garden in harmony with birds harvesting berries from our shrubs and bees harvesting  nectar and pollen from our flowers, it is mainly because they can assist us with our gardening tasks and feed themselves without destroying our plants. Birds and spiders eat mostly insects, helping...

Farm-To-Table / Vegetable Gardening

 by Marion Guthrie

Why Grow Your Own Vegetables? #2

Why grow your own vegetables?  Different people have different reasons.  Most people want to have a source of fresh vegetables for their families.  There is nothing like going to your own garden to pick a lettuce for a salad, a tomato for a sandwich, or a harvest of green beans for dinner.  For people in underserved areas, a home garden may be one of their best sources of fresh vegetables. Your vegetables will be fresher than you can find in...

Birds / Conservation / Gardening on the Wild Side: Working in Harmony with Nature / Jamestown Island / Native Plants / Native Trees / Resource Protection / Shoreline Erosion / Trees in Winter / Winter

 by Elizabeth McCoy

Bald Cypress at Glebe Gut

  This photo, used for our late January 2025 webpage header, was taken along the National Colonial Parkway at Glebe Gut.  It features a bald cypress tree and other native vegetation. Glebe Gut is a narrow, tidal channel that flows under the Colonial Parkway, between College Creek and Mill Creek, near Jamestown Island.  The waterway itself forms the western boundary of a 100-acre tract of land known as the Glebe Land, set aside after 1619 for the use and support...

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...