Author: Elizabeth McCoy

SHORELINE PROJECT LAUNCHED!

Shoreline Erosion / Soil Conservation

 by Gary Streb

SHORELINE PROJECT LAUNCHED!

The Shoreline Evaluation Project (SEP) went live on July 1st!  This new program will assist coastal homeowners in their shoreline protection efforts to mitigate the effects of erosion on their shoreline frontage, addressing both upland and waterfront sources. Program Partnerships – To create this program the Colonial SWCD has partnered with the Virginia Cooperative Extension James City County Williamsburg Master Gardeners (CSWCD/VCEMG) to offer this Shoreline Evaluation Program (SEP) to shorefront property owners throughout the greater Williamsburg region. Each participating...

Container Gardens / Garden Maintenance / Gardening on the Wild Side: Working in Harmony with Nature / Summer Color Plants / Sustainable Gardening / Water Wise

 by Elizabeth McCoy

Water-wise Design for Hanging Baskets

Do you have a hanging basket that is struggling in summer’s heat?  Do you have plants under-performing because you can’t keep their container sufficiently watered? The Hydration Equation Keeping plants supplied with water and nutrients is an ongoing challenge with any container planting, especially with baskets and window boxes.  Plants require water and nutrients for strong growth an abundant flowers.  A hanging basket is an extreme environment for many plants.  Baskets will dry out quickly on a scorching, sunny summer...

Garden Maintenance / Gardening on the Wild Side: Working in Harmony with Nature / Native Plants / Water Wise / Watering

 by Elvin & Kay Clapp

Water-Wise Demonstration Project

The Water-Wise Demonstration Project is located in front of the Human Services Center (HSC) at 5249 Olde Towne Road (shown here). About 10,500 people walk through this garden each year. They are generally families, often bilingual, seeking social services and affordable health services. Our water-wise garden provides a peaceful setting for them, showcasing a variety of drought-tolerant perennial plants in a low-maintenance, low-water setting. This year we’re reaching out in English and Spanish by posting what is blooming on a...

a rain gauge in a yard

Garden Maintenance / Gardening on the Wild Side: Working in Harmony with Nature / Rain Gauge / Water Wise / Watering

 by Elizabeth Myers

How Much Water Does My Garden Need?

The Hot Dry Dog Days of Summer – It may seem, in the summer, like it is never raining enough and your lawn and garden need water daily.  Before you drag hoses and sprinklers all over the yard, it’s important to know how much or how little water has fallen from the sky or been collected from your supplemental watering efforts.  Installing a rain gauge is a quick and simple way to find out. It’s an easy way to measure the...

Beneficial Insects / Birds / Flowering Shrubs / Gardening on the Wild Side: Working in Harmony with Nature / Lepidoptera / Pollinators / Sustainable Gardening / Watering

 by [email protected]

Water-Wisely, Choose Drought Resistant, Pollinator-Friendly, Plants

Planting and maintaining lovely gardens, while restricting the use of water, is made possible by using a few watering techniques and a choice of plants. The VCE created a brochure, in 2004 entitled Creating a Water-Wise Landscape and twenty years later it still contains some great advice.

Animal repellant products / Beneficial Insects / Container Gardens / Edible Plants / Garden Design / Gardening on the Wild Side: Working in Harmony with Nature / Herbs / Tender Perennials / Wildlife Gardening

 by Elizabeth McCoy

Designing With Lemon Scented Plants

  Picnics with citronella candles, lemon scented furniture polish and sweet tea with lemons all recall happy childhood memories.   Fragrance has a profound ability to create or shift a mood, to trigger memories and create new ones.  Just as cinnamon evokes the holidays; crisp, cool lemon is a summertime fragrance. Most lemon scented plants thrive in warm climates.  Lemon trees, Citrus limon, are hardy only to Zone 8.  Originally native to Asia, they spread throughout the ancient world wherever the...

Beneficial Insects / Flowering Shrubs / Garden Design / Gardening on the Wild Side: Working in Harmony with Nature / Heirloom plants / Ornamental Shrubs / Permaculture / Pollinators / Summer Color Plants / Sustainable Gardening / Wildlife Gardening

 by Elizabeth McCoy

Summer Flowering Trees and Shrubs for Pollinators

  Have you ever watched a bumblebee explore a Hibiscus flower?  Each flower is large enough for the bee to crawl around the depths of its funnel shaped petals to collect as much pollen as possible.  Short, powdery stamens grow like bristles on a bottle brush from a long, tubular pistil. The bee emerges white with pollen and satisfied by the flower’s nectar. Hibiscus shrubs, commonly known as Rose of Sharon, bloom from June through November in our area.  Each...

Beneficial Insects / Container Gardens / Edible Plants / Garden Design / Gardening on the Wild Side: Working in Harmony with Nature / Larval Host Plants / Native Plants / Perennial Care / Poisonous Plants / Summer Color Plants / Wildlife Gardening

 by Elizabeth McCoy

Designing Plantings to Host Butterflies and Moths

  A friend was excited to buy milkweed plants at a WBG plant sale several years ago. They aren’t easy to find commercially, and few people raise them from seed.  When I saw her again a few weeks later, I inquired about how her plants were doing. “Oh, I must have done something wrong. They’re not looking so good.  Most of the leaves have disappeared,” she replied.     I quickly reassured her that it was unlikely she had done...

American Lady on viburnum

Beneficial Insects / Garden Design / Gardening on the Wild Side: Working in Harmony with Nature / Pollinators / Summer Color Plants

 by Marion Guthrie

June’s Focus: Pollinators

Pollinators, like this American Lady butterfly featured in our June banner, move from one plant to another while searching for protein-rich pollen or high-energy nectar to eat. As they go, they are dusted by each plant they visit with pollen and in turn, they leave pollen behind. This pollen transfer fertilizes the plants enabling them to produce fruits, vegetables, seeds, and nuts. These foods form the foundation for the food chain for humans as well as other species. According to...

Beneficial Insects / Evergreen Perennials / Garden Design / Garden Maintenance / Gardening on the Wild Side: Working in Harmony with Nature / Invasive Plants / Native Plants / Sustainable Gardening / Wildlife Gardening

 by Elizabeth McCoy

Top Picks for Living Ground Covers (Part 3)

  How do you deal with a patch of bare ground in your yard?  That is the existential challenge of gardening, isn’t it?  The first, most logical choice for many is to plant a lawn.  We see lawns everywhere in our neighborhoods and public spaces.  Grasses may be the default ground cover for many people. But a grassy lawn gets expensive.  It costs time to maintain.  It requires ongoing investments in grass seed, fertilizers and other chemicals to feed it...