What do you consider when choosing plants for your home and yard? We all have a checklist of criteria in the back of our minds. Our criteria are very personal to our own needs and situation. You may not purchase and plant as many plants as I do each year, but I’m sure that you enjoy the choosing and the planting just as much. We gardeners have been encouraged to plant more native plants for quite a...
Opening Last night I had a peculiar and rather disturbing dream. I dreamt that I was driving my car at night careening wildly and uncontrollably along a coastal mountain highway. It was pitch black, high up on the winding and twisting roads with the sinister ocean waves crashing loudly beneath the cliffs. Quite suddenly, the car shot off the road and started plummeting toward the ocean below! I panicked and tried to scream but nothing came out! And just before...
What Are Indigenous Trees? Indigenous trees are those native species that have grown in our area since before European colonization. They are uniquely suited to our climate. They support our indigenous wildlife and make our landscape unique. Trees produced from long generations of the same species, that have all grown in our immediate area, are considered indigenous. A tree ordered from a mail-order nursery, even of the same species, was likely grown from seed, or a cutting, indigenous to...
Who doesn’t like butterflies? They are beautiful. They make us smile. They drink nectar from our flowering plants. They are colorful. We love them—even the little brown ones. So what can we do to bring them into our yards? Like other wildlife, if we want butterflies, and let’s include other pollinators, too, we need to provide water, food, and shelter. Lucky for us, the plants we plant for food will also provide shelter. And right now, the fall is a...
Mattey’s Garden is a hands-on learning garden at the Matthew Whaley Elementary School. And while the students were absent due to COVID-19, the garden continued to grow, including the weeds. Luckily, Louann Martin, who heads up this project for the James City County Williamsburg Master Gardener Association (JCCWMGA), assembled a team made up of the elementary school’s families and students as well as JCCW Master Gardeners. This team has been tending the garden with a watchful eye pruning, weeding, and...
Click here to Watch the Video! 11 years and Going Strong The student garden at J. B. Blayton Elementary School on Jolly Pond Road in Williamsburg is 11 years old and going strong. The garden was started by a pair of teachers and parents who were interested in creating a special outdoor space where students could learn about all types of plants and pollinators. The PTA supplied funds to construct a pavilion for shade and to serve as an outdoor...
When do you harvest watermelon? There are several factors that indicate ripeness First, the underside ground spot turns from whitish to creamy yellow. Next look at the tendrils closest to the melon, they should be brown and shriveled. The rind loses its gloss and appears dull. And last but not least, when thumped the melon produces a dull thud, rather than a ringing sound. Not just water and sugar Watermelon has many health benefits. One is that it is loaded...
Apples are a reminder that it is back-to-school time. But how did they come to represent this academic kickoff? Perhaps it is because September is harvest time for many kinds of apples in the Northern Hemisphere. Or because of the practice from colonial times, when teachers were compensated by receiving food and housing directly from families and apples were an abundant crop. Then of course there may be clues from the Garden of Eden story, the legend of Johnny Appleseed,...
You’re invited to a free lecture by renowned author and ornithologist, Dr. Colin Rees, compliments of the James City County Williamsburg Master Gardener Association. It will be held at the Williamsburg Regional Library Auditorium on Thursday, August 11, 9-10 am. and also on Zoom; dial-in information follows. Our speaker, Dr. Colin Rees, was with the World Bank as a biodiversity specialist and a professor of Zoology at the University of Maryland. He is one of the developers and founders of...
A Tour of KelRae Farm, by Michele Garrard, Master Gardener, Class of 2022 Boots on the Ground Tour – As part of their training, the James City County Williamsburg Master Gardeners (JCCWMG) recently received a “boots on the ground” tour of KelRae Farm, located in Toano, VA. Leading the tour was the farm’s owner-operator, Michelle Gulden. Michelle together with her husband Randy, took over the farm in 2001 from Randy’s great uncle, Henry M. “Buck” Hazelwood, and they...