Category: Birds

Beneficial Insects / Birds / Container Gardens / Garden Design / Gardening on the Wild Side: Working in Harmony with Nature / Heirloom plants / Keystone Species / Larval Host Plants / Native Plants / Perennial Care / Sustainable Gardening / Wildlife Gardening

 by Michele Jett Garrard, Master Gardener, Class of 2022 and Elizabeth McCoy, Tree Steward and Master Gardener, Class of 2018

Container Gardening with Native Keystone Plants

Container gardening is a great way to garden if you have limited space.  Have you ever considered growing native plants in your containers? And what might be even better than this, you ask?   Why container gardening with native keystone perennials, of course! Why Keystone Plants? Keystone plants are the “powerhouses” of native plants.  While all native plants are beneficial, keystone plants are the linchpins for entire ecosystems, providing crucial resources for the greatest number of insect species.  These keystone plants...

Birds / Garden Design / Perennial Care / Sustainable Gardening / Wildlife Gardening

 by Deborah Bussert, Master Gardener, Class of 2016

2023 Perennial Choice

The Perennial Plant Association has named a new cultivar of the familiar black-eyed Susan as its 2023 perennial plant of the year – ‘American Gold Rush’. Like its older cousin ‘Goldsturm’, this plant is a hybrid among several species of Rudbeckia. It is said to be easy to grow with a long period of bloom in late summer on a compact habit and foliage that is less disease-prone. We are all familiar with the daisy-like bright yellow flowers with dark...

Birds / Garden Design / Gardening on the Wild Side: Working in Harmony with Nature / Holiday Plants / Native Trees / Permaculture / Poisonous Plants / Sustainable Gardening / Wildlife Gardening

 by Elizabeth McCoy

Holly, King of the Winter Forest

  In late autumn, the Williamsburg area woods light up with evergreen holly trees as the hardwoods lose their leaves.  It is their time to sparkle in the winter sunshine.  Their broad, prickly leaves are waxy on top, reflecting what light reaches them through the forest canopy. Unobtrusive throughout the summer, hollies are among the few forest trees, along with wax myrtle, pines, cedars, and magnolias, which remain bright green and covered in leaves throughout the year. Holly King Legends...

Beneficial Insects / Birds / Carbon Garden / Evergreen Perennials / Gardening on the Wild Side: Working in Harmony with Nature / Heirloom plants / Holiday Plants / Native Plants / Poisonous Plants / Wildlife Gardening / Winter

 by Elizabeth McCoy

Legends, Lore and the Truth About Mistletoe

  From November through May we can admire the living mathematics of the trunks and branches of hardwood trees.   Their leafy crowns have fallen, and their beautiful bark in all its silvery, marbled, textured variety is revealed once again. Looking up, we sometimes see lively green clusters of mistletoe shining in the treetops.  These shrubby, evergreen plants have been a part of myth and folklore since ancient times.  They live suspended between heaven and Earth, rooted into the branches of...

Beneficial Insects / Birds / Evergreen Shrubs / Flowering Shrubs / Garden Design / Gardening on the Wild Side: Working in Harmony with Nature / Heirloom plants / Invasive Plants / Keystone Species / Native Plants / Native Trees / Ornamental Shrubs / Permaculture / Poisonous Plants / Wildlife Gardening / Winter

 by Elizabeth McCoy

A Winter Wildlife Garden- “Inviting the Stranger”

  Cardinals nest in a large evergreen shrub beside my kitchen window.  Though the shrub, Ligustrum, is frowned upon by many contemporary gardeners as invasive, the birds don’t know that.  They delight in its abundant berries and the insects that visit year-round. We delight in watching the birds come and go, even as they peer in the windows at us.  We amuse one another.  Cardinals, titmice and other birds also perch in the crape myrtle tree a little further out...

Beneficial Insects / Birds / Fall / Garden Maintenance / Gardening on the Wild Side: Working in Harmony with Nature / Wildlife Gardening / Winter

 by Wendy Hamrick, Master Gardener, Class of 2017

Wild Thing, You Make My Heart Sing!

While we are preparing our homes, vehicles, and closets for the cold winter season ahead, let’s not forget about our wildlife friends that bring us so much joy during the more temperate months.  Over the next 90 to 120 days, they will endure bone-chilling winds, frozen ground, and limited access to fresh water or easy foraging.  It is time to get up off the couch and winterize your backyard for their benefit. The most susceptible of our critters, particularly those...

Birds / Carbon Garden / Edible Plants / Fall / Food Forest / Gardening on the Wild Side: Working in Harmony with Nature / Heirloom plants / Larval Host Plants / Native Trees / Sustainable Gardening / Wildlife Gardening

 by Elizabeth McCoy

Diospyrus virginiana, the Divine Fruit

  A sadly spindly ‘mystery tree’ grows on a steep slope in our back fern garden.  I first noticed it six or seven years ago.  Its top was broken off in a winter snowstorm a while ago, and its odd growth pattern, plain looking leaves and immature bark left me clueless about its identify.  My best guess was that perhaps it was a paw paw tree, since the leaves are similar, and we have a stand of those nearby. But...

Birds / Fall / Halloween / Vegetable Gardening

 by Wendy Hamrick, Master Gardener, Class of 2017

9 Ways to Use Your Left-Over Pumpkins

There’s an astounding amount of waste generated from post-Halloween pumpkins.   Instead of throwing your pumpkins out, why not reuse and recycle them?  Here are a few ideas on how. 1. Cut up the pumpkin into manageable pieces and throw them into the compost bin. They are 90% water and should break down quickly. 2. Put them in your garden for the wildlife to enjoy. 3. Pumpkin seeds can be scooped out with a spoon, tossed with a bit of olive...

Beneficial Insects / Birds / Carbon Garden / Deer / Edible Plants / Evergreen Perennials / Evergreen Shrubs / Fall / Ferns / Flowering Shrubs / Food Forest / Garden Design / Gardening on the Wild Side: Working in Harmony with Nature / Keystone Species / Lepidoptera / Native Plants / Native Trees / Ornamental Shrubs / Sustainable Gardening / Wildlife Gardening

 by Elizabeth McCoy

Making the Choice: Native v. Imported Plants

  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...

Birds / Native Plants / Native Trees / Soil Conservation

 by Bill Dichtel

Naturalist, Dr. Colin Rees to Speak!

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...