Category: Evergreen trees

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 / 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...

Conifers Every Master Gardener Should Know

Evergreen trees / Garden Design / Native Trees / Plant Literacy / Soil Conservation / Sustainable Gardening / Trees / Trees in Winter

 by Elizabeth McCoy

Conifers Every Master Gardener Should Know

Conifers Pinus taeda, Loblolly Pine Pinus virginiana, Virginia Pine Pinus palustris, Longleaf Pine Picea abies, Common Spruce Abies fraseri, Frasier Fir Tsuga canadensis, Eastern Hemlock Taxodium distichum, Bald Cypress Juniperus virginiana, Eastern Red Cedar x Hesperotropsis leylandii, Leyland Cypress The Beauty and Promise of Trees in Winter Planting Trees and Other Hacks to Manage Wet Soils Identifying Local Trees in Winter Native Trees Back to Plant Literacy Main Page  

Birds / Conservation / Evergreen Shrubs / Evergreen trees / Flowering Shrubs / Garden Design / Heirloom plants / Native Trees / Permaculture / Plant Literacy / Tree Identification / Wildlife Gardening

 by Elizabeth McCoy

Broadleaf Evergreen Trees & Shrubs Every Master Gardener Should Know

Broadleaf Evergreen Trees & Shrubs   Buxus microphylla, Littleleaf Boxwood Buxus sempervirens, Common Boxwood Ilex opaca, American Holly Ilex vomitoria, Yaupon holly Ilex aquifolium, English Holly Ilex cornuta, Chinese Holly Myrica cerifera, Southern Wax Myrtle Myrica pensylvanica, Bayberry Osmanthus heterophyllus, Holly Tea-olive Pyracantha coccinea, Scarlet Firethorn Quercus virginiana, Live Oak   Broadleaf Evergreen Trees & Shrubs with Showy Flowers   Camellia japonica, Japanese Camellia Camellia sasanqua, Sasanqua Camellia Kalmia latifolia, Mountain Laurel Magnolia grandiflora, Southern Magnolia Rhododendron spp. Azaleas and...

Carbon Garden / Citizen Science / climate change / Climate Change / Conservation / Evergreen Shrubs / Evergreen trees / Ferns / Garden Design / Gardening on the Wild Side: Working in Harmony with Nature / Invasive Plants / Jamestown Island / Mycorrhizal Fungi / Native Plants / Native Trees / Permaculture / Protecting the Chesapeake / Shoreline Erosion / Soil Conservation / Sustainable Gardening / Weather / Wildlife Gardening / Williamsburg Botanical Garden

 by Elizabeth McCoy

Managing Rain and Run-Off with the Right Plantings

The Elements of Life Water, light, and air fuel our lives.  We depend on them, as does every plant and animal.  Light energy powers the chemistry of photosynthesis to transform elements like carbon and hydrogen into sugars, food.  Oxygen fuels the production of life energy in every living cell.  And water fills every cell of every living creature; gives us sap and blood; powers every process of life.  There is no life, not even the tiniest microbe, without water.  ...

Prized Plants at the Olympic Games

Container Gardens / Edible Plants / Evergreen Shrubs / Evergreen trees / Fragrant Plants / Heirloom plants / Herbs / Ornamental Shrubs / Therapeutic Gardening / Trees

 by Betsy Beyer

Prized Plants at the Olympic Games

  The Olympic Games, a symbol of international unity and athletic excellence, incorporate plants and flowers into their ceremonies. These botanical elements enhance the visual appeal of the events and carry cultural and historical significance as well. Laurel and Olive in Ancient Greece In ancient Greece, victors of the Olympic Games were awarded olive wreaths, known as kotinos, made from the branches of the olive tree which is sacred to Zeus. This tradition dates back to 776 BCE and symbolizes...

Birds / boxwood / Carbon Garden / climate change / Conservation / Edible Plants / Evergreen Shrubs / Evergreen trees / Flowering Shrubs / Food Forest / Foraging / Garden Design / Gardening on the Wild Side: Working in Harmony with Nature / Hedge / Hedgerow / Heirloom plants / Native Trees / Ornamental Shrubs / Wildlife Gardening

 by Elizabeth McCoy

 Hedges and Hedgerows for a Healthier and More Peaceful Life, Part 1

  The Living Fence Gardening is the art of domesticating the wild, of creating living geometry within our landscapes.  Order, symmetry, lines, and boundaries please the eye and soothe the spirit.  We are inclined to organize and define our spaces by dividing them up into smaller pieces we can manage, to protect them within walls and behind gates.  We contain what is ours, setting aside sacred space, our own ‘paradise,’ from the wider world.  We exclude the unwanted wildness living...

Birds / Carbon Garden / Climate Change / climate change / Conservation / Evergreen Shrubs / Evergreen trees / Fragrant Plants / Garden Design / Gardening on the Wild Side: Working in Harmony with Nature / Larval Host Plants / Native Plants / Native Trees / Resource Protection / Soil Conservation / Tree Identification / Wildlife Gardening

 by Elizabeth McCoy

Myrica Is Mostly for the Birds

  A Mystery and A Memory We found several large evergreen shrubs in our new yard that we couldn’t immediately identify, when we moved here over a decade ago.  We could pick out the boxwood and Camellias, but we were especially curious about the very tall, open shrubs that the birds loved the most.  It was August, and tiny bluish gray drupes were ripening along this shrub’s woody stems.  Its leaves were fragrant.  Birds gathered in its dense and twiggy...

Beneficial Insects / Birds / Bulb Gardening / Carbon Garden / climate change / Compost / Conservation / Deer / Evergreen Perennials / Evergreen Shrubs / Evergreen trees / Ferns / Flowering Shrubs / Garden Design / Garden Maintenance / Gardening on the Wild Side: Working in Harmony with Nature / Larval Host Plants / Ornamental Shrubs / Perennial Care / Phenology / Trees in Winter / Watering / Wildlife Gardening / Winter

 by Elizabeth McCoy

Winter in the Garden: To Do, To Do Less, and What to Avoid

  We can consider winter as the ‘weekend’ of the gardening year, both the last month and the first months of the year when we can enjoy a much-needed rest from the regular routine.  A period of rest and renewal restores energy to both the garden and the gardener.  It allows us time for reflection on the successes and challenges of seasons past and an opportunity to plan and prepare for the seasons to come. If winter is the weekend,...

Beneficial Insects / Carbon Garden / climate change / Conservation / Evergreen Shrubs / Evergreen trees / Flowering Shrubs / Gardening on the Wild Side: Working in Harmony with Nature / Phenology / Pollinators / Sustainable Gardening / Trees / USDA Hardiness Zone Map / Wildlife Gardening / Winter Gardening

 by Elizabeth McCoy

Updated 2023 Plant Hardiness Map

  The United States Department of Agriculture released an updated Plant Hardiness Zone map on November 15 that reflects changes for about half of the country.  This updated map, the first since 2012, is based on the average coldest winter temperature, on the coldest night of the year, for each region of the country.  The trend shown on this map paints an accurate picture of how many parts of our country are warming.  The USDA cautions, however, that the data...