Category: Beneficial Insects

Beneficial Insects / Birds / Carbon Garden / Climate Change / climate change / Conservation / Edible Plants / Flowering Shrubs / Garden Design / Garden Maintenance / Gardening on the Wild Side: Working in Harmony with Nature / Heirloom plants / Invasive Plants / Larval Host Plants / Nuisance Plants / Ornamental Shrubs / Resource Protection / Soil Conservation / Wildlife Gardening

 by Elizabeth McCoy

A History of Our War With Plants

  “I use only native plants, native to the planet Earth.  I am using indigenous plants; they are indigenous to this part of the universe.” Bill Mollison, Founder and Director of The Permaculture Institute     In the Beginning… Let’s begin with the obvious:  we live within an ever-changing ecosystem.  Europeans came to North America more than four centuries ago, cutting trees, planting fields, building homes and roads.  Native Americans also cut trees, built homes, planted fields, hunted, and lived...

Beneficial Insects / Bulb Gardening / Carbon Garden / Conservation / Container Gardens / Garden Design / Gardening on the Wild Side: Working in Harmony with Nature / Geophytes / Heirloom plants / Poisonous Plants / Soil Conservation / Spring / Wildlife Gardening / Winter Gardening

 by Elizabeth McCoy

Why Bother With Bulbs?

  Bins of papery brown bulbs appear in every garden center and big box store right after the back-to-school displays disappear for another autumn.  I love to study the photos of bright spring flowers on the bins, bags, and boxes of bulbs. They invite the ultimate impulse purchase.  “Where to plant them?” you may wonder.  No matter, you’ll find a spot. As trees turn gold and scarlet, we feel the chill in the air, and know that the long summer...

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...

Beneficial Insects / Bulb Gardening / Compost / Evergreen Shrubs / Flowering Shrubs / Garden Design / Garden Maintenance / Gardening on the Wild Side: Working in Harmony with Nature / Lepidoptera / Native Plants / Soil Conservation / Sustainable Gardening / Wildlife Gardening

 by Elizabeth McCoy

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

  Autumn is like a second spring in our coastal Virginia climate.  We will enjoy another 90-100 frost-free days from August 1 until the end of our active growing season in early November.  Even then, there is still plenty to enjoy in our gardens and plenty to do during the colder months. We can plant seeds, plugs, and bulbs in August that will continue producing flowers, root crops, herbs, and leafy greens in the months ahead.  With so much time...

Beneficial Insects / Container Gardens / Fragrant Plants / Garden Design / Holiday Plants / Memorial Day / Summer Color Plants / Tender Perennials / Wildlife Gardening

 by Elizabeth McCoy

Patriotic Container Gardens for Summer Celebrations

The Historic Red, White and Blue Red, White and Blue is the iconic color scheme of an American summer.  These colors each have deep meanings and various interpretations.  American revolutionaries adopted these colors for our colonial flags beginning in 1776.  Yet red, white and blue were also the colors of the British flag, and the British Red Ensign Flag, a field of red with a Union Jack in the upper left corner, which flew over Colonial and British ships from...

Beneficial Insects / Container Gardens / Fragrant Plants / Garden Design / Gardening on the Wild Side: Working in Harmony with Nature / Heirloom plants / Herbs / Invasive Plants / Perennial Care / Permaculture / Sustainable Gardening / Tender Perennials / Vegetable Gardening / Wildlife Gardening

 by Elizabeth McCoy

Landscaping With Herbs Part II:  Deciduous Perennial Herbs

What is an Herb? Why is mint an herb, but clover isn’t?  Have you ever given it much thought?  Botanically, any plant with a soft stem, that dies back in winter, is ‘herbaceous.’  Were you give a stack of a dozen cards, each with the name and picture of a plant, could you sort them into ‘herbs’ and ‘not herbs’? If asked, most of us could probably name at least five herbs.  Those used in cooking, like basil and thyme...

Beneficial Insects / Container Gardens / Evergreen Perennials / Evergreen Shrubs / Food Forest / Fragrant Plants / Garden Design / Gardening on the Wild Side: Working in Harmony with Nature / Heirloom plants / Herbs / Sustainable Gardening / Therapeutic Gardening / Wildlife Gardening / Winter Gardening

 by Elizabeth McCoy

Landscaping with Herbs in Williamsburg

  Once upon a time, I found herb gardening a topic of mystique and mystery.  Maybe it was the herb gardening books I found, with their illustrations of medieval knot gardens, and the cute little pots of culinary herbs grown on the wide, sunny windowsill of someone’s gourmet kitchen.  Or maybe it was learning that many herbs prefer a Mediterranean climate with dry, rocky soil and lots of sunshine.  How could I replicate that in Virginia? It may have been...

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...

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...