Category: Garden Design

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...

Container Gardens / Garden Design / Garden Maintenance / Gardening on the Wild Side: Working in Harmony with Nature / Heirloom plants / Native Plants / Perennial Care / Poisonous Plants / Summer Color Plants / Sustainable Gardening / Wildlife Gardening

 by Elizabeth McCoy

Top Plant Picks for Summer Color: Foliage (Part 2)

Colorful and enticing plants fill every table and rack at garden centers in May.  Even the most experienced gardener may feel a little overwhelmed with so many interesting choices. Annual or perennial?  How big will this get? Will deer and bunnies eat it?  How long will it last?  Sun or shade?  Will it grow in a pot?  Will it stand the heat?  How much care will it require?  And most importantly, will it go the distance and survive all season?...

A hummingbird moth feeds on Lantana 'Chapel Hill Yellow'

Carbon Garden / Garden Design / Garden Maintenance / Gardening on the Wild Side: Working in Harmony with Nature / Heirloom plants / Perennial Care / Summer Color Plants / Tender Perennials / Wildlife Gardening

 by Elizabeth McCoy

Top Plant Picks for Summer Color: Flowers (Part 1)

Colorful flowers and enticing plants fill every table and rack at garden centers right now.  Even the most experienced gardener may feel a little overwhelmed with so many beautiful choices. Annual or perennial?  How big will this get? Will deer and bunnies eat it?  How long will it bloom?  Sun or shade?  Will it grow in a pot?  Will it stand the heat?  How much care will it require? And most importantly, will it go the distance and survive all...

Beneficial Insects / Garden Design / Gardening on the Wild Side: Working in Harmony with Nature / Larval Host Plants / Native Plants / Native Trees / Sustainable Gardening / Wildlife Gardening

 by Elizabeth McCoy

For Love of Trees

  Trees enrich our lives in countless ways. Yet we may not pay them much attention, until they are gone. A Million Trees in a Single Day Pioneers in the Nebraska Territory missed the trees they left behind back East.  They needed trees for shade from the summer sun, for windbreaks to hold the soil, for fuel and for building materials.  They needed trees so much, that Nebraska’s Board of Agriculture planned the first American Arbor Day celebration on April...

Beneficial Insects / Garden Design / Garden Maintenance / Gardening on the Wild Side: Working in Harmony with Nature / Larval Host Plants / Lepidoptera / Native Plants / Native Trees / Permaculture / Soil Conservation / Sustainable Gardening / Wildlife Gardening

 by Elizabeth McCoy

Invitation to a ‘Homegrown National Park’

The bright flash of a butterfly’s wing brings instant joy.  My mind clears for a moment of rapt attention to see what sort of butterfly it is.  Where is it flying?  Where is it feeding?  Will it stay in our yard?  Whatever had been churning through my mind evaporates in that moment of pure beauty. Birdsong in the morning gently pulls me back from dreams, and we hear birds chattering and calling throughout the day, flying from shrub to tree. ...

Container Gardens / Evergreen Perennials / Garden Design / Garden Maintenance / Gardening on the Wild Side: Working in Harmony with Nature / Moss Gardening / Native Plants / Perennial Care / Permaculture / Sustainable Gardening

 by Elizabeth McCoy

Cultivating Moss Part 2: Propagation Methods

Mosses are wild, native plants, and find spots to grow where conditions support them.  They reproduce sexually with tiny spores that blow on the wind.  They need consistent moisture to transform from a spore to a small plant, but they do it without any interference from the gardener.  One way to develop a moss garden is to provide favorable conditions and let the mosses colonize on their own terms.  This may take several years, even with consistent efforts to keep...

Container Gardens / Deer / Garden Design / Garden Maintenance / Gardening on the Wild Side: Working in Harmony with Nature / Heirloom plants / Perennial Care / Permaculture / Poisonous Plants / Propagation / Soil Conservation / Sustainable Gardening / Wildlife Gardening

 by Elizabeth McCoy

Hellebores: Winter Flowers for Pollinators

What blooms through the snow in your yard?  Many older homes in our neighborhood have established clumps of evergreen hellebores blooming from January through April or May.  Suddenly, there are delicate pink and white petals emerging in the depths of winter. I asked a new friend about them soon after we moved to Williamsburg, and she generously gave me trays full of seedling plants when she thinned hers that spring.  What a wonderful gift!  The plants she gave to me...

Bulb Gardening / Container Gardens / Garden Design / Garden Maintenance / Gardening on the Wild Side: Working in Harmony with Nature / Geophytes / Heirloom plants / Permaculture / Poisonous Plants / Sustainable Gardening / Wildlife Gardening

 by Elizabeth McCoy

For Love of Narcissus

Is it possible to fall in love with a genus of plant?  Absolutely.  Some flowers appeal to us so persistently that we respond to them in ways that don’t quite make sense.  Their pull on our imagination, our affections, and yes, our resources, defies reason. Across horticultural history you’ll find characters who left their home continents behind to collect favorite plants.  You’ll find those who quit their day jobs to breed and grow them full-time.  And you will find smitten...

Birds / Evergreen Shrubs / Flowering Shrubs / Garden Design / Garden Maintenance / Permaculture / Poisonous Plants / Tales from the Help Desk / Wildlife Gardening

 by Patsy McGrady

Tales from the Help Desk, Poisonous Red Berries

Q. I have heard that Nandina is poisonous to birds. My community has planted many Nandina plants. Should we remove these plants to protect birds?  A. It is true that Nandina (Nandina domestica) berries contain cyanide and are, therefore, highly toxic to birds and other animals. However, the only well documented case of birds dying from ingesting Nandina berries occurred in April 2009 when dozens of Cedar Waxwings were found dead in Thomas County, Georgia. The University of Georgia, College...