Category: Wildlife Gardening

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...

Brickyard / Conservation / Garden Design / Grasses / Native Plants / Plant Literacy / Restoration / Soil Conservation / Wildlife Gardening

 by Elizabeth McCoy

Landscape Grasses Every Master Gardener Should Know

  Perennial Grasses have many uses in the landscape, including helping to control erosion and adding structural interest to the landscape.   They tend to be very drought tolerant, tough, and seldom will be grazed by deer.  Most grasses are left standing through the winter and cut back in early spring, making room for new growth to emerge.  Some grasses, like river oats, self-seed freely.  Clumps of grasses expand as the plants mature.   Perennial Landscape Grasses Andropogon spp., Bluestem,  Beardgrass,...

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 / Flowering Shrubs / Food Forest / Garden Design / Heirloom plants / Ornamental Shrubs / Permaculture / Plant Literacy / Tree Identification / Trees / Wildlife Gardening

 by Elizabeth McCoy

Deciduous Trees and Shrubs Every Master Gardener Should Know

Deciduous Shade Trees Quercus spp., Oak Acer spp., Maple Betula spp., Birch Corylus americana, American Hazelnut Fagus grandifolia, American Beach Juglans nigra, Black Walnut Platanus occidentalis, American Sycamore Liquidambar styraciflua, American Sweetgum Carya illinoinensis, Pecan Carya spp., Hickory Salix spp., Willows   Flowering Deciduous Trees   Aesculus pavia, Scarlet Buckeye Amelanchier laevis, Allegheny Serviceberry Cercis canadensis, Redbud Cornus spp. Other Dogwood species Cornus florida, Flowering Dogwood Lagerstroemia indica, Crape Myrtle Liriodendron tulipifera, Tulip Poplar Magnolia virginiana, Sweetbay Magnolia Magnolia spp....

Bulb Gardening / Conservation / Container Gardens / Evergreen Perennials / Fragrant Plants / Garden Design / Geophytes / Heirloom plants / Hummingbird Gardening / Native Plants / Permaculture / Plant Literacy / Sustainable Gardening / Wildlife Gardening

 by Elizabeth McCoy

Ornamental Perennials Every Master Gardener Should Know

Perennial plants feature prominently in most gardens.  They may be evergreen or deciduous, have showy flowers or may be grown mostly for their foliage.  Some steal the spotlight for only a few weeks while others remain productive over several months.  Flowering perennials, whether native or not, help support a variety of pollinating insects.  Those that produce seeds may support birds long into the winter. Plants readily available in the nursery trade are most likely hybrids or named cultivars of specific...

Bluebirds / boxwood / Citizen Science / Conservation / Flowering Shrubs / Food Forest / Garden Design / Garden Maintenance / Gardening on the Wild Side: Working in Harmony with Nature / Invasive Plants / Invasive Plants / Jamestown Island / Learning Gardens / Nuisance Plants / Plant Literacy / Poisonous Plants / Resource Protection / Tree Identification / Weeds / Wildlife Gardening / Williamsburg Botanical Garden

 by Elizabeth McCoy

Common Invasive Plants Every Master Gardener Should Know

  The question of invasive plants is an interesting one, in part because the list keeps growing.  Some of the plants on this list may surprise you because they are so commonly found in our local yards and landscapes.  A few plants have just been added to the list over the past year. While some, like stilt grass are noxious weeds, many of these ornamental plants are still available in the nursery trade.  Several are beloved by local butterflies and...

Beneficial Insects / Birds / Carbon Garden / Compost / Fall / Garden Maintenance / Gardening on the Wild Side: Working in Harmony with Nature / Moss Gardening / Native Trees / Phenology / Poisonous Plants / Resource Protection / Soil Conservation / Tree Care / Trees / Water Wise / Wildlife Gardening

 by Elizabeth McCoy

Options for Autumn Leaf Clean-up

  Leaves float on every strong breeze, covering our walks and driveway just hours after we last cleaned them.  The many different species of trees in our community almost guarantee that we will have a long season of managing fallen leaves and pine tags. Leaves may begin to fall in August or September, particularly when the weather is dry.  And some trees hold onto their leaves until the following spring.  So cleaning up fallen leaves is more of an ongoing...

Carbon Garden / Climate Change / Colonial Williamsburg Arboretum / Colonial Williamsburg Arboretum / Deer / Farm-To-Table / Farming / Food Forest / Foraging / Gardening on the Wild Side: Working in Harmony with Nature / Larval Host Plants / Native Trees / Soil Conservation / Tree Identification / Wildlife Gardening

 by Elizabeth McCoy

Secrets in the Pawpaw Patch, Quick Notes Version

  Pawpaw  Flowers Pollination Challenges Pawpaw flowers are a dull red to purple color which resembles rotting meat, and they have a putrid odor to attract the flies and beetles that pollinate them , much like native  skunk cabbage and jack-in-the pulpit. Pawpaw’s small flowers have six petals and are rarely larger than a half-dollar.  These are ‘perfect’ flowers, having both male, pollen bearing stamens and a female pistil, whose base will develop into the fruit after about five to...

climate change / Colonial Williamsburg Arboretum / Colonial Williamsburg Arboretum / Community Gardening / Conservation / Edible Plants / Farm-To-Table / Food Forest / Foraging / Gardening on the Wild Side: Working in Harmony with Nature / Larval Host Plants / Permaculture / Resource Protection / Trees / Wildlife Gardening

 by Elizabeth McCoy

Secrets in the Pawpaw Patch

  If you happen to come across a pawpaw patch in the springtime, when the trees have covered themselves in small, deep red blossoms, please don’t be tempted to step closer to smell the flowers.  Admire them from afar.  Zoom in  to take a photo.  Like skunk cabbage and jack-in-the pulpit, pawpaw flowers have a putrid odor to attract the flies and beetles that pollinate them, and the dull color of their flowers resembles rotting meat. Pawpaw’s small flowers, rarely...