Category: Wildlife Gardening

Beneficial Insects / Birds / Edible Plants / Fragrant Plants / Garden Design / Garden Maintenance / Gardening on the Wild Side: Working in Harmony with Nature / Larval Host Plants / Native Plants / Perennial Care / Permaculture / Propagation / Wildlife Gardening

 by Elizabeth McCoy

Featured Plants for 2025

  Let’s celebrate some of our more unusual and lesser-known native wildflowers in 2025.  The Virginia Native Plant Society has chosen the Mayapple, Podophyllum peltatum, as its 2025 Wildflower of the Year.  The Perennial Plant Association has also chosen a native wildflower, indigenous to Virginia, as its pick for 2025. Perennial Plant of the Year for 2025 The 2025 Perennial Plant of the Year is clustered mountain mint, Pycnanthemum muticum, a native wildflower in the mint, or Lamiaceae family.  It attracts...

Food Forest / Foraging / Garden Maintenance / Gardening on the Wild Side: Working in Harmony with Nature / Larval Host Plants / Native Trees / Ornamental Shrubs / Planting Trees / Spring Flowering Trees / Trees / Wildlife Gardening

 by Elizabeth McCoy

Burst Into Spring with Eastern Redbud

  A Beacon of Spring A blooming redbud tree grabs my attention like no other spring flowering tree.  It just suddenly lights up like a neon beacon glowing brightly in the edge of the wintery forest; transforming from non-descript to gorgeous in the space of a day. Unlike other spring blooming trees which show visibly swelling buds for weeks, while they wait for winter’s cold to pass; clusters of redbud blossoms simply break directly out of its bark, anywhere and...

Conservation / Deer / Garden Design / Gardening on the Wild Side: Working in Harmony with Nature / Hedgerow / Ornamental Shrubs / Poisonous Plants / Resource Protection / Sustainable Gardening / Tree Care / Trees / Wildlife Gardening / Winter Gardening

 by Elizabeth McCoy

Oh Deer!

  Fallen leaves carpet the ravine behind our home, broken only by thick green stems of bamboo, taller than most of our trees; a few young pawpaw and scarlet buckeye trees; and the thick trunks of century old beech trees.  There are also a few fallen, decaying trunks of trees lost to storms, but none of the undergrowth you might expect to find in a wild ravine bordering a small lake.  The soil is rich and deep.  Dappled sunlight illuminates...

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...