If fragrance is the gate of memory, the spicy aroma of Eastern red cedar takes me back to childhood holidays. My parents would load us in the car, about a week before Christmas, for a drive out to a friend’s farm where we could walk through the meadows in search of our Christmas tree. After a lively debate about the trees we found, Dad would pull out an old handsaw and begin cutting the tree. We would all help...
The first Camellia shrub usually chooses a stretch of damp, cool October days to burst into bloom. I am always taken by surprise when its luminous white, spring-like blossoms unfold, because they look rather out of place beside the colorful leaves falling from nearby trees. Bright flowers in shades of white, pink, and red open on our evergreen Camellia shrubs each October and November while the rest of the garden fades, and as we begin preparing for winter’s...
Vines of all types love our Coastal Virginia climate. Many different species thrive in summer’s heat and humidity, growing by inches each day. They creep across the ground until they encounter something to climb. Their tender, flexible tips reach up and out in search of a support, and then they climb. Benefits of Vines All vines in our area produce flowers and seeds. While some flowers are bright and showy, like the bright orange trumpet creeper, others are nearly...
I never intended to create the Lantana stand. Never in my wildest gardening dream did I expect it to get this huge. There were no warning labels to prepare me for what it has become. And it all began so innocently… In the beginning, there were only a lonely tea rose and a few New Guinnea impatiens, I. hawkeri, growing in the neat round bed in the center of our new front yard. We bought the house in...
Every tiny seed holds a bit of life, stored efficiently enough that it can spring into growth in some future time when conditions permit. The saying goes that every acorn holds the potential for a future forest of oaks. Although that acorn will grow into only a single tree, each tree can produce millions of acorns during its lifespan. A ripened seed, the DNA for a new plant, contains stored proteins, carbohydrates and minerals in its cotyledon, and a...
A friend showed me a video she had taken in her backyard of hummingbirds swarming around one of her feeders. She loves hummingbirds and works hard to attract and care for them. She plants containers filled with flowers she knows they like, and maintains multiple feeders kept stocked with sugar water. She told me that she has several tiny feeders on stakes that she places among the flowers in her containers. There were so many tiny birds flying about...
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...
Enthusiastic gardeners begin planning, planting, and preparing for the season to come at the first hint of spring. Some of us may still be planting daffodils in December or January and watch for the first snowdrops to appear as the last bulbs go into the ground. There is very little break during winter. We are always watching the progress of our gardens and exploring sustainable gardening practices. And our hearts remain filled with hope for the seasons to come....
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...
The sweet fragrance of Magnolia flowers on a warm breeze announces summer in Virginia. But that wasn’t the case 400 years ago, before European colonists began exploring for interesting tree species, transplanting them to new areas, and exporting them back to Europe. The original native range of Magnolia grandiflora is only from the Carolinas south to Florida and westwards towards Texas along the Gulf Coast. Our iconic Southern Magnolia trees aren’t indigenous in this region, but they have since...