Category: Taxonomy

Deer Resistant Plants / Ferns / Garden Design / Gardening on the Wild Side: Working in Harmony with Nature / Heirloom plants / Native Plants / Perennial Care / Plant Literacy / Sustainable Gardening / Taxonomy / Tender Perennials / Tropical Houseplants / Wildlife Gardening / Williamsburg Botanical Garden

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Finding Success with Maidenhair Ferns

  Maidenhair ferns look so delicate and fragile I avoided planting them for the first thirty-odd years of my gardening adventures.  I had no confidence in keeping them alive through a Virginia summer because I expected them to be fussy, requiring far more skillful care than I could offer. Native Northern Maidenhair Ferns When I first toured the Williamsburg Botanical Garden as a newly minted Master Gardener intern in April of 2018, our guide, Dr. Donna Ware, pointed out a...

Evergreen Shrubs / Gardening on the Wild Side: Working in Harmony with Nature / Heirloom plants / Native Trees / Permaculture / Taxonomy / Tree Identification / Wildlife Gardening

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Identifying Local Trees in Winter

  Recognizing and identifying trees can be a great pleasure.  Knowing trees well enough to understand how they fit into the local ecosystem, and how they can be used, allows us to look around at the trees in our community with even greater appreciation.  But there are so many trees!  How can you learn to identify them without carrying around a heavy field guide? This was our quandary as my novice Tree Steward colleagues and I began a project to...