Learning Gardens

Waterwise: Drought-Tolerant Gardening 

Water Wise Garden

Located at James City County Human Services Center, 5249 Olde Towne Road, Williamsburg, VA, our 20-year-old waterwise garden is staffed and maintained by the James City County Williamsburg Master Gardeners. This garden is host to over 12,000 visitors annually offering a peaceful space for those that come to the Center while it also is a demonstration garden showcasing drought-tolerant gardening practices.

When applying waterwise techniques and pointing them out to interested garden visitors, our staff reaches out in English and Spanish in several ways. One way is by identifying blooms from the garden which are affixed to a whiteboard with both the common and Spanish plant names. This practice is very popular with the Center’s visitors, so we are expanding it to include our other garden signage. In addition, we offer our own brochure and Virginia Cooperative Extension handouts in both English and Spanish.

Why not stop by and see for yourself? Admittance is free and there’s plenty of parking. For more information about this garden and waterwise methods, contact our Help Desk at 757-564-2175 or the Master Gardener project leaders, Elvin and Kay Clapp, [email protected].

Colonial Williamsburg Learning Gardens

There are two Colonial Williamsburg learning, teaching, and demonstration gardens where Master Gardeners and Interns work.  The Orr-Reid and Shields gardens are both in the Historic Area where 18th Century plants are grown.  Volunteers focus on several different areas of the gardens.  The Vegetable and Herb team works weekly on Friday morning’s mid-February to November.  The Flower and Herb team works weekly on Tuesday mornings March to November.  The Compost team works whenever a demonstration is needed.  In addition, Master Gardeners, who have been trained and cleared by CW, lead educational “Meet the Gardener” tours through the Reid Garden weekly, April—October.  NOTE: Volunteers in the CW Learning Gardens must be willing to commit to a minimum of 30 hours annually.  Upon completion of the JCCW intern commitment, the newly designated Master Gardener may apply for any open CW garden volunteer position in the Orr-Reid and Shields by first completing a CW application.  An interview by CW personnel will follow.   Any other JCCW MG may also follow this procedure in January of any year.

 

Williamsburg Botanical Garden 

In the Williamsburg Botanical Garden, plants are identified by botanically correct plant labels and additional signage throughout the four interior Gardens explains the various aspects of each area. These demonstration gardens display new and interesting plants and novel ways to grow and use them in the landscape. For example, the Perennial Garden garden showcases tried and true perennial varieties as well as providing a test area for evaluating the hardiness of plants selected annually by the Perennial Plant Association (PPA) to the Williamsburg climate.

The English Style Cottage Garden illustrates how to emulate the English Garden using proven reliable plants from our area in the characteristic lush dense planting of annuals, perennials including roses, herbs, and some vegetable plants. 

The Succulent Garden provides WBG visitors with an up-close look at some of the plants growing on the green roofs of the pergolas. This garden's intent is to also offer the gardener ideas on ways to incorporate succulents into their own home landscapes, incorporating them in a variety of ways and using them for example in non-traditional containers, and nesting plants in colorful stone settings. 

Williamsburg Botanical Garden

Colonial Williamsburg Arboretum

CW Arboretum

A task force of Master Gardener (MG) Tree Stewards and Colonial Williamsburg (CW) staff worked together beginning in 2018 to create the Colonial Williamsburg Arboretum. This work began as a Tree Steward volunteer graduation project. This area is the only Level II arboretum, certified by the Morton Arboretum under ArbNet, in Virginia. The team also worked to develop tour objectives, the talking points, and map out a tree tour route for weekly guided tours provided for the general public. Tree Steward Guides are interviewed, trained, and cleared before giving the tour to the public, and then monitored on a regular basis. Colonial Williamsburg publicizes the tour on its calendar of events and social media and incur all costs associated with training. Five of the six initial Tree Steward Volunteers (Carole Black, Rick Brown, Sharon Marcial, Stacy DeMeo and Susan Miller) serve as the Arboretum’s Tree Steward committee that continues to develop and monitor the project. They are responsible for providing all required written reports of public contacts, Project Book, budget information, accountings, status reports etc. that need to be maintained and filed with the Master Gardener Unit and CW.
Link to the CW website:  https://www.colonialwilliamsburg.org/explore/arboretum-gardens/

 

 

Members of the Historic Triangle Learning Garden Project

Historic Triangle Learning Garden

The Historic Triangle Learning Garden educates the community on how to grow fruit, herbs, and vegetables, with special emphasis on organic gardening.  It’s where the community may grow vegetables organically under the guidance of Master Gardeners. A specified number of garden beds are reserved for FISH harvest. FISH provides food, hygiene, and cleaning products to persons in need in the greater Williamsburg area. This garden is on Waller Mill Road beside the former Historic Triangle Community Services Center. 312 Waller Mill Rd.