The Williamsburg area has recently been rezoned by the USDA to a slightly warmer Zone 8a. But temperatures can still get down to 5°F or -15 °C, although we don’t typically see temperatures much below the 20s. So as we pull out our gloves and coats, here are some simple things we can do even now to prepare for when extreme cold weather is in the forecast. Tips for Protecting Plants Potted shrubs and perennials hardy to Zone 6 or...
A Special Needs Gardening Program! A collaboration between our Master Gardeners and Arc, the Arc of Abilities Day Support Program is for adults with special needs. The program teaches participants how to grow and use flowers, vegetables, and herbs that they cultivate in four large, raised beds year-round in the Williamsburg Botanical Garden’s Therapeutic Garden, and on rainy days in the Park’s Visitor’s Center. In a partnership that has lasted for more than five years, Master Gardeners meet with Arc...
Picnics with citronella candles, lemon scented furniture polish and sweet tea with lemons all recall happy childhood memories. Fragrance has a profound ability to create or shift a mood, to trigger memories and create new ones. Just as cinnamon evokes the holidays; crisp, cool lemon is a summertime fragrance. Most lemon scented plants thrive in warm climates. Lemon trees, Citrus limon, are hardy only to Zone 8. Originally native to Asia, they spread throughout the ancient world wherever the...
A friend was excited to buy milkweed plants at a WBG plant sale several years ago. They aren’t easy to find commercially, and few people raise them from seed. When I saw her again a few weeks later, I inquired about how her plants were doing. “Oh, I must have done something wrong. They’re not looking so good. Most of the leaves have disappeared,” she replied. I quickly reassured her that it was unlikely she had done...
Colorful flowers and enticing plants fill every table and rack at garden centers right now. Even the most experienced gardener may feel a little overwhelmed with so many beautiful choices. Annual or perennial? How big will this get? Will deer and bunnies eat it? How long will it bloom? Sun or shade? Will it grow in a pot? Will it stand the heat? How much care will it require? And most importantly, will it go the distance and survive all...
Mosses are wild, native plants, and find spots to grow where conditions support them. They reproduce sexually with tiny spores that blow on the wind. They need consistent moisture to transform from a spore to a small plant, but they do it without any interference from the gardener. One way to develop a moss garden is to provide favorable conditions and let the mosses colonize on their own terms. This may take several years, even with consistent efforts to keep...
What blooms through the snow in your yard? Many older homes in our neighborhood have established clumps of evergreen hellebores blooming from January through April or May. Suddenly, there are delicate pink and white petals emerging in the depths of winter. I asked a new friend about them soon after we moved to Williamsburg, and she generously gave me trays full of seedling plants when she thinned hers that spring. What a wonderful gift! The plants she gave to me...
Is it possible to fall in love with a genus of plant? Absolutely. Some flowers appeal to us so persistently that we respond to them in ways that don’t quite make sense. Their pull on our imagination, our affections, and yes, our resources, defies reason. Across horticultural history you’ll find characters who left their home continents behind to collect favorite plants. You’ll find those who quit their day jobs to breed and grow them full-time. And you will find smitten...
Did Santa bring you a potted plant for Christmas? Or maybe a neighbor dropped by with a beautiful potted something to spread a bit of good cheer your way? Or do you always linger at the rack of holiday plants and wonder which ones you might be able to keep alive for a few weeks this winter? December and January are a great time to shop for plants. And this week, especially, after Christmas, you’ll find some good values...
Did you notice bees and other insects feeding later than usual last year? And did you notice how many were out feeding on warm days last winter? Our roller coaster weather affects insects, birds and other animals. They may be out and about on warmish days in months when we don’t expect to see them. And, of course they are hungry! Increased activity translates into an increased need for calories. Providing winter forage for pollinators and birds presents gardeners...