Vibrant Fall Foliage Are you drawn to bright scarlet leaves in autumn? You have probably admired sumac shrubs growing along the roadsides even if you didn’t know their name. Sumac’s huge, compound leaves can grow to two feet long, made up of as many as 31 leaflets arranged along its colorful central stem. They are deep green and glossy through much of the year, until they turn golden, orange, scarlet, or even deep purple from September until the leaves finally...
“The art of healing comes from nature, not from the physician.” Paracelsus Creating Sanctuary Sometimes we all need a place to get away from the noise of our daily lives to find some peace. We want a place to relax, to heal, to reconnect with the natural world, and to dream of a better future for ourselves and our loved ones. Our outdoor spaces can provide us with peace, healing, sanctuary, sustenance, and inspiration when we design them with these...
Fragrant Gardenia Flowers Fragrance often announces the shift in our seasons, alerting us to look more carefully for what has changed since the day before. In June, a languid sweetness in the air calls our attention to the first flowers opening on the Gardenia shrub, a fixture in many Southeastern gardens, including residential gardens in coastal Virginia. Pristine, white and elegant, Gardenia flowers tend to fade all too quickly. Their beauty is ephemeral as they fade first to beige...
Dangerously Beautiful Opuntia Opuntia is a dangerous plant. A beautiful plant, perhaps, useful and delicious; but always dangerous to anyone who comes near it. Approach any Opuntia (Oh-POON’-tee-ah) you see with great care. Wear gloves. Wear heavy shoes and long pants. Study it carefully before approaching and consider its mysteries with an open mind. It is rife with contradictions. Opuntia is a native cactus that looks entirely out of place in most Virginia landscapes, though it grows here easily in...
A New View of our Earth American soldiers and scientists working at White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico took the first images of Earth from space in late October of 1946 when they attached a 35-millimeter movie camera to a confiscated German V-2 missile they were testing. The missile reached an altitude of 65 miles, just above the limit of ‘outer space,’ before crashing back to earth with the film protected in a steel container. Subsequent missile tests...
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...
The 2026 Pruning Home Visits Application Request window is OPEN through mid-March, 2026. APPLY NOW to get personalized pruning instructions from our Extension Master Gardeners. Click below to apply. Woody plants remain healthier, more productive, and more beautiful with strategic, well-timed pruning. Pruning young plants guides their growth into a strong and balanced structure. Pruning older plants opens them up to sunlight and airflow, limiting the opportunities for disease to infect them. Proper pruning can also rejuvenate them with...
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...
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....
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...