Tagged: Garden Design

mountain laurel in bloom

Evergreen Shrubs / Flowering Shrubs / Garden Design / Heirloom plants / Native Trees / Ornamental Shrubs / Poisonous Plants / Spring / Wildlife Gardening

 by Elizabeth McCoy

Mountain Laurel, A Native Shrub to Love

  I love finding mountain laurel growing in large, lovely masses in the wild.  Its creamy pink flowers glow softly in the forest.  Wild mountain laurel, Kalmia latifolia, sometimes grows along the undeveloped banks of creeks and rivers in Eastern Virginia.  It grows as an understory shrub in our oak, beach and pine forests. These evergreen shrubs, almost small trees, simply blend into the fabric of the woods through much of the year before bursting into bloom, suddenly elegant and...

Container Gardens / Edible Plants / Food Forest / Fragrant Plants / Garden Design / Gardening on the Wild Side: Working in Harmony with Nature / Heirloom plants / Herbs / Propagation / Wildlife Gardening

 by Elizabeth McCoy

Landscaping With Herbs Part III: Annual, Biennial and Tender Perennial Herbs

Benefits of Garden Herbs Herbs attract hummingbirds and butterflies like few other plants.  It is worth planting a few herbs whether you plan to harvest and cook with them or not because they are tough, easy to grow, and beautiful.  They come with side benefits; their essential oils not only offer fragrance and flavor, but they also deter grazers.  If you have watched deer chew your roses and impatiens like deer candy, know that your herbs will survive their curiosity. ...

Carbon Garden / Citizen Science / Climate Change / Evergreen Perennials / Ferns / Garden Design / Gardening on the Wild Side: Working in Harmony with Nature / Native Plants / Restoration / Soil Conservation / Sustainable Gardening / Wildlife Gardening / Winter Gardening

 by Elizabeth McCoy

Christmas Ferns: A Small Step Towards Climate Solutions

  A Very Personal Challenge As more and more of us feel the effects of chaotic weather patterns and climate change on our own communities and families, we know that waiting for governments and corporations to ‘solve’ the problem is no longer enough.  We each explore ways that we can make a personal, positive difference in this very personal circumstance.  Whether we worry about heat or storms, flooding or high winds, we understand that communities around the planet are also...

Beneficial Insects / Container Gardens / Evergreen Perennials / Evergreen Shrubs / Food Forest / Fragrant Plants / Garden Design / Gardening on the Wild Side: Working in Harmony with Nature / Heirloom plants / Herbs / Sustainable Gardening / Therapeutic Gardening / Wildlife Gardening / Winter Gardening

 by Elizabeth McCoy

Landscaping with Herbs in Williamsburg

  Once upon a time, I found herb gardening a topic of mystique and mystery.  Maybe it was the herb gardening books I found, with their illustrations of medieval knot gardens, and the cute little pots of culinary herbs grown on the wide, sunny windowsill of someone’s gourmet kitchen.  Or maybe it was learning that many herbs prefer a Mediterranean climate with dry, rocky soil and lots of sunshine.  How could I replicate that in Virginia? It may have been...

Carbon Garden / Garden Design / Gardening on the Wild Side: Working in Harmony with Nature / Heirloom plants / Invasive Plants / Larval Host Plants / Native Plants / Native Trees / Organic Vegetable Gardening / Soil Conservation / Sustainable Gardening / Wildlife Gardening

 by Elizabeth McCoy

Natural Plant Fertilizers for Your Garden

  How do you fertilize your garden without buying any fertilizer?  That is a key question for gardeners and farmers throughout the world today, as it was a key concern for our ancestors who couldn’t purchase commercial fertilizers for their fields.   Soil must be fed to remain productive.   Many popular crops, like corn and cotton, deplete the soil after just a few years.  Our ancestors learned to use many natural fertilizers to keep their soil productive.   The Importance of...

Animal repellant products / Community Gardening / Compost / Deer / Edible Plants / Garden Design / Garden Maintenance / Gardening on the Wild Side: Working in Harmony with Nature / Heirloom plants / Organic Vegetable Gardening / Raised Beds / Seeds / Spring

 by Elizabeth McCoy

The Real Magic- Starting With Seeds

  Growing our own plants from seeds opens up a wide horizon of choices never even imagined by those who depend on the big box stores for their starts each spring.   There are many varieties of vegetables, herbs, flowers, and trees that have never been marketed in our area as seedlings.  Even within a popular type of vegetable, like tomatoes, there are many delicious named cultivars, many of them heirloom, not in commercial production as seedlings. Malabar spinach, a vining...

Carbon Garden / Climate Change / Flowering Shrubs / Garden Design / Gardening on the Wild Side: Working in Harmony with Nature / Heirloom plants / Native Trees / Soil Conservation / Tree Care / Weather

 by Elizabeth McCoy

Planting Trees and Other Hacks to Manage Wet Soils

  Water may be a blessing or a curse.  Gardeners usually want abundant rain to nurture their plantings and generally have a back-up irrigation plan for dry spells.  Providing the right amount of water for each plant is one of the keys to a gardener’s success. Working With the Water Cycle Just as leaves absorb carbon from the air, so roots absorb water from the soil.  The water, and any chemicals or elements dissolved in it, may be stored in...

Birds / Garden Design / Gardening on the Wild Side: Working in Harmony with Nature / Holiday Plants / Native Trees / Permaculture / Poisonous Plants / Sustainable Gardening / Wildlife Gardening

 by Elizabeth McCoy

Holly, King of the Winter Forest

  In late autumn, the Williamsburg area woods light up with evergreen holly trees as the hardwoods lose their leaves.  It is their time to sparkle in the winter sunshine.  Their broad, prickly leaves are waxy on top, reflecting what light reaches them through the forest canopy. Unobtrusive throughout the summer, hollies are among the few forest trees, along with wax myrtle, pines, cedars, and magnolias, which remain bright green and covered in leaves throughout the year. Holly King Legends...

Beneficial Insects / Birds / Evergreen Shrubs / Flowering Shrubs / Garden Design / Gardening on the Wild Side: Working in Harmony with Nature / Heirloom plants / Invasive Plants / Keystone Species / Native Plants / Native Trees / Ornamental Shrubs / Permaculture / Poisonous Plants / Wildlife Gardening / Winter

 by Elizabeth McCoy

A Winter Wildlife Garden- “Inviting the Stranger”

  Cardinals nest in a large evergreen shrub beside my kitchen window.  Though the shrub, Ligustrum, is frowned upon by many contemporary gardeners as invasive, the birds don’t know that.  They delight in its abundant berries and the insects that visit year-round. We delight in watching the birds come and go, even as they peer in the windows at us.  We amuse one another.  Cardinals, titmice and other birds also perch in the crape myrtle tree a little further out...

Evergreen Perennials / Ferns / Garden Design / Native Plants / Sustainable Gardening / Wildlife Gardening

 by Elizabeth McCoy

Evergreen Ferns Brighten Winter Gardens

  Autumn color and falling leaves turn a gardener’s thoughts to the winter months ahead.  While we’re still buying flats of bright pansies, pots of chrysanthemums and a pumpkin or two, let’s take the opportunity to also seek out evergreen ferns at local garden centers and online nurseries.  Evergreen ferns brighten the winter landscape as the ‘main event’ in winter container plantings, as ground cover under trees, and in borders and foundation plantings.     There are at least four...