Tagged: gardening in Williamsburg

Prized Plants at the Olympic Games

Container Gardens / Edible Plants / Evergreen Shrubs / Evergreen trees / Fragrant Plants / Heirloom plants / Herbs / Ornamental Shrubs / Therapeutic Gardening / Trees

 by Betsy Beyer

Prized Plants at the Olympic Games

  The Olympic Games, a symbol of international unity and athletic excellence, incorporate plants and flowers into their ceremonies. These botanical elements enhance the visual appeal of the events and carry cultural and historical significance as well. Laurel and Olive in Ancient Greece In ancient Greece, victors of the Olympic Games were awarded olive wreaths, known as kotinos, made from the branches of the olive tree which is sacred to Zeus. This tradition dates back to 776 BCE and symbolizes...

Carbon Garden / Climate Change / Conservation / Food Forest / Foraging / Gardening on the Wild Side: Working in Harmony with Nature / Heirloom plants / Mycorrhiza / Native Trees / Permaculture / Restoration / Sustainable Gardening / Tree Care / Tree Identification / Trees / Trees in Winter / Wildlife Gardening / Williamsburg Botanical Garden

 by Elizabeth McCoy

Beech, the Mother Tree, Queen of the Forest

A Mythic Forest The American beech, Fagus grandifolia, once covered most of North America from Canada to Mexico and from the Atlantic to the Pacific coasts.  Before colonists cleared our ancient forests for farmland, large beech groves grew as part of the climax forest community.  A single beech tree can live for centuries, and as it ages it surrounds itself with sapling trees growing as suckers from its relatively shallow root system, forming an expanding grove of graceful beech trees....

Conservation / Garden Design / Garden Maintenance / Gardening on the Wild Side: Working in Harmony with Nature / Mycorrhiza / Mycorrhizal Fungi / Soil Conservation / Water Wise / Weather / Wildlife Gardening

 by Elizabeth McCoy

Quick Notes: Mysteries of the Micorrhizae

What is a mycorrhiza? (my-kor-rise’-uh) A mycorrhiza is a symbiotic relationship between a plant and a network of mycelium in the soil.  Over 90% of plant species depend on mycorrhizal fungi to assist their roots in accessing water and minerals from the environment.  Mycelium extend the reach of a plants’ roots.   Why are mycorrhizae important? Fungi share in the abundance of sugars and other carbon-based phytochemicals produced by a growing plant each day.  They use carbohydrates absorbed from a...

Carbon Garden / Citizen Science / Compost / Conservation / Food Forest / Gardening on the Wild Side: Working in Harmony with Nature / Mycorrhiza / Mycorrhizal Fungi / Permaculture / Restoration / Soil Conservation / Wildlife Gardening

 by Elizabeth McCoy

Mysteries of the Mycorrhizae

  “To use the world well, To be able to stop wasting it and our time in it, we need to relearn our being in it.” Ursula Le Guin   A friend and I were chatting about recipes one afternoon.  She is a talented cook and loves to feed her friends and loved ones.  I asked for the recipe for something delicious she had served, and she avoided disclosing the details.  Finally, she gently explained that among her family, no...

Birds / Carbon Garden / Conservation / Edible Plants / Evergreen Shrubs / Flowering Shrubs / Food Forest / Foraging / Garden Design / Gardening on the Wild Side: Working in Harmony with Nature / Heirloom plants / Larval Host Plants / Native Trees / Permaculture / Wildlife Gardening

 by Elizabeth McCoy

Part 2: PNV: Potential Natural (Native) Vegetation

  Appropriate Species for Tiny Forests in Eastern Virginia Tiny forests designed following the Miyawaki method include a wide variety of native trees, shrubs, and ground covers planted randomly and densely, varying the heights of trees to establish a canopy layer, intermediate layers, and a ground cover layer.  Plant as many as 3 to 5 plants per square meter into the prepared soil.  Plants grow quickly, reaching for the light.  A forest that takes a century or more to develop...

Tricolor culinary sage

Container Gardens / Edible Plants / Evergreen Shrubs / Food Forest / Fragrant Plants / Garden Design / Garden Maintenance / Gardening on the Wild Side: Working in Harmony with Nature / Heirloom plants / Herbs / Hummingbird Gardening / Propagation / Summer Color Plants / Wildlife Gardening / Williamsburg Botanical Garden

 by Elizabeth McCoy

Sage ‘The Savior’

  “Why should a man die in whose garden grows sage? Against the power of death there is not medicine in our gardens But Sage calms the nerves, takes away hand Tremors, and helps cure fever. Sage, castoreum, lavender, primrose, Nasturtium, and athanasia cure paralytic parts of the body. O sage the savior, of nature the conciliator!” From the Regimen Sanitatis Salernitanum ca 1100-1200 CE   The name Salvia officinalis, designating our common culinary sage, derives its species name from...

Deer / Garden Maintenance / Gardening on the Wild Side: Working in Harmony with Nature / Perennial Care / Resource Protection / Soil Conservation / Summer / Water Wise / Weather / Wildlife Gardening

 by Elizabeth McCoy

Summer in the Garden: To Do, To Do Less, and To Avoid

  Summer at last!  Tomatoes are ripening, flowers blooming, and we are enjoying prime time in the garden.  July and August can be our most productive season in the garden.  But these months challenge our ingenuity and dedication when the weather turns hot and dry.  All our garden dreams can wither under the summer sun or topple over in a summer storm if we neglect the basic maintenance routines that help our gardens thrive.  Here are a few tips to...

Beneficial Insects / Birds / Citizen Science / climate change / Conservation / Flowering Shrubs / Garden Design / Gardening on the Wild Side: Working in Harmony with Nature / Hummingbird Gardening / Keystone Species / Larval Host Plants / Lepidoptera / Native Trees / Phenology / Weather / Wildlife Gardening

 by Elizabeth McCoy

Beyond Flowers: How to Support Pollinators in Your Own Yard

  Have you ever planned a party, set up the bar and buffet, and then felt disappointed by how few people turned up to enjoy your hospitality?   We are left wondering what went wrong.  Curious gardeners planting flowers to support pollinators have sometimes been left feeling that way in recent years.  We plant a tempting array of all the right plants and then sit watching and waiting for hummingbirds, butterflies, bees, and other winged pollinators to swoop in to enjoy...

Carbon Garden / Edible Plants / Evergreen Perennials / Food Forest / Fragrant Plants / Garden Design / Gardening on the Wild Side: Working in Harmony with Nature / Heirloom plants / Herbs / Holiday Plants / Ornamental Shrubs / Pollinators / Wildlife Gardening / Williamsburg Botanical Garden

 by Elizabeth McCoy

Mythical Rosemary

  Mythical Rosemary The woody, green fragrance of rosemary brings happiness.  Rosemary has served as food, fragrance, medicine, as a religious tool, and as a favorite garden plant for millennia. It is considered a sacred and magical herb, associated both with Aphrodite and with Mother Mary.  Rosemary has been planted in monastery, temple, medicinal and royal gardens over many centuries. Known now as Salvia rosmarinus, rather than the Rosmarinus officinalis we all learned, rosemary has one of the longest cultural...

Edible Plants / Evergreen Perennials / Fragrant Plants / Garden Design / Garden Maintenance / Gardening on the Wild Side: Working in Harmony with Nature / Heirloom plants / Herbs / Pollinators / Spring / Summer / Wildlife Gardening

 by Elizabeth McCoy

Magical Thyme

  “I know a bank where the wild thyme blows, Where oxlips and the nodding violet grows, Quite over-canopied with luscious woodbine, With sweet musk-roses and with eglantine: There sleeps Titania sometime of the night, Lull’d in these flowers with dances and delight; And there the snake throws her enamell’d skin,  Weed wide enough to wrap a fairy in:” William Shakespeare, from A Midsummer Night’s Dream Magical Thyme If you are wanting to conjure a bit of magic in your...