Tagged: Native Trees

Compton Oak CW Arboretum

Colonial Williamsburg Arboretum / Conservation / Garden Design / Heirloom plants / Keystone Species / Native Trees / Planting Trees / Tree Identification / Trees

 by Rick Brown

The Compton Oak

  The former Colonial Williamsburg Garden Historian, Wesley Greene, had a discussion with Scott Hemler, Colonial Williamsburg’s nurseryman this year in August, about the origin of our famous Compton Oak. In this exchange, Greene raised questions about the “legend” of this tree and how it came to be planted on Nicholson Street in historic Williamsburg. So, at Green’s suggestion, I began an investigation to see if the Archives at the Rockefeller Library could provide any additional information about the time...

Birds / Colonial Williamsburg Arboretum / Conservation / Evergreen Shrubs / Flowering Shrubs / Garden Design / Gardening on the Wild Side: Working in Harmony with Nature / Heirloom plants / Historic Trees / Native Trees / Ornamental Shrubs / Resource Protection / Wildlife Gardening

 by Rick Brown

The Bassett Trace Nature Trail 

              Colonial Williamsburg welcomes visitors to the natural beauty of one of the wilder, quieter portions of the historic area.     The Bassett Trace is named after Burwell Bassett, Martha Washington’s nephew and a Virginia legislator and congressman. In 1800, he purchased a white farmhouse near the trailhead.  In 1936, that farmhouse, now known as Bassett Hall, became the favorite home of John D. Rockefeller, Jr. and his wife Abby Aldrich Rockefeller.  During the restoration of Colonial Williamsburg, an...

Crafting With Plants / Evergreen Shrubs / Gardening on the Wild Side: Working in Harmony with Nature / Heirloom plants / Holiday Plants / Native Trees / Poisonous Plants / Wildlife Gardening

 by Elizabeth McCoy

The Roots of a Virginia Christmas

  Our contemporary Christmas celebration is an amalgamation of many diverse strands of meaning, custom, and tradition.  The first English colonists who ventured to Virginia on behalf of the Virginia Company of London brought their traditions and customs with them.  And those customs were already an odd mix drawing bits from the ancient world of the Neolithic Celts, the Greeks and the Romans; all molded into the contemporary post-Reformation culture of urban England. Keep in mind that the earliest Virginia...

Beneficial Insects / Carbon Garden / climate change / Conservation / Evergreen Shrubs / Evergreen trees / Flowering Shrubs / Gardening on the Wild Side: Working in Harmony with Nature / Phenology / Pollinators / Sustainable Gardening / Trees / USDA Hardiness Zone Map / Wildlife Gardening / Winter Gardening

 by Elizabeth McCoy

Updated 2023 Plant Hardiness Map

  The United States Department of Agriculture released an updated Plant Hardiness Zone map on November 15 that reflects changes for about half of the country.  This updated map, the first since 2012, is based on the average coldest winter temperature, on the coldest night of the year, for each region of the country.  The trend shown on this map paints an accurate picture of how many parts of our country are warming.  The USDA cautions, however, that the data...

Birds / Carbon Garden / Conservation / Edible Plants / Evergreen trees / Food Forest / Fragrant Plants / Gardening on the Wild Side: Working in Harmony with Nature / Heirloom plants / Historic Trees / Holiday Plants / Larval Host Plants / Native Trees / Wildlife Gardening

 by Elizabeth McCoy

Eastern Red Cedar: An Uncommonly Useful Tree

  If fragrance is the gate of memory, the spicy aroma of Eastern red cedar takes me back to childhood holidays.  My parents would load us in the car, about a week before Christmas, for a drive out to a friend’s farm where we could walk through the meadows in search of our Christmas tree.  After a lively debate about the trees we found, Dad would pull out an old handsaw and begin cutting the tree.  We would all help...

Colonial Williamsburg Arboretum / Conservation / Heirloom plants / Historic Trees / Native Trees / Trees

 by Rick Brown

  Arthur A. Shurcliff’s Gift to the Future

  A recent old photo that appeared on Facebook triggered a search through the Colonial Williamsburg Archives that led to the discovery of what may be the oldest living tree in this historic city. The photo, shown above, shows a group of workers standing in a very deep hole with the caption “Moving Cedar Tree 1933.” A comparison with that photo and an Eastern redcedar (Juniperus virginiana) standing behind Bassett Hall at the Northern entrance to the Rockefeller Vista, led...

Birds / Flowering Shrubs / Garden Design / Gardening on the Wild Side: Working in Harmony with Nature / Hummingbird Gardening / Summer Color Plants / Wildlife Gardening

 by Elizabeth McCoy

How to Create a Haven for Hummingbirds

  A friend showed me a video she had taken in her backyard of hummingbirds swarming around one of her feeders.  She loves hummingbirds and works hard to attract and care for them.  She plants containers filled with flowers she knows they like, and maintains multiple feeders kept stocked with sugar water.  She told me that she has several tiny feeders on stakes that she places among the flowers in her containers. There were so many tiny birds flying about...

Bulb Gardening / climate change / Garden Design / Garden Maintenance / Gardening on the Wild Side: Working in Harmony with Nature / Geophytes / Native Plants / Native Trees / Perennial Care / Soil Conservation / Sustainable Gardening / Water Wise / Watering / Weather / Wildlife Gardening

 by Elizabeth McCoy

Making a Resilient Drought-Tolerant Garden Part II: Techniques and Strategies

  Enthusiastic gardeners begin planning, planting, and preparing for the season to come at the first hint of spring.   Some of us may still be planting daffodils in December or January and watch for the first snowdrops to appear as the last bulbs go into the ground.  There is very little break during winter.   We are always watching the progress of our gardens and exploring sustainable gardening practices.  And our hearts remain filled with hope for the seasons to come....

Carbon Garden / Edible Plants / Fragrant Plants / Garden Design / Gardening on the Wild Side: Working in Harmony with Nature / Heirloom plants / Holiday Plants / Native Trees / Summer / Sustainable Gardening / Tree Care / Wildlife Gardening

 by Elizabeth McCoy

The Regal Southern Magnolia

  The sweet fragrance of Magnolia flowers on a warm breeze announces summer in Virginia.  But that wasn’t the case 400 years ago, before European colonists began exploring for interesting tree species, transplanting them to new areas, and exporting them back to Europe.  The original native range of Magnolia grandiflora is only from the Carolinas south to Florida and westwards towards Texas along the Gulf Coast.  Our iconic Southern Magnolia trees aren’t indigenous in this region, but they have since...

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...