Ivy: Hero or Villain? English ivy, celebrated in hymns and carols, rich in history and tradition, may be among the most hated of ‘imported’ plants for some American gardeners. Native plant enthusiasts may call ivy a ‘noxious weed.’ And now, thanks to a new state law, HB 1941, which will go into effect in Virginia in January of 2027, horticultural retailers will be required to label ivy as an invasive plant and suggest alternatives whenever it is sold directly...
Maidenhair ferns look so delicate and fragile I avoided planting them for the first thirty-odd years of my gardening adventures. I had no confidence in keeping them alive through a Virginia summer because I expected them to be fussy, requiring far more skillful care than I could offer. Native Northern Maidenhair Ferns When I first toured the Williamsburg Botanical Garden as a newly minted Master Gardener intern in April of 2018, our guide, Dr. Donna Ware, pointed out a...
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...
Have You Eaten? Animals engage in the business of eating; there is no common ground between our desire for a beautiful and productive garden and a deer or rabbit’s need for lunch. While we may garden in harmony with birds harvesting berries from our shrubs and bees harvesting nectar and pollen from our flowers, it is mainly because they can assist us with our gardening tasks and feed themselves without destroying our plants. Birds and spiders eat mostly insects, helping...
Fallen leaves carpet the ravine behind our home, broken only by thick green stems of bamboo, taller than most of our trees; a few young pawpaw and scarlet buckeye trees; and the thick trunks of century old beech trees. There are also a few fallen, decaying trunks of trees lost to storms, but none of the undergrowth you might expect to find in a wild ravine bordering a small lake. The soil is rich and deep. Dappled sunlight illuminates...
The Shortest Day of the Year On Saturday, December 21, 2024, indigenous people and others who practice nature based spiritual paths celebrate the Winter Solstice. Winter Solstice has been observed as a holy day for millennia, since before humans kept records, because it marks the shortest day of the year and the return of the sun to warm the Earth for the growing season ahead. Historians have found that ancient stone circles, pyramids, and other prehistoric stone constructions are oriented...
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...
Pruning woody shrubs is both art and science. Selecting which branches to leave and which to remove allows a gardener to train a woody plant into a pleasing, balanced shape that fits the available space. Some gardeners use pruning techniques to create neatly trimmed topiary, elegant hedges, or espaliered fruit trees. Gardeners may also prune roots and branches and remove leaves and buds to train trees to live as bonsai in shallow containers. Woody plants are extremely adaptable and...