Hellebores – A Gardener’s Comfort
By Dina Lehmann-Kim, Extension Master Gardener Avid gardeners spend the winter months gazing through plant catalogs, planning for changes and new additions to their gardens while eagerly awaiting the first …
Organic Fertilizers: Giving a Jump Start to New Plantings
Most of the soil test results we receive at the VCE Horticultural Help Desk for vegetable gardens are high in phosphorus and potassium leaving nitrogen as the nutrient needed most. However, many of our organic fertilizers contain similar amounts of all three nutrients. So, what can we use that provides more nitrogen than phosphorus and potassium?
What’s up with those Cicadas?
If you think it is too early to find the exoskeletons of annual cicadas scattered along the sidewalk, then you are correct. What you see are the exoskeletons of periodical cicadas. Some of the Brood X 17-year cicadas have started to surface–four years early–in Virginia, Maryland, DC, Delaware, Ohio and Tennessee.
Five Things You Didn’t Know About . . . Bonsai
In honor of World Bonsai Day on May 12, we looked into the history and art of bonsai. You may know the proper pronunciation is “bones-eye” or “bone-sigh,” but did you know the Japanese weren’t the first to practice the art or that a gardener of tiny bonsai plants might need a crowbar?
Nature is Good for Us
A growing body of research is proving what we know intuitively: Nature is good for us—physically, mentally, and cognitively. When we spend time in nature—whether in a national park or a backyard garden—we feel better.
A Cold March in the Glencarlyn Library Community Garden
As I write this column, we have experienced a warmer February but a typically cold and windy March. This warm spell sent many of our plants into believing spring was upon them. Mother Nature sometimes plays us for fools. Plants too.
Flowering trees and shrubs were tricked into opening their buds early only to be hit by winter’s return in early March.