Master Gardeners of Northern Virginia
Promoting environmentally sound gardening practices for over 35 years!
Occasional essays by Christa Watters, Extension Master Gardener Photos © Christa Watters Gardening in the Time of Pandemic Gardening is a lot like life, as I’ve often noted in this …
Not all gardeners have big plots. So sometimes we just exploit what’s nearby. It’s a bit iffy, but taking a little risk and adding a dollop of luck and patience, some digging and weeding and a mix of bought and donated plants can pay off. Witness the former parking lot island near my town house. It used to be a dog- and sun-seared plot of weedy grass that never looked good after the first green flush of spring.
We’ve edged into May, smack in the middle of spring. The delight we gardeners take in the arrival of the season has been tested this year. After the long cold winter, spring finally arrived about mid-April. And then it had second thoughts and retreated, only to turn the heat up to almost 80 for a day or two and then retreat again. Rain has fallen pretty regularly. So while we can’t quite trust the season (what’s new about that? “April is the cruelest month,” said the poet in 1922) and we struggle with its fickleness, still we rejoice. And then we take stock of what winter meant to our particular plots: What died, what lived, how is the seasonal progression going this year?
It's the time of year when Gardeners talk enthusiastically about “Spring Ephemerals,” using this term to describe native wildflowers, such as Virginia Bluebells, Trout Lily, Toothwort, Spring Beauty, Bloodroot, Trillium and Woodland Phlox. The word 'ephemeral' often means short-lived, but in the case of native plants, transitory is more accurate.
By Christa Watters One day the tulip magnolia next to my front door is still green – leaves fringed with yellow, spotted with brown here and there, yes, but basically still …
