Catching Up!

Our garden in mid-April

I appreciate all of you who have visited and chatted with me on this site over the years. It has been so heartwarming to meet so many interesting people and dedicated gardeners working all over the US and around the world. As some of you know, the content on this site is quite extensive. To get a fresh start and to begin again with plenty of space for photos and new writing, I started Our Forest Garden a few years ago. On that homepage you will find indexes to some of my most useful content from Forest Garden, and all of my new photos and articles are now posted to that new site.

After a few months of inactivity last year because of some pressing family concerns, I am back to more regular posting and writing on Our Forest Garden.

Here are a few links to help new visitors find some of my most recent content on Our Forest Garden:

Plants I Love That Deer Ignore is an index page of articles about individual plants. I intend to add an article on a different seasonal plant each month.

Six on Saturday: Taking the Cue 5.27.23

Six on Saturday: What Color is Your Garden Fantasy? 5.20.23

Six on Saturday: Seeking Shade 5.13.23

Six on Saturday: Functional Beauty 4.29.23

Six on Saturday: My Favorite Week 4.15.23

Six on Saturday: The Joys of April 4.8.23

Six on Saturday: Storm Mode 4.1.23

Six on Saturday: Equinox 3.18.23

Six on Saturday: Preference and Prejudice 3.11.23

Six on Saturday: Just Standing and Staring 3.4.23

Six on Saturday: Sudden Spring 2.25.23

Six on Saturday: Taking the Long View 2.13.23

I hope that those of you who followed this site years ago will honor me by subscribing to or following Our Forest Garden to receive links to the latest new content.

Thank you for visiting Forest Garden

Visit and please follow Illuminations Each Day for a daily garden photo and a quotation

Providing Habitat for Native Bees

The original Pollinator Palace at the Williamsburg Botanical Garden has been renovated this month. Read more here

Did you know the majority of bees that pollinate our food crops and wildflowers do not live in hives and do not produce honey? 

Hive-dwelling honey-producing bees did not even exist in North America until they were brought here by European immigrants in the early 1600’s.  That means the honeybee, which has become important to commercial agriculture and has captured press attention due to hive collapse, is not a native insect species.   

There are roughly 4,000 species of native bees and they are all in grave peril because all of them are in population decline. 

Informed  gardeners know and love native bumble bees, carpenter bees, mason bees, leaf cutter bees and sweat bees, to name only a few.  This branch of entomology is still expanding as scientists are now beginning to understand just how important native bee are to healthy ecosystems.  Many native bee species haven’t yet been thoroughly studied.

There are things that gardeners and enthusiasts can easily do to support our native bees.  A gardener’s  most important role in protecting and supporting bees (and other pollinators) is to grow plenty of flowers to provide them with nectar and pollen.  Bees come out earlier in the springtime now than in previous years, and so it is helpful to provide early blooms to feed them.

 Flowers vary in the quality and nutritional value of their pollen.  Native plants provide the highest quality food for native bees.

Any gardener who supports wildlife simply must not use pesticides or other chemicals in the garden that will poison them.  Pesticides and herbicides get into the ecosystem of the garden and have a profound impact on pollinators, birds and small mammals, in addition to the problem insects they target.

Bumble bees are probably the largest and most recognizable of our native bees because they are large and easily observed.  They are ‘generalists’ and will visit almost any blooming flower.  While other bee species will only forage from one type of plant at a time and may prefer certain flower species or flower forms, bumblebees will freely visit most flowers in bloom.   Bumblebees often live in communities underground with a queen and her daughters managing the hive and caring for the young.

While some native bees prefer to live in the ground, many other species are solitary, and make nests to lay their eggs in wood or the dried stems of plants.  When we thoroughly clean up our gardens each fall, cutting the drying, dying stems of perennials, picking up all the sticks and raking all the leaves, we also dispose of many larval bees and other important insects.

Read more at Our Forest Garden

Sunday Dinner: Finding Peace

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“We wander through our lives

not sure of what we’re searching for.

“What is my calling?” we might speak to ourselves again and again.

It’s a redundant question;

we might even shout out loud, with no return response.

The answer to our question is peacefulness.

Once we find as much as possible,

we can begin to enjoy simple pleasures, and passions,

without interruption.

Nothing will fall in line without a soft place to land.”

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  Ron Baratono

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“Silence is not absence of words.

Silence is the space where words arise and dissolve.

Without silence, words have no meaning”

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Rashmit Kalra

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“The one who has found inner silence,

stops pondering over the meaning of life

and starts living it.

That’s the journey from “going with the flow”

to “being the flow.”

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  Rashmit Kalra

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“Until he extends the circle of his compassion

to all living things,

man will not himself find peace.”

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  Albert Schweitzer

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“I have within me all that I need;

I am love and life in action.”

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  Jodi Livon

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“World peace must develop from inner peace.

Peace is not just mere absence of violence.

Peace is, I think, the manifestation of human compassion.”

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The 14th Dali Lama, Tenzin Gyatso

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“To be wise means to know when to stay silent.”
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  Kamand Kojouri

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Photos by Woodland Gnome 2020

Please visit my other site, Illuminations, for a daily quotation and a photo of something beautiful.

Sunday Dinner: Aspirations

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“Faith is the bird

that feels the light and sings

when the dawn is still dark.”

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Rabindranath Tagore

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“Dreams are what guide us,

art is what defines us,

math is what makes it all possible,

and love is what lights our way.”

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Mike Norton

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The Williamsburg Botanical Garden bathed in morning light.

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“Rome was not built in one day;

But one day Rome was built.”

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Kayambila Mpulamasaka

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“We never know what we can be or do

until the need is there

and we are tested by it.”

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Terry Brooks

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“If you trust in yourself. . .

and believe in your dreams. . .

and follow your star. . .

you’ll still get beaten

by people who spent their time

working hard and learning things

and weren’t so lazy.”

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Terry Pratchett

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Monarch butterfly feeding on Asclepias syriaca at the Stonehouse Elementary native plant garden.

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“The heights charm us,

but the steps do not;

with the mountain in our view

we love to walk the plains.”

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Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

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“Clouds come floating into my life,

no longer to carry rain or usher storm,

but to add color to my sunset sky.”

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Rabindranath Tagore

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A female Eastern Tiger Swallowtail butterfly feeds on Martagon lily at the Stonehouse Elementary School garden.

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Woodland Gnome 2019

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“Our deep aspiration

is an immense source of energy.”

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Thich Nhat Hanh

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“Imagination grows by exercise

and contrary to common belief

is more powerful in the mature

than in the young.”
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Ursula K. Le Guin

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Our Forest Garden as June draws to its close.

Sunday Dinner: Relaxed

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“I want to put the ever-rushing world on pause
Slow it down, so that I can breathe.
These bones are aching to tell me something
But I cannot hear them.”

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Lucy H. Pearce

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“Just breathing can be such a luxury sometimes.”

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Walter Kirn

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“The secret of relaxation is in these three words:

‘Let it go”!”

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Dada J. P. Vaswani

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“The attitude of Tao is of cooperation, not conflict.

The attitude of Tao is not to be against nature

but to be with it, to allow nature,

to let it have its way, to cooperate with it,

to go with it.

The attitude of Tao is of great relaxation.”

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Osho

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“Your calm mind

is the ultimate weapon

against your challenges.

So relax.”

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Bryant McGill

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“Now this relaxation of the mind from work

consists on playful words or deeds.

Therefore it becomes a wise and virtuous man

to have recourse to such things at times.”

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Thomas Aquinas

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“Man is so made that

he can only find relaxation from one kind of labor

by taking up another. ”

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Anatole France

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“I wish you water.”

.

Wallace J. Nichols 

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Photos by Woodland Gnome 2019

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“Turn off your mind, relax, and float downstream.”
.

John Lennon

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The Williamsburg Botanical Garden

The Butterfly Garden at The Williamsburg Botanical Garden is beautiful, if still dormant, in early February.

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The Williamsburg Botanical Garden is a great destination for picking up ideas and observing many different sorts of plants growing here in James City County, Virginia.

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Whether you go for a quiet walk, or to participate in a class, there is always more to learn, experience and enjoy.

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The garden is a true community effort.  It brings together volunteers from many different organizations, including the Williamsburg Master Gardeners Association.

The garden is subdivided into  specialty gardens planned and maintained by different groups, and serving different purposes.  In addition to the butterfly garden, there are areas devoted to heirloom plants, native plants, wetland and woodland plants, perennials and flowering shrubs, a fernery, and an area of raised beds for therapeutic gardening.

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The Pollinator Palace

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Best practices are modeled, and new gardeners are both trained and inspired in this special space.  Even though the Williamsburg Botanical Garden is fenced to exclude deer; songbirds, pollinators and other small wildlife are welcomed and fed.

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The first stirrings of spring were evident today under bright skies.  It was only a few degrees above freezing when some gardening friends and I ventured out, tools in hand, for a pruning workshop.

Despite numb fingers and toes, we discussed proper pruning for several species of flowering woody shrubs.  Experts demonstrated the proper use of a variety of nifty pruning tools, too.

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A few of the earliest shrubs, like Spirea, showed tiny bits of green. Its buds are just tentatively opening this week.  But most of the herbs, perennials, and deciduous woodies were still slumbering through their last few weeks of dormancy.

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Daffodils have just begun to emerge, their bright blooms now only days away.

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Today served as a call to action to get out and get after the woodies in our own Forest Garden, before the season gets ahead of me this year.  I was a bit slack last year on the pruning. This year, there is a great deal of cutting and thinning and just plain lopping back waiting for us.  But it won’t wait for long; warmer, longer days will coax those buds to open all too soon.

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It is too early in the season to prune wood from early spring bloomers like Spirea and Viburnum.  However, one may always prune out wood that is Dead, Diseased, Deformed, or Damaged.

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Some gardeners grow a bit confused about what pruning to do, and when.  In general, February is a great month for pruning roses, crape myrtle, butterfly bush, rose of Sharon, and other trees and shrubs which won’t bloom before June.  If a shrub blooms on new growth only, it is safe to prune it back now.

If your shrub blooms on old wood from last year’s growth, and already has its flower buds ready to go now, then “wait to prune until after bloom.”  

All of our favorite spring shrubs like Rhododendrons, Camellias, Forsythias, and Spireas have flower buds set and ready to open on schedule, over the next several weeks.   Any pruning done now will reduce our spring blooms.

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There are great Botanical gardens all over the country, and we are very fortunate to have such a nice one here in Williamsburg.  One can’t help but feel either inspired or overwhelmed after an hour’s walk among such a beautiful collection of plants.  This is a great destination for a walking tour, even on a frosty February morning.

Once I had a cup of coffee and could feel my fingertips again, I was ready to head over to Lowes.   I wanted to have a look at some of the new nifty gadgets for pruning that I’d seen demonstrated today, while my enthusiasm was still warm.

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Woodland Gnome 2018

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For The Daily Post’s

Weekly Photo Challenge:  Tour Guide

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Knowing Winter

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“One can follow the sun, of course,

but I have always thought that it is best

to know some winter, too,

so that the summer, when it arrives,

is the more gratefully received.”

Beatriz Williams

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Much of North America lies frozen this week beneath a layer of icy whiteness.  Weather maps on TV are clothed in shades of blue, purple and white.  It is a respite from this year’s heat, perhaps, and a novelty for those who enjoy winter.

Here in Williamsburg, in coastal Virginia, we see temperatures drop below the mid-twenties only occasionally, and not every year.  But we are also in the midst of this Arctic cold snap at the moment.  There is a chance for snow tomorrow evening.

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The garden, and the larger world are frozen tight and hard this week.  Those winter faring plants I potted up so carefully last month sit brittle, a bit limp and desiccated in their pots today despite the brilliant sun shining on them.  I gave each pot a bit of tap water yesterday afternoon, hoping to thaw the soil long enough for roots to draw a bit of moisture in to the thirsty plants.

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We’ve wrapped our olive trees in clear plastic bags and set them in the warmest corner of our front patio, where they capture the mid-day sun.  They’ve grown too large now to bring indoors each winter.  We hope they make it through to warmer days ahead.

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But there is only so much anyone can do when such bitter cold blows in to one’s neighborhood.  The lowest temperature we’ve seen here since Christmas was 12F.  It feels a bit odd to cheer on the mercury to climb through the 20s, hoping it might actually make it up to 32F before the evening chill returns.

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But such is our life at the moment, and so we have decided to enjoy the novelty of it.  It is the season to trot out one’s heavy sweaters and gloves, and possibly even a jacket.  I had forgotten which drawer our gloves got put away in last spring, and needed a reminder.  A pair now live in my bag, ready to pull on whenever I step outside into this frosty world.

But clad in hat and gloves, wool and pashmina and jeans, I set off to capture photos of ice today.  My partner kept the car warm and idling while I scampered about on the banks of Mill Creek and the James River in search of ice sculptures.

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The wind was almost quiet, and the sun blazing bright and glinting off the frozen marshes.  It was nearly 24F as I captured these photos today.

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We were delighted to find eagles flying in lazy circles above us and large congregations of geese gathered along the roadsides.  I could hear waterfowl splashing into the creek in search of lunch as I picked my way down the frozen trail to the water’s edge.

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A heron clung to a branch along the bank, watching as gulls dove into the creek and ducks cavorted along its glassy surface.

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Halves of minnows, cut up by some intrepid fisher-person for bait, lay scattered about on the sandy beach.  Frozen hard, they held no appeal for the foraging birds around us.

I marvel at the sight of spray cloaked grasses and ice glazed stones.  The river and creeks here are tidal, and the rising and falling water and windblown spray make for ever-changing textures along their banks.

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Sheets of ice get pushed up in the marshes on the incoming tide, and slushy brackish water takes on odd hues in the wintery light.

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Our oddly frozen world dreams this week in weirdly grotesque forms.  Frozen soil pushes up in the garden, heaving fragile root balls not properly mulched and insulated against the cold.  Ice crystals sprout from stems and leaves in the first light of morning.

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Only the birds appear impervious to the cold.  Small flocks of blackbirds gather on the frozen grass.  Songbirds hop about in the trees as we pass.  I wonder at the mysteries of nature which allow them to survive such frigid weather.

Whether sitting on the ground, swimming in the frozen creeks or gliding on a current of air, they appear almost comfortable.  This is a great gift they enjoy, and that we do not.

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We are mostly watching through the window panes to see how the rest of this month unfolds.  Our cat spends long hours dozing, curled up in a blanket on the couch.  He shows no interest in exploration beyond his food bowl at the moment.

Surely the world will soon be slick and white if the forecast is to be believed, and our garden will slumber on under a bit more insulation as we dream of spring.

Yet, in this moment, we know winter; and see its beauties all around us.

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Woodland Gnome 2018

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“There is an instinctive withdrawal for the sake of preservation,

a closure that assumes the order of completion.

Winter is a season unto itself.”

.
Haruki Murakami

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Sunday Dinner: Retrospective

January 2017, Jones Millpond

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“That’s what pictures are for, after all:

to stand in place of the things that weren’t left behind,

to bear witness to people and places and things

that might otherwise go unnoticed.”

.

John Darnielle

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February 2017 Powhatan Creek

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“In retrospect,

we can only be thankful

to all the mistakes that we made

and to all the lessons

that we learned from them!”

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Avijeet Das

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March 2017 James River at Black Point

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“The Naga laughed softly, ‘There’s a thin line

that separates courage

from stupidity.  And that line

is only visible in retrospect, my friend.

If I’m successful,  people will call me brave.

If I fail, I will be called foolish.

Let me do what I think is right.

I’ll leave the verdict to the future.”

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Amish Tripathi

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April 2017 York River

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“It is a simple

but sometimes forgotten truth

that the greatest enemy

to present joy and high hopes

is the cultivation

of retrospective bitterness.”

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Robert Menzies

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May 2017 Jones Millpond

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“Remembrance of things past

is not necessarily

the remembrance of things as they were.”

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Marcel Proust

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June 2017

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“Memory believes before knowing remembers.

Believes longer than recollects,

longer than knowing even wonders.”

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William Faulkner

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August 2017 Powhatan Creek

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“Remember your connection with the cosmos.

Remember your connection with the infinity

and that remembrance

will give you the freedom.”

.

Amit Ray

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September 2017, a waterway on Jamestown Island

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Photos by Woodland Gnome 2017

Wishing you happiness, prosperity, good health and good gardening in 2018!

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October 2017 The ‘D’ River empties into the Pacific Ocean

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“Photography is never real,

it’s merely one of many ways

of telling the truth.”

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John Thai

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November 2017

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“Ever poised on that cusp

between past and future,

we tie memories to souvenirs

like string to trees along life’s path,

marking the trail

in case we lose ourselves

around a bend of tomorrow’s road.”

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Susan Lendroth

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December 2017

 

Sunday Dinner: Secrets of the River

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“Have you also learned that secret from the river;

that there is no such thing as time?”

That the river is everywhere at the same time,

at the source and at the mouth, at the waterfall,

at the ferry, at the current,

in the ocean and in the mountains, everywhere

and that the present only exists for it,

not the shadow of the past

nor the shadow of the future.”

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Hermann Hesse

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“We must begin thinking like a river

if we are to leave a legacy of beauty and life

for future generations.”

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David Brower

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“Ask the river, where it comes from?

You will get no answer.

Ask the river, where is it going?

You will get no answer,

because the river lives

inside this very moment;

neither in the past nor in the future,

in this very moment only!”

.

Mehmet Murat ildan

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Black’s Point, Jamestown Island in the James River

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Photos by Woodland Gnome 2017

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WPC: Atop

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“Indeed, I find that distance lends perspective

and I often write better of a place

when I am some distance from it.

One can be so overwhelmed by the forest

as to miss seeing the trees.”

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Louis L’Amour

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“Distance has the same effect on the mind as on the eye.”

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Samuel Johnson

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“The greatest risk to man

is not that he aims too high and misses,

but that he aims too low and hits.”

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Michaelangelo

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“A mountain still in the distance

can appear as a molehill.”

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Howard Fast

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“Utopia is a collective shift of perception away.

Abundance is all around us.

Only our efforts at tower-building blind us to it,

our gaze forever skyward,

forever seeking to escape this Earth,

this feeling, this moment.”

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Charles Eisenstein

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Photos by Woodland Gnome 2016-2017

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“My father says that there is only one perfect view —

the view of the sky straight over our heads,

and that all these views on earth

are but bungled copies of it.”

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E.M. Forster

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For the Daily Post’s

Weekly Photo Challenge:  Atop