How to Grow Spring Blooming Hellebore Flowers
If you garden in shade, you garden in the company of critters—deer, rabbits, mice, slugs, and more. You have to choose what you grow wisely so your investment doesn’t end up on Bambi’s dinner plate. Here’s the best part: you can plant hellebores … [Read more...]
Perfect Peas: How to Select and Grow the Best Varieties for Garden-to-Table Meals
Ahhh…you know spring is in full swing when the first sweet, tender peas dangle prettily in the garden. Go ahead: gently pull that first pod from the vine and pop it in your mouth. There’s nothing nicer than savoring the rewards of your work, snacking … [Read more...]
How to Grow Potatoes in Containers in 8 Simple Steps
There are several advantages to growing potatoes in containers rather than in the ground. Container planting saves space in small gardens, makes it easier to control growing conditions, and protects the plants from critters such as voles that love to … [Read more...]
Demonstration Gardens
Virginia Cooperative Extension Office Demo Gardens The Bedford Master Gardeners call the Virginia Co-Op Extension office their home base and it is a mutually beneficial relationship. One of the benefits for the Extension Office is that the MGs … [Read more...]
Weed Alert – Asiatic Bittersweet
Blue Ridge PRISM Recommendations: Because it can spread so quickly and smother almost anything in its path, Asiatic bittersweet (Celastrus orbiculatus), aka round leaf bittersweet (formerly known as Oriental bittersweet), is rapidly taking over … [Read more...]
The Ghost Tree: Bringing Back the American Chestnut
Billions of American chestnut trees once shaped life in Appalachia, but a foreign fungus erased them in a matter of decades. Today, only sickly sprouts remain — ghosts of a vanished ecosystem. Sara Fern Fitzsimmons and The American Chestnut … [Read more...]
Kids’ Butterfly Garden: Attract Butterflies & Learn Together
Winged jewels of the air … flutterbys … no matter what you call butterflies, they entrance everyone. Planting a garden to attract them is one of the best ways to get children interested in gardening and nature while introducing them to a bit of … [Read more...]
2025 Year of the Asclepias – National Garden Bureau
FOR IMAGES OF ASCLEPIAS, CLICK HERE Discover the Magic of Milkweed! The great thing about Asclepias (Milkweed) is that there are many different species to choose from and all have a variety of benefits that add value to your garden. Spending … [Read more...]
Weeds in the Home Vegetable Garden
The most common definition of a weed is a plant out of place. Many plants that are considered weeds in the vegetable garden are beneficial wildflowers in other settings. Unfortunately, some of the plants, while attractive in the wild, are too … [Read more...]