Providing wildflower-rich habitat is the most significant action you can take to support pollinators. Adult bees, butterflies, and other pollinators require nectar as their primary food source, and female bees collect pollen as food for their … [Read more...]
How to Grow and Care for Canterbury Bells
Canterbury bells (Campanula rotundifolia) are a biennial plant popular in European and North American landscapes. It is a medium-sized specimen with an upright form featuring numerous vibrant, sweet-smelling bell-shaped flowers that range from white … [Read more...]
SALVIA
Salvias (also known as sages) are popular garden plants because they flower for an extended period and do well in hot, dry conditions. They provide an incredible variety of fragrance, bloom, plant habit, and color. CONTINUE SOURCE: Clemson … [Read more...]
Garlic Mustard
Garlic mustard (Alliaria petiolata) is an invasive forb that has become widespread throughout much of the United States, including Virginia. It has invaded the understory of some forests and become the dominant plant, thereby greatly reducing the … [Read more...]
Plants For Pollinators: Violets
Violets are often bemoaned as “weeds” when found in lawns, and otherwise impugned for their tendency to easily reseed and spread. With their heart shaped leaves and cheery blue flowers, violets aren’t really bad guys – in fact they are the host plant … [Read more...]
Invasive Pests
Invasive pests (plants, insects, diseases, and others) cause enormous economic damage, as well as environmental damage. These displace or destroy beneficial and native plants and animals, reduce biodiversity. The annual economic cost is estimated … [Read more...]
Pretty, portable pollinator gardens: Top 10 plants for pollinator-friendly containers
“Pollinator gardens provide food for bees, butterflies, moths, wasps, and other helpful species,” says Diane Blazek, Executive Director at National Garden Bureau (NGB). “In turn, they pollinate the vegetables that produce our food. They really are … [Read more...]
How to Grow and Care for Beardtongue (Penstemon)
The plantain family (Plantaginaceae) gifts us with some wonderful ornamental flowering plants, including snapdragons, foxglove, and the valuable Penstemon genus, which contains more than 250 beardtongue species ready to … [Read more...]
Herb Festival to be held at Moneta Farm
The annual Herb Festival at Moneta Farm and Home Center will be back again in this year, with the return of all of the events that have made the festival so special over the years. The festival will be held rain or shine on May 6 from 10:00 until … [Read more...]
Wineberry
Wineberry (Rubus phoenicolasius)-- sometimes called wine raspberry-- is an invasive shrub that creates prickly, impenetrable thickets. Introduced to North America in the 1890s as breeding stock for raspberries, wineberry displaces native vegetation, … [Read more...]