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Selecting a Maple for full sun
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Date Posted: Wed, Feb 28 - 1:05 am
- Hello! I have a little planting area in my front yard that gets sun pretty much all day long. I wanted to plant a Japanese maple there but I know they don't all enjoy full sun. Are there any that would do okay in that situation? Also, I would prefer one that doesn't get too big. Thank you! Heather Maury
- A few things to think about when you are selecting a tree for this space are if the tree is being planted near sidewalks or a driveway, what your soil conditions are like, the amount of sun or shade it will get, and also remember to look up for power lines. Red maples are generally faster growers and are also native to our area, but they may have shallower root systems. Japanese maples tend to be slower growing but are not native. Sugar maples are also an option but you would want to be sure to select heat tolerant varieties for the Richmond area. Another alternative is Yellowwood. They have nice big leaves, beautiful form and flowers, tolerate the heat and don't get too big. The University of Illinois Extension has a great tree selector tool that you may also find useful: https://web.extension.illinois.edu/treeselector/search.cfm Good luck!
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Vegetables and Fruits for shady areas
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Date Posted: Wed, Feb 28 - 1:00 am
- Are there any fruits or vegetables that would grow well in a pretty shady area? My property has a lot of trees but I would like to try growing edible plants if possible!
- Yes! There are a few vegetable options for shady areas: 1. Salad greens like arugula, spinach, endive and other lettuces. 2. Leafy Greens like swiss chard, collards, kale and mustard greens. 3. Root veggies like carrots, beets, potatoes, radishes, rutabaga and turnips. 4. Brassica veggies like broccoli, cauliflower, brussels sprouts and cabbage. 4. herbs The Fairfax Master Gardeners have a great article about shade tolerant fruits. In their article they say: "Gooseberries, red currants and elderberries are the most shade tolerant fruit we can grow in Virginia. Blueberries and some figs will produce a decent crop in light to moderate shade. Serviceberries, pawpaws and cherry trees are small, understory trees that can bear abundant crops." You can find the full article here: https://fairfaxgardening.org/shade-fruits/ Now is a great time to be planning your spring plantings! Happy Gardening!
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Adult Gardening Classes
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Date Posted: Mon, Feb 19 - 11:36 pm
- Do you have adult classes on any subjects about gardening. We are just retired but have been doing a little gardening both flowers and vegetables. Thanks Millie and Boris
- Hello Millie and Boris! Happy Retirement! What a great time to learn more about gardening. Unfortunately the Richmond Master Gardeners are not currently offering any classes but there are other options in the area. Chesterfield Master Gardeners offers classes and opportunities in their demonstration garden: https://www.chesterfield.gov/447/Events-Programs-and-Workshops And the Goochland Master Gardeners have their Annual Spring Garden Fest coming up on Saturday April 27th that will include multiple class/workshop options. You can find more info and sign up for that here: https://www.gpmga.org/sgf In addition, many of our local nurseries (Cross Creek, Strange's, Great Big Greenhouse, Sneeds, etc) are offering many different class options now through April/May. Happy Gardening!
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Maples for Urban Landscaping?
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Date Posted: Thu, Sep 28 - 12:43 pm
- I need to replace a diseased Dogwood. I was thinking of a Maple tree but I am concerned of the root system. There are so many varieties of Maple, I don’t know where to start. The new tree would be giving shade to a front porch and two Hydrangeas. Can you give some guidance?
- This is a great question. Generally, maples are known to have shallower root systems, but it can depend a lot on the soil conditions. A few things to think about when you are selecting a tree for this space are if the tree is being planted near sidewalks or a driveway, what your soil conditions are like, the amount of sun or shade it will get, and also to look up for power lines. Red maples are generally faster growers and are also native to our area, but they may have shallower root systems. Japanese maples tend to be slower growing but are not native. Sugar maples are also an option but you would want to be sure to select heat tolerant varieties for the Richmond area. Another alternative is Yellowwood. They have nice big leaves, beautiful form and flowers, tolerate the heat and don't get too big. The University of Illinois Extension has a great tree selector tool that you may also find useful: https://web.extension.illinois.edu/treeselector/search.cfm Good luck!
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Camellia Pruning
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Date Posted: Thu, Mar 02 - 4:57 pm
- We have a camelia bush in our front yard that is as old as our house. It’s probably 25 ft wide at its widest. It’s in desperate need of a trim, but I have no idea how to do that! I don’t want To harm the bush at all, but I know it needs to be trimmed. I can provide pictures if helpful!
- Hello there, so you have a very happy camellia on your hands. I'm going to guess it's a japanese camellia, flowering from mid-winter to early spring. The other popular variety is camellia sasanqua, which flowers in late summer, fall or early winter (depending on selection) and is generally smaller and looser than the japanese varieties. Either way you want to wait until after the plant blooms to prune (otherwise you'll miss the bloom period). Of course, if that isn't you uppermost concern and you just want to get it under control, then anytime can work. I'm attaching an article from Southern Living magazine that describes a pruning method I think will work for you. The method basically treats the shrub as a tree which would decrease your time and effort of trying to prune such a large plant back to shrub proportions. Here is the article. The last paragraph is the key. https://www.southernliving.com/garden/shrubs/when-to-prune-camellias As always use sharp clean pruners and pruning saws so disease isn't transferred to the new cuts you'll be making. Good luck and happy gardening!
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Building soil
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Date Posted: Sun, Feb 26 - 5:45 pm
- We are making new raised beds for flowers and veggies. We are designing them with a wooden frame and then approaching the layers as a lasagne garden. My partner is thinking he can use only mushroom compost and cardboard to fill these beds but from what I read we need about 75% soil and 25% mushroom compost. Is this accurate for Richmond soils? Thanks for your insights on how to best lay the ground materials for thriving flower & veggie beds. Much appreciated, Jāna
- Hello Jana, My go-to resource for soil building is the permaculture guide--Gaia's Garden. The recommendation for building soil through compost is to use half green matter and half brown (to attain a good ratio of nitrogen to carbon). Green matter would be leaves, grass clippings, kitchen scraps (but also manure) and the brown would be dried leaves, hay (includes weeds), straw, pruning trimmings, and wood shavings or similar. The book discusses all issues such temperature of pile, size, turning, etc. The mushroom compost is great but I think the combination of materials will lead to a longer stretch of fertility in the beds. With different materials leaching their nutrients at different times. The beds will consume a lot of mulching material. One way to deal with this is to use any brush you may have collected and build hugelkultur beds. They are basically a mound of brush (tamped down), well watered and covered with organic materials, compost and soil. So you may want to use a combination of hugelkultur and organic matter with a good topping of mushroom compost. I recommend reading Gaia's Garden's chapter 4-Bringing the Soil to Life. The author's favorite method for doing so is sheet mulching (lasange gardening). Happy gardening!
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Native shrubs
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Date Posted: Mon, Jan 09 - 5:37 pm
- Hello, I am looking for a shrub to plant as a privacy screen. I will be planting along the south fence line of my property; however, the fence line itself is already planted with Chinese privet trees (ugh) that can't be removed, so anything I plant may get some shade from these trees. I'm looking for something 5-6 feet tall that will provide a sight barrier without getting too bushy (I don't want it to intrude too far into my yard). Native and/or pollinator-friendly would be a big plus! Any thoughts?
- Hello there, too bad about the privet but your planting will help to bring some pollinators and wildlife into your garden. The first shrub that comes to mind is inkberry (Ilex glabra). There are many varieties of this plant out there with different mature heights. So when shopping be very careful to read the tag and ask questions about the ultimate height and width of the plant you are choosing. The plant is evergreen and has small white flowers (not terribly noticeable) in spring that develop into small dark blue to black berries. Other native choices are mountain laurel (Kalmia latifolia) and evergreen bayberry (Morella caroliniensis). Mountain laurel can grow to 12 feet or more but can also be pruned to control height and create a bushier shrub. It has beautiful blooms in spring and is evergreen. It does like some shade so maybe the privet will help with that. It does not like clay soil. Bayberry is also evergreen and can mature around 7-10 feet. It's not too particular about soils and can take shade. It has small flowers that develop into those waxy gray blue berries most people are familiar with. All these choices are native and will attract pollinators and wildlife. Best of luck with your project!
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Starting seedlings
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Date Posted: Fri, Jan 06 - 9:22 pm
- I’m having trouble understanding when I should start planting certain plants. Also, if I have to do it inside or not. I wanted to plant native wildflowers all around my yard. This is my first time doing it and I’m unsure if I should just get a raised bed or use my ground. Where can I go to get help and is there a basic planting calendar for starting?
- Hello there, The process of starting plants from seed can seem daunting. Different plants have different requirements. Your best source of information is on the seed packet. It should state whether the seed needs warmth to germinate (which would indicate that you should probably start those plants indoors, with sufficient lighting, but note that some plants don't need light to germinate but will need the lighting after germination). You'll need to know how long a seed usually takes to germinate (that will be on the seed packet). You'll need to know when it's safe (temperature/weather) to take any indoor-grown plants outside. Generally growing from seed takes labeling and record keeping. I used to grow plants that needed an indoor headstart in my basement under grow lights that could be adjusted to accommodate the increasing height of plants. It works well if you have the space. Having a check list of plant name, days to germination, date to set outside, etc. is incredibly helpful. Having the seeds labeled in their growing medium is also important. There is an alternative method that some people use called winter sowing. Which is basically making a mini greenhouse out of a container. You can use various containers (I find the large plastic bins that contained greens from the grocery store very useful but you can also use gallon jugs w/tops cut off or similar). My personal experience with winter sowing involved chard, spinach, lettuce-plants that like the cool weather. But I'm sure it will work for flowering plants as well. The beauty of winter sowing is that the light needed is easily provided by mother nature. If you have newly ripened seed, that could go straight into the ground but most people are working with seeds that have been harvested and stored and are thinking about planting in spring. Hence, things get a bit more complicated. You'll want to work backwards from the last frost date to figure out when to plant your seeds. You may be planting different seeds at different times. Richmond is between zone 7a and 7b, so April 15th seems like a reasonable last frost date (though it's possible we could have one a bit later). Keep your eye on the weather. There's lots of information online such as plant record keeping templates you can print out for your records and info about the process of winter sowing. You'll probably wind up doing a combination of indoor starts and winter sowing. Just remember, those plant packets are your best resource! Good growing !!
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Pollen schedule
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Date Posted: Thu, Jan 05 - 12:55 am
- Hello! I was curious if you have a pollen schedule for flowering plants in Richmond? Thank you, Taylor
- Hello Taylor, Thanks for your question. I found a couple of useful resources. Both are aimed at beekeepers so if you are one, most of the information will be useful to you. Or, if your desiring to attract pollinators throughout the season, these resources will also be useful. I've included the links for them at the end of this message. The first website mentions the pollinator plants in the first sentence of each paragraph for the months Feb-Sept. That information is from VA Tech. The second one is from Clemson in NC but I think you'll find their timing chart would also be useful in Richmond. On the Clemson Honey Bee Timing Chart you can scroll down to the section headed - The Pollen Timing Chart - and click on that link. It will display a pdf of a spreadsheet with the various plants and the times of year they produce pollen. There are a few invasive species in their very long and diverse plant list but even so it's a great resource. #1--https://carroll.ext.vt.edu/content/dam/carroll_ext_vt_edu/beekeepers_year_va_apiary.pdf--- #2--https://hgic.clemson.edu/factsheet/honey-bee-pollen-timing-chart/ Best of luck with this year's garden!
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Native plants
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Date Posted: Thu, Sep 15 - 9:44 pm
- I have an east-facing front yard in the Museum District and have approximately 12X 6 feet of space to work with. We recently got a retaining wall put in, and so it is a fresh canvas. The space gets full sun at least half the day. I love native plants, and particularly those that would remain evergreen in the winter. Any suggestions?
- Hello there, so nice to start fresh! I'm glad to hear you are interested in using native plants. I'm assuming the space is 12 feet wide and 6 feet deep. You'll probably want to start by creating some structure with shrubs. For evergreen green shrubs you could use inkberry (ilex glabra). There are many varieties of this plant, some have a loose form whiele others have a tighter globe shape and there are large and smaller sizes as well. So there's an inkberry to fit most spaces and styles. Mountain laurel is also another lovely evergreen plant with beautiful blooms in spring. Dog hobble or more commonly just Leucothoe (axillaris) is another nice evergreen. There is a variegated variety if you want to brighten up a space. You may also want to try evergreen bayberry (morella caroliniensis). In addition to these evergreens, there is virginia sweetspire (itea virginica) which has a nice drape to its shape, panicles of white flowers and beautiful fall color. Another good shrub is pepperbush (clethra alnifolia) with white to pink flowers (depending on variety) which is wonderfully fragrant. There is a smaller-sized variety that would fit in most gardens. Many of the plants in the blueberry family - early lowbush and deerberry (vaccinum pallida+vaccinum stamineum) have gorgeous fall color and colored bare stems in winter. Their spring flowers are delicate and beautiful and their fruits add to their appeal. I know you have a small space but I wanted to give a good number of options so you can pick and choose. Once you have a plan, you can decide what you want to place where. After placing the shrubs, you can then think about adding some lovely native ferns, perennials and/or ground cover, whatever space will allow. Before deciding on plants and placement, you should have a soil test done if you haven't already. You can amend if necessary and as an annual ritual, add compost to nourish you plantings. You can get a soil test kit at your local library when the Master Gardener Help Desk is in operation. Call your local library to find out the day and time. For additional information I suggest checking out this website and using the plant guides for the Capital region and NOVA-- https://www.plantvirginianatives.org/plant-rva-natives. Best of luck with the new garden!