Virginia Home Grown April Edition

Maymont

In this second installment of Season 12, Richard visits with Peggy Singlemann, Director of Horticulture at Maymont, and they take us on a tour of the Japanese Garden–now celebrating its 100th anniversary.

Cherry Blossoms in the Spring

Cherry Blossoms

The 100th Anniversary of Maymont’s Japanese Garden is being celebrated this year. Also being celebrated in 2012 is the 100th Anniversary of Washington D. C.’s cherry blossom festival. Cherry trees herald in spring no matter where they are planted. In Japan the cherry blossoms are celebrated with picnics and parties (Hanami) amongst the falling blossoms. Timing is everything and at Maymont, and elsewhere, the cherry trees bloomed weeks ago as this past warm winter rolled into a very warm early spring.

A New Way to Watch Virginia Home Grown

Virginia Home Grown stream

Hosted by Richard Nunnally and Amy Williams, Season 12 of the popular gardening show premieres on Tuesday, March 27 at 8:00 p.m. on WCVE PBS (Richmond) and WHTJ PBS (Charlottesville). With the start of the new season, a new way to watch Virginia Home Grown begins as well – a live web stream.

Winter! Or is it?

Wintersweet

Usually we are wrapped in sweaters and coats with scarves and mittens as we scurry about with holiday preparations and celebrations. This year, despite a few chilly nights, the warm weather has lingered. This weather pattern has initiated the opening of many flower buds in gardens throughout the area, creating quite a unique holiday landscape scene. There is nothing we, as gardeners, can do to stop the action but we can enjoy the beauty of each blossom and consider it a gift.

A Fall Garden

Oakleaf Hydrangea

As gardeners we tend to plan our landscapes for the spring and summer disregarding the fall season.  Still, a good design incorporates all seasons of the year.  This can be accomplished by choosing plants that have multi-seasonal interest, for example, Oakleaf Hydrangea, Hydrangea quercifolia.  The white flower blossoms of this deciduous shrub show in early summer then fade gracefully to mauve.  The large leaves and coarse appearance of the foliage add textural interest to any landscape during the mid-late summer months.

Welcoming Fall: A Great Season To Plant

This past week Maymont’s horticulture volunteers gathered to transplant the recently arrived pansy plugs into flats. Over the next 6 weeks these plants will be nurtured and grown to a size suitable for planting in the gardens. As garden beds are filled with spring-flowering bulbs they are then over-planted with pansies and violas.

Virginia Home Grown September: Organic Mulch; Tree Pests

Virginia Home Grown September

In this September episode of Virginia Home Grown, we go to Charlottesville to learn about some of the pests that may be a danger to trees in your landscape. Then we learn about the proper ways to apply mulch around your garden.

Virginia Home Grown August: Grass Roots Lawn Care; Tall Grass Meadow

Virginia Home Grown August

In the first segment of the August edition of Virginia Home Grown, Richard talks with Program Director Susan Edwards and Mike Likins, both of the Virginia Cooperative Extension for Chesterfield County, about the Grass Roots Lawn Care program. Susan and Mike share ideas on weed control, soil testing, and selecting the right grass to match the growing conditions around your home.

Not Your Grandma’s Daylilies

daylily

Daylilies are not your grandmother’s yellow and orange summer flowers growing out by the mailbox anymore. The genus Hemerocallis, “beauty for a day” (Daylilies), has gone through tremendous hybridization in the past ten years. Many of the daylily species produced for today’s gardeners have been manipulated to produce a full array of colors, larger bloom size and a more vigorous plant. Most of these new hybrids are also repeat bloomers or re-bloomers – meaning they will continually shoot up scapes (flower stalks) with multiple buds over several months during the summer.

Rounding 3rd Base In The Garden

Sneezeweed

My father was a baseball fan so I attribute my perspective of looking at summer in Richmond, Virginia as a ball player views the field of bases.  The month of May is home plate where we are fresh and ready for the run of summer.  June is first base and we round 2nd base in July.  Third base is August, we are getting a bit winded but keep going knowing that home plate, or autumn, is just down the base line.  The cooler temperatures will greet us as we slide into September knowing our gardens made it through the humidity, the heat and the sporadic rainfall once again.

Coming Up...

April 24: Maymont's Japanese Garden, Horticulture Studies with Piedmont Virginia Community College at UVa's Morven Farm, Plant of the Month with Yara Acker of Keswick Hall

April 2012 Show
March 2012 Show
Show Archives

Tips from Richard:

Control Summer Lawn Weeds

broadleaf weed
Mid-May is the ideal time to control summer annual broadleaf weeds in your lawn. Having germinated in late April, these tiny pests are big enough to see, yet young enough to be easily controlled. Spot treating with a selective, broadleaf herbicide will control the weeds and not hurt your grass.

Be sure to read Richard’s weekly Garden Q & A in the Saturday Home Section of the Richmond Times-Dispatch

Virginia Home Grown is a Live TV program that explores the delights and challenges of gardening and growing in Virginia. Host, Richard Nunnally, and Co-Host, Amy Williams, interview experts and enthusiasts from around the state. The program airs monthly from March through October.

Interact with the experts by submitting your questions: send us an email to VHG@ideastations.org or phone in your questions toll free to 1.866.220.0911 (during the LIVE show only).

You can also write to: Richard Nunnally P. O. Box 3690 Chester, VA 23831

Extension Offices:
Albemarle 434.872.4580
Amelia 804.561.2481
Chesterfield 804.751.4401
Goochland 804.556.5841
Greene 434.985.5236
Hanover 804.752.4310
Henrico 804.501.5160
James City 757.564.2170
Louisa 540.967.3422
Mathews 804.752.7196
New Kent 804.966.9645
Powhatan 804.598.5640
Richmond 804.786.4150
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