>>So we have a wetland ecosystem.

We have upland forest.

We have a meadow ecosystem and open field.

and some edge habitat, so a hedgerow ecosystem.

>>Well, it's one of 65 natural preserves in Virginia.

And it protects one of the best coastal plain and hardwood forest remaining in Virginia.

(bird chirps) >>I'm Peggy Singlemann.

Host of Virginia Home Grown.

And in the first half of our show, we'll be learning about natural area preserves.

And the role they play in conserving the biodiversity of our ecosystem.

>>And I'm Keith Nevison.

In the second half of the show we'll be visiting Boxerwood Nature Center in Lexington.

To learn about the many ways they engage members of the community at this public garden.

As always, we welcome your questions via Facebook or email.

Stay tuned for another episode, of Virginia Home Grown.

>>Production funding for Virginia Home Grown, is made possible by.

(upbeat music) >>Hi, I'm Peggy Singlemann.

And welcome to Virginia Home Grown.

Who would have thought of freeze in late April.

I hope your protection efforts paid off with minimum change and damage.

Let's look forward to the sunshine of May, okay?

Today, we are highlighting public lands and public gardens to learn more about the many benefits they provide.

They are not only great for providing habitat and green space, they are a living classroom.

They help connect the community and our place to celebrate family and friends.

Together while appreciating the beauty of the natural world.

In the second half of the show my cohost, Keith Nevison, will visit Boxerwood Nature Center in Lexington.

To see how they have designed their space to educate and inspire guests of all ages.

To be environmentally responsible stewards of the earth.

We will also be checking in with Robyn Puffenbarger and Alison Hurst, to bring you tips you can use in your own garden.

Remember to send in your garden questions through Facebook or email.

To ask our guests about growing in and managing public spaces.

Or other gardening questions you may have on your mind.

Now, let's take a look at my trip to Crow's Nest Natural Area Preserve in Stafford.

To learn about how the Department of Conservation and Recreation manages the over 3000 acre property.

And see some of the unique ecosystems protected there.

>>And here we have one of our old age beech trees, here we have at Crow's Nest.

>>Wow, look at that beautiful tree.

It's such a special day to be here, it really is, we're on the verge of things leafing out.

I mean, look at these Beech Tree buds.

So just truly just opening up right now.

>>It'll look completely different within the next two weeks, spring is really starting to come into being here at Crow's Nest.

>>Absolutely, I mean, you starting to see the spring ephemerals starting to emerge, and it's coming to life, I love it.

>>Yeah, a lot of spring beauty and mayapple we're starting to see just around here.

>>Yes, so Mike, what makes a natural area preserved, so different from other parcels of land the state manages?

>>It's really, goes to our mission, the Natural Heritage program within the Department of Conservation and Recreation, where our mission is to preserve the biodiversity of the Commonwealth of Virginia.

So the preserves really are protecting some of the most special places that remain here in Virginia, like here at Crow's Nest, which protects, one of the largest coastal plain hardwood forests that remain in Virginia.

>>What a wonderful oasis in Stafford County, I mean, one of the most congested parts of our state, and to have this as a preserve for people to enjoy, its so special.

How many acres has Crow's Nest?

>>Its currently 3055.

It was, it's, we hope to add more obviously in the future.

>>So it's been pieced together over time?

>>It was purchased in 2008 and 2009, the first 2872 acres, and since then we've added another 170 acres or so with our partners in Northern Virginia Conservation Trust, and with Stafford County, >>And you have plans to add more.?

>>Yeah, working with our partners, we certainly hope to add more in the future.

>>That's fantastic, what are some of the unique aspects of this property that you can kind of say, Hey, I'm really proud to be part of this, because of these unique attributes?

As I mentioned earlier, I mean, it's being one of the best remaining coastal plain hardwood forests in Virginia, it has the underlying, even though it was a colonial era plantation, and they did all this activities out here, the topography made it hard to really farm and log it continuously.

So the forests are very old.

I mean, a lot of the forest is basically just after the Civil War, so 150 years old and the last commercial logging was in the 1950s.

So it's a very mature forest, though within the next 40-50 years, it'll be really an old growth forest once again.

That this could exist as a 3000 acre peninsula that was relatively undisturbed in Northern Virginia.

It was pretty amazing.

>>Mike after Gardening in the Piedmont area of Virginia, what's the soil like here in the coastal plain?

>>Well, the most of the preserve has, fairly acidic soil like most of Virginia, but a lot of the preserves underlined by an old marine formation called the aquia formation and the calcium in the old fossilized seashells influences the soils in those areas and allows for completely different plant communities, including a globally rare forest called the Dry Calcareous Forest, as well as some basic mesic forest types.

If you'd see that we can go check that out right now.

>>I would like to see!

>>All right.

>>That's cool.

>>Let's go.

>>Yeah.

>>A lot of the spring beauties are coming up right now.

1000s of those here in the next few days.

>>I was gonna say you've got 1000s, you can barely see the leaves, but the buds are there.

So they'll be beautiful very soon.

>>They will be, they'll be beautiful later today when the sun comes out.

>>Yeah, little fiddleheads popping up as well.

>>Yes.

>>This place is coming alive Mike.

>>It really is, I look forward to it every spring.

So Peggy, we're walking through what's called the Mesic Mixed Hardwood Forests, which is the most common forest we have here at Crow's Nest.

And it's dominated by the beech trees, tulip poplar, and various oaks and hickories species.

>>Yes, it's so open too, so you can see right through it right now.

>>Yeah, it's really sort of the quintessential view at Crow's Nest.

>>But the Mike, it's changed up ahead, we are no longer in a mesic forest up there.

>>Now this is really a pretty much a very abrupt transition between that Mesic Mixed Hardwood Forest and what is considered called an oak-heath forest, is really a transitions along sort of a moisture-soil gradient as we getting higher in elevation the soils are drier and just a little bit different.

This forest is mostly dominated by chestnut oak, and sort of key species like this mountain laurel, quite a few other species in the Azalea family like lowbush blueberry and black Huckleberry, and some less common ones like trailing arbutus.

>>Everything that likes it a little high and dry, huh!

>>Yeah, everything that likes a little bit higher and drier.

>>Well, you've got such a diverse topography here at Crow's Nest.

So what are some of the other plants that are growing throughout the area that you'd like to highlight?

>>So we have the high calcium rich soils that we have in certain parts of the preserve.

Like I mentioned the aquia formation was closer to the surface.

We have quite a few mountain disjunct species like crested coralroot, Dutchman's breeches, blue cohosh, foam flower and a number of those that are really rare in the coastal plain but because of the geologic features here at Crow's Nest, they're able to find a home.

>>Well with all of these unique features and plants, you also must have really interesting bird life here.

A very diverse population I would assume.

>>Yeah we do and large, intact forest like that are found at Crow's Nest are really important for forest interior birds, the birds that don't do very well with forest fragmentation that often nest on the ground or near the ground like Wood Thrush, oven bird, Kentucky warblers, prothonotary warblers, Eastern wood Pee-wees, things like that.

These are birds that are just struggling with habitat fragmentation.

>>Yes, and you say habitat fragmentation.

People don't realize that with all of our expansion of suburbs in our communities, we've ended up with tiny little pockets, where Crow's Nest is a significant parcel of land.

So that initial habitat ecosystem is intact for these birds.

>>It is very much so you know, here a Crow's Nest.

>>Yeah, you're very fortunate, and so where are those birds, but.

>>They are.

>>Sweeping around though to an area that I know a lot of, but, maintenance, good gracious how?

Because again, you are in the middle of a community, and things fly in on the wind, flings, seeds get dropped in by birds, how are you managing, keeping this as a preserve with so many invasive species around us?

>>That is a big part of our job particularly in the summertime, we have a number of species that we really work to control, primarily like Japanese stilt grass, which used to be like a lawn in all the old roads and trails here in Crow's Nest, we've spent a lot of time working on that and kudzu and tree of heaven and a number of species that we work on here.

The goal is really to keep it looking as natural as possible, particularly, where the public is visiting so that they don't take those seeds elsewhere and transplant them to the next natural area or park that they visit.

>>Yes, do you take volunteers to help you?

Do accept volunteer helper or?

>>Yeah, we do a lot of work with volunteers, we have garlic mustard pull days, things like that where people come out and help pull some of the invasives that we can actually control by hand and some of them they just come out and help us scout you know looking for, it's the easiest way to control invasive species is to find them early.

And then you can control them before they get really well established because then you can control them by hand and not have to use herbicides so much.

Really here at Crow's Nest with our small staff, having volunteers is really helpful to getting our jobs done.

>>Yes, they are vital But speaking of a job gracious Mike, you've been here for a number of years and helped spearhead what we have to enjoy today as well as being part of a team and leading a team to work so hard at preserving Crow's Nest and I want to thank you for that.

>>And I thank you very much Peggy for coming and visiting Crow's Nest and helping educate people about the Natural Heritage program here in Virginia.

And all the special places that we protect.

Crow's Nest has certainly changed since we shot that segment.

I am sure it is now a lovely oasis of green with all the lush new spring growth.

Speaking of growth, we're going to learn more about invasive plants, with Kevin Heffernan.

With the division of natural heritage.

But before we get started, remember to send in your gardening questions via Facebook or email.

Well Kevin, you've really brought an array of plants and I know it was a really warm day today.

So it's, you know, some of these are.

>>Some are little wilted.

>>Yeah a little wilted.

But that's okay 'cause they're invasive.

Okay.

(both laugh softly) >>They're all going to die after this.

>>Exactly.

It's a precursor.

But, tell me, managing invasive plants is really quite a challenge.

It takes persistence.

So, what is some of your, I'll say management techniques before we get into identifying all of these?

>>Well, you hit it right on the nail on the head is the number one ingredient for controlling invasive species is persistence.

It's a commitment.

And it's gonna take years for particularly these highly invasive species.

And then after that generally, you can, if you have a small area, small infestation, you can do that mechanically or by hand.

But, larger infestations they're gonna require chemical if, unless you're just gonna devote your life to grubbing them out.

>>Yes.

>>One by one.

But, so often we recommend glyphosate.

Is pretty, good for most of these species.

There'll be one exception to that.

I'll mention later.

>>Okay.

Do you recommend broadleaf spraying or more of a cut and paint type approach?

>>I recommend more cut and paint type.

We try to be very surgically precise with our kills.

There's situations on, for example, our natural preserves we can't do that.

We do aerial spraying on big stands of like phragmites.

But, for most people in their yards or small properties, yeah, cut and paint would be the way to go.

>>Yeah.

At Maymont we've been battling you can imagine battling invasives for years.

And I would like to say I've turned the corner and I can see the victory in sight.

But we all know that's fleeting.

But anyway, let me live in my little word.

>>Vigilance.

>>Yes.

But we use the cut and paint approach.

So when we cut the stem, we quickly have that little baby food jar filled with glyphosate and we're painting away.

So that the chemical just goes right to where we want it.

>>Right on your target, nothing else.

>>Nothing else, nothing else.

But, speaking of targets, you've got some good ones here my friend.

>>So here are some targets.

(Peggy laughs loudly) >>You got some targets, we've got, yeah, well here, this is autumn olive.

And it likes some, dry open habitat, full sun.

And all these species will, alter their community type.

And so they'll add, by adding a structural layer.

So in an open field this will overtop all the meadow species.

And choke them out by growing in a very dense, patch.

And a cover and it can even cover any opening area that will just keep going unless it's checked by human management at this point.

>>Yes.

>>And.

>>The attribute to the, this is a lovely fall fragrant flower.

And it's hard to convince people.

>>Right.

>>It's got this wonderful flower but we still have to get rid of it.

>>All of these except one are here because in some way they're pretty.

>>Yes.

>>Maybe two.

But yeah, it's pretty.

It has a nice fruit.

The fruit is also edible.

Which also birds, deer, bear, also love it.

And they're the ones that spread it then around so.

>>Yes, yes.

And another one that was introduced because of its ornamental value.

>>Right, Chinese privet.

And this one likes more shaded forest area, wet areas, along stream banks.

And shaded, partially shaded forest.

And it also, it does produce a nice little flower, fragrant flower.

And then a lovely looking berry.

Which again, the birds love.

And they eat them and spread them.

And that's what we call, a vector for invasive species.

How they get around.

You know, plants are rooted, but they get around, right?

>>Yes.

>>And it's the seeds that let them get around in this case.

>>But they make colonies.

>>Yeah.

Dense, shrub understory where there formerly wasn't one.

So, and they can even then begin suppressing the overstory species by not allowing, the seedlings to grow up through them.

So, that's how they begin altering the entire natural community.

>>Yes.

And boy, can they alternate.

I was in a national park the other day.

And the crew was cutting this and chipping it.

I was just smiling.

I was a very happy visitor.

>>Right.

>>So.

Speaking of another one that's challenging though.

>>So another shrub, Amur honeysuckle.

Again, brought here for the horticulture trade.

Because it's got the lovely honeysuckle like flowers, tubular flowers little beautiful fragrance.

Lovely red, bright red berries.

And again, spread by wildlife.

And this one also likes forest understory.

And creates a dense, shrub layer where there wasn't one normally in our native shrubs forest.

So, again, choking out all or anything below the shrub layer.

It will out shade and out compete for resources, water, nutrients and the like.

And so choking off our native species.

And when you, the native plants go then other species begin going along with them, right?

So those insects are dependent on their native species.

And then birds, other wildlife are dependent on the insects.

So, it's a kind of chain reaction.

This is why on the first glance it can be like, oh, you're adding to biodiversity.

But you're actually diminishing biodiversity over time.

>>Yes.

And the interesting thing is when you remove these invasives, the world opens up again.

>>Yes.

>>Our natives go, oh, I'm back.

>>That's right.

You can get them out and then nature bounces back.

>>Except for this guy here.

>>Our natives.

Yeah, that's a tough one.

>>This is my challenge right now.

>>Yeah, Japanese knotweed.

And this one's one of several on the rise here.

We're seeing it more and more.

It's getting more evident along the roadsides.

But also, in forest edges and wet areas in forests.

And again, brought over in the horticulture trade.

I hate to knock on the horticulture trade.

>>Sorry.

>>'Cause I love the horticulture trade.

And, but you know, and you look at it and go, what a cool looking plant, I want one.

Especially when you see it shooting out it's sprays of white flowers.

It's very dramatic.

But, but then it takes over.

So there's nothing to keep it in check.

And that's when, you know, one of the things when we bring things from elsewhere, we're liberating them from the predators and pathogens that would have kept them in balance with a wider natural community.

>>The restricting aspects of their community.

Yes, yes.

>>Right, right.

>>But then, there is one that's, I'll say easier to control than this one.

Is we're having challenges and that's this.

>>Right, the garlic mustard.

>>Garlic mustards.

>>Yeah.

And so that one's again, another forest understory species.

And will create a dense early spring, carpet of these wide leaves.

Again, shading out everything below it.

And that's one bad thing it does.

It also disrupts soil chemistry because it's allelopathic.

So it exudes its own natural herbicide, that kills off the competition.

And so it's altering the chemistry of the soil.

And it also tricks native butterflies into laying eggs on it.

And then when the larva hatch they find they're not on their food plant and die.

So.

>>Oh my!

>>Multiple disruptions there to natural process.

>>Gotcha.

I don't wanna hurry you along.

>>Yeah.

>>I wanna get to the last three.

>>Yeah.

So this one's.

>>This one here.

>>Another one on the rise.

We're seeing this more and more.

It's about in 20% of the counties now but we're getting more and more every year.

This is lesser celandine or fig buttercup.

It is in the buttercup family.

Has a beautiful flower, right?

>>Yes.

>>But, it likes wet places.

And it creates again, a dense, it just gets out of control.

And forms a dense patch, chokes everything else out.

>>And another one is its friend next door.

>>And another lovely you know, charismatic, lovely leaf, you know.

And then, an arum flower, Oh, this might be coming now but, so, but again in the horticulture trade introduce, who wouldn't want one?

But, if everyone keeps putting this in their yard everyone's gonna have one in their yard and in their parks and in the national forest is spreading.

Right now it's in known from, five localities that we have records for.

But again it's, I'm getting more and more reports of it popping up.

And where it comes in, it again creates these dense carpets and chokes out the natives.

>>I think I'm gonna dig mine up.

But we have less than a minute.

And let's go to.

the grand finale.

>>So this is the one I want you to remember.

This is wavyleaf grass.

And it's relatively new.

It only was introduced that we know of in 1999, in Maryland.

In Virginia, about 2006.

Is now in, 20 counties.

And it's, invades undisturbed forest understory.

Carpets the ground layer.

And it has these little seeds that exude their own little sticky glue that will attach to wildlife.

And get moved, widely and rapidly.

So we're now finding it down in New River Gorge, Southeast Virginia.

Getting quite around, very widespread.

And again, potential change agent in these forests.

'Cause it will suppress, even tree recruitment.

>>That is a dangerous little plant there.

And so, Kevin, I wanna thank you for all this information.

You've introduced us and made us aware of some of the things that we have out in our landscape that, I, for one I'm going to go rip that all the arum at Maymont, in my house.

But also, to take some action on.

So, thank you.

>>Thank you.

>>Yeah.

And now we're going to get ready to answer your questions.

But first, we have a tip from Robyn, about how you can feed and support pollinators in your yard all throughout the growing season.

(upbeat music) >>Welcome to Bridgewater College.

We're here in the pollinator garden.

This was installed some years ago as a student project and our goal is to keep pollinators, our native insects, happy and well-fed during the entire season.

Honeybees and other pollinators will come out as early as March, even up here in the Shenandoah Valley and so today, what we're gonna add to the garden is some ground cover, Chrysogonum virginianum.

Its common name is green and gold.

It's a very low-growing plant, it is perennial.

In some parts of Virginia, it would be evergreen, so it'll give you some year-round interest and maybe what you can see is some very small, yellow flowers already started here in late March and early April.

So this is gonna be a great native plant for a very early source of nectar.

So when I get it out of the pot, I'm just checking the roots and so now what I wanna do is kind of make sure that as I'm getting into the ground, that the crown of the plant is even to the height of the actual surrounding ground.

That's a little too low, so what I wanna do is put some of the soil back in.

Now that's starting to look a little better and so now what I wanna do is kind of bust up this sod and get it back in around the plant, firming gently as I go and getting some of this good leaf litter as mulch around the plant to keep it moist.

So today we added just one native plant, green and gold, to our pollinator garden.

There are hundreds of other plants to choose from.

Check out the Virginia Native Plant Society, they have many guides available for native plants in Virginia.

And don't be scared if you see some of them like butterfly weed.

Weed in the name is a poor choice that gardeners made long ago.

No matter what you choose, if you're putting in more flowers that bloom for long periods of time throughout the year, you'll be helping your native insects.

Robyn, thank you for sharing the pollinator garden at Bridgewater College.

And one of my favorite plants, green and gold.

On Facebook right now, cohost, Kevin Nevison and the team are there answering your questions.

So please send them in via Facebook or email.

Well, Kevin, that was very informative.

And I thank you.

And we've got a few questions here for you.

Let's start with one first off it says, which invasive plants have taken over?

And which native plants around it died or didn't do well?

That's a very broad question.

>>Yeah.

So, one way I'll answer that is we have, the DCR has, an invasive species list.

And there's 90 species listed on that.

And 30 of them are listed as highly invasive.

And that all of those are listed as highly invasive species.

Except the arum it's not on the list yet, but it will be soon.

So all those species are taking out very large areas of our land and natural communities.

>>You know, I don't think people realize when they hike through the forest, these days of Virginia just how many invasive plants they seen.

And the damage that's been done by them.

>>Right, yeah.

>>Yeah.

All of these came from James River Park systems.

So, (both laugh softly) they're everywhere.

>>They are everywhere.

And people just don't realize how much they smother and choke out our native plants.

>>Right.

So like the garlic mustard, for example it's, it does a lot of damage to our early spring femorals.

So, if you like bloodroot or spring beauty or the ginger or, any of those early, spring blooming flowers that come and go quickly in the early spring, the garlic mustard chokes those out.

>>Oh, that's sad.

That's so sad.

Another question's come in that says, what are the two most invasive plants your group most continually remove?

So native plants can thrive.

And which ones grow back and have to be removed over and over?

(Kevin chuckles softly) >>For the, I'll answer that second part first, which is they all have to be removed over and over and over again.

If a species becomes established, it's a permanent kind of management condition for us.

And there, it's very rare we get on top of the species and eradicate it.

It's happened, but very rarely.

But, one of the perennial problems for us is phragmites australis which is a common reed.

It's in our, brackish marshes, in the tidal, Virginia tidewater.

And I've done a mapping project where we mapped over 15,000 acres of phragmites in our marshes.

From Back Bay up to the Northern Neck and the Eastern shore.

So.

>>That's a new one into Virginia really new meaning in the past what?

25 years or?

>>Yeah so, in the early '60s there was a, vegetation study done in Back Bay.

No phragmites.

20 years later, there was like 85 acres.

20 years after that in the early '90s, there was about 1000 acres.

Now in Back Bay, I mapped 6,000 acres of phragmites.

>>Oh, that's so disheartening.

>>So, 60% of the open marshes there are, wall-to-wall phragmites.

>>Which means it's totally changed that ecosystem.

>>Completely, yeah.

>>Oh.

Well I know at Maymont we've been battling native plants.

And I actually gave a lecture once and I pulled up a picture of our nature center and the perspective it was show these mature trees totally covered in English ivy.

And I literally went back to work the next day and said, hey gang, we've got a new problem.

We have a new focus and a new project.

And we worked very hard at, it's been 10 plus years and we're still working at it.

Though lot of wonderful volunteer help.

So I encourage, you know, continually the effort of reaching out 'cause people wanna help.

>>Yeah.

>>Reclaim our ecosystems.

>>They do.

Yeah, we've had a lot of volunteer programs and partnered with landowners adjacent to our preserves where we have phragmites in the past.

And done joint control projects.

>>Yeah.

>>Yeah.

>>We've even used high school kids to help roll, like carpet, English ivy down the hill.

(Kevin laughs softly) That was so fun.

>>That sounds good.

>>They had a blast.

(laughs loudly) >>Sounds great, yeah.

A game of fire, right?

>>Exactly.

(both speakers laugh) It's a lot of work.

It's a lot of effort.

>>Yeah.

>>Now here's a question that I hope you know it, it's about rhododendrons.

And they were wondering if rhododendrons need to be plant far away from other plants, they won't interfere.

You know, are you finding that?

'Cause no, not really.

They're not allelopathic at all.

>>No.

And not really, I'm not really a horticulturalist so I'm not planting rhododendrons.

And you should ask my wife that question.

(Peggy laughs softly) >>Well actually no, rhododendrons are not allelopathic.

Their roots do not have, exude any hormones into the soil to prevent growth of other plants.

So you can plant them as close as you want.

Within reason to the proper size of the plant you're planting.

So look at that tag, do a little research, before you decide where to site that plant.

Some of them get quite large.

At Maymont we have 100-year-old rhododendrons and some of them are extremely large.

So, just be aware of what you've purchased okay?

Now, there's a question about the glyphosate being used and that the fact that it could be a pollinator killer.

Do you have any thoughts or comments on that?

>>So that's some recent information and there's still a lot of research going on on this and.

But, glyphosate has also been in the trade and being been used for over 50 years.

It's been around for a long time.

And it's kind of a hard one to beat for its utility.

And there's still just so many questions about what is happening to our pollinators?

And then I saw something just this week about it may not even be the glyphosate, but it may be, what we mix the herbicide with.

>>The carrier.

>>That's causing the (indistinct) or carrier that may be causing the damage.

So that's something, that could be modified in the future.

>>Plus I think too, we both agree we are not broadcasting this product.

We are doing specific cut and immediate paint right there.

So we are not creating death and destruction.

>>Very different than in how it's used in agriculture.

So, where they're spraying over many hundreds of thousands of acres.

>>Yes.

>>Invasive species work tends to be again very surgical, very targeted.

>>Very targeted.

Well, thank you, Kevin.

And thank you for sharing your expertise.

And all you do for Virginia's nature preserves.

And now, let's join Keith Nevison to visit Boxerwood Nature Center.

And see how they are engaging their community.

>>Hi Jess, thanks for having us out to Boxerwood Gardens.

>>Thanks for coming.

>>How did Boxerwood get its name?

>>Well, this area was owned by one of our local pediatricians, Dr. Munger.

And when he lived here, he had boxers all the time.

And at one point he actually had 11 boxers.

That's a lot of dogs.

(both laugh) >>And he ended up delivering many kids in this area.

And now children's education is a primary focus of Boxerwood right?

>>Very much so, very much so, in fact, parents, people that were born by Dr. Munger, their children have come through here.

Their children, it's really pretty amazing.

>>That's a wonderful story.

We're here in the natural play area.

Can you tell us a little bit about some of the fun activities that are engaging for kids?

>>Sure, sure, so this space is really based on playing outside like we did when we were children.

And we have a mud kitchen, because you need to make mud pies.

And we have a tiny house mountain for kids to climb over and learn how to roll down.

Just be outdoors in nature, listening to all the birds, being muddy, that's the big thing here is just to be a kid.

>>There are so many birds going on right now.

>>They're.

(chuckles) >>It's lovely, and I understand that you work with all the public local students here in Lexington.

So what kinds of activities do you, and what kinds of programs do you engage them with here?

>>We have a very unique partnership with the school systems, starting with the preschoolers, and going straight up through high school, where we have actually become part of their curriculum, we're their outdoor classroom.

So I teach preschoolers to second graders.

And that is a job where I want to connect them to the joy and wonder of the natural world and get them to feel that and want to be a part of that.

They all grow over the years.

It's what you've learned in first grade, kindergarten first grade about the waterways around Boxerwood, you get to learn where it goes and how we can save it, erosion, all of that stuff that builds on top of it throughout the years.

We taking kids to the creeks and we're testing the waters, we're doing the chemicals with them.

It's really a lifetime of, natural work that we're doing.

>>How enriching and how wonderful that you're able to engage so many kids, now what other things, programs do you have that are available for families out here at the gardens?

>>Well, we have our music in the garden, which happens every other Friday in the summertime.

We've also had fairy festivals here, kids just frolicking in their fairy outfits and building little houses and and being magical in that way.

Another big thing that we do is in the fall, we connect with the community and ask them to make carve pumpkins for us.

And they bring pumpkins here and we have a pumpkin walk, where we light up the garden with jack o' lanterns, and families can go through, it's really amazing at night, it's a different way of seeing Boxerwood.

>>That's wonderful, and you have so much going on here.

And I understand you also have curriculum that happens outside of the gardens.

>>Sure, sure, we do a lot of after school programs.

We do trout in the classroom where we also have releases for the trout, we do tree plantings, there's just so many things that we do here at Boxerwood and to connect with the community that if you go to our website boxerwood.org, you'll be surprised.

(laughs) >>That's fantastic, well, you clearly have so much going on.

And we're going to actually catch up with Ben now, and go see some of the gardens right now.

>>Great idea.

>>So thank you so much.

(bird chirping) So Ben, here we are, we've got beautiful lush gardens here on the property and I understand that you guys are representing different ecosystem types here.

What kinds of ecosystems do you have?

>>Yeah, well, it's mostly wooded.

It's a mix of exogenous and native species.

We have two springs that feed into this wetland pond.

So that's a really wonderful habitat.

We have another runoff fed pond and we also have an open field that's great bird habitat and represents a meadow ecosystem.

>>Fantastic, you've got some very large trees out here a Dawn Redwood, a great oak.

Can you tell us a little bit more about the big trees and how they came to be planted out here?

>>Yeah, well, most of the trees were planted starting in the 50s by Dr. Munger, who was the owner of the property at the time, and so he gathered trees from all over the world.

At one time we had the largest collection of Japanese maples anywhere in the country.

He planted a lot of dogwoods, magnolias, dwarf conifers, crabapples, those were some of his favorites.

You mentioned the Atlas Cedar, we have a really nice specimen of that and Persian Ironwood.

I think that's one of our more interesting trees.

>>I noticed we just passed a beautiful Dawn Redwood.

Can you tell us a little bit more about the story behind how that got here?

>>Yeah, Dawn Redwood is one of my favorite trees on the property.

That's a tree that's found in the fossil record in North America, but it seems to have disappeared from North America about 2 million years ago, and was thought to be extinct worldwide.

And rediscovered living in a remote valley in China.

And from there, it spread back to the rest of the world.

So I like to think of it as a native tree that's come back home to Virginia.

>>That's fantastic, it's a great story.

>>It's just an all around great tree.

>>It's also not just the trees.

I mean, there's a lot of ground layers that we've got Trillium nearby.

We've got other spring ephemerals.

>>Yeah, the Virginia bluebells have just come up and we're looking forward, you mentioned Trillium, that'll be popping up soon.

And so it's an exciting time of year.

>>Yeah, what are your favorite aspect here?

I know you've been with Boxerwood for many years here, so what are some of the special places and the plants that you really look forward to?

>>Well, one of my favorite places recently is an area right down here where we have a mix of Dawn Redwood and bald cypress trees.

It's just a really nice, cool, shady spot in the summer.

It's matured quite a bit.

Those trees were all planted in the 80s.

It's right at the base of a spring.

So you hear the flow of the water through there.

And it's just it's created a really small, special ecosystem niche.

>>And I understand you're really big into sustainability efforts.

Why don't you tell us a little bit about what you guys are doing here with alternative energy and wastewater?

>>Yeah, well, I mentioned native plants, we have a native plant sanctuary, with that focus.

We treat our wastewater on site with an innovative wastewater treatment system that uses a constructed wetland, and that's also an educational feature.

Just last month, we converted fully to solar power.

So we installed the new solar array.

So we're really excited about that too.

>>That's awesome, you also have a lot of sculpture out here.

It's just a fun place to be.

Why don't you to tell us about what some of the pieces that the children and the public kind of gravitate towards?

>>Yeah, well, Boxerwood is just it's a community place.

So we actually have pieces of art that sometimes appear overnight from local artists who just have something they want to share with the public.

I mentioned Dr. Munger, he himself was an artist and other people.

So there's still pieces from that time, and there's new art popping up all the time.

>>That's awesome and some of the partners, you guys partner with a lot of different organizations and the Rockbridge and Lexington area.

Can you tell us a little bit about some of those that you partner with?

>>We partner with the Master Gardeners, they come every week and they have a few areas that they tend especially that the native plant sanctuary and the pollinator garden.

We partner with the Bird Club and with Master Naturalists.

So quite a few community partners.

>>That's tremendous, thank you very much for welcoming us here on this beautiful spring day.

>>Well, thank you so much, we really appreciate it.

(birds chirping) Keith, thank you for introducing us to Boxerwood.

And the great work they do in getting children to connect with and better understand the outside world.

Well we have with us today, Brian Trader, President and CEO of Lewis Ginter Botanic Garden.

Who's brought in some of his favorite native plants.

But before we begin, I wanna remind you to send in your gardening questions via email or Facebook.

Well, Brian, you have brought a lovely display.

Quite an array of beautiful blooming plants and they're all native.

So who says natives aren't gorgeous?

>>Some of my favorites and so important for our ecosystems.

>>Yes, so important.

But, you know, people think of blooming azaleas and they only think of the Japanese and all those wonderful cultivars but look at this gorgeous, beautiful, native azalea blooming.

What can you tell us about it?

>>Sure.

So this is certainly one of my favorite azaleas and there's many natives that you can choose from.

But this is called the mountain azalea.

And it has this beautiful white and pink.

When the buds are first starting to open up it's pink and then it opens up and fades to white.

But if you're close enough to smell it, it has a wonderful sweet fragrance.

And of course it, because it likes shade, it brightens up those dark spaces in your garden.

>>Yes.

And it's so easy to take care of.

>>Absolutely.

It doesn't grow too fast, you know?

And good shape too on this one.

>>Fits just about anywhere.

>>I agree.

>>Yeah.

But you've got tall and now we've got some low guys too to put into our garden.

>>Sure.

So, you know, one of the, reminds me of home where I'm from the Eastern shore of Virginia, we used to have this growing in our ditch banks, which would flood with some of the salt marsh.

And so this is called the Virginia salt marsh mallow.

And so this is just emerging, you know, when you're outside you see these in the wild.

They're just now coming up.

Now this is gonna get really tall.

You know, six foot, maybe even a little bit more than that.

They love a little bit of wet feet.

So, saturated water conditions will be wonderful these.

And just like, you're hibiscus that has a beautiful pink hibiscus flower in late summer.

>>And needs that sunshine to do it.

>>Full sun absolutely.

Will soak it up.

>>Yes.

Oh, can't wait.

Later in the summer we just have a gorgeous display of those.

>>Absolutely.

>>Yes.

>>So another favorite I have is, this is not too common.

And this is Lanceleaf Lysimachia or Loosestrife.

And this is low growing.

So to make a little ground cover it runs along the ground.

When it emerges, you'll see it has this beautiful kind of dark purple, maroon foliage.

And in the summer, this is gonna be covered with yellow, small yellow flowers.

>>Oh lovely.

>>So wonderful native.

And it can take full sun to some part shade.

But, a great one for the border of your native garden.

>>Would it be good for a ground cover in a small area?

>>Absolutely.

And just know that, you know, space it out 'cause it will grow fast.

>>Wonderful.

It's the perfect kind of ground cover.

>>It is.

>>So who's its little neighbor?

>>So this is one called winecup.

And this is, you know, full sun.

And the flower reminds me of a deep wine color, almost like a merlot.

>>Yes.

>>And you know, give it some space.

'Cause this gets pretty big.

And will, you know, I would say maybe 24, 48 inches.

And it will spread even more than that.

And you'll have these beautiful, saucer-shaped winecup flowers.

In May and June, late May and June.

>>That is a wonderful plant.

>>It is.

>>I love it.

So, but quite different.

And another one that's not well known is the next one.

>>This is the cutest liatris or gayfeather that you'll ever see.

And it's called, Liatris microcephala.

Or blazing star, Appalachian blazing star.

And so, most people when they think of gayfeather that's a really tall plant in their garden.

But this one only gets about 24, maybe a little bit over that, from 24 inches.

>>Perfect, yeah.

>>And just covered in purple flowers.

And what you'll see is early in the season, it will flower.

But, in the fall, you'll get a second bloom.

A lot of times.

>>That is awesome.

>>Yeah.

>>Well, we've got to keep moving along.

So who's our beautiful little guy blooming there?

>>So this is a trillium luteum or yellow trillium.

And so these are doing their thing right now.

Spring is when they thrive.

And so, you'll see this has a beautiful yellow floral in the center.

They love shade.

And you know, these here are a little bit of extra care.

A lot of people don't know that they like a little bit of moisture.

They like a little bit of rich soil.

And so you've got to put this in an area of your garden where it's gonna get some shade but has, you know, good organic material.

>>It's not the plant for heavy clay.

>>No, definitely not.

>>Not at all.

But the next one will make it.

>>Absolutely.

So this is a dwarf crested iris.

And this is also it's time in the garden.

This is in full bloom.

This happens to be a white cultivar called Tennessee white.

A lot of times you see this in purple in the garden.

This is a great plant for beginners, for experts.

It just is a wonderful garden plant.

Low to the ground and in front of the border.

>>I think it's one worth giving a try no matter what.

>>Absolutely.

>>'Cause it just is so happy.

But, we've got to keep moving Brian.

>>So this is slender goldenrod.

And so, unlike most of the goldenrods that a lot of our viewers might be familiar with this isn't a Solidago, this is one called Euthamia.

And when you're looking for something to bloom late in the summer, late in or early in the fall, this is your plant.

And it takes big space in your garden.

So it fills a great void and beautiful yellow flowers, on that time of season.

>>And it breaks the stereotype of goldenrods.

>>Absolutely.

Yeah, it's not a weedy plant.

>>Not at all.

And another one that breaks the stereotype.

>>So this is sensitive fern.

And you know, I love native ferns and this is one of my favorites.

And it gets the name sensitive fern because a lot of times this is one of the first ferns that will emerge in the spring.

And a lot of times it'll get nipped by that frost.

So, that's why it's called sensitive fern.

But, a great fern for a shady and rich soil that you have.

>>And a plant that's anything but sensitive is this phlox.

>>Yeah, woodland phlox.

Oh my gosh.

Another underutilized native plant.

Beautiful flowers this time of year.

Unlike some of the garden phlox is that a lot of our viewers may be accustomed to, this one requires some shade.

>>Yes.

>>And so, it brightens up a shady area this time of year.

>>City of Richmond is using this in their islands as you drive through downtown, that's how tough it is.

>>Well, and a lot of them have some fragrance too.

>>Yes.

Well, I don't get to see that in the car on the way to work.

>>No, that's true.

(Peggy laughs loudly) No, we encourage you not to smell the flowers as you're driving around.

>>But, this can make a large area and it's just spectacular in full blown.

>>Absolutely.

>>And then it kind of dies down and is quiet the rest of the year.

>>Yeah.

And gives the opportunity for other plants to do their thing.

>>I was gonna say, it steps out of the way for others.

But we've got a grass here.

So let's talk about that.

>>Yeah.

So native grasses, you know.

They are just really important and provide great structure in the native landscape.

This is one called bitter panicgrass.

So, it's kind of like the, well this one's from the Eastern shore I will say the Delmarva Peninsula.

This is a cultivar called Dewey Blue.

So, for all of our viewers that have been to the Delaware beaches, this was found near Dewey Beach, Delaware.

And it has great blue color.

It likes the full sun.

But it's not a large grass.

So it's gonna behave itself.

>>Very upright.

>>Right?

And it's gonna, provide great architecture and the native landscape.

>>I love the panicgrass, I do.

They work so well in the garden.

>>They do.

Yep so, bitter panicgrass, some of it's close cousins are switchgrass.

>>Yes, yes.

>>Yeah.

>>And the grand finale, which is a favorite plan of Peggy's 'cause it's a great vine.

>>Well, you know, this is trumpet honeysuckle.

>>Yes.

>>And this isn't like one of the invasive honeysuckles.

This is one of our natives.

And this is a selection of our natives that it has yellow flowers.

It's called John Clayton.

These vines, these native vines are so important for hummingbirds.

>>Yes.

>>Because they provide some of the earliest nectar, they're blooming right now in our forest.

And the hummingbirds just cannot stay away from these.

>>Yes.

>>And so these yellow, yellow tubular flowers are wonderful for, those really coveted birds, in our homes and around our garden.

>>Major Wheeler is a red cultivar as well.

>>Absolutely.

>>And what I love about these plants is they are not aggressive.

They don't overtake.

They're very, very, I say they behave themselves in the garden very well.

>>They are well behaved.

>>You know, they don't overpower.

>>No, not at all.

>>Brian, this is a wonderful selection of plants.

And I can see that you really shared with us some of your favorites.

We've got some, tried and trues, but we also have some that maybe some people don't know about.

And I thank you so much for bringing them in.

>>Well, thank you for hosting me.

>>Yes.

This has just been great information.

And you've given us so much good new ideas for our gardens.

So I thank you.

>>Absolutely.

>>And now, we're gonna get ready to answer your questions.

But first, we have a tip from Alison, on how to plan the layout of your growing space.

(instrumental music) >>Today we're here at Legacy Farm and I'm really excited to show you some of the best practices and helpful ways to think about placemaking both for plants and people.

We thought it might be important to have a place for some people to sit, a place for some people to walk around within the space.

And then also some plants that people could identify and engage with.

After thinking about that, we took to paper and we wrote down those things that were important.

And then we started to draw it to scale.

After drawing it to scale, we were able to pinpoint where's the lighting happening?

Where is the soil and its health?

What are we gonna need to get it to where it's gonna be healthy and ready to receive those plants?

And what plants sizes and heights are gonna really balance each other well?

I think one of the most gratifying things about creating a plan is that it gives you room and freedom to make changes to add on.

Everything that we actually planned for, we did.

And it was one really empowering and encouraging but I think also we figured out, here's some other things that we're missing or some other things that would really add to the garden.

And because we had things in place already, we were able to figure out, how much more space do we have to work with.

Now we want to continue to add not only native elements to this garden, but also herbal.

So, today we have some cat mint that we are planting.

And then we also have a native plant in the milkweed family that we are planting to support our ecosystem.

Milkweed Asclepius is really important to beneficial insects, mainly the monarch butterfly.

It's the only host plant for its larvae.

And we're gonna plant that today.

When you're taking it out of your bucket, be gentle and make sure that the roots are not confined and bound up.

Hold it up.

Make sure you put some dirt around as you're bringing the dirt in all sides, real even.

When you're thinking about a plan, I would encourage you don't be so intimidated about the work.

It's not rocket science.

It's just taking the dreams that you have in your own mind for what you wanna see and making it come to life.

You can do it.

Alison, laying out a garden can be intimidating to some.

And I thank you for explaining it so well, that others can feel empowered.

But before we get started, I wanna encourage you to send your gardening questions via Facebook or email so we can answer them on the show.

Well, Brian, we've got a lot of questions.

>>Great.

>>Yes.

And we're gonna start with a favorite of mine.

Is planting early planting late, this year I'm deferring to local wisdom and waiting until at least Mother's Day to plant tomatoes.

What are the pros and cons of planting early versus late?

And what happens when plants such as tomatoes and peppers get chilled?

>>Well, I'll share that this year I did not wait to plant our tomatoes.

And so, you know, one of the cons of planting early, is when you have those cold nights, you have to set up the tents.

You have to set up the blankets.

You have to set up the bags.

And there's no guarantee that that's gonna protect your plants from the very cold.

And another thing, you don't know where these plants have been grown.

So some of them are being shipped up from Central America, maybe South America.

So they've been grown in really warm climates.

And so, even temperatures in the 40s can stunt our tomatoes, our peppers, these plants that are accustomed to warm temperatures.

And when you have that stunting that's gonna really delay the opportunity for that plant to recover.

You know, it's just like an injury.

And so, it takes time to recover from that injury.

>>Yes.

>>So if you wait, then you don't have to worry about, doing all that preparation to cover your plants.

And you start out with a stronger plant from the start.

>>Exactly.

And sometimes the cold weather can actually inhibit the initial bud forms of flowers or, if you're that early might inhibit some early fruit formation that you've been striving so hard to attain, so.

>>Absolutely.

Yeah.

>>Patience it's all about patience with gardening- >>It is.

And there's a reason that all of those stores put out those tomatoes and peppers really early.

>>There is sure is.

Don't fall prey to that.

(Peggy laughs loudly) So, here's another one about bearded iris deadheading.

Do tall, German, bearded iris benefit from deadheading?

And will they multiply more quickly with deadheading?

>>You know, there's a science to that.

I prescribe to the, it's best to deadhead.

Because what's gonna happen is, if you leave the flower stalks on your iris, the plant's gonna continue to send energy and resources to those blossoms and to try to develop seed.

So unless you're trying to do some hybridization or you know, do some crosses, my recommendation is to go ahead and deadhead.

And that way those resources can be put into the rhizome for, greater overwintering and potential, spread.

>>Exactly.

And at home the other day I wanna share with everybody in my iris leaves, I noticed that the iris borer, larva had hatched and you can see tiny little streaks in your leaves right now.

And I just plucked them right off.

Before they even get down to that rhizome.

So I encourage you to consider doing the same.

>>Yeah.

>>It's a great time to do it.

It saves a lot of frustration labor, later.

Another one we have is my beautiful Japanese maple make seeds spring and fall.

And there are some now, can I plant one or more and hope to grow one?

>>Well, you know, Japanese maple seeds tend to need a vernalization requirement.

So they need to go through that kind of cold stratification, if you will.

Certainly some might germinate in the current year.

But, I also recommend that you, take up some of those Japanese seeds.

'Cause sometimes this Japanese maples will grow where you don't want them.

>>Yeah.

>>So, just be careful about those seeds and where they're falling in your garden.

>>Well, a lot of gardeners are saying this year there are hundreds of Japanese maple seedlings just germinating everywhere 'cause the conditions were just perfect.

>>Absolutely.

>>Some of them I'm saying, pick them and pot them and others I'm saying let's get rid of them.

>>Absolutely.

>>Where they're in areas you don't want them.

>>Yeah.

>>So, well, a quick question on arum what's the most successful way to remove Italian arum?

>>Well, you know, it does have overwintering structure that's underground.

And so you need to make sure that when you are removing the arum that you're getting as much as the underground structure as possible.

Also, it does produce a red berry.

Which is highly desirable by some birds and other animals.

And so make sure that you are cutting those berries off and disposing off them so it can't spread by seed as well.

>>Yeah.

The best thing to do is remove it right now.

Which is in late spring or early summer.

>>'Cause you know where it is because of the foliage.

>>Exactly.

And it hasn't buried yet.

So you can get ahead of it.

Now here's one that is aucuba, native to Virginia.

There's one in the yard and this person's yard and it's been there and it's now turning black and dying.

>>Yeah.

Aucubas are not native to Virginia.

>>No, they are not.

>>Yeah.

>>And they end up with a disease that, actually is kind of favorable because it will help you get rid of this plant in a nice way.

>>Yeah.

>>So the- >>You have to be careful with toxicity of aucuba as well.

>>Yes, exactly.

What, particularly with pets and things.

>>That's true.

>>It's not a favorite plant to have at all.

>>No.

>>And I think there's many others on the park and then you showed us just one of them that can easily take their place.

>>Absolutely.

>>There's other plants that be used that can screen just as well, so.

We have another question and it's a real quick one.

Just seconds, real quick.

What is your favorite native plant?

>>Woo, wow.

Fothergilla.

>>There you go.

>>Gardenia is probably one of them.

>>I'm there with you.

>>It's a great one.

>>Yeah.

>>To our fothergilla.

>>It's bottlebrush plant.

And it's a wonderful plant that blooms about right now.

>>Yeah.

>>And it has lovely fall foliage.

So, good choice there Brian.

>>Thank you.

(Peggy laughs softly) Good minds think alike.

>>Yes, good.

Well, I wanna thank you, Brian.

This has been fun and I really appreciate you coming out and joining us.

>>It's been my pleasure.

Thank you.

>>You're welcome.

Well, Virginia Home Grown has an awesome Facebook page and we ask you to look for timely information from our team on that page.

Also, look for pets, plant, pick, after the show.

This month, he's showcasing a garden vegetable that you can use as a house plant.

Coming up in the community, we have spring Fest on April 30th and May 1st at Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden.

And the spring celebration plant sale at Edith J.

Carrier Arboretum at JMU.

Now until April 30th.

Next month, our show is all about educational gardening programs.

We will visit a college in Petersburg and an educational farm near Staunton.

To see how these organizations are reaching out into their communities.

Working with technology, and engaging the next generation of gardeners.

So, we will see you then.

Remember, gardening is for everyone.

And we are all growing and learning together.

Thanks for watching Virginia Home Grown.

>>Production funding for Virginia Home Grown, is made possible by.

(guitar plays softly)