Online voting has begun in Virginia’s Top 10 Endangered Artifiacts program. The goal of Virginia’s Top Ten is to raise public awareness about care of collections throughout Virginia, D.C., and beyond. Our sculptures on display in Statuary Vista are candidates and need your vote. Statuary Vista features eleven, seven-foot tall statues carved from Cararra marble by Sir Moses…
Summertime is a great time of year to see lots of different flowering plants. We have gardens focusing on butterflies and hummingbirds and the plants they desire. The perennial garden, sensory garden and tropical garden are all bursting with flowers. Color is everywhere. One plant commonly seen around the Garden is the crape myrtle. This…
There are two types of people who visit the Garden… Wait, that sounds like the start of a bad joke. People come to the Garden for many different reasons, but generally people come with a specific purpose in mind or they come to wander around and see what’s here. In other words, for some folks…
Every January, it gets very quiet in the Garden. Few visitors come and brave the cold weather. I am pretty certain that many people also have the mindset that “there is nothing to see.” It’s winter, all the plants are asleep. Or so most people think. Certainly this is not the season for over-the-top floral…
Everyone likes to make a good impression. When we meet someone, they make an effort to “put their best foot forward” and only after you have been with them a while do you really get to know them. Some plants are the same way. Take the weeping cherry, for example. Most people are introduced to…
Donald Buma, Norfolk Botanical Garden Executive Director As cold weather approaches, it is time to begin planning to store summer bulbs such as gladiolus, caladium and dahlia. These plants need to be dug up and stored so they can be planted next year. These plants should be dug after frost has caused the tops to…
The National Garden Bureau has recently announced that 2011 is the Year of the Tomato for vegetables and the Year of the Zinnia for flowers. Each year since 1982, the National Garden Bureau has selected a flower and a vegetable for its “Year of the” program. Selection is based on the ease of growth of…
Halloween is almost here and people are getting all excited to scare each other. I love a good fright now and then too. Last year I talked about some seasonally scary plants, but I really didn’t mention a few that truly creep me out. These are the ones that will sneak up on you as…
By Dandy Lion I had a dream the other night that I was walking through the Garden. People usually dream about flying, but for a plant, walking is just as fantastical. Anyway, I was walking through the Garden, enjoying all the wonderful plants. Suddenly I stopped, because something seemed odd. I noticed two plants that…
By Dandy Lion As the days start to shorten, plenty of plants are telling us that fall is here. Ornamental grasses explode like fireworks, berries ripen for the birds, sasanqua camellias begin to bloom and mums create vibrant mounds in the Garden. Actually a chrysanthemum’s bloom date is not determined by cool weather or a…