Master Gardeners of Northern Virginia
Over 40 Years of Growing Gardens and Gardeners
If you’re looking to introduce indoor plants to your home, Tradescantia pallida (purple heart) and Chlorophytum comosum (spider plant) are two good choices for starter houseplants. Following are growing basics for each plant.
Learn about adaptive strategies that gardeners can take to improve their soil.
Maintaining the health of our soil is the primary strategy for climate resilience. As the second largest ecosystem after the world’s oceans, soil not only provides physical support of our plants, but also is crucial in the cycling of water and nutrients. In addition, it provides habitat for a multitude of living things, including beneficial microbes that develop special relationships with plants.
The best way to get in touch with what is greening is to take a walk outside. The six demonstration gardens maintained by the MGNV in Arlington and Alexandria are open to the public, so visitors can go and observe the varying stages of new spring growth. Throughout our area, trees are budding, birds are returning or passing in migration, opossums and salamanders are reviving from their winter’s sleep, even though spring doesn't come officially until mid-March.
Enjoy another entry in our series of short form thoughts on gardening and gardeners.
Learn how you can participate in the Great Backyard Bird Count–all you have to do is watch birds for at least 15 minutes, at least once, from February 12 through February 15, 2021...Also, learn how to improve the habitat on your own property to make it more inviting for birds and butterflies.
Second in our series on Climate-Conscious Gardening, this article has suggestions for science-based techniques individuals can implement to directly reduce the sources of greenhouse gas emissions and slow the pace of further climate change.
