The Virginia Native Wildlife Garden I Left Behind

Kitchen herbs in the foreground are mostly European, but the asters and River Birch are natives

When I moved away from Virginia 5 years ago, I was leaving 4 years worth of garden work, which included study, research and hard labor. I had spent countless hours studying butterfly lists, butterfly needs, plant lists, plant qualities and requirements. Many of the resources I used are listed here on the right sidebar::==>

Things were just starting to fill in and fulfill their ecosystem functions when we found out we were being transferred to Italy.  Even though I was thrilled to go to Rome, I was heartbroken to leave my garden behind, because I knew nobody would take care of it and understand it the way I did.

I worked with my gardener, Martin, to the point where he understood how I wanted it cared for while I was away, but he left soon after that as well.  Today I just found my notes that I left with him, on how to care for the garden, and what the names of the native plants were.  I found some photos as well. It really was hard to look at them.  My heart started pounding and my breathing got kind of fast and shallow.  It was as if I were looking at old pictures of my child, or my favorite pets!

Here, for the sake of record keeping, for when I return to Virgina and restore my garden, is the document I left for Martin on the care and upkeep of my Virginia Native Plant pollinator garden.  Some more photos are below as well.

Cory’s Garden Notes 

v  Leave as many fall leaves in place as possible – they contain the eggs, pupae and hibernating adult insects. Leaves also act as mulch.

v  Let the clover stay in the grass for the bees and butterflies.  I don’t mind the dandelions and plantains, but the tenant might.  Keep them comfortable with their surroundings. Leave the violets. Leave the Virginia Creeper unless it starts to take over. So far it’s been well-behaved.

v  Pull up the ivy, bush honeysuckle seedlings, forsythia, grape, porcelainberry, bishop’s weed, garlic mustard. Throw them out in the trash or put them in a pile on the street and call for a county unbundled brush pick-up.  Remove the vinca only if you have some other ground cover to replace it with.

v  Let seed heads persist through winter for visual interest and food for birds and chipmunks.

v  Don’t let the vinca take over the plants in the side yard, but only pull it up if you have something good to replace it with.

v  Divide the green-headed coneflower in front of the porch. Put half back in place, but about a foot forward toward the sidewalk. Place the other half on the other side of the brick steps for symmetry.

v  Tame and contain the asters and give the columbine, Japanese anemone and strawberries plenty of room to live.

v  Don’t let the white strawberries take over the gray dogwood, or the blueberries or the wood ferns. Make sure it doesn’t invade the little bed with the sensitive fern and the wood poppies.

v  I tolerate a lot of insect damage because I try to plant what insects want to eat (so that birds will want to eat the insects…)

v  The native Prunus shrubs and trees are among the most important host plants for lepidopterae, second only to the oaks. Prune the wild cherry so it’s not in the way, but let it live.

v  Hummingbirds love the zinnias. Plant some in the spring near the bird bath and the cardinal flowers.

v  Add more of the plants that survived the drought/heatwave; expand and add mass
   

     List of Native Plants in My Virginia Garden

-          Cardinal flowers (Lobelia cardinalis)

-          Blue lobelia (Lobelia siphilitica)

-          Wild petunia (Ruellia caroliniensis)

-          Swamp milkweed (Asclepias incarnata)

-          Golden ragwort (Packera aurea)

-          Ironweed (Vernonia novaborascensis)

-          Heuchera

-          Blue mistflower (Conoclinium coelestinum)

-          Common milkweed (Asclepias syriaca)

-          Gaultheria procumbens (teaberry)

-          Marginal woodfern (Dryopteris marginalis)

-          White strawberries (Fragaria virginiana)

-          Blue-eyed grass (Sisyrinchium angustifolium)

-      Bee Balm (Monarda)

-      Purple Passion Flower vine (Passiflora incarnata)

-      Wild Geranium (Geranium maculatum)

-      Witch Hazel (Hamamelis virginiana)

-      Low Bush Blueberry (Vaccinium angustifolium)

-      Sweetbay Magnolia (Magnolia viginiana)

-      New Jersey Tea (Ceanothus americanus) 

-      Maple Leaf Viburnum (Viburnum acerifolium)

-      Cup Plant (Silphium perfoliatum)

-      Bluestem Goldenrod (Solidago caesia)

-      Winterberry (Ilex verticillata)

-      Inkberry (Ilex glabra)

-      Spicebush (Lindera benzoin) is a larval host for spicebush swallowtail.

-      Buttonbush (Cephalanthus occidentalis)

-      Elderberry (Sambucus canadensis)

-      Trumpet Honeysuckle Vine (Lonicera sempervirens)

-      Greenheaded Coneflower (Rudbeckia laciniata)

-      Common Black-eyed Susan (Rudbeckia hirta)

-      Sassafras (Sassafras albidum)

v  Here’s a list of March-blooming natives that I never got around to planting:

-          Cardamine concatenate (shade/moist)

-          Dicentra cucullaria (Dutchman’s breeches) (sun-shade/moist)

-          Dirca palustris (leatherwood) (shade/moist)

-          Mertensia (VA bluebells) (shade/moist)

-          Polemonium reptans (Jacob’s ladder) (shade/moist)

-          Sanguinaria Canadensis (shade/moist)

A few more photos (indulge me a little, sniff)...