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Gardening Update, July 23rd

7/24/2015

4 Comments

 
At the CCC Field, those Yucca plants you can see in the background have been blooming and producing seeds for years, though perhaps not all the way back to the CCC days.  Consequently, there have been lots of little Yuccas in the landscaped areas here.  Until now.  We’ve taken most of them out, as in the bed in the foreground.  I cut and discarded the spent flowering stems this year, to discourage volunteer seeding, but I could have taken another course.  According to Helen Hamilton in Wildflowers and Grasses of Virginia’s Coastal Plain, the immature fruit can be cooked and eaten after the seeds are removed.

With the sidewalk cleaned and this Dogwood bed weeded, we moved to the Pool Gardens to take out the invading Nutsedge, Horse Nettle and Bermuda Grass.  That was pretty well in hand (though seemingly never complete) when the arriving pool visitors shattered the quiet of the morning.  So we moved up to the CCC Museum where grasses and Dandelion were beginning to return.  Here there was also an unrecognized small wildflower that is proving difficult to identify.  From there to the Butterfly Garden, finding a few weeds and a few insects of interest, though no butterflies.  Eric found a very patient dragonfly, and we think we found a bee-mimic fly. 

With the Butterfly Garden well in hand, we traipsed over to the Rain Garden, with a nod to a large Fowler’s Toad in passing.  Again there were just a few weeds to be picked out, some Bee Balm to admire and photograph, and that completed our morning’s gardening task.  Before leaving the park, I took time to visit a bathhouse in the New Campground where there have been some Ailanthus (Tree of Heaven) trees.  The last photograph shows the resprouts from the roots of these trees, which must be pulled or cut several times each summer to keep them from growing back.

4 Comments
Kristi
7/24/2015 12:22:14 pm

Why do you want to get rid of the yucca? It is a native right? Also the leaves are wonderful robust with eastern woodland Indian educational programs to make fiber and soap!!

Reply
Ben
7/25/2015 04:41:23 am

Location, location, location! This is a historical site. More Yucca would be fine in an interpretive garden where its usefulness could be demonstrated.

Reply
Kristi
7/25/2015 05:36:13 am

I volunteer to adopt all of your unwanted yucca seedlings....I use this plant frequently in educational programs at the botanical garden.

Ben
7/25/2015 10:32:07 am

Kristi, I think this would be approved for its educational value. Please email info@fopsp.org with your full name and email address so that we can discuss further.

Reply



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  • Current Info
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    • Poca Go! race
    • Pocahontas Premiers
    • 2022 VSP Adventure Series
    • Hike with Your Hound
  • About Us
    • About the Friends.....
    • News Releases
    • Officers
    • Meetings
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    • Mountain Bike Trail Info >
      • Trail Safety
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      • Trail Maps
    • CCC Cabin Preservation >
      • CCC Cabin Work Week >
        • CCC Cabin Work Week 2021
        • CCC Cabin Work Week 2020
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        • CCC Cabin Work Week 2018 >
          • Cabin Work Week 2018 Volunteers
      • CCC Cabin Work Week Preparation Project
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        • CCC Cabin Work Week 2018 Preservation Virginia Pitch Winner
        • Lowe's 100 Hometowns Award
      • CCC Cabin Blueprints
    • The Native Plant Garden
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