Norfolk Master Gardeners

11/02/2026

Fall is for trees! Phil is one our favorite partners! This will be a great tour!

11/01/2026

Hot off the press! Happy November!

November reminds us to be thankful. It is the time of year we often get together with friends and family to celebrate, and many of these celebrations center around food. Popular eats such as pumpkin, collards, and potatoes are all provided to us through nature's bounty and often from our region...

11/01/2026

Check out our November "Flower" of the Month!

10/31/2026

Our annual Advanced Regional Training was held on Friday. This is an event where Master Gardeners from Norfolk, Portsmouth, Chesapeake, Virginia Beach, and Suffolk come together for a day of training and a chance to meet and mingle with Master Gardeners from surrounding cities! This year it was Norfolk's turn to host! Thanks to our speakers: Luisa Black Ellis, Peggy Singlemann, and Perry Verge who gave great and enlightening presentations. Thanks to the Annuciation Greek Orthodox Cathedral for a fabulous venue and TASTE Cafe Catering for a yummy lunch. We had lots of sponsors and we appreciate their support: Ask HR Green, Bartlett Tree Experts, Elizabeth River Project, City of Norfolk Neighborhood Services, Passport Pastry Company, Taylor's Do It Center, Tidewater Compost, Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, and Virginia Zoo. Special thanks to Moore to See Photo Expeditions, Marshall McClure, Passport Pastry Company, Eggleston Garden Center, Four Seasons Nursery, McDonald Garden Center, and Southern Branch Nursery who made our raffle possible! And thanks most of all to those of you who attended and supported this event. You are our most important resource. Next year we will see you in Suffolk!

10/30/2026

Thanks for the shout out! Great presentation! Hope you will come back.

I had a great time speaking at the Master Gardener Southeast Regional Training today. Their warmth, enthusiasm and passion made the time together very special.

10/30/2026

Thursday was another beautiful day at the Ernie Morgan Eco Garden, and our dedicated volunteers took full advantage of the lovely fall weather!

We began the day by removing some grass at the Human Sundial to prepare the area for seeding with micro clover. Our hardworking volunteers made great progress, but there is still plenty of digging to do! If you love to dig, we need you! We would love some extra helping hands to move this project forward and bring our vision for the Human Sundial to life.

Of course, a day in the garden wouldn't be complete without a few exciting wildlife discoveries! We spotted a Black Swallowtail caterpillar (Papilio polyxenes) munching away on the leaves of a Golden Alexander (Zizia aurea). Black swallowtail caterpillars feed on plants in the carrot family. We also observed a fascinating carpenter-mimic leafcutter bee (Megachile xylocopoides) buzzing around an aster. It's always exciting to see the variety of insects that call our garden home, especially as we move further into fall. These little visitors are wonderful reminders of why we work so hard to maintain a healthy and diverse garden ecosystem

We also tackled relocating plants. Fall is also an excellent time to relocate plants that may not be thriving in their current spots. We are taking advantage of the season to evaluate our garden beds and move plants to locations where they will have a better opportunity to flourish.

There is always something happening at the Ernie Morgan Eco Garden, and we have plenty of exciting projects ahead. Whether you enjoy digging, planting, weeding, or simply spending time outdoors, we would love to have you join us.

Come grab a shovel and help us grow! Thanks Renee for the recap and Vickie for the pix.

10/29/2026

Tuesday was a glorious fall day at the Dune Garden as four volunteers and the project leaders did some cleanup (Thanks, Ziggy for the pruning you gave the Wax Myrtle) and planted over a dozen sunflowers and several sea-elder plants which Shelbie propagated for the garden.

A recently felled pine tree at the outer edge of the garden presented both challenge and opportunity and the team took advantage of both as we moved pieces of the cut up trunk, branches and limbs to a staging area for the removal crew and harvested pine needles to mulch around the new plantings. A bucket brigade made short work of watering all of the new additions.

We arrived in time to enjoy a beautiful show of fall color put on by the layers of dune grasses and native perennials found in the garden and enhanced by the morning light. Thanks, Vickie for capturing the essence of the seasonal display of color and texture this beautiful garden offers. And thanks to all of the hard working Dunies who braved the summer heat and humidity removing invasive plants and the dreaded blackberry vine to make space for the new plants and set the stage for the wonders of autumn in our demonstration garden. Thanks Gayle and Karen!

10/29/2026

Tuesday morning while some performed regular garden chores, the rain barrel/rain gutter EOV design team joined by Engineer Daren, brainstormed interesting ways on how to support our rain barrels and transport water to the garden.

Ms. Dana shared photos of a couple of children in the after school program enjoying their garden, especially one who sat in the canoe visiting with George our scarecrow.

The garden is shaping up nicely, providing food, room for the imagination, a calm atmosphere, and a great deal of learning experiences and opportunities.

Late evening Blanch returned to the garden to treat a few plants disturbed by some unwanted pests.

The garden is absolutely beautiful both day and night. We are not using commercial bagged fertilizers. It is a joy to allow the soil to become full of life in order to naturally fertilize the plants in both the elevated beds and in-ground plantings.
Thanks Blanch.

10/26/2026

The Kitchen Garden is well on its way to transitioning to its cool season. NMG volunteers have been working hard at harvesting remaining vegetables and herbs and making room for new transplants. Ben wrestled with the marigolds that flourished in the front and Larry tugged at the cosmos to make way for fall flowers. Chrizar fashioned great lemon grass bundles to donate to the foodbank. Our NBG horticulturist, Annika, harvested the pomegranates from our tree that had a banner year. The bees are buzzing all over the Mexican Bush Sage (Salvia leucantha) and a lone black swallowtail caterpillar munched on the remaining dill plants.

Last week we successfully harvested the sweet potatoes which are now curing before being donated in time for Thanksgiving. To date we have planted kale, mustard, bok choy red, broccoli, swiss chard, endive, four types of carrots, sweet peas, radishes, beets, and many pollinator plants. There are pansies, dianthus, and cornflowers placed in front and the back of the front fence. Still to come is the bulbs, some herbs, and more lettuce varieties.

The Potager Garden is located in the Norfolk Botanical Garden and you can visit it anytime while there. Master Gardeners are there on Wednesday and Friday mornings from 9:30 AM to 11:30 through November 20th. We can answer your questions and show you the variety of ways you can grow plants in their own spaces throughout the year. Thanks Anne Marie.

10/26/2026

Our Fall garden at the The Virginia Zoo is looking very good!

Today, the Zoo Crew did a bit of weeding, tidying up and harvesting. We donated six pounds of leafy greens to the Foodbank, bringing our annual total to 476 pounds.

Next Monday at 11:00 we are having our Sweet Potato Reveal, when we will invite attending members of the public to guess how many sweet potatoes are in each bag. Hope to see you next week! Thanks Will!