Photo courtesy Mark Shirley/Flickr

The Historic Smithfield Plantation and the Hahn Horticultural Garden are sponsoring a Fruit Tree Grafting Workshop this Saturday from 9:00-11:30 a.m. at the Hahn Horticultural Garden in Blacksburg. 

Horticulturist Barry Robinson will lead a hands-on workshop through the science of fruit tree grafting.  Heritage scionwood from the orchards at Smithfield Plantation will be used. 

Students will be able to take home 4 grafted rootstocks.  The cost is $15 per registrant, with pre-registration required.  Call 540-231-3947 to register. 

Learn more.

Photo courtesy Neil Turner/Flickr

So what does yesterday’s late snowfall mean for your landscape?  In general, most plants will probably be fine.  The snowfall itself shouldn’t harm your plants unless the snow built up on trees and shrubs and broke branches.

Some flower buds on trees and shrubs may be killed, which might result in fewer blooms this spring.  That’s a concern for fruit trees, which would produce less fruit if too many flower buds die, but, for most trees, it just means we’ll see fewer flowers.

Any native perennials should be fine, since they are already adapted to our temperature extremes.  Take a look and make sure that root balls haven’t popped up, and if they have, gently push the plant back level with the surrounding soil.

For bulbs, the edges of foliage might turn brown and dry, but it probably won’t have any lasting effect on the plants, and it shouldn’t stop them from flowering.

I haven’t put any veggies in yet, but if you have, I hope you gave them some protection.  Those of you with a cold frame or some type of cover should be fine.

Will spring ever get here?  Temperatures are forecasted to warm up now, so I’m hoping we are finally about to get some spring around here!

Photo taken on Virginia Tech campus.

Here’s an example of a tree that provides beautiful winter color.  This Hawthorn is located on the Virginia Tech campus and is currently covered with bright red fruit.

The Hawthorn is native to Virginia and is a versatile tree that grows to about 20 feet tall.  This tree shines all four seasons.  It has lots of white flowers in spring, lustrous green leaves in summer, colored foliage in the fall, and these huge clusters of red fruit in the winter.  Spring birds love the fruit.

Plant it in full sun or partial shade as a single specimen, a background for hedges, or in shrub borders.  It’s hardy and easy to grow, growing about 10-12 inches a year.

Be aware it has thorns, so if you have small children, take this into account when choosing a location.

 My neighbor once again this year generously offered us chestnuts from his tree.  We enjoyed them thoroughly last year, with our favorite use in a fabulous lentil chestnut soup.  We made it for Christmas Day and are looking forward to it again this year.

We didn’t have chestnuts around Ohio where I lived before moving here, so last year was the first time we’d experienced them other than from a pushcart of roasted chestnuts at Christmas.  They’re tricky to get out of the shell, but well worth the effort.

My neighbor mentioned that his tree isn’t producing as well this year as previous years and that the nuts don’t seem as large.  The only guidance I’ve found suggests that frequent, heavy rains during the time the female flowers are awaiting pollen usually results in poor pollination.

Does anyone else have any experience or guidance to give?

BTW, they continue to have good experiences with crossing a small amount of Chinese chestnut DNA with American chestnut DNA to produce an American chestnut that’s blight resistant.  Many people involved in research believe that the American chestnut can one day populate this area again.