Posts under ‘Property’

Shortly after buying my property, I went out to Rocky Knob on the Blue Ridge Parkway and bought a copy of Trees & Shrubs of Virginia, by Gupton and Swope. While browsing through it, I noticed an entry for a “cucumber tree”. “Wow, that’s a funny name for a tree,” I thought. This trip, I [...]

Little by little, I am identifying the plants that are on my property. I took lots and lots of pictures, but when I got home and downloaded them, I found that I didn’t have a very good system for taking pictures. I often just took pictures of the leaves, instead of also taking pictures of [...]

Ah, wingstem! A vigorous plant, indeed. Early on, in the winter, a friend pointed the plant out and told me that it was locally called “stickweed”. He said that it hadn’t been all that common when he was a kid but that now it was everywhere. It is apparently called stickweed because kids play with [...]

When Fred First identified this plant as Virginia knotweed, I feared that it was related to the invasive exotic, Japanese knotweed. While both are in the same family (polygonaceae), Virginia knotweed is in the genus persicaria while Japanese knotweed is in the genus fallopia. Whew!! The plant is also known as Jumpseed, because the seeds [...]

Most of the trees on my property are really tall and I didn’t have binoculars with me to be able to see the leaves in detail. Some of the trees are very recognizable, like black cherry (prunus serotina), because of the distinctive bark and leaf. But others that I am not familiar with need to [...]

I never gave the slightest thought, when I selected my vacation last fall, that this time of the year was Spring Break and Easter. That fact led to some re-scheduling and delays because folks were out of town, but I managed to get everything done that I wanted to accomplish. The weather was extremely hot [...]

In various pictures posted so far, you can see a pasture in the distance. It is not part of my property, but I am on good terms with the owner. I asked him if I could go after the multiflora rose on the edge of his pasture, both to prevent a source of re-seeding on [...]

Last summer, I engaged the services of Sutherland, LLC, which owns a Bull Hog machine, to clear thickets of multiflora rose and oriental bittersweet. The thickets were so dense that once they were finished, I really couldn’t see what else needed to be done until the leaves fell last fall. When I visited in November, [...]

When I got the first part of the driveway finished in late 2008, I was unsure where the house site would be and thus didn’t know the route of the driveway. I made that decision early last summer and a neighbor cut the trees in the way for firewood. Unless the house site changes, which [...]

I learned about this plant shortly after buying my property in early 2008 but never did any research on it. I was told that it was wild onion, but upon closer inspection, I think it is wild garlic, which is in the same family. I would have to see it in flower to be certain. [...]