Millpond Collective 01

december 2021

issue 01

collective

family business behind the scenes

recipes to comfort the soul

preparation for the chill of winter

millpond editor in chief +

samantha morris

creative director

assistant editor, journalist +

samantha shover

photographer

managing editor, content coordinator + videographer

jonathan shover

ON THE COVER the blue ridge mountains in peak foliage

blue grass, virginia october 2021

issue 01

contents december 2021 07 CHARLIE BEVERAGE, GENERAL CONTRACTOR

11 APPALACHIAN WOODS, HARVEST TO FINISHED FLOOR

15 FAMILY TIES, MAKING IT HAPPEN

19 GO-TO RECIPES FOR THE COLD WINTER MONTHS

22 FESTIVE FUN IN THE VALLEY

23 PEBBLE HALL HISTORY, EXCLUSIVE TOUR

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downtown staunton, virginia

GARDENING 101, WINTER TIPS 02

pillars the building blocks of millpond collective

family

“Millpond Family” is the heart and basic building block of our business. It seems like each client we work with ends up becoming folks that we want to cook out with, laugh and cry with, and follow along as they go through life’s big adventures. This section of the magazine is devoted to people that we want to highlight that manifest all things “family.”

We want to incorporate all senses of home in the magazine whether it be highlighting an old home built on history, taking you on a tour through someone’s amazing kitchen, giving you the most amazing warm-your-belly recipes contributed by the best cooks we know, and even helping you to remember the things that really make a house a home.

It is hard to know every single business that surrounds us. We want you to know about the mom and pop places that started 20 years ago, or the business of the 16 year old kid who just started out. We want to shine light on the people that we see shining light on others...and following their dreams while they do it!

This section of the magazine is devoted to all things well-being. We want our Millpond Collective readers to have some insight into others that may help them be more in tune with their spiritual, mental, physical well being...whether that be from visiting your local plant nursery, to learning about how to breathe. Grounded is the broadest topic, but probably one of the most important ones of all!

home

business grounded

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THE SHOVER’S

samantha samantha shover (aka sam one) is the amazing lady behind the camera and the original half of “sam squared” talented shot-woman, golden light chaser, and artist nurturing wife to johnny + compassionate friend wine enthusiast & Split Banana lover, who loves her Jesus and a good book too

meet the team

jonathan

jonathan shover (aka johnny) is the creative guy capturing all of your moments in motion extraordinary camera man, with a heart for timeless filmmaking devoted husband to sam one + avid adventure seeker 05

enjoys quality espresso, Mill Street datenights & off-roading in the 4runner

maui and sadie are sweet basset hound cuddlers, official millpond team mascots, & the best editorial assistants age 8 years old (sadie) & 6 months old (maui) expert nappers & built-in best friends

MAUI

brother + sister duo, who enjoy romping around outside connoisseurs of yummy food and treats

SADIE

samantha

samantha morris (aka sam two) is the newest addition to the millpond team, and the other half of “sam squared” oversees all aspects of daily operations, and manages special design projects former registered nurse, practiced in the fields of medicaloncology, labor & delivery, and pediatrics wife to her highschool sweetheart and mother to the most precious baby girl lover of all things fall and a good cup of coffee, who spends most of her free time with her family (or roaming the aisles of target) 06

pillar of home

custom built homes Charlie Beverage: General Contractor Tips for Building your Own Custom House

We had the opportunity to photograph and explore the newly constructed custom house for our friend, Charlie Beverage, in Staunton, Virginia, and chat with him about his experience being the general contractor for his own home. Typically, as a client wanting to build a house, you would reach out to a local builder who has all the connections with every subcontractor needed to build (very rarely do you have a builder who builds every part of the home, and has his or her hands on every part) and that builder will line up all those people in a timely order. Another way you can build is by being your own general contractor if you know all the people that you want to sub out to build your home.

Charlie has years of experience with building homes and really learned a lot through his time doing so, but he did not realize how Covid and the scarcity of materials would affect his home build.

Some of the materials he needed, he had to drive states away to pick them up because they would be weeks and weeks out to ship and cause the build time to extend, and affect the rest of the build plan. When he was building spec houses, most of those required the typical materials which could be found and sourced easily, but because this home was super custom and their forever home, they used some materials that were special and hard to source. An example of a specialty order that was hard to source were the interior cedar beams but well worth the time and effort.

Through the process of building the home, one of the most commonly overlooked items that you will face according to Charlie is all the questions!

waynesboro, virginia

They had no idea how involved they would have to be in the day to day of the build, and had to be quick on their feet to answer questions that came up daily on what they wanted for their home. They could not be slow to answer because then it would hold up the build. His best tip to combat this expected quick choosing, especially if it normally takes you a long time to make decisions, is to plan ahead and lay out exactly what you want ahead of time. You could create mood boards or even create a Pinterest board of ideas so you are not starting from scratch when the builder asks you what lighting you want installed or what color gutters you want. Any “homework” you can do ahead of time will be beneficial to you, and your builder. Also, be mindful of the lead times in some of the materials you choose. For example, while Charlie was trying to find bathtubs for his home, he claimed even some of the most mundane and vanilla bathtubs had the most extreme wait times to source, so knowing this ahead of time can set your hopes realistically. If you choose a rare Italian bathtub with angels inscribed into the sides, you may be waiting quite a while

Another aspect of building that can cause issues within your build depends on your land more so than the actual build. According to Charlie, make sure you know ahead of time everything there is to know about your land you purchased to build on. In his experience, if your property has any aspects that are considered “conservation,” there will be setbacks to building and processes you have to go through to get approval to build. This may take time you did not account for and set your timeline of the build back.

Knowing everything about your property will prepare you for the upcoming hoops you may have to go through to get permits, power, approval, and ultimately make it easier and more timely to build.

Building your own home (and in Charlie’s case: being his own contractor) definitely had its hard times, but it still had its perks as well. He felt “a sense of accomplishment that their fingerprints were on it” and was excited that they chose every aspect of their home and felt like there was a “sense of them in the home.” They even decided to do their own landscaping around the house! They handpicked everything from the reclaimed white oak floors which were sourced from our friends at Appalachian Woods, and the mantels chosen right from the floor at the shop (see page 11 to learn more about them!).

Overall, through the tough times of building a custom home through Covid, they did it, and you can too. Just be prepared for longer than expected wait times, do your homework on your land and the materials you want throughout the home, and even plan to get your hands dirty a little bit (only if you want to!) and you will be set for building your own custom home.

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meticulously hand-picked finishings

custom built-ins 09

pillar of business WORDS BY RAYMOND HOCHSTETLER WITH APPALACHIAN WOODS These days, “barn sweet barn” is a common phrase to see on a pillow sitting inside of these newly built “modern farmhouses” or on the front porch rocking chairs of an old farmhouse out in the county...but can you imagine if part of your home actually had historical barn wood throughout it? This can be a reality through the local business Appalachian Woods found right here in Augusta County.

We got to interview the general manager of Appalachian Woods, Raymond Hochstetler, to learn more about their business and get some insight into choosing your own floor for our Millpond Collective readers. According to Raymond, Appalachian Woods is a family business. He and his dad, Jonas, were an initial part of Appalachian Woods which started in 1997. Shortly thereafter, his brother, Jason, started working in the company as well.

Jason is in charge of the mill shop in Staunton, and Raymond is in charge of overseeing the whole operations of the business. Their father is still involved in some of the purchasing and the logistical end of the business. As of right now, they have about 20 employees and ship their product all over the country and even to some international clients.

Their primary focus is on taking, salvaged and reclaimed wood, from old barns and old commercial buildings like textile mills and factories and bring it into our company for processing. To source this barn material, they look for barns that may be in bad repair or it is found in a place where they plan to clear for development. The barns are usually somewhere between 80 to 100 years old.

According to Raymond, “the utility for these big barns is not nearly like it used to be back in the agricultural era. To repair these old barns is fairly expensive, so even though they're a beautiful part of the landscape when you drive around the country to see these old barns, if you can't keep them repaired and keep the roof up, eventually they're gonna fall down.” Thankfully, Appalachian Woods saw this need and decided to figure out a way to re-use these dilapidated buildings so their history can be extended for future generations to come.

Once they get the wood from these barns and old buildings, it goes through a fairly long process where they pull all the nails and the hardware out of it, it gets sawed, kiln dried, and then eventually it gets turned primarily into wood flooring which is the primary product line that Appalachian Woods produces. They also provide reclaimed wood lumber to cabinet shops and mill shops around the country and even take the lumber and make things like furniture, chairs, fireplace mantels, doors, and other mill work items for their showroom. They have their hand in everything!

milling wood flooring According to Raymond, the barn wood comes to them primarily from the Shenandoah Valley, West Virginia, and then some from Tennessee, Kentucky, Ohio, Pennsylvania periodically, but primarily from Virginia and West Virginia as the source for the barn wood and the commercial salvage projects.

company founders Jonas & Raymond Hochstetler

woodwork as featured in charlie beverage’s built home crafting custom stair treads

nail removal from raw barnwood

quality control

12

wormy chestnut

oak For our Millpond Collective readers, Raymond gave us some ideas on how to help people decide on which hardwood floor they would choose for their home through his professional eye. His advice generally is that wood for the flooring portion of the home has two primary functions. One is the utility function and the other is for the ambiance, the visual, the aesthetics of the home that they are trying to create.

heart pine

From the barn wood products, one of their more durable products is called “reclaimed barn board oak,” It can be used in a lot of different cores and can fit well into a very modern type of architecture as well. It can also fit well into a very traditional, say farmhouse type of look, and can also be used in a cabin type of settings if you are going for heavy rustic.

Once put down, you are going to see things like scattered nail holes and scattered solid knots. It is a floor that definitely has a lot of character and it has really good utility as well.

Another option for the home is the “reclaimed heart pine.” Heart pine is a floor that was used traditionally in southern old farmhouses and old plantations. If you are trying to recreate a period style home that was built 150 years ago, heart pine is the floor that that client will generally choose.

The special part of heart pine is the overall color, and the grain which is what makes heart pine so unique.

Being that they get their wood from old barns, there is a ton of variety in the wood types that you can choose, but if you do not choose oak or heart pine, another neat option is wormy chestnut. It is one of the coolest floors that they can do because of the history of the American Chestnut.

According to Raymond, American chestnut trees do not grow to maturity anymore. With this in mind, the only place to get real authentic American chestnut lumber is from salvaged wood sources. So, it is almost like buying an antique for your floor.

Flooring is one of the most special parts of a home, that provides so much character and history. Especially if you are building a brand new home that does not have any character or history! We are so fortunate to have this incredible wood source, right here in the Valley!

https://www.appalachianwoods.com

polished productions

14

pillar of family WORDS BY ERICA+ DILLON SIPE INTERVIEW CONDUCTED BY SAM SHOVER

We had so much fun hanging out with the owners of Synergy Homecrafters, Dillon and Erica Sipe, in their most recent custom build, and found out a little bit more about their business and how they do it all with two little ones, Stiles and Sutton.

SAM: Why don't y'all tell me about your love story.

ERICA: We kind of met through Dillon’s sister. I was friends with her. He was like an annoying little brother. He just played his video games. I would come over and he would come out for five minutes and stir up trouble, and fight with people and then go back to his little gaming room. And then one time we were at a party, and he was older. We were 16. I told somebody that night that we were gonna get married. Now, 10 years later, two kids, and a business. God always has a plan.

family ties making it happen SAM: When did you guys start your business, Synergy Homecrafters?

DILLON: We started Synergy Home Crafters in March of 2018.

SAM: What led you to start Synergy?

DILLON: Growing up, I always worked for my father in construction. Construction is all that I've ever known. My father was a contractor, my grandfather was a salesman for contractors. Since I was my son's age, I was on the job sites running around, and you can never get off of them.

ERICA: It pumps through his blood. He's been doing it and hearing the lingo since he was born. He is fortunate in that aspect of it, and that's why it just comes so natural to him. It's crazy to see him work. Because it's like, how does he know this stuff? When did he have time to figure it all out, and learn all of this? He surprises me all the time.

DILLON: After the years of being with my dad and various other construction companies, I got to learn so much from everybody else that poured their soul into me.

When my mom passed away, that's when I started Synergy Homecrafters. She was the kick in the butt for me to start something. She led to it.

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THE SIPE FAMILY

millpond 13

modern farmhouse by Synergy Home Crafters

SAM: So, you wanted to do it for your mom.

DILLON: It was various things. My father poured his soul into his work. I mean, that's all he did from six in the morning till eight, nine o'clock at night. Once she passed, he had realized how much time that he had lost with her. He started to work less with the construction business, and I was like, okay, well, here's my opportunity. So I took it.

ERICA: He kind of wanted more from his work and he was doing the sales side of it. He's definitely the type of person where he's a doer. And he wanted more responsibility.

SAM: How do you include the kids in your job?

DILLON: At first, they were kind of like team mascots for us. Whenever we would take pictures of our homes, my daughter, Sutton, would be in the pictures with the gifts to each one of my clients. My son thinks it's the coolest thing though. When he sees a house that he has built. In the future, I would like for my son to fit himself somewhere in the business. I would love for him to be an engineer or something like that, something that can definitely elevate his pay and take him a level above and beyond me. Hopefully Sutton can be a perfect sales agent, or something like that. I don't know. But I would love to have my family work with me.

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Dillon Sipe breaking & clearing ground

https://www.synergyhomecrafters.com

SAM: What's the biggest challenge of having kids and doing this?

DILLON: For me, it's time management. It's hard for me to give time to my family, when I have all these other families that expect so much of my time. It's really hard for me to balance it, I'm still terrible at it. But whenever I do come home, I'm focused on my family and my kids as much as I can be. But we're all human, and I'll still pick up my phone.

ERICA: For me, it is just understanding that if a family is calling because they might work eight to five, and if they call at six o'clock, because they finally got home with their family and thought of something... just understanding and extending grace that sometimes he will be on the phone. As long as he can pour into the kids when he has the time to pour into them. That's all that matters.

DILLON: If it wasn't for Erica, I would be lost.

SAM: What makes you different from other builders?

DILLON: What separates us is the fact that I am a true turnkey builder. From start to finish, I'll help you find your land, I'll build a plan custom to your needs and to fit your budget. You don't have to worry about permits. You don't have to worry about anything. It is literally start to finish...when we break ground to walking into the front door of your house, and I hand you the keys. It's all on me. In that sense, there is nothing we cannot do.

We also give people the freedom to have their own touch in their home, which I think is pretty cool. And we work hand in hand with them the entire time. When it comes to the end of the build, it's always bittersweet. The homeowner is the biggest key to our business. We try to nurture them throughout this whole process and just help them along the way. And it's worked out so far.

ERICA: And we're thankful for all of them, because that is our livelihood.

SAM: What is the best part about being self employed and having a family?

ERICA: I would say being able to spend the time together in the little slots of time that we do have, like, we don't get to always have a date night on a Friday, but we can go on a date as a family on Monday and spend that time. We're super fortunate in being able to spend that time together in those little times.

SAM: What do you guys like to do outside of work?

ERICA: Honestly, I mean, just really all we do is hang out together at our house. My son is really into board games. We have to lock them away, and it never fails because every night he's like, you know, Mom, we haven't played Monopoly in a while. And I'm like, no. He loves him some board games, and video games. That's what he loves. He's about to start piano lessons because my daughter got a little tiny piano and I taught him how to play Mary Had a Little Lamb and he thinks he's the bee's knees. He's excited. So, he wants to play piano.

DILLON: He's really good at math. Like he wants to talk about math. I'm like, I do numbers all day, that is the last thing I want to do. He's really smart.

ERICA: I definitely think it’s God teaching us to love different people.

SAM: If you could give your child advice, what would it be?

ERICA: To slow down and enjoy it. Life sometimes can get so fast. The days are long, but the weeks are fast.

And so just to remember to enjoy it. No matter what, everything will still be there tomorrow.

DILLON: Yeah, slow down and enjoy everything in the moments that you do have.

RECIPES TO COMFORT the soul company chicken contributed by pat hunter

4 3 2 1 mac + cheese

1 c. raw rice 1 can mushroom soup 1 can celery soup 2/3 c. water 4 chicken breasts or thighs 1 pkg. dry onion soup mix

contributed by virginia butler

4 c. milk 3 c. shredded cheese 2 c. macaroni noodles boil macaroni noodles and drain. preheat oven to 350 degrees. combine all ingredients well and pour into a greased 9x13 baking dish. salt and pepper if desired. bake uncovered for 1 hour

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preheat oven to 350 degrees. mix rice, soups, and water together. place in shallow 10 inch baking dish or pan. place chicken on top of rice mixture and sprinkle with dry onion soup mix. cover securely with foil. bake for 2 hours

christmas morning breakfast casserole

crock pot noodle soup contributed by virginia butler

contributed by virginia butler

1 lb. sausage 3 c. frozen hash browns 1/4 c. milk 16 oz. can biscuits 1 1/2 c. shredded cheese blend 8 eggs preheat oven to 350 degrees. cook sausage. stir in hash browns. grease 9x13 baking dish, and layer biscuits in the bottom of the dish (split biscuits half if needed). layer biscuits with sausage/hash brown mix and cheese. pour eggs on top. bake uncovered for 24 minutes

1 1/2 -2 lbs. boneless, skinless chicken breasts 2 cans cream of chicken soup (10.5 oz. each, do not add water) 1 tsp. dried parsley 1/2 tsp. season salt 1/4 tsp. poultry season 1/4 tsp. garlic powder 1/2 stick butter, sliced 3 1/2 c. chicken broth 8 oz. egg noodles, uncooked put chicken in bottom of crockpot. top with soup, spices, sliced butter, and chicken broth. cook on low for 5-6 hours or on high for 3-4 hours. remove chicken breast, shred. add chicken back into pot with dry egg noodles. cook another 30-45 minutes, or until tender.

20

spiced punch

contributed by cynthia herndon

3 c. grape juice or red wine 6 oz. frozen lemonade concentrate 3 oz. frozen orange juice concentrate 3 c. water 2 cinnamon sticks 3 whole cloves 1/4 c. sugar

combine water, juices, and sugar together in a large saucepan and bring to a boil. tie cinnamon sticks and cloves in cheesecloth and add to pan. reduce heat to simmer for 5 minutes. best served hot, with orange slices

pecan pie cheesecake bars contributed by heather short

for the crust 2 c. graham cracker crumbs 1/4 c. sugar 1/2 c. butter unsalted, melted

for the cheesecake 16 oz. cream cheese, room temperature 3/4 c. sugar 2 large eggs 1 tsp. vanilla extract 1/8 tsp. salt

for the pecan pie layer 1 c. brown sugar 1/2 c. corn syrup 1/2 c. heavy cream 1/4 c. butter unsalted 1/2 tsp. salt 1 tsp. vanilla extract 2 c. pecans chopped

preheat oven to 350 degrees. line 9×9 inch greased baking dish with parchment paper. in a food processor, pulse the graham crackers with the sugar until fine crumbs form. add in melted butter and combined. press mixture into the bottom of the prepared baking dish. mix cream cheese, sugar, eggs, vanilla and salt until smooth. pour mixture over crust and smooth. add the brown sugar, corn syrup, heavy cream, butter, salt and vanilla in a small saucepan and bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring constantly. remove from heat after 1 minute of boiling. stir in the chopped pecans. pour over cheesecake layer, and smooth. bake for 40 minutes, the pecan layer should start to get golden. cool completely and cover with plastic wrap or aluminum foil and refrigerate for at least 4 hours or overnight. cut into squares before serving.

FIVE ACTIVITIES family festive fun 01.

02.

03.

04.

05.

hot chocolate at Split Banana + watch a Christmas movie peppermint ice cream to-go from Kline’s (enjoy it at home in some cozy jammiespop some corn + craft paper snowflakes) get tickets to watch A Christmas Carol at Blackfriar’s Theater book a romantic (or not) date at Stable Craft Brewery in one of their magical, fireside igloos decorate cookies with a cookie kit from Farm Chick Baked Goods

pillar of home HISTORY AND HOUSE TOUR AS GIVEN BY THE TOURJE’S Pebble Hall has always been intriguing to us. This is a property in Weyers Cave, Virginia that is rooted in deep history and thankfully has been shared with the public for years because of the precious owners, Kathy and Tom Tourje. Since buying the property in 1995, they have done so much to it to bring out its original history, and have even turned it into a working flower farm for the public to come explore and pick a bouquet. On the property sits the house which is an original log house with added on parts made from poured concrete, several outbuildings including an original toll house brought to the farm, an original barn that had burns partially in the 1980’s, a silo, a summer kitchen turned into a nature museum, and even a hoop house for keeping plants longer in the colder months to protect from frost.

The home was built in the 1850’s and originally had a wood single roof which is now tin, and stone steps to the right of the gate that was used to mount and dismount horses (Check out the black and white original photo on page 25) The middle part of the house was built out of logs in the 1850’s by Samuel Krickenberger and his wife, Elizabeth.

pebble hall insider

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Samuel was a Confederate soldier and was even in the Battle of Richmond, but was exempt after that because of deafness. His grandparents came to the Valley from Pennsylvania, and before that, from Germany. After building his home, Samuel was a farmer in the Weyers Cave until he retired in 1892 and later passed in 1896.

Some of the descendants of Samuel and Elizabeth lived in the home until the 1990s when the Tourje’s bought Pebble Hall.

The best part of the home is the history around every turn. The Tourje’s have spent countless hours removing layers of paint from the original woodwork and wainscotting, and revealing the once covered logs and chinking from the cabin portion of the house. A lot of the chinking had to be repaired. They also have completely remodeled the kitchen and revealed a once hidden fireplace. Outside, the grounds have been meticulously maintained and boast so many gorgeous perennials, and mature landscaping. While we were there taking photos and exploring, the red maples were fiery and glowing! One of our favorite parts of the property is the “nature museum” which is full of neat treasures like butterflies, rocks, fossils, bones, etc. they have found on the property as well as items they have collected in their travels. One item is a squirrel that mummified in a tree that got cut down on the property!

This home is rooted in history and will continue to be a gorgeous homestead for the next family that takes residence there.

words from Kathy & Tom:

”Pebble Hall has become our home. We’ve worked hard to turn an old time 1850’s house into our home. A home with plenty of history and so much character that sometimes it makes me cry (like the time high winds tore off the 100 year old metal roof!) But that incident along with many others has made us develop character.

We now know how to scrape paint, strip and sand woodwork, apply polyurethane, skim coat drywall, plaster, chink logs, glaze windows, tip-toe across rooftops, build fence, make hay, plant gardens, and the list goes on. Along with all those skills, we’ve learned to hang out on the hammock, watch the moon go up and stargaze, savor a glass of wine on the porch, watch a doe and her fawn trot across the field and an eagle glide two feet above our head, and so much more.

Most importantly, we were blessed to raise our four children in an environment where they grew to become independent, self-sufficient, spiritual adults who appreciate nature and their fellow humans and the world around them.

Thank you, Pebble Hall! And to the next custodians of this home, help her carry on and make your own memories.”

toll house

http://pebblehallwildflowers.com

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late 1800’s

pebble hall, original home

original woodwork

aerial view of pebble hall’s wildflower fields

restored kitchen with fireplace feature & island workspace

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pillar of grounded

Staunton Plant Co:

Tips for Preparing your Beds and Garden for Winter

We got to chat with the amazing Dave Whitesell, co-owner of Staunton Plant Co., and get some of his plant insight for preparing your plants and gardens for winter...along with getting to know this awesome guy!

Dave & Chris of staunton plant co

Staunton Plant Co. started about 14 years ago.

Dave was a designer and installer for about 20 years prior to that and before that, was an English major/mental health professional like most people in this business. At that time, it was difficult to find plant material if he wanted to do a job for someone, so to do a job for someone he just had designed for what he could get instead of what he actually wanted.

In Dave’s words, “So, I got the bright idea, just as the market crashed in 2008. You know, hey, let's open up a garden center. I think Chris was really the only one that had as much lack of sense as I did to get involved with it. So he came in. He had actually worked for me in my design and install business prior to us going in on that. We just started really small at the old farm bureau and were there for a couple years and then we moved to Richmond Road.

We were there for probably seven or eight years. While we were there the market changed again and we decided that we would start growing our own trees and shrubs.

And then we moved here and built this place (their current location at 243 Frontier Drive).

We've been here for about three years, and then the business changed again. The retail portion of the business has just grown at an incredible rate. You know, from where we were 14 years ago with this little tiny footprint just basically buying plants from others and selling them to now, we probably grow three or 4000 pieces a year. We were kind of lucky.”

knowledge from the expert for winter preparedness: “Mother Nature allows for plants to naturally have that biological imperative to take care of themselves for the winter. So, they are really going to do what they need to do for themselves. They are going to go dormant according to the wetter weather pattern. So, most deciduous plants are really asleep and you are not really going to have to worry about anything as far as just trying to keep them healthy.”

gardening tips winter 101

PERENNIAL PRUNING

”Evergreens like hollies, boxwoods, etc. are still slightly active. So, you have to keep an eye on those. My advice to people with boxwoods or hollies is just spray an antidesiccant. It is just like a chapstick that you put on your plant. It is organic, but it seals the leaf from the wind in the winter. Since those plants are still actually eating a little bit, they will still be pulling moisture out of the ground. That wind is going to come across and then when the ground dries out and there is nothing to pull, that plant will desiccate. The product is relatively inexpensive and well worth it. Nobody wants to lose a holly that they have had in their yard for 12 years.

Go out and inspect your plants for insect damage and damage from storms. Now is an excellent time to go in and prune almost everything. You know the exception to that rule would be plants that bloom on old wood, because that plant has already set its flower for next year. If you went in and made those cuts, chances are you would be cutting off your flower for next year and wouldn't harm the plant...but you would be actually cutting the bloom off for next year.

Now you can see the structure of the plant, so if you need to prune for health and vigor, now is a great time to get in there and do that to your perennials.

viburnum

Most things could benefit in this season to have mulch on top of it to protect it and nourish it.

Learning these tips and knowing basic care for your plants and garden is as simple as talking to a nurseryman like us at a garden center. If you like plants, it is a good idea to develop a relationship with your local nursery or garden center because you can pop in an email and get these really simple answers and techniques on how to do all of the things so you know. Always just get some knowledge from someone who has the knowledge. Most people in the plant business are pretty cool and are happy to share.”

hawthorn

boxwood ornamental grasses http://www.stauntonplant.com

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holly

oak leaf hydrangea

coral berry

the fig leaf

about mamie mary lynne godwin

mother of four

nurse

homemaker

decorator

history

home renovator

plant genius

lover of all things mamie was an incredibly special person with a knack for simple living + the great outdoors(before it was cool)

the fig leaf throughout our works, is a tribute to the woman she was & homage to childhood memories of the beautiful fig tree that she cared for so well.

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sam shover & mamie

circa 1996

family

noun | /fam.i.ly/

people in your life who are close to your heart. who bring out the best in you. who laugh, celebrate, and dream with you. who love you infinitely. millpond family.