Helping with Harvest Season
OSGF
Our Biocultural Conservation Farm is looking for volunteers this harvest season! Read about the new volunteer program and some of the fascinating crops grown at the farm.
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Blog Posts
A Snapshot of Biodiversity
Emily Ellis
Read about Oak Spring’s first Bioblitz - an event in which dauntless naturalists identified as many species as possible on our 700-acre property in a (long!) day.
Read MoreThe "Perfect" Tree
Emily Ellis
Read about the American Chestnut - once, one of our region’s most ancient and important trees, before it was wiped out by a blight in the early twentieth century - and current efforts to restore it.
Read MoreAn Inspirational Legacy
Emily Ellis
To celebrate Mrs. Mellon’s 111th birthday this year, we asked several OSGF employees who didn’t know her personally to tell us how her legacy inspires their work at the Oak Spring Garden Foundation today.
Read MoreOak Spring's Herbals
Emily Ellis
Read about several of the fascinating and historically significant herbals (texts on medicinal plants) in the Oak Spring Garden Library collection.
Read More7 Plants that Pests Hate
Emily Ellis
Summer means long and sultry days, bushy and verdant landscapes, and lots of insect pests. Read our list of several plants that can help keep the (bad) bugs at bay.
Read MoreMeet Our Staff: Head Carpenter Fred Griffith Talks Building Oak Spring
Emily Ellis
Head Carpenter Fred Griffith, who first came to Oak Spring to help build the Garden Library in 1979, talks about the various projects he’s worked on over the years.
Read MorePlanting for the Birds
Emily Ellis
Many plant and animal species have incredibly close relationships, depending on each other for food, shelter, reproduction, and more. Read about several trees and grasses that support native birds.
Read MoreMeet our Fellows: Brittany Carson and Botanical Sense of Place
Emily Ellis
Read about 2021 Stacy Lloyd III Fellow Brittany Carson’s research on botanical sense of place from an Indigenous and Local Knowledge perspective.
Read MoreCicadamania
Emily Ellis
Since we won’t get another chance for 17 years, Oak Spring’s staff and residents decided to celebrate the Brood X emergence with a cicada cook out. Get the recipes here, and watch the video to learn about these fascinating insects - and find out what they tasted like!
Read MoreFrom Plants to Paper
Emily Ellis
Alyssa Sacora, the leader of our upcoming papermaking course, discusses the joyful, messy process of turning plants into paper.
Read MoreLittle Ways to Make a Big Impact on World Environment Day
Emily Ellis
The theme of this World Environment Day is ecosystem restoration. Read about the range of ecosystems we care for at Oak Spring, and about several ways you can help restore ecosystems yourself - no matter how big (or how small) your property is.
Read MoreSeven “Rules” for Artmaking from Resident Aimee Lee
Caitlin Etherton
2020 Artist in Residence Aimee Lee chats about transforming plants into beautiful fiber art.
Read MoreWhat to Expect from Brood X
Emily Ellis
They’re coming! Read about what gardeners, farmers, and others can expect from these 17-year cicadas.
Read MoreWondrous Weeds
Emily Ellis
In celebration of National Herb Week, we’re featuring five weeds - mullein, yarrow, dandelion, plantain, and pokeweed- that grow abundantly around Oak Spring and have been used in herbal medicine throughout history.
Read MoreCaring for Old Trees
Emily Ellis
Happy Arbor Day! While we love all trees, the large, elderly ones have a particularly important place in our hearts and our environment. Learn about different ways to care for them in our latest blogpost.
Read MoreOak Spring Planters
Emily Ellis
Celebrate National Garden Month by reading the stories behind several of Oak Spring’s iconic planters.
Read MoreFire Tree
Jessica White
Visit our blog to read Jessica White’s submission, ‘Fire Tree’, an essay about Western Australian botanist Georgiana Molloy’s (1805-1843) efforts to collect seeds from the Nuytsia floribunda tree. Jessica is currently working on an ecobiography of Molloy, From the Miniature to the Momentous.
Read MoreThe World's Most Poetic Plants
Emily Ellis
Plants like roses, ferns, and orchids have held far more attraction for history’s poets than other species, appearing time and again in verse. In celebration of National Poetry Month, explore our list of some of the world’s most poetic plants.
Read MoreThe Rememberers
Rachel Heng
Visit our blog to read Rachel Heng’s submission, ‘The Rememberers’, a short story about a daughter trying to stall the progress of her mother’s dementia in a future Singapore that is grappling with the implications of life behind a seawall. The story was first published in McSweeney’s Quarterly’s special climate fiction issue.
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