“Gardening Between the Bookends” was the January program of the Nora Lancaster Garden Club.  

Did you know the Farmville-Prince Edward Community Library, Buckingham County Public Library and Cumberland County Public Library have numerous children and adult books on horticulture from the how tos of gardening to ways to attract pollinators? 

Joyce Keith and Elsie Towler, book chairmen for the Heart of the Virginia Master Gardners, are retired librarians who began raising money in 2012 to provide horticulture education in the community. Donations to all three libraries are made yearly. 

One resource now available is a comprehensive guide of natural plants, “Flora of Virginia” listing 3,164 species with 1,400 original scale natural drawings. It took 11 years to produce, and an affordable digital application is due out this year. The libraries also subcribe to “Virginia Gardner.” Other books to explore are “Apples of North America, 192 Exceptional Varieties for Gardners, Growers & Cooks” by Tom Buford, “Window Sill Gardening” and “Homegrown Herbs” with medicinal uses.

As for children’s books, “Bee Man” explains in great detail and with pictures the life of a beekeeper and how abeehive works — all the way to honey on our tables!  “The Pumpkin Circle” shows children the full cycle of harvesting and cleaning pumpkins, saving seeds and planting them again and how pumpkins are pollinated. “Up in the Garden, Down in the Dirt,” by Kate Messner, dissects what is going on at the dirt level, such as roly-polys eating decaying leaves, along with the action taking place above ground. Can you guess what “Compost Stew” or “Yucky Worms” are about? Go check them out!

Becky Kelly and Brenda Puryear exhibited this month with artistic and horticulture exhibits.