Lifestyles
Through the Garden Gate: The Daylily Whisperer
Some gardeners grow lots of different plants. Others fall in love with one or two plants and specialize ... Read more
Author: Dr. Cynthia Wood | The Farmville Herald
Lifestyles
Through the Garden Gate: It’s too hot in the garden
We’ve had day after day of temperatures above 90F, and the heat has taken a toll on both ... Read more
Lifestyles
Mother Nature’s Garden: Do your plants resupinate?
Plants do amazing things. Vines can twine in either counterclockwise or clockwise directions. Our native wisteria twines counterclockwise, ... Read more
Lifestyles
Ferns: Old friends and new ones
I went to art class last week obsessing about woodcocks and how to draw their intricately mottled feathers. ... Read more
Lifestyles
Mother Nature’s Garden: Praying to the plants
Every spring I make the rounds of local state parks so that I can photograph both ephemerals and ... Read more
Lifestyles
Mother Nature’s Garden: Identifying and documenting plants
One of the joys of living in the country is roaming about looking for interesting plants and then ... Read more
Lifestyles
Through The Garden Gate: Dinner parties and otherworldly vegetables
In 1972 Ricky Nelson sang about going to a garden party and being disappointed by what happened; he ... Read more
Lifestyles
Mother Nature’s Garden: February is an in-between month
February is an in-between month for wildflower enthusiasts. It’s still winter, but there are glimmerings of life in ... Read more
Lifestyles
Through the Garden Gate: Controversy in the garden
My gardening friends in England and Scotland are bemoaning the rise of what they call eco-rectitude. They’re all ... Read more
Lifestyles
Mother Nature’s Column: Stillness and quiet
For my family, the period from Halloween until the end of the year can be a wild, crazy, ... Read more
Lifestyles
Through the garden Gate: Quiet in the Garden
During the height of the pandemic, baby Anca and I would sit on the porch steps and listen ... Read more
Lifestyles
Mother Nature’s Garden: The importance of trees
When we moved into our current home 35 years ago, our street was lined with dogwoods, and nearly ... Read more
Lifestyles
Through the Garden Gate: December in the Garden
December is usually a quiet time in the garden. The days are short, and the temperature is crisp. ... Read more
Lifestyles
Through the Garden Gate: Behold the Snake Plant
Many years ago, everyone’s front parlor had one. It sat in a dark corner in that cold, seldom-used ... Read more
Lifestyles
Mother Nature’s Garden: The Hardy Citrus
Several times this past summer, strangers stopped me to ask about an odd plant they’d seen off Milnwood ... Read more
Lifestyles
Through the Garden Gate: Change in the garden
When we bought our house over 30 years ago, it was surrounded by massive oak trees. They provided ... Read more
Lifestyles
Mother Nature’s Garden: The Chinese Yam: Friend or Foe?
There are two kinds of alleys in my hometown: The neat, tidy ones with pavement and carefully trimmed ... Read more
Lifestyles
Through The Garden Gate: A look through other people’s gardens
Curiosity killed the cat! Cats are, indeed, known for being curious and for getting into trouble because of ... Read more
Lifestyles
Mother Nature’s Garden: Honeyvine: Friend or Foe
Several days ago, I took a very early morning walk through my neighborhood because I was hoping to ... Read more
Lifestyles
Through the Garden Gate: The best of intentions
Way back in late January, when I was still browsing plant catalogs and making wish lists of plants ... Read more
Lifestyles
Mother Nature’s Garden: Who was Bouncing Bet
Who was Bouncing Bet and what was she doing? And how did black-eyed Susan get her name? The ... Read more
Lifestyles
Through the garden gate: Plants that thrive in hot summer weather
It’s hot and humid and my garden has a bad case of the blahs. Truth be told, so ... Read more
Lifestyles
Mother Nature’s Garden: Talking about some ‘unloved’ wildflowers
Every year people get super excited when the first Virginia bluebells appear. And when the pink lady’s slippers ... Read more
Lifestyles
Mother Nature’s Garden: Let’s talk about serendipity & cream violet
There’s a certain amount of serendipity involved in taking people to see wildflowers. You just never know whether ... Read more
Lifestyles
Through the Garden Gate: Garden Clubs — Not just who raised the best rose
There is a long history of clubs just for men – social, botanical, historical, culinary, even ones for ... Read more
Lifestyles
Through the Garden Gate: Time to fight against Mother Nature
Several years ago, I visited the Lost Gardens of Heligan in Cornwall. The gardens were at their peak ... Read more
Lifestyles
Mother Nature’s Garden: The amazing things that plants do
While plants don’t move around like animals, that doesn’t mean they’re incapable of reacting to their environment. For ... Read more