MOTHER NATURE'S GARDEN
Mother Nature’s Garden: A much needed hike and old friends
It’s Boxing Day, and life has mostly returned to normal here at Mother Nature’s Garden. The dogs are slumped on their beds, refusing to make ...
Dr. Cynthia Wood, Author at Farmville - Page 2 of 8
Columns
Through the Garden Gate — ‘The neighbors are gonna talk!’
If you’re of a certain age and grew up in the South, then you’re probably familiar with this phrase. It can refer to many different ...
by Dr. Cynthia Wood, Saturday, January 7, 2023 2:40 pm
FARMVILLE THE MAGAZINE
From the Ground Up — Unsung heroes of the winter garden
As Sir Francis Bacon wrote in his essay on gardens, “There ought to be gardens for all months in the year, in which, severally, things ...
by Dr. Cynthia Wood, Thursday, December 15, 2022 11:04 am
Columns
Through the garden gate — The beauty of dry stacked stone walls
Throughout New England and the mountains in Virginia, there are stone walls built by farmers primarily from the mid-1700s until the early 1800s. There used ...
by Dr. Cynthia Wood, Saturday, December 10, 2022 2:07 pm
MOTHER NATURE'S GARDEN
Mother Nature’s Garden — Japanese Knotweed: A seriously tough plant
Since the late 15th century, we humans have moved around 13,000 species of plants from their native habitats to other areas around the world. Sometimes ...
by Dr. Cynthia Wood, Friday, December 2, 2022 4:56 pm
FARMVILLE THE MAGAZINE
From the Ground Up — Green on Green: A classic, low maintenance garden design
Traditional gardening has always been about wrestling nature into submission, an approach that’s labor intensive and somewhat like warfare. Gardeners have to be vigilant in ...
by Dr. Cynthia Wood, Tuesday, November 15, 2022 9:29 am
Columns
Mother Natures Garden — Goldenrods: Tenacious and beautiful
“You can see the goldenrod, that most tenacious and pernicious and beauteous of all New England flora, bowing away from the wind like a great ...
by Dr. Cynthia Wood, Saturday, November 12, 2022 1:56 pm
FARMVILLE THE MAGAZINE
From the Ground Up: Wildflower Meadows
Wildflower meadows have been an important feature of the British landscape for hundreds of years. Nevertheless, they didn’t develop as natural features of the landscape, ...
by Dr. Cynthia Wood, Friday, November 4, 2022 6:19 pm
Columns
Through the garden gate — Garden envy
A few weeks ago, I escaped to Maine to explore some gardens and late-blooming native plants there. Obviously, the growing season is shorter, and the ...
by Dr. Cynthia Wood, Friday, November 4, 2022 3:51 pm
Columns
Mother Natures Garden — Turtleheads: Flowers with an interesting shape
Even though the days are still warm, there’s a chill in the early morning and late afternoon air. Autumn is here, so it’s time to ...
by Dr. Cynthia Wood, Friday, October 14, 2022 6:28 pm
FARMVILLE THE MAGAZINE
From the ground up — The Joys of a Simple Garden
Farmville is blessed with many talented gardeners. Explore the various neighborhoods, and you’ll find English kitchen gardens with tidy paths, carefully clipped borders, and thriving ...
by Dr. Cynthia Wood, Saturday, October 1, 2022 4:41 pm
Columns
Al and Betsy’s pollinator patch
Nestled at the end of a long winding driveway in Pamplin is a picturesque farm belonging to Al and Betsy Lookofsky. There’s an old smoke ...
by Dr. Cynthia Wood, Saturday, September 17, 2022 10:33 am
Columns
Pickleweed: A great natural condiment
Way back pre-pandemic, when travel was easy, I spent some time in Cornwall with friends. It was a great opportunity to explore local gardens and ...
by Dr. Cynthia Wood, Saturday, September 10, 2022 10:00 am
Columns
Through the Garden Gate — A message from Anca
Hi fellow gardeners, it’s me, Anca. My Mom is busy filling in some holes in the backyard, so I thought I would chat with you ...
by Dr. Cynthia Wood, Friday, August 12, 2022 1:00 pm
Farmville the Magazine
From the Ground Up — Daylilies
The Perfect Plant for the Midsummer Garden The hot, humid, potentially dry days of summer are upon us, but even those gardeners who retreat indoors ...
by Dr. Cynthia Wood, Friday, August 5, 2022 3:24 pm
Columns
Common grass pink: An interesting native orchid
We tend to think of orchids as fragile, delicate plants requiring pampering, but they are extremely resilient and capable of growing in a wide variety ...
by Dr. Cynthia Wood, Friday, August 5, 2022 12:26 pm
Columns
Mother Nature’s Garden — Magnolias bloom offering fragrant pleasure
It’s magnolia time! The sweetbay magnolias have finished blooming in the wet lowlands along the High Bridge Trail, but the iconic southern magnolias all over ...
by Dr. Cynthia Wood, Friday, July 15, 2022 4:47 pm
Columns
Through the garden gate: Oh! Those odd names
You all know that I’m slightly obsessed with daylilies. They’re the perfect plant for hot summer days when I just can’t be bothered to work ...
by Dr. Cynthia Wood, Saturday, July 2, 2022 12:47 pm
THROUGH THE GARDEN GATE
Through the Garden Gate — The joys of a simple garden
Farmville is blessed with many talented gardeners. Explore the various neighborhoods, and you’ll find English kitchen gardens with tidy paths, carefully clipped borders, and thriving ...
by Dr. Cynthia Wood, Saturday, June 11, 2022 12:15 pm
Columns
Mother Natures Garden — Hexastylis: A plant with a steep learning curve
For years I’ve found heartleaf (Hexastylis spp.) all over Cumberland, Appomattox, Powhatan, and Prince Edward Counties. There are eight species of this low growing, evergreen ...
by Dr. Cynthia Wood, Sunday, June 5, 2022 12:30 pm
Columns
Fireworks in the woods
One of my favorite spring ephemerals, the eastern shooting star (Primula meadia), has a variety of common names – pride of Ohio, prairie pointers and ...
by Dr. Cynthia Wood, Sunday, May 8, 2022 1:54 pm
Columns
When plants bloom
I’m fascinated by plants that bloom at a specific time every day. That old garden favorite, the four o’clock, opens every afternoon around 4 p.m. ...
by Dr. Cynthia Wood, Thursday, April 7, 2022 3:59 pm
MOTHER NATURE'S GARDEN
Wildflower Symposium celebrates spring
Spring is definitely here. The days are longer, the temperatures are warmer, and there are blooms appearing everywhere. Some like pussy toes are modest and ...
by Dr. Cynthia Wood, Saturday, April 2, 2022 3:54 pm
Columns
Appreciate the rare beauty of blue flowers
A poll done by YouGov revealed that blue is the favorite color in almost all countries. Ancient Egyptians, Chinese and Mesoamericans developed ways of producing ...
by Dr. Cynthia Wood, Tuesday, March 22, 2022 5:16 pm
Lifestyles
Why rhododendron leaves curl and droop
Many gardeners say that they can tell the temperature outside simply by looking out the window at the leaves on their rhododendron. If the leaves ...
by Dr. Cynthia Wood, Saturday, February 12, 2022 1:00 pm
MOTHER NATURE'S GARDEN
Rainbow pools in the Cypress Swamp
No matter when you visit, bald cypress swamps are magical places. In late spring and summer, there’s green everywhere – moss, resurrection ferns, tree leaves ...
by Dr. Cynthia Wood, Saturday, February 5, 2022 3:30 pm
THROUGH THE GARDEN GATE
Ragweed: A highly adaptable plant
Have you ever tried to define a weed? I often hear that it’s just a plant that appears where it’s not wanted. By that definition, ...