Dr. Cynthia Wood, Author at Farmville - Page 8 of 9

Columns

The Canada Lily: a striking native

Brave the heat for a walk in a moist meadow or along the edge of a wooded area and you just might find a Canada ... Read more

by Dr. Cynthia Wood, Thursday, August 4, 2016 5:06 am

Columns

Whimsy in the garden

A few years ago, I added a bottle tree to a perennial border in the back garden. The reaction, unfortunately, wasn’t what I had expected. ... Read more

by Dr. Cynthia Wood, Thursday, July 28, 2016 5:41 am

Columns

The good and the bad in Mother Nature’s garden

Wa kid, I couldn’t wait for school to be over in mid-June so that I could spend time with my grandma and my aunt. The ... Read more

by Dr. Cynthia Wood, Thursday, July 21, 2016 5:02 am

Columns

Rose pogonia: an uncommon orchid in our area

Robert Frost wrote about a meadow saturated with them and hoped that the meadow wouldn’t be mowed while they were blooming. Frost had found a ... Read more

by Dr. Cynthia Wood, Thursday, June 23, 2016 5:11 am

Columns

Making the most of what you have

May was all about taking a break from garden maintenance and enjoying the parade of azaleas, rhododendrons, peonies and irises. Thanks to the copious amount ... Read more

by Dr. Cynthia Wood, Thursday, June 2, 2016 1:40 pm

Columns

New trails and a new plant

Several weeks ago, friends forced me out of my trail walking comfort zone and insisted that I try two new areas. I wasn’t happy about ... Read more

by Dr. Cynthia Wood, Thursday, May 19, 2016 5:16 am

Columns

Unconventional containers for plants

Our weather has been very erratic this spring. In the 80s one week and then below freezing the next followed by, well, even more fluctuations. ... Read more

by Dr. Cynthia Wood, Thursday, May 5, 2016 4:47 am

Columns

Gardening with a little help from my friends

Gardening can be a wonderful solitary pursuit. There’s no better meditation for me than methodically weeding or putting in new plants. It’s calming and provides ... Read more

by Dr. Cynthia Wood, Thursday, April 21, 2016 6:27 am

Columns

Friend or thug — it’s all relative

I walked several trails at Powhatan State Park last week and just didn’t find much of interest. Some large patches of spring beauties in low ... Read more

by Dr. Cynthia Wood, Thursday, March 31, 2016 5:16 am

Columns

Signs of Spring

Spring won’t officially be here for a few more days, but it’s definitely time to hit the trails. There’s so much to see this time ... Read more

by Dr. Cynthia Wood, Thursday, March 17, 2016 4:35 am

Columns

Gardening outside the box

Well, I survived that frigid spell we had in mid-February and all the back- and-forth weather that followed. Eventually, however, I got so desperate to ... Read more

by Dr. Cynthia Wood, Thursday, March 10, 2016 10:19 am

Church & Community

Native plants resources

Warrives, I always figure that spring is almost here and get ready to head back outside. So while we’re all waiting for the appearance of ... Read more

by Dr. Cynthia Wood, Thursday, March 3, 2016 5:06 am

Columns

Heuchera: Near-perfect shade plant

In a recent interview, Grace Chapman, director of horticulture at Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden, extolled the virtues of heuchera, or coral bells. At the botanical ... Read more

by Dr. Cynthia Wood, Thursday, February 4, 2016 2:54 pm

Columns

Amazing things that plants do

Even though we need plants for survival, we tend to take them for granted. Unfortunately, plants aren’t cuddly. They don’t greet us at the front ... Read more

by Dr. Cynthia Wood, Thursday, January 14, 2016 12:23 pm

Columns

Lost Gardens of Heligan: treasures and delights

If you read Frances Hodgson Burnett’s novel “The Secret Garden” when you were a child, then you know all about the power and magic of ... Read more

by Dr. Cynthia Wood, Wednesday, December 30, 2015 12:52 pm

Columns

A tale of old rectory gardens and corn

At the end of September I went to England to visit friends in Devon. They’re avid gardeners and restorers of old houses. A few years ... Read more

by Dr. Cynthia Wood, Thursday, December 17, 2015 1:47 pm

Columns

Greenbrier: a Smilax kind of week

It’s been a greenbrier (Smilax spp.) kind of week. First, I went hiking with my favorite state naturalist, and she decided to go off trail ... Read more

by Dr. Cynthia Wood, Thursday, December 3, 2015 2:22 pm

Columns

Selecting the right tree

As gardeners, we all have favorite trees, ones that we love better than all the others and just must have in our home gardens. For ... Read more

by Dr. Cynthia Wood, Friday, November 27, 2015 8:46 am

Columns

Kudzu: the vine that didn’t eat the South

Kudzu (Pueraria montana) has been getting lots of press this fall. The September issue of “Smithsonian Magazine” had a feature article debunking the legend of ... Read more

by Dr. Cynthia Wood, Thursday, November 5, 2015 12:20 pm

Church & Community

Growing Native Plants in Containers

Most of us gardeners do a fair amount of container gardening — those old favorites, petunias and geraniums, on the patio; perhaps some grape tomatoes ... Read more

by Dr. Cynthia Wood, Thursday, October 15, 2015 3:03 pm

Lifestyles

Highland treasures

One of the pleasures of wandering around in the woods is the discovery of new and unusual plants. You know the ones I mean; those ... Read more

by Dr. Cynthia Wood, Thursday, October 8, 2015 12:19 pm

Columns

Mulberry-weed is a nasty invasive

Several weeks ago, a friend sent me a photo of a plant and asked what it was. I don’t always know the answer when I ... Read more

by Dr. Cynthia Wood, Thursday, September 17, 2015 10:43 am

Columns

Other people’s gardens

Foodies delight in dining at new restaurants, visiting much admired chefs in their kitchens, and trying whatever new, esoteric ingredient they can find. Gardeners are ... Read more

by Dr. Cynthia Wood, Thursday, September 10, 2015 9:09 am

Church & Community

The Whale’s Tongue

Have you driven by the Farmville fire station recently? More importantly, did you see that wild child plant blooming there in late June through early ... Read more

by Dr. Cynthia Wood, Thursday, August 20, 2015 8:40 am

Columns

Help! There’s frog spit on that plant

When I was a kid, I loved to look for frog spit, those bubbly blobs of foam found on the stems of many plants. I ... Read more

by Dr. Cynthia Wood, Thursday, August 13, 2015 1:13 pm

Columns

Magnolias: the Essence of Summer

Some of my earliest childhood memories involve the intense fragrances of flowers – lilacs, my grandmother’s old roses, and magnolias. Especially magnolias. The perfume of ... Read more

by Dr. Cynthia Wood, Thursday, July 23, 2015 4:44 pm

Columns

Drama in the Milkweed Patch

The common and swamp milkweeds bloomed last month. We all know that milkweed leaves are essential for the survival of monarch larvae ­— that’s all ... Read more

by Dr. Cynthia Wood, Thursday, July 16, 2015 11:22 am

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