In my garden and in this written space, I encourage growing plants that will attract pollinators. Birds, bees and butterflies, to name a few. It is good for the environment and good for the garden. Let’s take it a step farther and talk about bee houses.
Here’s an idea: Don’t make mom clean the dinner plates; help her fill the garden with dinner plate-sized flowers instead.
Marco Polo said they have “Roses as big as cabbages.” Why, of course, he was talking about peonies. These glamorous flowers will soon grace our gardens.
The colors of spring are everywhere. Phlox is spilling over garden walls, tulips are blooming, flowering dogwood, redbud trees seem to be everywhere and the azaleas are in bloom. What’s spring in Appalachia without azaleas?
Correction box: Thanks to all the eagle-eyed gardening enthusiasts who emailed and wrote to help correctly identify the flowering shrub trailing over the walls on Bridge Road near the entrance to the Carriage Trial. They were featured in last week’s Good to Grow column — unfortunately, we di…
You can’t miss the yellow bolts of color scattered along the landscape. The bright rays of sunshine are everywhere — and I like it. It’s springtime, and the forsythia is blooming.
Baby chicks seem to be everywhere this time of the year. Plush animals, greeting cards, marshmallow candies and even the real thing chirping under lights and in tubs at the feed stores. Yes, spring and chicks go together.
Recently, I met some friends for a long-overdue visit. As we spent time outdoors chatting about this, that, and the happenings of the last few months, of course, we talked gardens.
What a difference a year can make. As we celebrate the first day of spring, with new plants emerging from their winter hibernation, we also celebrate the possibilities of us emerging from our homes slowly and cautiously, having small gatherings with friends and family.
Rarely do I have a garden conversation that doesn’t include deer. Living in West Virginia means living among wildlife and, most often, herds of deer.
Lovebug, doodlebug, both terms of endearment we have all used many times. But can you really be cute as a bug?
As February ends and before the garden chores of March begin, I am taking a break. I have gathered a few books and settled into my spot. Several years ago, I received a 1910 first edition of the “Manual of Gardening” by L. H. Bailey. Although this book is well over 100 years old, instead of …
My house is warm, and I’m cozy, thanks to the fireplace, hot tea and my new, fuzzy slippers. It’s February, and I am grateful for the warmth because outside, it looks like a cold, winter wonderland.
Mi amor, it’s Valentine’s Day. One of the sweetest days of the year, and love is in the air. As the smell of roses and chocolate fill the room, my mind wanders to thoughts of a garden that will greet visitors with lovely fragrance as they travel through the space.
I am lucky; the little house on a big hill has had inside colorful blooms most of the winter. Cacti, violets, paperwhites, and the most gorgeous amaryllis that opened and produced seven huge flowers, have all kept this gardener happy through the last several weeks.
Thanks to a thoughtful friend, I am in the topiary game. That’s right; I have a tabletop myrtle topiary. It is so cute — and a bit intimidating.
After a career in retail, I get it: Stores can rush the seasons. I agree that it can feel wrong.
Applications are open for two scholarships offered by the West Virginia Garden Club for students planning to major in one of the following fields of study: agronomy, agriculture education, floriculture, horticulture, landscape design, botany, biology, forestry, wildlife science, plant pathol…
A new year means a new calendar. As I flip the page to January, I am reminded that I have several friends who have upcoming birthdays. Of course, my mind began to wander, thinking of birthstones, moon signs and birth month flowers. Yes, just like each month has a corresponding stone, there i…
As the holidays wind down and we enter into a new year, many folks look forward to heading south for the winter. This winter’s travel plans may have changed, but that doesn’t mean you can’t bring a bit of the tropics to wherever you are spending time.
This year I have what might be easily described as the World’s Worst Christmas Tree. This sad little tree makes Charlie Brown’s tree look magazine cover-worthy. Yet, when covered with many many lights and a few well-loved ornaments, it doesn’t look too bad.
Whiskers on kittens, raindrops on roses — of course these are a few of my favorite things.
As the days of the calendar, houses with holiday decorations and a flood of promotional emails tell me, it is almost Christmas, but who needs all that — my Christmas cactus is in bloom, it must be Christmastime!
