Columns
Procrastination and the shortest day of the year
It’s early December and the shortest day of the year is upon us. The air is frosty before dawn and the ground is getting cold. ...
Dr. Cynthia Wood, Author at Farmville - Page 6 of 8
Columns
Blue Mushrooms and Hens for Dinner
When I was a kid, about a 1,000 years ago, mushrooms were an exotic food that came in small cans. They were precooked, brownish gray ...
by Dr. Cynthia Wood, Thursday, December 6, 2018 9:30 am
Columns
The Wild Onion Controversy
As many of you know, I manage a Virginia Wildflower Community Page on Facebook. It has just under 2,000 members, many of whom are very ...
by Dr. Cynthia Wood, Thursday, November 8, 2018 7:45 am
Columns
Those crazy plant people
We plant people tend to be a crazy, obsessive bunch. We plant the same variety of tomato that our grandparents did even though it’s finicky ...
by Dr. Cynthia Wood, Thursday, November 1, 2018 8:11 am
Columns
Dodder: An interesting parasite
Yesterday I was driving on the Powhite Parkway, getting ready to merge onto 288 S. when something bright orange caught my eye. There in some ...
by Dr. Cynthia Wood, Thursday, September 27, 2018 7:36 am
Columns
Eat local: Grow your own
Go to just about any restaurant these days and you’re likely to hear a recitation of the origins of every ingredient on your plate: the ...
by Dr. Cynthia Wood, Thursday, September 20, 2018 8:07 am
Columns
A tale of a swale
Generally, I don’t get involved in moving earth to change the lay of the land when I garden. If there are hills, flat areas and ...
by Dr. Cynthia Wood, Thursday, September 13, 2018 10:09 am
Columns
Thugs and potential thugs
I’ve been searching for wildflowers since I was about 12 years old. It’s what my dad and I did on Sunday afternoon. One summer when ...
by Dr. Cynthia Wood, Thursday, September 6, 2018 7:32 am
Columns
Curing the August doldrums
It was unspeakably hot and dry, and then we got lots of rain. My hostas look as if they’ve been subjected to a long session ...
by Dr. Cynthia Wood, Thursday, August 9, 2018 8:16 am
Columns
Species of roses
Roses are very old flowering plants. Fossil evidence shows that they’re around 35 million years old. The cultivation of roses probably began in China over ...
by Dr. Cynthia Wood, Thursday, August 2, 2018 7:48 am
Columns
Roses and garden envy
It’s true. Garden envy is a terrible thing, but I admit that I have a serious case. My friends in Devon have the most amazing ...
by Dr. Cynthia Wood, Thursday, July 5, 2018 7:50 am
Columns
The mystique of lady’s slippers
Virginia has quite a few species of native orchids. Some are showy, while others are almost drab by comparison; they don’t look the way most ...
by Dr. Cynthia Wood, Thursday, June 28, 2018 9:24 am
Columns
Yellow confusion in Mother Nature’s garden
It all began with a series of posts on my Facebook wildflower community page. There was a flurry of photos of plants with yellow blooms ...
by Dr. Cynthia Wood, Thursday, June 7, 2018 8:27 am
Columns
It’s June: Take a break
The early spring madness of clean up, pot up, sow seeds, moan about dead plants, and rush around like a crazy person is over. The ...
by Dr. Cynthia Wood, Thursday, May 31, 2018 7:28 am
Columns
Mock orange: An old favorite for today’s garden
Many years ago, everyone’s grandma had several mock orange bushes in her garden. They were used to mark the boundary between yard and fields and ...
by Dr. Cynthia Wood, Thursday, May 24, 2018 8:02 am
Columns
A tale of two plants
Walk through just about any wooded area in Prince Edward or surrounding counties and you’re likely to find a short perennial plant with thick, dark ...
by Dr. Cynthia Wood, Thursday, May 17, 2018 7:42 am
Columns
Old friends rediscovered in new places
Nearly 10 years ago, I found some trailing arbutus (Epigaea repens) at Holliday Lake on the Lakeshore Trail. It was more than halfway around the ...
by Dr. Cynthia Wood, Thursday, April 5, 2018 10:04 am
Columns
Bletilla: A Tough Orchid for the Home Garden
People tend to think of orchids as fragile, showy tropical plants that are too finicky for home gardeners. There certainly are plenty of tropical orchids, ...
by Dr. Cynthia Wood, Thursday, March 22, 2018 8:10 am
MOTHER NATURE'S GARDEN
Consider the dandelion
Dandelions. Children are endlessly fascinated by them. They’re often the first flower that kids can identify, and probably the only one that they can pick ...
by Dr. Cynthia Wood, Thursday, March 15, 2018 1:34 pm
Columns
Native Plants for winter interest
It’s still cold in the woods, so February is the perfect time to take a leisurely stroll through your home garden to see how it ...
by Dr. Cynthia Wood, Thursday, February 8, 2018 8:53 am
Columns
Allium ‘Millenium’: 2018 Perennial of the Year
There are several groups that name perennial plants of the year, but the announcement I always watch for in the new year is the one ...
by Dr. Cynthia Wood, Thursday, February 1, 2018 8:08 am
Columns
Thugs and potential thugs
Just like people, plants manage to slip into our country uninvited; they hitchhike in packing materials or grain, for example. Some are well behaved and ...
by Dr. Cynthia Wood, Thursday, January 25, 2018 9:13 am
Columns
Gazing into my crystal ball: gardening trends for 2018
A New Year and a new opportunity for gardening. What more could anyone want. January is when the horticultural prognosticators reveal what they think we’ll ...
by Dr. Cynthia Wood, Thursday, January 18, 2018 12:10 pm
Columns
In my father’s time
There is renewed interest in using natural, native materials for holiday decorations. It’s part of the nativist movement that’s so prevalent in gardening. Think fresh, ...
by Dr. Cynthia Wood, Thursday, December 7, 2017 8:49 am
Columns
Bringing in the sheaves: Part II
By late fall, the pace of life on the farm had slowed to an almost leisurely pace. Sure, daily chores still had to be done, ...
by Dr. Cynthia Wood, Thursday, November 30, 2017 9:56 am
Columns
Heresy in the garden
Full disclosure upfront: this column is about disagreeing with conventional wisdom and the politically correct. It’s full on heresy. Not that many years ago, gardening ...
by Dr. Cynthia Wood, Thursday, November 9, 2017 8:00 am
Columns
A new trend: Houseplants as pets
According to conventional wisdom and some research, having a pet generally makes people calmer and healthier. Pets encourage people to exercise and to think about ...