Gardening

Books For Serious (and Aspiring) Gardeners

The Land is Full, by Nelson Byrd Woltz. The Monacelli Press, 2024 The latest book by Nelson Byrd Woltz (NBW), the renowned landscape architecture firm in Charlottesville, is a celebration of parks and public gardens whose designs reflect the land’s histories. From Houston’s 1,500-acre Memorial Park to Brooklyn’s Naval Yard meadows, NBW crafts spaces that […]

by Madeline Mayhood

Memorial Garden at River Farm Honors Longtime AHS Volunteer

The backyard garden of longtime American Horticultural Society volunteer Clara Plein is the inspiration for a posthumously named garden at the AHS headquarters at River Farm in Alexandria. Dedicated last summer, the Clara B. Plein Memorial Garden showcases combinations of native plants and cultivars based on how well they support the property’s natural ecosystems—from providing […]

by Madeline Mayhood

Must-Have Gardening Gadgets & Gear for Spring

As gardens spring back to life, having the right stuff makes all the difference. We’ve curated this season’s most innovative and reliable garden essentials—from boots and blooms to balms and bags. Tame prickly beasts with these Felco 705 Rose Gloves—your armor against vicious roses. Their leather-suede construction and adjustable nylon cuff shield against even the […]

by Madeline Mayhood

Peggy Singlemann is Horticulture Royalty

Peggy Singlemann and I sit at her kitchen table on a cold, snow-covered January morning, sipping Lady Grey tea and enjoying a fresh loaf of her sour cream coffee cake, made from a recipe handed down to her through a family friend. When Peggy was 10, she entered it in a church baking contest—and won […]

by Madeline Mayhood

Green Thumb

How to Become a Master Gardener. Post-pandemic, more people are gardening than ever. The Fairfax Master Gardeners can help every plant-lover become an expert. To become certified, master gardeners need 50 hours of training and 50 hours of volunteer service. Currently, more than 5,000 master gardeners work through Virginia’s county extension offices […]

by Staff

A Gardening Love Story

Our interview with gardener Lady Xa Tollemache of Helmingham Hall in Suffolk, UK. (Gary Summers, SMD Photography) For flower lovers, the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation’s 76th annual Garden Symposium, “Digging the Garden: Horticulture, History & Archaeology,” takes place on April 27-30. The event is both in-person and online and will feature presentations by horticulturists (Daria McKelvey), […]

by Konstantin Rega

Plant Perfection

Brent Heath dishes on the magic of gardening with bulbs & shares planting tips for a dazzling spring (Photo by Tyler Darden) I’m not one for name-dropping, but several years ago I was nosing around in Amsterdam’s charming Tulip Museum and, at my husband’s insistence, I quietly mentioned to the museum’s director that […]

by Madeline Mayhood

Bradford Breakup

Is it time to end our romance with the darling of suburban landscapers? Time was, nearly every Southeast subdivision hopped on the Bradford pear train. Instantly popular, the trees were touted as disease-resistant, adaptable, and inexpensive. A 1964 New York Times article heralded it as a near perfect ornamental tree while developers […]

by Madeline Mayhood

Bugging Out

Artist David Rogers brings big bug sculptures to Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden. “I want people to learn, grow, and appreciate their surroundings,” says mostly self-taught artist David Rogers of his new exhibit, “David Rogers’ Big Bugs: The Pollinators” at Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden. Since the 90s, he has been exploring wooden sculptures […]

by Staff

Stormy Weather Iris Garden

One Lynchburg garden is preserving and sharing floral history. “No occupation is so delightful to me as the culture of the earth,” avid gardener Thomas Jefferson wrote in an 1811 letter to painter and politician Charles Willson Peale. Missouri-native turned Lynchburg-local Shana Gammon agrees. She started planting tall bearded irises nearly 20 […]

by Konstantin Rega

Secret Gardens

With a little digging, Virginia yields five unexpected gems. As garden visitors know, the state’s showstoppers, like Norfolk Botanical Garden, Lewis Ginter in Richmond, and the State Arboretum in Boyce deserve their place in the limelight. But look a little deeper. These lesser-known gardens are equally welcoming, each fascinating in its own […]

by Madeline Mayhood

Rethink Gardening

It’s Colonial Williamsburg’s 75th Annual Garden Symposium and we interview guest speaker and gardener P. Allen Smith. (Photo courtesy of P. Allen Smith) This year’s theme is inspired by Audrey Hepburn’s quote, “To plant a garden is to believe in tomorrow.” Now more than ever it is important that we, as gardeners, create healthy […]

by Konstantin Rega

Historic Garden Week

America’s largest open house all began with Monticello’s trees. By the mid-1920s, the trees at Monticello—including more than a dozen planted by Jefferson himself—were in decline, suffering from age and disease. As concern grew, the members of the Thomas Jefferson Memorial Foundation wondered: could the Garden Club of Virginia be of help? […]

by Madeline Mayhood

Early Bloomers

The thrill of spotting spring’s first fleeting flowers. virginia_final2 (Illustration by Andrea Cobb) Long Bloomers are easy to love: that blowsy hydrangea, the patch of black-eyed Susans, the marathon of dahlias that stretch into fall. But the gift of early-blooming spring ephemerals is evanescence, not endurance. “‘Ephemeral’ means ‘fleeting,’” says Elaine […]

by caroline kettlewell

Orchid Showoffs

The Orchid Show & Sale is on at Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden. From flowers worth thousands of dollars to your grocery store variety, orchids are not only beautiful but make excellent house plants. After all, they are one of the largest families of flowering plants with more than 100,000 hybrids and cultivars. […]

by Staff

For the Love of Trees

The Bonsai Exhibit at Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden gets you thinking and relaxing. (Photography by Tim Snyder) At Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden, a bonsai exhibition (ending February 25) showcases the work of Todd Stewart and Bob Chilton, two leading experts from Gardens Unlimited—a Ruther Glen nursery that specializes in the Japanese horticultural art of cultivating […]

by Konstantin Rega

Kiss Me Kate!

Oh, how we love the classic Christmas custom. (Illustration by Austin Anderson) Ah, mistletoe, a name that conjures up a Victorian Christmas scene of rooms strewn with greens and gentlemen stealing kisses from willing ladies who linger demurely under the fresh sprigs that hang above many a doorframe. But where did this […]

by Chiles T.A. Larson

A Gardener’s Guide to Holiday Greens

Simple ways to bring the festive bounty inside. (All photos by Adam Ewing) It happens every year. We get big, crafty ideas about homemade wreaths and fresh-cut garlands gracing mantels and winding up staircases, just like the pictures in decorating magazines. But when the pine boughs zag where they should zig, […]

by Madeline Mayhood

By Design

Before hiring a landscaping expert, it’s important to know who to look for. (Illustration by Jimmy Holder) If we learned one thing from the recent surge in home redesign and renovation, it was that professional help can make a world of difference. And now that we’re all enjoying our outdoor spaces again—heat and […]

by hubbard valerie

Pages: 12

Events

May 28, 2025

May – June @ Art Works!

Art Works

May 28, 2025

Flute Frenzy’s ‘Overture’ Flute Class

May 29, 2025

47th Annual Richmond Greek Festival

Saints Constantine and Helen Greek Orthodox Cathedral

A New Experience at the Virginia Scenic Railway

Virginia Scenic Railway Adds Dome Car for Spectacular Valley Views The popular Virginia Scenic Railway just upped its game with a vintage dome car offering breathtaking 360° views of the Shenandoah Valley. The “Shenandoah”—built in 1948 as the “Silver Palace” for the California Zephyr—now gives passengers an unmatched vantage point on three-hour excursions from Staunton. […]

by Gabriela de Camargo Gonçalves

The U.S. DOE Labeled These Virginia Schools Outstanding

Eight Virginia schools received the National Blue Ribbon 2024 award for their high performances. The Exemplary High Performing Schools are Spring Hill Elementary in McLean, Green Run Collegiate in Virginia Beach, Bethel Manor Elementary in Hampton, and St. Andrew the Apostle School in Clifton. The Exemplary Achievement Gap Closing Schools are Central Academy Middle […]

by Gabriela de Camargo Gonçalves

Williamsburg Archaeologists Uncover Secret Garden

In Colonial America, a grand garden was the ultimate status symbol—the 18th century equivalent of a Lamborghini. So when archaeologists at Colonial Williamsburg uncovered John Custis IV’s property, they struck horticultural gold: the remains of a football field-sized garden alongside his Jacobean manor house. Custis, a tobacco magnate and Martha Washington’s first father-in-law, went all […]

by Madeline Mayhood

Gardening

Books For Serious (and Aspiring) Gardeners

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Events

May – June @ Art Works!

Flute Frenzy’s ‘Overture’ Flute Class

47th Annual Richmond Greek Festival

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A New Experience at the Virginia Scenic Railway

The U.S. DOE Labeled These Virginia Schools Outstanding

Williamsburg Archaeologists Uncover Secret Garden

Gardening

Books For Serious (and Aspiring) Gardeners

Current Issue

Events

May – June @ Art Works!

Flute Frenzy’s ‘Overture’ Flute Class

47th Annual Richmond Greek Festival

Get our most popularweekly newsletter: VL Today

Most Popular

A New Experience at the Virginia Scenic Railway

The U.S. DOE Labeled These Virginia Schools Outstanding

Williamsburg Archaeologists Uncover Secret Garden

Get our most popularweekly newsletter: VL Today

Get our most popular
weekly newsletter: VL Today

Get our most popular
weekly newsletter: VL Today