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Check It Out:
See if our Paparazzi cameras caught you or your friends at any recent events around town.
Gardening calendar
SATURDAY 9th Annual Garden Gala: Wine and Roses A benefit for the Hahn Horticulture Garden with live and silent auctions of rare plants, garden art, vacations and more. There will also be live music by The Bakery Boys and “garden party” attire is requested. When: 5:30 to 9 p.m. Where: Hahn Horticulture Garden, Virginia Tech Cost: $70 Contact: 231-5970 Blue Ridge Wildflower Society Field Trip: Rhododendron Day on the Blue
Heirloom varieties are some of the tastiest tomatoes
For many gardeners, a vegetable garden is just not complete without a tomato plant or two. Based on sales at local garden centers, folks in this area love their tomatoes! Ask long-time gardeners for their favorite varieties of tomatoes and you will nearly always hear a laundry list of heirloom varieties. Most gardeners are growing tomatoes for the taste — that wonderful taste of summer that you just won’t get
Gardening calendar
SATURDAY First Saturday Bird Walk Bring binoculars if you have them. Wear sturdy shoes and expect to cover about a mile of uneven terrain during this two-hour walk. When: 8 to 10 a.m. Where: Blacksburg Heritage Park & Natural Area, Glade Road Cost: Free Contact: www.nrvbirdclub.org LettUs Grow Roanoke Master Gardeners will guide, instruct and help you grow your garden organically and be water-wise. Casual Q&A sessions open to all
Crow's Nest Greenhouses helping gardeners buy local
The locavore movement has taken off with foodies in recent years as folks balance their love of good eating with a desire to be environmentally conscious. Have you ever considered that the benefits of buying local extend beyond the tomato to the tomato transplant? Many garden centers actually grow very few of the plants they sell, but instead purchase their plants from specialty nurseries that do the growing. Plants may
Drip irrigation is an excellent choice for vegetable gardens
Every plant has its own light, space and water requirements. Supply the m in the right amount and your garden will be successful. Of the three , providing the right amount of water requires the most effort from a gardener . Particularly when it comes to vegetables, rainfall is often not sufficient to grow healthy plants. You can, of course, just fill a watering can, but hand watering is time-
Out & about: Ken Farmer Appraisals
The appraisal tickets may be sold out, but that shouldn’t stop antiques lovers from heading to the South County Library on Wednesday to see Radford’s own Ken Farmer in action. Farmer, owner of Ken Farmer Auctions and Appraisals, is a regular appraiser on the popular national PBS television show “Antiques Roadshow.” He will appear at the library for a two-hour session of appraisals in front of a live audience. The
This year, why walk when you can take the trolley?
The Star Line Trolley, which uses biodiesel-powered buses decked out like old-fashioned trolley cars to ferry passengers around downtown, has been a big hit with Roanokers. Although most riders are Carilion Clinic employees (the trolley shuttles run between Carilion Roanoke Memorial and downtown Roanoke), Cyndi Fletcher, chairwoman of this year’s Roanoke Historic Garden Week in Virginia tour, said some of her south Roanoke neighbors use them, too . She was
The views and vision of Roanoke Valley's Rockledge
As the owners of Rockledge, the landmark stone house that sits prominently on Mill Mountain, Kevin and Nancy Dye feel a certain responsibility to their fellow Roanokers, even the ones who don’t quite realize the house is a private home. “We want to be good stewards of the property,” Nancy Dye said. “We know how much it means to people.” In that spirit, they’ve hosted many events for local civic
Roses can be bloomin' easy
As with many other gardeners, my mother's favorite flower was the rose - specifically, a yellow rose. My mother grew beautiful roses. With a flower this gorgeous, there is a tendency to assume that it must be finicky. My mother taught me that roses are actually quite easy to grow. Essentially, they are just like any other shrub. Give them space, light and water and you'll be rewarded with a
Bulbs light up the summer
Mention bulbs to a gardener and most of us think of the beautiful tulips and daffodils coming into bloom this time of year. But there are also bulbs for summer that bloom after spring’s flowers have faded away. Lilies, irises, dahlias, cannas and caladiums are easy to grow plants that bloom during the heat of summer. They provide showy and reliable blooming in flower pots, window boxes and garden plots,
Conscious re-creation is a rare privilege here on our planet
The old has gone, the new is here! — Corinthians 5:17 White Man celebrates something that happened 2,000 years ago.... Indians celebrate what’s happening now. When the sacred strawberries come up in early spring, that’s what we celebrate.... They’re the Creator’s gift to his children. — Chief Louis Farmer, Onondaga Swimming laps, early in Holy Week, while snow blew across the high windows, I thought about the “new creation.” It’s
Gardening Calendar
SATURDAY Blue Ridge Wildflower Society Field Trip The group will visit Arcadia and identify plants. This field trip will also include a group of Girl Scouts. Bring water, a snack and rain gear. Although the walking will be short and not difficult, it is on uneven ground. When: 9 a.m. to noon Where: Meet at Bojangles, 5 Kingston Drive, Daleville Cost: Free Contact: www.brwfs.org TUESDAY Blue Ridge Wildflower Society Field
Orchids are an addictive, exotic houseplant
Orchids have always struck me as intimidating plants. Although I admire their beauty, I've never attempted to grow one myself. I'm aware that there are some varieties that are easy to grow as houseplants and, judging from how often I see them for sale in grocery stores and home centers, those varieties are plentiful. However, my intellect wars with my emotions on this one plant, and I allow myself to
Gardening calendar
— sunday — l Gardening for the Birds Bill Leaning, a retired veterinarian and active nature photographer and gardener, will discuss planting and landscaping to attract birds. When: 3 p.m. Where: Discovery Center, Smith Mountain Lake State Park Cost: $7 Contact: 297-6066 — wednesday — l New River Valley Bird Club Jerry Via and Bill Akers will explore the relationship between coffee and birds who often spend winter in coffee
We work hard at entertainment, but is anyone having fun?
“Are we having fun yet?” I can still hear some or other joker asking this through the years, in the cold pouring rain of a backpacking trip, or stuck on the road in a blizzard, or camping at the beach in a biting March wind, with gritty sand in the biscuits and iron in the spigot water and daylight winking out early with un-balmy starkness. In fact, back in those
Down to Earth: It’s time to start vegetable seedlings indoors
Although most of the vegetable garden is still months away from planting time, gardeners can begin enjoying the season now by starting their own seeds. Plants that require a long growing season, like tomatoes, peppers, eggplants, melons and winter squash, can get a jump start indoors on a sunny windowsill. Plants like lettuce, cabbage, broccoli and basil don’t need a long growing season, but these, too, can be started indoors
Fieldnotes: Tireless contributions of the birds go unnoticed
Invisible life that sustains all, I awaken to life everything in every waft of air … The stars shine, Radiating with life-light. All creation is gifted with the ecstasy of God’s light. — Hildegard of Bingen February is not a great month for burning your old brush pile. But it is a fine month for seeing. The birds have already been returning and pairing up, locating nesting sites in what we
Down to Earth: All about sprouts
Those of us who like to grow what we eat can spend winter months longing for truly fresh produce. Although most edibles can be difficult to grow indoors with only a sunny windowsill for light, there are some options that will please the gardener and cook alike. Growing sprouts can be one of the easiest edible projects around. With a wide variety of seeds available, the home gardener can grow
The seeds of potential are within us
All the flowers of the tomorrows are in the seeds of today. — Indian Proverb They began arriving on the first day of winter, bringing into stuffy, over-stewed homes their snappy parsleys, red roses and pastel-blue morning glories. They delivered quaint old color-wash drawings of yellow squashes, tomatoes, blackberry canes and watering cans perched on a rock. They brought potted lime trees and pines, mosses and ferns, arbors clobbered with
Down to Earth: Read it and reap
For gardeners, January can only mean one thing: the new seed catalogs have arrived . With few other outlets available to indulge your gardening needs, nothing beats curling up on a cold winter day and planning your upcoming garden. Good seed catalogs contain so much information that experienced gardeners often refer back to them throughout the growing season. For novice gardeners, the choices can be daunting and sometimes downright confusing.
1. COMMENTARY: A letter to the ones left behind
2. Meteorologist Jamey Singleton fined $200 for February wreck
3. Smith Mountain Lake man's steam boat is a step back in time
4. Two more suspects arrested in Salem burglary
5. Military takes down Roanoke woman's ‘Operation Bedsheet’
6. 5 things to know about The Avett Brothers
7. Police investigate Monday armed robbery at SW Roanoke convenience store
8. Dublin town attorney Baker found guilty of reckless driving, not DUI
9. Christiansburg man pleads guilty to assault on 2 deputies
10. Top event picks for week of June 16, 2013
THE ROANOKE TIMES
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