Virginia Smith

Ginny Smith, a Philadelphia native, worked as a reporter at newspapers in New York, Connecticut and Ohio – with six short months at the end of the Bulletin tossed in – before coming back to Philadelphia in 1985 to work at the Inquirer. She was in the paper’s Montgomery County bureau briefly before moving to the City Desk, where she wrote about Center City and urban issues like homelessness. Ginny spent eight years after that as an editor, most recently as the paper’s City Editor and Pennsylvania Editor, before returning to reporting in 2004.

She’s been gardening forever – and happily writing about it since 2006. In that short time, she’s won two silver medals of achievement from the national Garden Writers Association, most recently for a 2008 story on invasive plants.

Read Ginny's blog Blog Kiss the Earth
Latest post: Landreth seeds - 9:10am
Email Ginny at vsmith@phillynews.com

Cataloging the barn stars of Penna.
Holiday or anytime, no exceptions
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Gallery: Popularity blossoms for the good old orchid
Cataloging the barn stars of Penna.
Holiday or anytime, no exceptions

Seeds, a favorite collectible - 10/23/2009: Saving, swapping, and propagating seeds spreads the wealth, connecting gardeners to all four seasons.

By Virginia A. Smith, Inquirer Staff Writer

This summer, there must have been a dozen patches around the tiny borough of Narberth sporting huge sunflowers. It was no accident. The supersize sun-lovers were grown from seeds swapped among neighbors earlier in the year at Bob and Dawn Weisbord's house, as part of the Narberth Greens Flower and Vegetable Exchange.
Still a household favorite - 10/16/2009: But African violet collectors lament the "noid" varieties.

By Virginia A. Smith, Inquirer Staff Writer

Drew Brining of Hammonton is only 12, but already he's signed up with the Southern New Jersey African Violet Club. He's even breeding his own plants.
The right mix of water, light, etc. - 10/16/2009: African violets have a finicky rap, but fans say it ain't so. They do concede this: It may take some experimenting to get the right mix of light, water, soil, fertilizer, temperature and humidity, pot size, and proper grooming.
He got stung by beekeeping bug - 10/09/2009: By Virginia A. Smith, Inquirer Staff Writer

It's a cloudy day, which means Jim Bobb's Italian honeybees - mellow by nature - are hanging out at home, a condo-like colony of 24 hives set up in a field at Morris Arboretum in Chestnut Hill.
Autumn sonata - 09/25/2009: Some plants are at their most radiant just before they die. As gardener Liz Ball says, "It's like their farewell concert."

By Virginia A. Smith, Inquirer Staff Writer

September's garden is bittersweet. Its mounded annuals are brighter, fuller than ever, a spirit-lifter every day. They stand on strong, green legs next to brown stalks of spent perennials, an odd couple in the garden light, which is astonishingly beautiful this time of year.
Potting with papercrete - 09/18/2009: By Virginia A. Smith, Inquirer Staff Writer

For as long as humans have been upright, we've been planting in decorative containers, ranging from terra-cotta pots and cast-iron urns to humble buckets, bowls, boxes, and troughs.
Beginners' luck, and pluck - 09/04/2009: For those who dug in for the first time in quirky '09, some victory in gardening.

By Virginia A. Smith, Inquirer Staff Writer

This year, like millions of other Americans, Morgan Perlman planted his first vegetable garden. Though only 12, he successfully grew enough fresh produce to keep his family well-fed for much of the summer.
A rare look at a garden as hummingbirds gather - 08/28/2009: John DiOrio's troubles melt at his eight-acre retreat in South Jersey. Join him this weekend to say bon voyage to the hummingbirds.

By Virginia A. Smith, Inquirer Staff Writer

HEISLERVILLE, N.J. - John DiOrio, a corrections officer in a minimum-security prison, no doubt enjoys his eight-acre retreat in this tiny town - grandly named the Maurice River Botanical Gardens and Reserve - as much as any du Pont ever did his topiaries and parterres.
Remembrance of gardens past - 08/21/2009: By chance (or by birthright) a West Mount Airy gardener re-creates the lush cottage designs of her native England.

By Virginia A. Smith, Inquirer Staff Writer

Linda Fahy Newman's garden in West Mount Airy happened gradually, over the last 25 years, with no strict blueprint in mind.
Sizing up the royalty in the world of trees - 08/14/2009: By Virginia A. Smith, Inquirer Staff Writer

Most folks call them "the king and queen trees," and they do have a certain regal bearing - very tall with substantial girth and limbs, expansive middle, and an age Scott Wade estimates at between 250 and 275 years.