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Tuesday, March 3, 2009

Delaware Valley College

The ornamental horticulture and environmental design students at Delaware Valley College in Doylestown picked a different Italian theme - the gardens of Pompeii and Herculaneum, cities destroyed long ago by that nasty volcano. Much is known about these gardens because the lava and ash preserved them, although it obliterated everything else. It's surprising to see how many plants we use today were used then ... Concord grapes, grape hyacinth, flax, yellow flag iris, snapdragons, miniature daffodils, sweet pea, Persian fritillaria, figs and borage. This is about the 10th time I've seen borage and every time, I'm blown away by how interesting it is. Have to get some of that! Richard Glaser, a landscape architect from the class of '65, showed me around the exhibit, which also has a fun little palindrome tile. You read the letters from top to bottom, bottom to top, top left to right and bottom right to left. These ancient people also built labyrinths in patterns. "They were pretty smart," my guide said. Though these things didn't help with life expectancy, sounds like these folks had a good time while it lasted.  Ciao.
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About Virginia A. 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 returning to Philadelphia in 1985 to join the Inquirer. Her favorite beats here have included Center City, roving around Pennsylvania (and getting paid for it!) and alternative medicine. She’s also been City Editor and Pennsylvania Editor. Ginny has been happily writing – and learning - about gardening fulltime since 2006. She’s won two silver medals of achievement from the national Garden Writers Association and in 2011, Bartram’s Garden honored her with its Green Exemplar award for her stories about “the region’s deeply rooted horticultural history, cultural attractions and bountiful gardens.”
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