http://www.philly.com/philly/columnists/virginia_smith RSS Feed for Inq Col Virginia Smith en-us Fri, 30 Mar 2012 20:15:22 GMT http://www.philly.com/philly/columnists/virginia_smith/20120330_Some_new_growth_at_Philadelphia_s_Shofuso_Japanese_House.html They say the best time to visit Shofuso, the Japanese house and garden in West Fairmount Park, is when it rains. It's not complicated: You sit or stand on the veranda of the house and quietly look - and listen. The sights and sounds are exquisite - water trilling down the rain chains, rolling cleanly off the roof, slipping silently into the pond. There's a little wind, maybe, some shivering leaves and needles and the tap of crossing branches of the Eastern white pines and Japanese maples. http://www.philly.com/philly/columnists/virginia_smith/20120323_Teaching_kids_to_reap_the_benefits_of_veggies.html Howard Brosius is trying to be heard above the buzz of a dozen small children recently liberated from day care. "Who wants some black-seeded Simpson?" he shouts, holding up the ruffled, light green leaves of this 150-year-old lettuce variety. http://www.philly.com/philly/columnists/virginia_smith/20120309_Changes_in_bloom_at_Philadelphia_International_Flower_Show.html As we near the end of this year's Hawaii-themed Philadelphia International Flower Show, it's time to take stock: Fazed by the maze. Based on random interviews, the completely new layout - intended to keep the event fresh, interest high, and visitors on their toes - is bombing with quite a few longtime show-goers. They can't find their favorite exhibits and don't lik http://www.philly.com/philly/columnists/virginia_smith/20120224_Ambition_at_Awbury.html On 55 acres of historic landscape in the heart of urban Germantown, the yellow aconite is blooming, the snowdrops and purple crocuses are up, and you can sense the fragile promise of spring. http://www.philly.com/philly/columnists/virginia_smith/20120217_Visions_of_a_revived__visible__much-visited_Glen_Foerd.html Glen Foerd is the only riverfront estate in Philadelphia still open to the public, and it's a beauty. http://www.philly.com/philly/columnists/virginia_smith/20120210_Fresh_growth.html Curious about what some of the public gardens and arboretums in the Philadelphia region are planning for 2012? Here's a preview: http://www.philly.com/philly/columnists/virginia_smith/20120127_Nature_on_the_tabletop.html http://www.philly.com/philly/columnists/virginia_smith/20120127_An_advance_aloha_to_the_Philadelphia_Flower_Show.html Against a backdrop of colorful leis, table orchids, and hula dancers, the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society launched the 2012 flower show Thursday morning: "Hawaii: Islands of Aloha" opens to the public March 4 and runs till March 11 at the Convention Center, 12th and Market Streets. http://www.philly.com/philly/columnists/virginia_smith/20120120_THE_MORRIS_.html Eavesdrop in a garden, and what do you hear? Not a lot of narrative. Mostly exclamations over the beauty of something and curiosity about what it is, in and around the absorbing silence. http://www.philly.com/philly/columnists/virginia_smith/20120113_STRUTTING_OUR_STUFF.html Things and possessions have come to define 21st-century American life. We're one nation, under stuff. All is not junk. Some is precious. And this is the idiosyncratic province of Patricia Keller. She's a historian and decorative arts curator who studies cherished objects, from high-end museum collections to hand-sewn Lancaster County quilts, which were the focus of her doctoral dissertation at the University of Delaware.