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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 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.”

Email Virginia Smith: vsmith@phillynews.com

New growth at Shofuso Japanese House
Posted 03/29/2012
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.
Teaching kids to reap the benefits of veggies
Posted 03/23/2012
Howard Brosius' goal is to instill in young children a taste for fresh vegetables and to teach them how to grow their own. His class at Awbury Arboretum has kids running for radishes and spinach.
Changes in bloom at Flower Show
Posted 03/09/2012
As we near the end of the Hawaii-themed Philadelphia International Flower Show, it's time to take stock on the new and improved.
 
Plenty of ambition at Awbury Arboretum
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.
 
Visions of a revived, visible Glen Foerd
Glen Foerd is the only riverfront estate in Philadelphia still open to the public, and it's a beauty. Yet other than weddings and anniversary parties, it sees little visitors. A new executive director wants to change that.
 
What's sprouting for spring and summer
Curious about what some of the public gardens and arboretums in the Philadelphia region are planning for 2012? Here's a preview
 
Nature on the tabletop
Terrariums, little glass worlds filled with outdoor wonder - or no plants at all - are popular once more. Learn how to make your own at one of the several terrarium programs in the Philadelphia region this February.
 
An advance aloha to the Philadelphia Flower Show
The 2012 flower show: "Hawaii: Islands of Aloha" opens to the public March 4 and runs till March 11 at the Convention Center, 12th and Market Streets. It will be a show like you've never seen before.
 
An arboretum's wordless wonder
Eavesdrop in a garden, and what do you hear? Not a lot of narrative. Paul W. Meyer has "written" a new book about the Morris Arboretum in Chestnut Hill with no text, just photographs.
videos
 
Online gardening classes sprouting at Mount Cuba
Mount Cuba Center in Greenville, Del., the horticultural nonprofit dedicated to native plants in the Appalachian Piedmont, is the first among the public gardens in the Philadelphia region, and possibly beyond, to start a distance-learning program.
 
In the offseason, gardeners' work moves inside: Planning for next year
Like many kids, Mark Risso resented having to weed and clear his parents' garden of rocks. He even disliked picking beans. "Made my hands itch," he says.
 
Landreth Seed is holding its own - if tenuously
The nation's oldest seed house, founded in Philadelphia in 1784, isn't out of the woods yet, but Barbara Melera is doing all that she can -- including launching a Facebook campaign -- to help the company rebound.
 
These pots come naturally
When you ask ornamental garden designer Susan Whitely for a crash course in putting together a cool holiday container, Whiteley says "I just do it instinctively."
 
A wife, mother and head gardener
Maggie Knapp is about as lean and fit as a 50-year-old woman can be. And no wonder: She's spent literally half her life working outdoors at Jenkins Arboretum in Devon, where she's the head gardener.
 
Stalking the coy mistletoe
Joe Arsenault is a botanist, but today he's turned detective as well. He's stalking the wetlands of South Jersey for mistletoe. The classic holiday decoration has had Arsenault's attention for some time.
 
Bulbs? Of course; they light things up
Fall is prime time for bulb-planting, and Leila Peck, cofounder of the Shipley Sprouts, the Bryn Mawr private school's horticultural club, is bulb-crazy.
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