Longtime Pilot gardening columnist Bob Stiffler dies

Bob Stiffler might have thought he was throwing in the trowel once he retired his gardening column in The Virginian-Pilot in 2003.

But e ven after moving to Pennsylvania, Hampton Roads' gardening guru continued to receive questions from loyal readers. Ever the adviser, he answered them, said relatives, who found letters containing leaf and other plant samples while sorting through Stiffler's belongings in recent months.

Stiffler died Wednesday in Lancaster, Pa. He was 88 and had been in declining health.

The former Virginia Beach resident became a household name in Hampton Roads during his 28 years as a freelance garden writer, helping readers identify plants, solve growing dilemmas and rescue their fescue.

He wrote a book, "Gardening in Southeastern Virginia and Northeastern North Carolina, " and was a frequent presenter at Norfolk Botanical Garden, where he worked with the horticulturists there.

Stiffler's passion for plants started early. Raised on an Iowa farm, he eventually enjoyed, in his own words, "three separate but simultaneous careers:" advertising manager for agricultural products; U.S. Navy and Naval Reserve officer; and gardening columnist for The Pilot and, later, the Lancaster New Era in Pennsylvania.

Kendall Eakes got to know him more than five decades ago when Stiffler, then advertising manager for Norfolk-based fertilizer company Smith-Douglas, was charged with writing a day-in-the-life magazine piece about Eakes, a sales supervisor. The men forged a friendship that lasted 55 years.

Stiffler once sought to capture Eakes' efforts at growing Irish potatoes in a barrel and showed up at his Virginia Beach home with camera and note pad in hand. The results were less than spectacular - "five or six potatoes about the size of marbles," Eakes said, adding "Bob had plenty of laughs over that."

A Chelsea neighbor, Lynne Farrell, was better rewarded for her labors and was thrilled when Stiffler caught her cantaloupe crop on film. Farrell, who called Stiffler a "willing worker and adviser" at Wycliffe Presbyterian Church, said he conducted tours of gardens in Europe and was considered a prize catch as a guest speaker on the gardening circuit.

Stiffler's legacy goes beyond published pages.

In 2003, an anonymous donation of $1 million established the J. Robert Stiffler Chair of Horticulture and Botany, a partnership between Old Dominion University and Norfolk Botanical Garden.

Timothy J. Motley, who holds the Stiffler professorship and serves as the garden's director of science, said the endowment allows ODU students to conduct research beneficial to Norfolk Botanical Garden and, ultimately, the home gardener. That science qualifies the garden as an American Association of Museums member, opening it to greater grant possibilities, he added.

Eakes said Stiffler will continue to touch Hampton Roads.

"His word on gardening is still the gospel," Eakes said. "It's often stated, 'Bob Stiffler says...' "

Stiffler is survived by his wife, Dorothy May Stiffler; a son, J. Douglas Stiffler of Virginia Beach; a daughter, Diane D. Stiffler of Montgomery, Ala.; and two granddaughters.

Stiffler's son said that his father, ever the gardener, seized the opportunity to tend a plot once he moved to Pennsylvania and led bus trips to Philadelphia garden shows. As a columnist, he said, Stiffler wouldn't let a reader's question go unanswered and frequently sought advice from the Virginia Cooperative Extension, "literally digging until he found the answers."

A memorial service will be held at Norfolk Botanical Garden in the spring.

Victoria Hecht, (757) 446-2614, victoria.hecht@pilotonline.com