LEARN HOW COLONIAL growing methods can make today's vegetable gardens more productive. Wesley Greene, founder of Williamsburg's Colonial Garden on Duke of Gloucester Street, will present the program "Gardening Under Cover" at 5:30 p.m. tonight, April 24.

You'd be surprised at who's hugging trees these days.
People like city planners, engineers, scientists, mayors, landscape architects, businessmen, developers and homeowners are all tree huggers.
In the past the phrase was used to describe mainly hippies and little old ladies in tennis shoes.

VIRGINIA BEACH

Alma Anderson has seen many flowers bloom in her community since she and another former resident started the Fairfield Garden Club 40 years ago. “There are lots of young people coming in to our community now, and we hope they’ll stay and learn,” said Anderson, who has a degree in art and is a retired teacher.

Spring officially arrives on Tuesday, yet it feels like spring has been here almost all winter.
Unseasonably warm days, early daffodils, singing birds, and dolphins at the Oceanfront have had us in a springtime mood for a while.

VIRGINIA BEACH
Hey, city slickers!
If you're yearning for a little country, head down to Back Bay Botanicals in the Pungo area of Virginia Beach Saturday for a taste of the bucolic life.
Owner Gina Lynch will see that you head home, dreaming of spring, with new plants, perhaps some fresh eggs in your sack and maybe even a few chickens.

VIRGINIA BEACH
If you've been thinking about making improvements to your home, inside or out, and have a case of designer's block, get those creative juices flowing at the Mid-Atlantic Home & Garden Show this weekend.

CARROLLTON During the 30 years that Linda Pinkham owned Smithfield Gardens with her husband, Bill, they became plant collectors. Naturally, their waterfront garden in Isle of Wight County contains a colorful and textured variety of trees, shrubs and perennials. Many grow in an undulating border along a marsh curling around their Carrollton home in a verdant embrace.

We don't need a color-coded map to tell us the temperatures are rising, particularly this winter.
Though the 8a plant hardiness zone for most of Hampton Roads did not change in the U.S. Department of Agriculture's recently released updated and color-coded map, we just feel that the weather is getting warmer.
And we're right.

Pure gardening. That's what visitors will see once again.
The area's annual horticultural show, The Virginia Flower & Garden Expo, has returned to its roots.

A new cookbook with recipes collected over 20 years by folks who grow, love and cook with herbs will make its debut next weekend at The Virginia Flower & Garden Expo.
Hot off the press, "20 Years of Herbal Delights From the Tidewater Unit of The Herb Society of America, 1991-2011" will be sold at the society's booth in the display area for nonprofit organizations.