Wealthy Victorians collected things. Taking advantage of improved transportation via railroads and steamships, they traveled far and brought back beautiful objects.  Their homes showcased the paintings, elaborate furniture and decorative accessories they purchased on their journeys. They also accumulated classical statues and what they considered exotic plants, often tropicals, which they incorporated into their outdoor spaces in an attempt to recreate the wonders they had seen on their wanderings.

Before You Forage

If you want to forage for mushrooms to eat, it’s important to remember how easy it can be to harvest a similar-looking yet potentially dangerous mushroom to the one you’re searching for.

Many types of mushrooms look alike, so unless you’re totally familiar with the type of mushroom you’re harvesting, it’s better to leave it than eat it. When in doubt, throw it out.

Puffball (Lycoperdon, Calvatia)

All About Bees

    The best gardens come with deep roots, and few are more firmly anchored in the soil than Cindy Thierry’s University City landscape. The front yard borders and berms and the shrubs and perennials that circle the back yard come alive in spring with bursts of color created by Cindy but with tendrils attached to gardens and gardeners who have gone before. 

It is a garden that reflects a partnership, and the beauty and harmony of working together. Although small in square footage, the landscape surrounding the Winchester home of Phil Mueller and Nathan Urben overflows with flowering plants and beautiful trees and shrubs.  

In 1979, writing in the first edition of The Plantsman, a publication of the Royal Horticultural Society, Sandra Raphael, a senior editor in the dictionary department of the Oxford University Press, noted the term “plantsman” is intended to mean a connoisseur of plants or an expert gardener.