Category Archives: Despatches from the Hollow

Getting ready to head for the coast for our traditional celebration of the autumn equinox (this year on September 22nd). This closes the season on a lush summer which saw our groundwater in Albemarle County replenished for the first time … Continue reading →

Summer solstice on the 21st inaugurated a season full of fragrance with Chinese trumpet lily ‘Regale’, sweetbay magnolia and swamp milkweed layering sweetness through the air. Most garden scents are even stronger after dark in the heat when it’s still. … Continue reading →

It’s chartreuse in the hollow, all yellow-golden green. The frogs sing in the evenings and the creek gurgles just as it did when I first came here many years ago. Since then we’ve known seasons so dry there was nary … Continue reading →

Drip, drip, drip. Our third snow has melted. This coming spring will be a wet one and those of us who remember the last drought appreciate mud. This is a good thing. It means we have moisture deep in the … Continue reading →

With extreme variations in the jet stream alternating the arctic with the balmy, it’s a wonder how few flowering plants seem to be early this year. Everything seems pretty much right on time. Honeysuckle bush opened mid-month. I smelled it … Continue reading →

Even in the icy heart of winter flowers bloom. Look for my upcoming column on Camellias in the February C-ville Abode www.c-ville.com . Hellebores are showing their leathery stamina now. I understand why some people dislike the common orientalis and niger … Continue reading →

Nature paints her canvas with clouds. Cirrocumulus, Cirrus, and Altostratus layer the sky looking south from one of the high points of the hollow. Gavin Pretor-Pinney’s The Cloudspotter’s Guide, The Science, History and Culture of Clouds is teaching me as … Continue reading →

We’re having a white Christmas after all. 12/26 – More ice than snow, the slow moisture is welcome this dry season, but this is bad weather nonetheless: dangerous to walk or God forbid drive and heavy branches droop to the … Continue reading →

  The last of the sugars are trapped within the leaves of ‘Eskimo’ viburnum as chlorophyll fades with summer and systems shut down for leaf-drop, next spring’s flower firmly nestled in bud. This lovely cultivar of the service viburnum has … Continue reading →