Virginia Hayes’ Gardening Columns
Virginia Hayes, Lotusland’s Curator of the Living Collection, shares her thoughts on all-things-gardening in her weekly column in the Santa Barbara Independent.

More than half of the nation's fruit, nuts, and vegetables come from California.
Trees that make folks sneeze include maples and eucalyptus.
Below are some words that mean something different in a horticultural situation.
A devastating new pest threatens citrus trees.
Pretty flowers and pest reduction? What could be more perfect?
Two new books are just out that take very different looks at what modern gardens could, and maybe should, be like.
Webs that cross your path are just evidence that the spider corps is busy keeping the insect population in check.
While foraging for their own food, bees pollinate both native plants and those in the urban landscape, from fruits to flowers.
Mid-February is when plants here really start to return from their brief period of dormancy.
Plants need to be nurtured in their natural habitats as well as our urban landscapes, but they can also improve our personal spaces.



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Ganna Walska died March 2, 1984, at Lotusland, leaving her garden and her entire estate to the Ganna Walska Lotusland Foundation, to insure that her legacy would remain in her gardens.