Ricardo Fernandez Battini and his wife Suzanne Fernandez spent a stormy night in September 2004 holed up in their home along the Pigeon River in Crabtree, listening.

Among the many plants that signify the start of summer, perhaps none is more showy than St. John’s wort (Hypericum spp.)

For the past few years, whenever I encounter the whorled loosestrife growing along a trail or roadside I have been saying its name out loud, and slowly. Like a prayer: “World, lose strife.”

Plants and butterflies have a long history of evolution and interconnected relationships. Plants serve as food for caterpillars who eat their leaves to gain energy for their growth and transformations. This co-evolved host-plant relationship mostly occurs between native plants and native caterpillars. Many butterflies depend on this relationship for their lives.

The ancient art of bonsai will take center stage during the “Bonsai as Fine Art” exhibition June 2-11 at the N.C. Arboretum in Asheville. The event will feature 20 works created by professional bonsai artists and members of the Blue Ridge Bonsai Society. 

There’s a bit of pruning taking place at Haywood Community College — specifically, the Horticulture Technology program. And just like pruning a real rose bush, it’s painful and runs the risk of killing the plant altogether, but it may also produce beautiful new growth.