THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, July 26, 1995 TAG: 9507250134
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 02 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Coastal Journal
SOURCE: Mary Reid Barrow
LENGTH: Medium: 98 lines
Buddy Matthews and his tomato plant are a little like Jack and the Beanstalk.
His sweet 100, a variety of cocktail tomato, is more than 9 feet tall and still growing. It's not all foliage either. He's already counted 100 of the little sweet tasting tomatoes on the vine.
In a bed on the south side of the house, the plant is in a tomato cage which it has long since outgrown. Now, Matthews has attached strings from the eave of the house to the cage as a continuation of support for his giant plant.
``I don't know what I'll do when it gets to the roof,'' he said.
And that's a problem he will be grappling with any day now.
Matthews' tomato is growing tall on Miracle-Gro Plant Food. He's seriously thinking of sending a photo of his tomato to the Miracle-Gro company whose current TV ad features ordinary gardeners and their lush plants.
``You, too, can have results like this!'' a smiling Matthews said, referring to the ad's tag line.
JOE R. GIBBS of Portsmouth just dug a white potato from his garden that weighs 1 3/4 pounds.
``It's the biggest white potato I've ever seen in my life,'' Gibbs said. ``None of my neighbors have ever seen anything like that and some of us came from farms.''
Gibbs has a small garden on Atlanta Avenue and he grows a row of tomatoes, some beans and potatoes, at least one of them very large!
AFTER THE COLUMN ON CATFISHING at Pungo Ponds, a new feature of Pungo Blueberries, ETC., Darlene Clark of Norfolk called to talk about her favorite fishing hole for children.
She and her husband Dave take the kids to Waller Mill Reservoir, outside of Williamsburg. There is a pier and a bridge from which to fish and you also can rent boats. Added features are picnic grounds and trails which go all the way around the reservoir, Clark said.
ANDY ANDERTON COULDN'T BELIEVE HIS EYES. He looked out on Lake Holly the other day and what should he see but a group of three or four otters frolicking in the water.
``They looked like the otters in California,'' Anderton said. ``They were playing with each other and diving and then swimming back to each other. They seemed to be having a big time.''
Anderton, who lives in Arlington and vacations at his Lake Holly home, wasn't seeing the California sea otters, but Virginia's river otters.
Playful river otters, with their long whiskers, historically have appeared along waterways throughout Virginia, but pollution, trapping and habitat loss have contributed to a population decline. Once endangered in Virginia, otters are now becoming more abundant in coastal estuaries and river mouths.
River otters are seen on a fairly regular basis in Owls Creek by staff at the Virginia Marine Science Museum. When the new salt marsh building at the south end of the museum property opens in December, a live river otter exhibit will be among the new exhibits.
``They're mighty cute,'' Anderton said.
BEAUTIFUL MOONFLOWER vines are growing longer each day sending out tendrils that wrap gracefully around the fence lattice in my garden.
I planted the seeds for the first time this year and when the first bloom opened late one afternoon recently, the surprise of seeing the beautiful flower took my breath away. White and fragrant, it stood out against the green of delicate heart-shaped leaves.
Moonflowers look like giant morning glories. True to the name, however, moonflowers bloom all night and close up the next morning.
Now each day more and more moonflowers come out in the evening. In the dark of night, they are like low hanging stars, standing out against the fence at the end of the yard. During the day, elegant white buds shaped like spiraled cornucopias with green tinged coils are beautiful in their own right.
I hope the moonflowers also are shining stars in the eyes of any local hummingbird moths. These pretty pinkish moths behave for all the world like hummingbirds as they hover and feed on the moonflower's sweet smelling nectar.
I understand the combination of moonflowers and moths in late evening is a show to rival anything the heavens above can offer. That's what I'm waiting for now. MEMO: What unusual nature have you seen this week? And what do you know about
Tidewater traditions and lore? Call me on INFOLINE, 640-5555. Enter
category 2290. Or, send a computer message to my Internet address:
mbarrow(AT)infi.net.
ILLUSTRATION: ABOVE: ``I don't know what I'll do when it gets to the roof,''
says Buddy Matthews of his 9-foot tall tomato vine that is still
growing.
RIGHT: Moonflowers, true to the name, bloom all night and close up
the next morning.
Photos by
MARY REID BARROW
by CNB