Justyn Marchese

FLAT TOP, W.Va. — Few things look more at home in a West Virginia autumn than a pumpkin beside a farmhouse door, ripening in a field beneath changing leaves, or glowing from a porch on Halloween night. But the pumpkin has a much deeper history in the Mountain State than its modern role as an … Read more

The sunflower has long been one of the most familiar garden plants in West Virginia, and many of its uses were passed along to early settlers by their Native American neighbors. Members of the sunflower species can be found growing in the wild in the Mountain State, and I was lucky to find a pasture … Read more

A common West Virginia wildflower, though not an American native, Queen Anne’s Lace appears to have traveled ahead of European settlers as they arrived in the region. Belonging to the carrot family, Daucus carota is native to temperate regions of Europe and southwest Asia and is naturalized to North America and Australia. It’s a biennial … Read more

One of West Virginia’s best-known native shrubs, American Elderberry (Sambucus canadensis), has long been regarded as a cold-and-flu remedy in Appalachia, was highly regarded by the Celts, and was sacred to many Native American tribes. It’s an ideal plant for managing transition zones in woodland areas as well. For all its notoriety, it’s a common … Read more