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Backyard Gardener: All about mums

Editor’s Note: A version of this column originally ran on Sept. 20, 2024. Hello, Mid-Ohio Valley farmers and gardeners. Let's talk about the arrival of fall and decorative mums. I love the autumn season, and no decorative plant sets the tone for fall like chrysanthemums (Chrysanthemum x morifolium), the garden mum. Over the past two decades, dozens of new varieties have been introduced, dazzling us with a plethora of colors and flower shapes. We used to refer to these plants as hardy mums because they can be planted and will overwinter in the home landscape. Mums add a pop of color ...

The Way I See It: Getting here was half the battle

Getting around today is as easy as getting in your car and hitting a button that says start. With a nationwide network of roads and a robust series of airports you can get to every corner of our nation in under a day. Remarkable when you consider we have around 3.8 million square miles in ...

MOV Climate Corner: The death of natural history and why it matters

The Academy of Natural Sciences, located in Philadelphia, closed last month just shy of its 200th birthday. It was founded in 1812 and opened to the public in 1828. In 1868, the academy was the first place in the world to display a dinosaur skeleton. It housed a massive, irreplaceable library of over 19 million specimens, which included Thomas Jefferson's fossil collection, and plant samples gathered by Lewis and Clark. Since the Covid pandemic, visits to the museum had steadily declined, and financial instability played a major role in the decision to close the academy. The declining ...

Living Democracy: Are you ready?

Election Day is Nov. 3, but you do not have to wait in Ohio. Early voting started Oct. 6 and will continue at the Washington County Board of Election, 204 Davis Ave. in Marietta, until Sunday, Nov. 1. The hours are on the website at boe.ohio.gov/Washington. Have you made a voting plan? Will you vote early? Will you vote by mail? If so, time is short. Will you vote on Election Day, Nov. 3? Find your polling place at boe.ohio.gov/Washington. You cannot vote at the Board of Elections on Election Day, Nov. 3. What do you need to vote? You must be registered to vote in Ohio. The last day to ...

Traveler impressions of early Marietta

Visualize what Marietta looked like in the 1790s and early 1800s. Actually, visualizing is all you can do because period images are rare and incomplete. But we have the fascinating observations of several travelers. JOURNAL OF A TOUR IN UNSETTLED PARTS OF NORTH AMERICA, FRANCIS BAILY. He ...

Cracking the Code: Everyone listens to WIII-FM

I was 10 years old when I got my first sales job. It was selling candy in a Pittsburgh Pirates glass to raise money for our Little League. Our coach took us to each neighborhood. We went door to door. The candy and special glass sold for $1, a significant sum back then in a working-class neighborhood. I sold a lot of candy-filled glasses. Our team sold its allotment. It wasn’t my sales skills. Who wouldn’t buy from a smiling 10-year-old baseball player in uniform? Our team and the league raised the money needed for balls, wooden bats and uniforms. People in our area were ...