Earth Curative

04/07/2026

04/07/2026

Cold temperatures are expected tonight with many seeing lows near or below freezing. A Freeze Warning is in effect for portions of the central Virginia Piedmont, mainly North & West of the Richmond Metro, and the Lower MD Eastern Shore. Take steps to protect sensitive vegetation.

04/05/2026

Vintage Easter Card

04/04/2026

BIG NEWS! A federal court just voided the Pisgah-Nantahala Forest Plan! The court ruled that the plan failed to address the impacts of massive logging increases to endangered species. The forest plan had proposed to increase logging by 400% and was the most widely opposed forest plan in history, with more than 37,000 public comments and objections against it. This is major win for wildlife and the millions of people who visit these cherished forests: https://biologicaldiversity.org/w/news/press-releases/court-voids-north-carolina-national-forest-plan-for-violating-endangered-species-act-2026-04-01/?_gl=1*kldzjt*_gcl_au*MTY5NTQyNjMwMy4xNzcwNjQ3NTYy

04/04/2026

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04/04/2026

The Norfolk Botanical Garden is installing rare and endangered plants in its new $50 million Garden of Tomorrow project, which is now slated to open late summer following construction delays.

The 26,000-square-foot Perry Conservatory will feature rare and endangered plant life divided into two biomes: a desert and a rainforest.

Conservatory Director Michelle Baudanza took News 3 up to the top of a second-story catwalk in the rainforest biome, as garden workers poured soil and watered newly-installed plants below.

04/04/2026

The Great Dismal Swamp National Wildlife Refuge protects the largest intact remnant of a once vast forested wetland in southeastern Virginia and northeastern North Carolina. This remarkable swamp once covered more than a million acres.

Spring is a beautiful time here. Bald cypress and other trees begin to leaf out, wildflowers bloom, migratory songbirds return, and insects are minimal.

Keep an eye out for young turtles, some no bigger than a walnut, crossing refuge roads around dawn and dusk.

Photo by Rebecca Wynn / U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

04/04/2026

This feels like April Fools, but it's real life. The pink lady's slipper will kidnap bees!

Meet the pink lady’s slipper (Cypripedium acaule), a showy native orchid found across much of the eastern United States. You can typically find it blooming between May and July.

Here's how this flower plays its tricks.

A bee sees the bright pink flower and thinks, “Finally. Nectar.”
The bee goes in.

There is no nectar.

Instead, the bee is now inside a floral escape room with no exits… except one very specific exit. The entrance closes behind it, and the only way out is to squeeze through a tight opening near the top of the flower.

While making its exit, the bee gets covered in pollen. It flies off, a little confused, a little betrayed, and immediately falls for the same trick again at another pink lady's slipper. The bee has been tricked into pollinating the next generation. No April Fools joke here. Just a native orchid running one of the most elaborate pollination scams in North America.

Photo by Keith Ramos/USFWS

04/03/2026

Oh no you didn't!! Oh yes we did!! So far so good. 🐌 🌸🪻🌱🌿🌾💚