About Becky Rupp

Becky Rupp

Vermont’s Becky Rupp has been a valuable mainstay of the magazine for decades, contributing her insightful perspectives about gardening, science, and life. Becky’s work has appeared in over 100 GreenPrints issues!

Articles by Becky Rupp

Reading in the Garden

Reading in the Garden

I read my first garden book surreptitiously, at the age of nine, at Girl Scout camp. Girl Scout camp, from my point of view, was not the happy and team-spirited  
A Long Winter’s Nap

A Long Winter’s Nap

It’s December, the month that features Christmas, Kwanzaa, Hanukkah, and Pearl Harbor Day, as well as such lesser under-appreciated holidays as National Sock Day, National Llama Day, World Pear Day,  
Tomatoes. Good for What Ails You?

Tomatoes. Good for What Ails You?

There’s a long history of helpful medicinals from plants. Just for starters, we’ve got aspirin from willow bark, digitalis from foxgloves, quinine from the cinchona tree; and codeine from opium  
Hay

Hay

First, a moment of truth: we don’t make hay. We have a field, and the farmer up the road cuts it, makes hay out of it and takes it home  
Not Bad Apples

Not Bad Apples

Apples have a bad reputation dating back to the Book of Genesis. And we’re never going to let them forget about it, either, since we’ve immortalized their part in the  
The World’s Most Expensive … Crocus

The World’s Most Expensive … Crocus

The next potential big crop for Vermont, says the front page of our local newspaper, is saffron. The saffron story shared the headlines with the school lunch program, the Little  
April Showers

April Showers

April showers bring May flowers” is a proverb that dates at least to 1560. That is, more or less. The 16th-century version was “Aprell sylver showers so sweet/Can make May  
Lawns

Lawns

I love Downton Abbey. I’m willing to put up with all its foibles—the lackluster Lady Edith; the snippy Lady Mary; the continual arrests of one or the other of the  
Are Plants Smart?

Are Plants Smart?

Think about this much and it’s a downright creepy question. I mean, consider what we do to plants. We prune them, mow them, cage them, tie them to poles and