Through The Garden Gate

How to survive hot, dry summers in the garden

July was brutally hot and dry. We had day after day of temperatures over 90 degrees with high humidity and no rain. Even though I ... Read more

1 week ago by Staff Report.

Gardens continually evolve

Gardens never really stay the same. Years ago, my grandmother, and many of her contemporaries in rural Virginia, planted forsythia, japonica, roses, lilacs, peonies, daffodils ... Read more

4 weeks ago by Dr. Cynthia Wood.

Growing picture perfect pitcher plants

Sometimes a gardener just needs a change of pace, something like a wild child plant that looks as if it came from another planet. If ... Read more

2 months ago by Dr. Cynthia Wood.

The challenge of adding fall color to the garden

As most of you who have seen my garden know, it’s all about spring and early summer. There are masses of hellebores that begin to ... Read more

3 months ago by Dr. Cynthia Wood.

Gardening from a dog’s viewpoint

Hello, fellow gardeners. It’s me, Uschi again. While my mom is busy moaning about the general state of affairs – plants arriving and no one ... Read more

4 months ago by Dr. Cynthia Wood.

Gardening trends for 2020

Like just about everything else, gardening is influenced by trends. For nearly 10 years, our obsession with native plants has increased. Some gardeners have been ... Read more

5 months ago by Dr. Cynthia Wood.

Add pops of color to winter gardens

On New Year’s Day, my gardening mad friends in England sent me photos of their yard, and I was struck by how colorful it was, ... Read more

6 months ago by Dr. Cynthia Wood.

Gardening resolutions for the New Year

Hi there, it’s me, Uschi, my mom’s best garden helper. She’s busy reading seed catalogs and making lists of plants that she doesn’t need and ... Read more

7 months ago by Dr. Cynthia Wood.

Glorious excess

It’s December and that means short days and long, dark nights, so I’ve temporarily abandoned the garden. There’s plenty I can do out there — ... Read more

8 months ago by Staff Report.

Sweet anticipation: Habenadas in November

Here it is early November and I’m still nursing along a pepper plant because I’m curious about its fruit. Almost everyone in my family is ... Read more

9 months ago by Dr. Cynthia Wood.

Gardeners questions

Over the years, I’ve gotten lots of questions about gardening. Most are the usual ones — when to plant potatoes, how to grow sweet potato ... Read more

11 months ago by Dr. Cynthia Wood.

Tomato mania

You’ve heard of Crimson Tide? Well, last month I had a red tide running through my kitchen. Way back in early spring, I prepped my ... Read more

11 months ago by Dr. Cynthia Wood.

The gardener and the wedding: Part II

The wedding is fast approaching — Labor Day weekend. Invitations have been sent, responses have been tallied, accommodations and transportation have been arranged; even the ... Read more

12 months ago by Dr. Cynthia Wood.

Luxurious food

Mention luxurious food and most people think of heaping servings of beluga caviar, raw sea urchins, foie gras, kopi luwak coffee or other expensive, hard-to-find ... Read more

1 year ago by Dr. Cynthia Wood.

The lazy gardener

I don’t know exactly how it happened, but, at nearly 72, I find myself managing two homes and gardens — one in town and the ... Read more

1 year ago by Dr. Cynthia Wood.

Moss: Going with the flow

Some gardeners have very inflexible opinions about how their gardens should look; they insist on imposing their will on nature. Others take stock of what ... Read more

1 year ago by Dr. Cynthia Wood.

The gardener and the wedding: Part I

In most families when a daughter brings home a serious boyfriend and announces her engagement, there is an immediate flurry of activity related to dresses, ... Read more

1 year ago by Dr. Cynthia Wood.

The art of keeping plants alive

About every six weeks, I get a text from someone I know. It contains only a photo of a very sad looking house plant. No ... Read more

1 year ago by Dr. Cynthia Wood.

Pass-along garden

We gardeners just naturally share plants. In fact, it’s not unusual for someone to have what’s fondly known as a pass-along garden. You know the ... Read more

1 year ago by Dr. Cynthia Wood.

After the storm

January is usually all about reading seed catalogs by a roaring fire and making endless wish lists of new exotic plants that I absolutely must ... Read more

2 years ago by Dr. Cynthia Wood.

Procrastination and the shortest day of the year

It’s early December and the shortest day of the year is upon us. The air is frosty before dawn and the ground is getting cold. ... Read more

2 years ago by Dr. Cynthia Wood.

Those crazy plant people

We plant people tend to be a crazy, obsessive bunch. We plant the same variety of tomato that our grandparents did even though it’s finicky ... Read more