Austin Open Days Tour 2010: David-Peese garden

Austin Open Days Tour 2010: David-Peese garden

October 22, 2010 Like a contemporary fairy-tale cottage, the home of James David and Gary Peese is glimpsed through the embrace of the surrounding garden: a fascinating, wow-inducing, richly planted—and richly hardscaped—yet intimate and surprisingly unpretentious garden. This was my final stop on last Saturday’s Open Days garden tour. James ...
Austin Open Days Tour 2010: Jones garden

Austin Open Days Tour 2010: Jones garden

October 21, 2010 Continuing my westward route across Austin on Saturday’s Open Days tour, I headed to the Westlake garden at the Jones residence multimillion-dollar, 11,000 square foot mansion (as per Trulia). This is the view from their elevated front terrace. What? Those buildings? Downtown Austin, of course. I was ...
Austin Open Days Tour 2010: Deborah Hornickel garden

Austin Open Days Tour 2010: Deborah Hornickel garden

October 20, 2010 Deborah Hornickel added on to her charming Bryker Woods home a couple of years ago, extending its footprint into her back garden, which you can see pre-remodel in my Open Days 2006 post about Deborah’s garden. Visiting post-remodel on Saturday’s Open Days tour, I found it to ...
Austin Open Days Tour 2010: Pemberton Heights garden

Austin Open Days Tour 2010: Pemberton Heights garden

October 19, 2010 My third stop on Saturday’s Garden Conservancy tour took me to the elegant, hilltop garden overlooking downtown Austin. Surrounding a New Orleans-style Pemberton Heights home and shaded by majestic live oaks, the garden felt lush, green, and classically serene. Pictured above, a cut-stone path edged in dwarf ...
Austin Open Days Tour 2010: East Side Patch

Austin Open Days Tour 2010: East Side Patch

October 18, 2010 There was plenty of Patch magic to go around during the Garden Conservancy’s Open Days tour last Saturday. Designer Philip Leveridge, who blogs about his garden at East Side Patch, his wife Leah, and their two young children seem to derive much enjoyment from their enticing, lawn-free ...
Austin Open Days Tour 2010: Utility Research Garden

Austin Open Days Tour 2010: Utility Research Garden

October 17, 2010 ‘Sharkskin’ agave and ‘Whale’s Tongue’ agave at the Utility Research Garden The Garden Conservancy’s Open Days Austin tour was held yesterday, with 6 private gardens open to the public. My first stop was the ambiguously named Utility Research Garden, which I imagined to be an experimental garden ...
Cotton pickin' Bloom Day

Cotton pickin' Bloom Day

October 15, 2010 At Lake Austin Spa on Wednesday, my guide, head gardener Trisha Shirey, showed me an interesting plant she’s growing in the vegetable garden—cotton! Related to the hibiscus, she explained, its flower opens white and soon fades to a soft pink. When the flowers drop, seedpods called bolls ...
Cotton pickin' Bloom Day

Cotton pickin’ Bloom Day

October 15, 2010 At Lake Austin Spa on Wednesday, my guide, head gardener Trisha Shirey, showed me an interesting plant she’s growing in the vegetable garden—cotton! Related to the hibiscus, she explained, its flower opens white and soon fades to a soft pink. When the flowers drop, seedpods called bolls ...
Gardens of Lake Austin Spa

Gardens of Lake Austin Spa

October 14, 2010 Yesterday the Director of Flora & Fauna at Lake Austin Spa, the talented Trisha Shirey, gave me an early morning tour of the spa’s gardens, which she has tended for more than 26 years. A staff of nine full-time gardeners assists her in organically maintaining and updating ...
Upcoming garden events in the Austin area

Upcoming garden events in the Austin area

October 05, 2010 ‘Twinkle Pink’ cuphea October’s cooler, less-humid weather signals the beginning of the second big gardening season in central Texas. At independent nurseries and plant sales, the aisles are packed with tempting new arrivals. And even though it can be hard to tear oneself away from one’s own ...
Intimate views at Olbrich Gardens

Intimate views at Olbrich Gardens

September 25, 2010 Most of my earlier posts about Olbrich Botanical Gardens in Madison, Wisconsin, have shown long views, like the cleome border above. But I do have more-intimate images to share as well. A yellow jacket or some other type of wasp gathering nectar Swamp sunflower, I believe Simple ...
Thai sala at Olbrich Botanical Gardens

Thai sala at Olbrich Botanical Gardens

September 23, 2010 While my husband rested up for his big race in Madison, Wisconsin, two weekends ago, I stole a few hours with my friend and local guide Linda Brazill of Each Little World. Our first stop was Olbrich Botanical Gardens. Knowing I was short on time, she attempted ...
Tropicals & more at Olbrich Botanical Gardens

Tropicals & more at Olbrich Botanical Gardens

September 22, 2010 Boy, was I surprised to see agaves in Madison, Wisconsin, at Olbrich Botanical Gardens on my recent visit. Well, sure, they’re in containers and must spend the winter in a greenhouse, but still it was fun to see these familiar faces out of context. This border surrounds ...
Olbrich Botanical Gardens: Favorite scenes

Olbrich Botanical Gardens: Favorite scenes

September 21, 2010 Architecture in the garden makes me happy, especially when I’m taking pictures. It can be used to frame a view, like this series of doorways. Walls are nice too, and they don’t have to be made of stone. The courtyard garden at Olbrich Botanical Gardens in Madison, ...
Fall grasses at Olbrich Botanical Gardens

Fall grasses at Olbrich Botanical Gardens

September 20, 2010 Continuing my series of posts about Olbrich Botanical Gardens in Madison, Wisconsin, what could be more natural or more stunning for a midwestern garden in early fall than swaths of ornamental grasses in full bloom? A mix of natives and exotics, like this stand of Miscanthus sinensis, ...
Curly willow hideaway at Olbrich Botanical Gardens

Curly willow hideaway at Olbrich Botanical Gardens

September 19, 2010 A week ago I was on my way home from a visit to Madison, Wisconsin. I am still going through all my photos from the captivating Olbrich Botanical Gardens, set on 16 acres alongside Lake Monona, one of two lakes that frame the city. I plan to ...
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