A sugar-dusted, peppermint-striped, sweetheart of an amaryllis opened up just in time for Valentine’s Day. ‘Apple Blossom’ is her name.

Her spring-green throat is silky and touchable. Her cheeks are blushing.

She brightens breakfasts and dinners at the end of our kitchen table by the window.

And even better, her sister will be blooming very soon too. Happy Valentine’s Day to you!

Disclosure: This amaryllis planter-box kit was sent to me for a free trial from Longfield Gardens via Garden Media Group.

All material © 2006-2013 by Pam Penick for Digging. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited.

I’ve driven west through Johnson City, about 45 miles from Austin in the Texas Hill Country, many times on the way to Fredericksburg and parts further west. But not until last night had I strolled around the town that’s best known as the home of President Lyndon B. Johnson and his wife Lady Bird. We made the after-hours drive to view the Christmas lights that Johnson City is famed for, and they did not disappoint.

Dubbed Lights Spectacular, the town’s holiday display blazes brightest at the Pedernales Electric Coop’s Headquarters on Ave F, where 50 to 60 live oaks, still canopied with their evergreen leaves, are illuminated with more than a million bulbs.

The effect is simply magical.

Children ran and played in the golden glow, families posed for photos, and carolers sang to the accompaniment of a guitarist in a Santa hat. It felt like something out of It’s a Wonderful Life.

Strings of white Christmas lights covered seemingly every inch of the live oak trunks and their writhing limbs. Strings of larger bulbs, cast net-like across the green canopies, added a starry glow above.

I walked around the coop building and saw that every tree was lit up, from root to crown. Visitors in horse-drawn buggies also circled the building, many singing carols and calling out Merry Christmas! to those they passed.

If you haven’t seen it, you should go, for the warm glow of a small town celebrating the season as much as for the glow of the lights. The lights will stay on until January 1, according to the Johnson City website.

While you’re there, walk a few blocks over and visit the town square, which is anchored by the Blanco County Courthouse and surrounded by a picturesque assortment of shops, all lit up for the season as well.

Merry Christmas, y’all! I wish you all a happy, happy holiday season, and I look forward to a new gardening year with you in 2013!

All material © 2006-2012 by Pam Penick for Digging. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited.

The Great Recession dimmed Austin’s beloved Trail of Lights for two years. But this year the electric extravaganza, an Austin tradition since 1965, returned, and so last night we braved traffic (I witnessed a bang-up fender bender on MoPac on the way downtown) and hordes of our fellow Austinites to walk the loop through Zilker Park.

What I love about the Trail of Lights is that it’s the perfect mix of corny and endearing.

The displays are dated, with a bizarre mix of dinosaurs, the Peanuts gang, pop-culture elves, nativity scenes, and even Greek gods, set up at intervals along the trail, with piped-in Christmas carols playing from hidden speakers.

But standing like majestic, otherworldly creatures among this cultural mishmash are the naked trees of Zilker Park, ancient pecans mostly, each one picked out of the darkness with brightly colored bulbs. They are stunning.

When you’re young you go with packs of friends and sing at the top of your lungs as you walk back to the car afterward. When you have small children, you carry them on your shoulders to see above the throngs and point out their favorite characters among the displays. When you’re older and your children are jaded teenagers, you drag them along and bribe them with funnel cake and point out your favorite trees in the park.

But of course the best tree in Austin at Christmastime is the Zilker Tree, a 155-ft. light tower strung with colored lights in a crisscrossing spiral pattern.

Lit from early December until the stroke of the New Year, the Zilker Tree attracts Austinites of all ages to congregate under the lights, clasp hands with each other, look up at the spiral of lights, and SPIN.

You can’t help but smile and shriek as you spin. You try not to crash into other spinners, and when you let go you stagger drunkenly with dizziness.

Wheee! It’s a joyful tradition, silly and fun, and you feel goodwill toward your fellow spinners.

Wherever you’re spending Christmas this year, I hope you enjoy a little Austin holiday cheer, from me to you!

All material © 2006-2012 by Pam Penick for Digging. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited.