Linda's live oak courtyard garden in San Antonio

Linda’s live oak courtyard garden in San Antonio

October 18, 2023 After the tour of the Ten Eyck garden last Saturday, I visited my friend Linda Peterson’s garden, one of my favorites in all of Texas. Her garden is home to several charismatic live oaks, including this one with octopus-like arms stretching through a porthole cutout in a ...
Christy Ten Eyck-led tour of San Antonio garden

Christy Ten Eyck-led tour of San Antonio garden

October 16, 2023 On Saturday I headed down San Antonio way for a Garden Dialogues event led by Christy Ten Eyck, principal of Ten Eyck Landscape Architects in Austin, at a private garden she designed in San Antonio’s Hill Country Village. Christy has long been an inspiration for her design ...
October blooms brighten my garden

October blooms brighten my garden

October 12, 2023 October! It’s the best month of the year, providing sweet relief from a Texas summer with cooler weather and rain and bringing the garden back to life. Let’s take a stroll ALL around the garden and see what there is to see. It’s oxblood lily season! These ...
Happy, colorful courtyards at The Lincoln Marfa

Happy, colorful courtyards at The Lincoln Marfa

September 18, 2023 I stayed at The Lincoln, a boutique hotel of 14 “unique homes” at a century-old property, when I visited Marfa a couple weeks ago. A bright yellow door and orange cosmos flowers offered a cheerful welcome as I rolled my bag to Unit 7, passing a gigantic, ...
West Texas golden hour and sightseeing

West Texas golden hour and sightseeing

September 16, 2023 I was back in West Texas a week ago to shoot gardens for my forthcoming book (due out spring 2025). Being up at sunrise and staying in gardens until after sunset meant I got to enjoy some beautiful skies every day. Lavender and mango sunsets were a ...
Summer pleasures: Barton Springs Pool and Lockhart art

Summer pleasures: Barton Springs Pool and Lockhart art

September 07, 2023 I had reservations for a dip at Blue Hole swimming hole in Wimberley, Texas, just before Labor Day. But the drought has left little untouched in Texas this summer, and I soon received a cancellation notice. Blue Hole has closed for the rest of the season due ...
Running through Marathon, Texas

Running through Marathon, Texas

September 03, 2023 On the way home from a trip to far West Texas in late July, my friend and I swung through tiny Marathon, Texas, for lunch. Fifty miles east of Marfa and 50 miles north of Big Bend National Park, Marathon is known as the gateway to remote ...
Native plants at Chihuahuan Desert Botanical Garden in West Texas

Native plants at Chihuahuan Desert Botanical Garden in West Texas

August 22, 2023 Cow’s tongue prickly pear and Mitre Peak While visiting far West Texas last month, a few people mentioned the Chihuahuan Desert Nature Center and its botanical garden, located just outside of Fort Davis. So one morning my friend and I drove over from Marfa to check it ...
Michael Eason's desert garden retreat

Michael Eason’s desert garden retreat

August 14, 2023 While in West Texas a couple weeks ago, I had the pleasure of visiting designer and author Michael Eason‘s garden in Alpine. Michael had lined up some wonderful gardens for me to visit there, ones that he’d designed, but it was nice to see his own personal ...
A healing garden in West Texas

A healing garden in West Texas

August 08, 2023 A week ago I had the pleasure of visiting a lovely garden in Alpine, located in far West Texas, 400 miles west of Austin. Owner Susan Wallens showed me around and told me how the garden came to be. Susan’s husband, Mike, is the vicar of St ...
Marfa's masses of sotols at John Chamberlain Building

Marfa’s masses of sotols at John Chamberlain Building

August 06, 2023 I spotted a sotol convention while I was in Marfa in far West Texas last week. The spherical, toothy plants — I think these are Texas sotol (Dasylirion texanum) — are growing in a long grid in front of the Chinati Foundation’s John Chamberlain Building on the ...
Marfa love affair

Marfa love affair

August 05, 2023 Last week I made my first real visit to Marfa, the tiny (population 1,750) and improbable art mecca in far West Texas. I’d passed through Marfa once before, at the tail end of a spring break trip to drought-bleached Big Bend with small children, and I confess ...
Robert Bellamy's upcycled Marfa garden

Robert Bellamy’s upcycled Marfa garden

August 02, 2023 Last week I road-tripped 7 hours west to remote Marfa, a sleepy desert town in far West Texas that’s also, thanks to Donald Judd, an art mecca drawing visitors from all over the world. Quite a few Marfa lovers from Dallas, Houston, and Austin own second homes ...
Drive-By Gardens: Waterwise front yard on Castle Hill

Drive-By Gardens: Waterwise front yard on Castle Hill

July 11, 2023 Cruising through the Castle Hill area of Old West Austin recently, I spotted this beautiful 1910 home with a sky-blue door and modern landscaping. I hit the brakes for a closer look. The house sits atop a front yard terraced with Corten steel and board-formed concrete walls ...
Evening under the Petals at Blanton Museum

Evening under the Petals at Blanton Museum

July 07, 2023 I’ve been wanting to see the Petals at Austin’s Blanton Museum of Art ever since the flower-shaped shade structures were officially unveiled in May. For one thing, I’m a big fan of shade in Texas. For another, I love public art. The Petals are a grove of ...
Drive-By Garden: Waterwise front yard and patio

Drive-By Garden: Waterwise front yard and patio

June 30, 2023 Driving around the Delwood neighborhood in East Austin last week I spotted this attractive waterwise front yard. A huge crape myrtle shades one side of the midcentury-style home, sheltering a small patio beneath its branches. On the sunny side, Mexican feathergrass, giant hesperaloe, firecracker fern, and fall ...