Tour of P. Allen Smith's Moss Mountain Farm: Terrace Garden and Sister Oak

Tour of P. Allen Smith’s Moss Mountain Farm: Terrace Garden and Sister Oak

July 07, 2021 After St. Louis, Mom and I headed back to Texas via Little Rock, Arkansas. On the morning of June 17th, we wound our way into the hills northwest of the city and joined 80 others with a reservation for lunch and a tour of Moss Mountain Farm, ...
Bee balm, daylilies, and fawn season

Bee balm, daylilies, and fawn season

June 13, 2021 I’m grateful for the past two weeks of off-and-on rain, which helped my garden rebound from the epic February freeze. Early June may be hot and muggy now, but the garden is full and flowery. And the driveway border is back, baby! ‘Peter’s Purple’ bee balm (Monarda ...
Heart eyes for heartleaf skullcap and more

Heart eyes for heartleaf skullcap and more

May 26, 2021 A blue haze has settled over the driveway-island bed, the silvery blue flowers of heartleaf skullcap (Scutellaria ovata). I find myself stopping to admire them every time I step outside. It fills in nicely around a ‘Vanzie’ whale’s tongue agave (Agave ovatifolia), ‘Vertigo’ pennisetum grass, Mexican oregano ...
Tropicalesque Tanglewild, where bananas and palms grow big and bold

Tropicalesque Tanglewild, where bananas and palms grow big and bold

September 17, 2020 With the arrival of cooler weather it’s garden visiting season, and I’ve started calling on gardening friends who are willing to have me over for a socially distanced, masked, outdoor visit. How I love touring gardens! This week’s tour is at Tanglewild Gardens, a 1.7-acre garden in ...
Late summer stars of the garden

Late summer stars of the garden

August 26, 2020 Like a starfish clinging to a rock, this soap aloe (Aloe maculata) I stuck in a pie-pan planter has grown more beautifully than I expected. It seems to love the crevice life. Snaking stems of ghost plant (Graptopetalum paraguayense) add their flower shapes to the composition. A ...
Midsummer garden walkabout

Midsummer garden walkabout

August 08, 2020 Whale’s tongue agave (Agave ovatifolia) Midsummer has never been my favorite season in the garden. It’s hot and humid. Mosquitoes are fierce. And yet this summer, perhaps because I’m spending more time at home and in my own garden than usual, I’m also appreciating it more. Here’s ...
Summertime plant whacking

Summertime plant whacking

June 04, 2020 Whacking — it’s what I do in summer as plants grow bushy or tall or lean where they shouldn’t. I had to whack back the Verbena bonariensis in the Circle Garden so that I could walk, not sidle, along the path. The ‘Winter Gem’ boxwoods also got ...
Waterlilies and roses at Monet's garden in Giverny

Waterlilies and roses at Monet’s garden in Giverny

July 01, 2018 Having admired his waterlily series at the Musée de l’Orangerie, we decided to visit French impressionist Claude Monet’s garden in Giverny while vacationing in Paris last month. Braving Paris traffic, we rented a car one Sunday morning and drove 50 miles northwest to Giverny, with plans to ...
Color-blended garden retreat of designer Barbara Katz: Capital Region Garden Bloggers Fling

Color-blended garden retreat of designer Barbara Katz: Capital Region Garden Bloggers Fling

July 12, 2017 Opening the summer issue of Country Gardens magazine a few days ago, I felt an immediate jolt of recognition at seeing, on pages 10-13, one of the gardens we toured during last month’s Capital Region Garden Bloggers Fling. It’s the garden of Bethesda, Maryland, designer Barbara Katz, ...
Casa Mariposa, Virginia winery, & Merrifield Garden Center: Capital Region Garden Bloggers Fling

Casa Mariposa, Virginia winery, & Merrifield Garden Center: Capital Region Garden Bloggers Fling

July 02, 2017 Casa Mariposa With a garden called Casa Mariposa, you know it’s going to be welcoming to butterflies — and, as it turns out, all pollinators. Tammy Schmitt, head planner of this year’s Garden Bloggers Fling, bravely included her suburban D.C.-area garden on the tour. I say bravely ...
Life is beautiful at Moroccan-inspired Tanglewild Gardens

Life is beautiful at Moroccan-inspired Tanglewild Gardens

May 25, 2017 As we roll toward summer here in Austin, this gardener begins to fantasize about decamping for cooler climes, like the Pacific Northwest, a gardener’s paradise. So it was surprising and enlightening to hear Skottie O’Mahony and Jeff Breitenstein, longtime Seattle residents who are now cultivating an exotic, ...
Cottage garden meets Zen garden: Inside Austin Gardens Tour 2017

Cottage garden meets Zen garden: Inside Austin Gardens Tour 2017

May 03, 2017 Ever get the hankering to have two different styles of gardens at once? Daphne Jeffers — whose east Austin garden will be on the Inside Austin Gardens Tour this Saturday, May 6 — made it happen, with a flowery cottage garden out front and, in a surprising ...
Magical mosaics in the garden of Wouterina De Raad, Part 2: Minneapolis Garden Bloggers Fling

Magical mosaics in the garden of Wouterina De Raad, Part 2: Minneapolis Garden Bloggers Fling

August 05, 2016 Yesterday I shared Part 1 of my visit to Wisconsin artist Wouterina De Raad’s mosaic sculpture garden, which was the final garden — and my favorite — on the recent Minneapolis Garden Bloggers Fling. Today I’ll end my Fling series with Part 2 about Wouterina‘s delightful, exploratory ...
Garden artistry at Wouterina De Raad's Mosaic Sculpture Park, Part 1: Minneapolis Garden Bloggers Fling

Garden artistry at Wouterina De Raad’s Mosaic Sculpture Park, Part 1: Minneapolis Garden Bloggers Fling

August 04, 2016 Each year at Garden Bloggers Fling, there’s at least one garden that moves me deeply, that creates a lasting mood and feels like an extension of the gardener him- or herself. At this year’s Fling in Minneapolis, that garden was the creation of Wouterina De Raad. (As ...
Scenes from Minneapolis gardens, sightseeing, and bloggers: Minneapolis Garden Bloggers Fling

Scenes from Minneapolis gardens, sightseeing, and bloggers: Minneapolis Garden Bloggers Fling

August 03, 2016 This is my 10th post about the recent Minneapolis Garden Bloggers Fling, and I have two more coming up that cover one very special garden. Even so, I won’t have shown you every garden we visited. There were just too many! But here are a few images ...
Elegant garden of St. Paul writer Marge Hols: Minneapolis Garden Bloggers Fling

Elegant garden of St. Paul writer Marge Hols: Minneapolis Garden Bloggers Fling

July 29, 2016 A lovely Tudor-style home on St. Paul’s historic Summit Avenue, just down the block from the Minnesota Governor’s Mansion, was a stop on day three of the Minneapolis Garden Bloggers Fling. It’s the home of gardening columnist Marge Hols, who welcomed us and immediately set us loose ...
Loading...