Cutting Garden and Fling Party at Chanticleer

Cutting Garden and Fling Party at Chanticleer

January 24, 2024 Last September, the Philadelphia Area Fling took me to Pennsylvania, where I enjoyed two visits to the incomparable Chanticleer. I spent a full day there before the tour began and returned for the official afternoon visit, which ended with dinner, live music, and dancing in the garden ...
Exploring Chanticleer's Elevated Walkway, Serpentine, and Bulb Meadow

Exploring Chanticleer’s Elevated Walkway, Serpentine, and Bulb Meadow

January 03, 2024 Chanticleer Garden’s rooster theme continues with Marcia Donahue‘s cockscomb-bamboo sculptures, which mark the entrance to the Elevated Walkway garden. This is Part 4 of my visit to Chanticleer during the Philadelphia Area Fling last September. The winding pathway spirals around a big Japanese maple, which was blushing ...
Children's Adventure Garden at Dallas Arboretum

Children’s Adventure Garden at Dallas Arboretum

November 20, 2023 The Rory Meyers Children’s Adventure Garden at Dallas Arboretum opened 10 years ago, but somehow I’d never visited until last month. Why? I guess because my kids had outgrown children’s gardens by the time it opened, and so it wasn’t on my radar despite many visits over ...
Tropical terraces, color, and meadow at Owl Creek Farm

Tropical terraces, color, and meadow at Owl Creek Farm

October 30, 2023 One of my favorite private gardens at the Philadelphia Area Fling back in September was Steve and Ann Hutton’s Owl Creek Farm. It’s not really a farm, so far as I could tell. The Hutton garden is sizeable, though, and its rural setting in West Chester, Pennsylvania, ...
Homey fall garden at Brandywine Cottage

Homey fall garden at Brandywine Cottage

October 19, 2023 Tropical Storm Ophelia swept across the Philadelphia region during late September’s Philly Area Fling. But Flingers shall not be deterred! On we Flung in raincoats, ponchos, umbrellas, and waterproof shoes — or in sopping wet pants and socks. Our group arrived at plantsman and designer David L ...
Shangri La Botanical Gardens, a garden fairy tale

Shangri La Botanical Gardens, a garden fairy tale

December 15, 2022 Dancing Sisters bottle tree sculpture at Shangri La Sleeping Beauty has nothing on Shangri La Botanical Gardens & Nature Center. Located in the small town of Orange, Texas, just across the Sabine River from Louisiana, Shangri La’s very existence is in some ways as fantastical as the ...
Adobe, sky, and bones at Georgia O'Keeffe's Abiquiu home

Adobe, sky, and bones at Georgia O’Keeffe’s Abiquiu home

September 27, 2022 This time around, I knew to reserve tickets months in advance for a guided tour of Georgia O’Keeffe’s home and studio in Abiquiú, New Mexico, about an hour northwest of Santa Fe. I arrived at midday on August 30th, curious to know what I might learn about ...
Ojos y Manos at Santa Fe Botanical Garden

Ojos y Manos at Santa Fe Botanical Garden

September 21, 2022 The Ojos y Manos: Eyes and Hands Garden hadn’t opened the first time I visited Santa Fe Botanical Garden. So during my return visit last month, I was happy to be able to explore it. (Here’s Part 1 of my recent visit.) Ojos y Manos, an educational ...
James David and Gary Peese's new garden in New Mexico

James David and Gary Peese’s new garden in New Mexico

September 09, 2022 Landscape architect James David and Gary Peese departed Austin about 5 years ago, leaving behind a 36-year-old, swoon-worthy garden that regularly starred on Open Days Tours and was covered by Martha Stewart, Architectural Digest, and, ahem, yours truly (click for my final visit). Looking for cooler weather, ...
Kicking off Madison Fling: People, badgers, barns, and a bountiful rooftop garden

Kicking off Madison Fling: People, badgers, barns, and a bountiful rooftop garden

July 04, 2022 Farm country scenery at the Flower Factory near Madison In late June I joined approximately 50 garden bloggers, Instagrammers, podcasters, and YouTubers in picturesque Madison, Wisconsin, for the 13th annual Garden Bloggers Fling. After a COVID hiatus of two years, and a heroic display of patience, stamina, ...
Look for my article in Do It Yourself magazine

Look for my article in Do It Yourself magazine

April 24, 2022 Are you a DIYer? If so, Better Homes & Gardens Do It Yourself magazine may be the perfect magazine for you. As it happens, I have an article in the Summer 2022 issue, which hits newsstands soon. My article, “Feeding Body & Soul” on page 94, is ...
Look for my article, Bite-Size Gardens, in Better Homes & Gardens

Look for my article, Bite-Size Gardens, in Better Homes & Gardens

April 17, 2022 If you open the current issue of Better Homes & Gardens magazine (May 2022), you’ll find an article I wrote! “Bite-Size Gardens” on page 84 shows beautiful combos of edible plants (with a few ornamentals) sized for container gardening — perfect for patios or small yards. The ...
Spring garden party at Lucinda's purple casita

Spring garden party at Lucinda’s purple casita

April 14, 2022 If I’m lucky, springtime means an invitation to Lucinda Hutson‘s festive garden. And last weekend I felt lucky indeed to be invited to her purple casita on a perfect spring day. Out front, pansies were still somehow hanging on, despite recent warm temperatures. Ready to take over, ...
Houston Botanic Garden edibles, water wall, and end-of-winter gardens

Houston Botanic Garden edibles, water wall, and end-of-winter gardens

April 04, 2022 In early March, on a quick trip to Houston, I returned to Houston Botanic Garden for an end-of-winter visit. HBG is still a new garden — it opened in September 2020; click for my visit — and the culinary garden with its massive, aqua-tiled water wall is ...
Creative paths and cutting garden glory at Chanticleer

Creative paths and cutting garden glory at Chanticleer

March 03, 2022 Chanticleer Garden enchants through marvelous plant combos and artful garden spaces that evoke a sense of mystery, romance, and discovery. I visited Chanticleer, located in Wayne, Pennsylvania, on my East Coast road trip last fall. This is Part 6 — and the finale — of my blog ...
Every passage is a destination at Chanticleer

Every passage is a destination at Chanticleer

February 28, 2022 Yellow canna and bamboo sculpture by Marcia Donahue along Chanticleer’s elevated walkway Chanticleer makes each step, each path, a place of discovery and delight. I visited the Philadelphia-area garden on my road trip last fall. This is Part 5 in my series about creative, romantic, stunning-in-every-way Chanticleer ...