Birds and native thorn forest at Quinta Mazatlan

Birds and native thorn forest at Quinta Mazatlan

December 19, 2023 In early November, I drove 5 hours south to the Rio Grande Valley, land of citrus orchards and skinny-trunked palm trees. I was there for the final photo shoot for my upcoming book on Texas gardens (due out in 2025 with Timber Press). But I couldn’t leave ...
Colleen Belk's Old Austin garden

Colleen Belk’s Old Austin garden

November 15, 2023 An Old Austin-style garden was featured on the Garden Conservancy’s Open Days tour two weekends ago: Colleen Belk’s 43-year-old garden. Yes, 43 years! What is Old Austin style, you may ask? I think of it as a lushly planted Austin garden with Deep South-meets-Southwest plant choices, sort ...
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, ...
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 ...
The garden of Redenta's Garden owner Ruth Kinler

The garden of Redenta’s Garden owner Ruth Kinler

October 12, 2020 It was the colorful, modern Fermob furniture that first lured me into Redenta’s Garden, a beloved Dallas nursery “for the modern gardener.” (Click for my tour.) So when I visited the home garden of owner Ruth Kinler, I was happily unsurprised to see more of that fabulous ...
Springtime garden glow

Springtime garden glow

March 07, 2020 Responding to warm temps and a good rain this week, the garden is awash with new growth and pockets of spring color, like glowing yellow bulbine. Mild winter temps didn’t kill it back, and now each bloom spike is a yellow sunbeam. The coral-red flowers of ‘Blue ...
Hilltop getaway at Two Coves Garden: Austin Open Day tour

Hilltop getaway at Two Coves Garden: Austin Open Day tour

November 21, 2019 The last garden I visited on the Open Day tour sponsored by The Garden Conservancy was designed by B. Jane Gardens, and which B. has continued to maintain for the last three owners. Located off City Park Road, the Two Coves Drive Garden perches atop a hill ...
The happily-ever-after Berger Street Garden: Austin Open Day Tour

The happily-ever-after Berger Street Garden: Austin Open Day Tour

November 07, 2019 It’s time to kick off my coverage of last weekend’s Open Day tour in Austin, sponsored by The Garden Conservancy. Six private gardens were open to the public, and I started at the Berger Street Garden, where a homey blue shotgun cottage extends its front porch with ...
Crevice garden, Japanese garden, and more sculpture at Denver Botanic Gardens: Denver Garden Bloggers Fling

Crevice garden, Japanese garden, and more sculpture at Denver Botanic Gardens: Denver Garden Bloggers Fling

July 16, 2019 Continuing with my visit to Denver Botanic Gardens during the Denver Garden Bloggers Fling (June 2019), here is my favorite installation in the ongoing Human | Nature exhibit: Lights by Steinunn Thorarinsdottir. Five impassive, rough-hewn figures stand amid the grasses of the Plains Garden. Small holes punched ...
A fusion of nature and art in Scott Deemer's garden: Denver Garden Bloggers Fling

A fusion of nature and art in Scott Deemer’s garden: Denver Garden Bloggers Fling

July 11, 2019 A “designer showpiece” garden conveys a grand gesture, expensive hardscaping, and maybe not much in the way of plants. At the home garden of Scott Deemer in Niwot, Colorado, a grand-gesture fireplace and beautifully designed hardscaping create a wow moment as soon as you step onto the ...
Garden retreat under the oaks in San Antonio

Garden retreat under the oaks in San Antonio

May 24, 2019 An invitation to tea — the real deal, with scones, clotted cream, cucumber sandwiches, lemon tarts, and champagne — was treat enough to entice me to the San Antonio home of two sisters I’ve gotten to know through a friendship with their mother. But when I arrived ...
A little Palm Springs, a little New Orleans, all Texas in the garden of Curt Arnette

A little Palm Springs, a little New Orleans, all Texas in the garden of Curt Arnette

May 16, 2018 I’ve been after my friend Curt Arnette, landscape-architect owner of Sitio Design, to open his personal garden on tour for years. But because he likes to change things up at home (plus being busy with his work projects), he’s always said it wasn’t ready. Persistence pays off, ...
Waterwise outside, oasis inside a walled Sonoma garden

Waterwise outside, oasis inside a walled Sonoma garden

January 25, 2018 Last August a family road trip took me through Sonoma, California, where I had the pleasure of seeing a garden I was writing about for Garden Design magazine. The owner, Marilyn Coon Stocke, had generously extended an invitation to me and my family, and so we stopped ...
Hill Country style in Sitio-designed garden of architect Duke Garwood

Hill Country style in Sitio-designed garden of architect Duke Garwood

November 27, 2017 A month ago I visited a Rollingwood garden designed by landscape architect Curt Arnette of Sitio Design. It’s owned by the architect of the contemporary Hill Country-style home, Duke Garwood, whom I also had the pleasure of meeting. Let’s start in back, where a limestone patio bordered ...
Canyon-side garden of Tait Moring: Austin Open Days Tour 2017

Canyon-side garden of Tait Moring: Austin Open Days Tour 2017

November 25, 2017 The final garden from the Austin Open Days Tour earlier this month is landscape architect Tait Moring‘s personal garden, which perches on a canyon’s rim just off Bee Caves Road. His entry garden is an appealing mix of formality (boxwood hedging, geometric raised pond, fig ivy neatly ...
Easy outdoor living in garden of designer B. Jane: Austin Open Days Tour 2017

Easy outdoor living in garden of designer B. Jane: Austin Open Days Tour 2017

November 15, 2017 For a refreshing contemporary design with fun colors and a restrained palette of tough-as-nails native plants, designer B. Jane‘s garden is the place to hang out. Her personal garden in Austin’s Brentwood neighborhood was featured on the Garden Conservancy-sponsored Open Days tour a couple of weeks ago ...
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