Plant romance at Redenta’s Garden and other Dallas shops

February 23, 2015


I made a Dallas dash — a day trip from Austin to Dallas (3 hours each way) — last Saturday to visit my son at college. My mom and daughter joined me, and we hit a few unique Big D shops just before and after lunch, knowing that College Boy wouldn’t emerge from his man cave until later. I love road trips. Do you?


We started at Big Mango Trading Company, an Indonesian import shop specializing in garden sculpture and furniture. I’d heard about it from the owners of the fabulous Blue Lotus Garden (pictured here), and it was fun to explore and imagine creating a tropical paradise of our own. The helpful guy working there sent us around the corner to a couple of funky home/design shops afterward, including the weirdly fascinating Scout.


Next we hit Wisteria, a global home-decor store better known outside of Dallas for its catalog. I went verdigris crazy and bought two glazed vases and a bronze deer, all discounted, for my dining room console, under the agave prints by Carolyn Schmitz. The three green-glazed seedpods to the left of the deer…


…came from Redenta’s Garden, a favorite Dallas garden shop with a modern edge, native plants, and a good succulent and agave selection. The succulent heart pictured at top is from Redenta’s, as are these cool tillandsias and stem-like holders for displaying them.


Redenta’s has two locations: a more suburban nursery in Arlington and this urban boutique nursery in Dallas, whose rusty steel planters filled with agaves, yuccas, and native wildflowers along busy Skillman Street will have you fighting for a parking space. Pictured here, along with my shadow-puppet hands, are a big, beautiful ‘Whale’s Tongue’ agave (A. ovatifolia) and cheery four-nerve daisies (Tetraneuris scaposa).


After all that nursery and home-decor goodness, we headed over to UT Dallas, where Mom got the campus tour and a peek into a suspiciously surprisingly neat dorm suite occupied by three young men. Dinner at Chuy’s (College Boy was homesick for his favorite Tex-Mex) and then a round of putt-putt golf, at a course adorned with a safari’s worth of African beasties, made for a perfect end to the day. Of course the return drive still awaited, but what a fun Dallas dash it was.

How about you? Have you made any fun day trips lately?

All material © 2006-2015 by Pam Penick for Digging. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited.

28 responses to “Plant romance at Redenta’s Garden and other Dallas shops”

  1. Jenny says:

    I would call that a perfect day. Great places to visit, a little family time and some goodies for house and garden to cement memories of the day.

  2. Jean says:

    No fun day trips for me lately, though your posts on Dallas nurseries has me wanting to make the 4+ hour trip. I do plan a couple days in Houston where I hope to hit some nurseries. Any suggestions? I’ll probably go to Joshua’s and Buchanan’s but am always looking for new ones.

    Glad you had such a fun trip!

  3. Miss Bee says:

    What lovely stores you have there! I love the two blue green vases. Thank you for sharing.

  4. Alison says:

    Love those metal Tillandsia holders. I actually have a trip coming up this weekend, to Portland, also a 3-hour trip, but I’ll be staying overnight, and then going to the Yard, Garden and Patio Show. Also nursery shopping, of course.

  5. TexasDeb says:

    I’m entranced by the tillandsia holders. I keep seeing versions on the interweb and thinking I want to do something vaguely similar but on a smaller scale with ball moss.

    What an affectionate portrait. All that energy, perk and sass obviously run in the bloodlines!

    • Pam/Digging says:

      Aren’t those tillandsia holders cool? Like floral ice cream cones. I’d want a whole bouquet of them!

      Oh, and my mom is way sassier and perkier than the rest of us, and with bold personal style, as evidenced by the pink hair. —Pam

  6. cathy says:

    love that plant shopping better than christmas

  7. Pam Duffy says:

    Your energy always astounds me…the drive both ways and all the running around. Looks like a fun day. I don’t know why you couldn’t use those amaryllis stakes that Home Depot sells with all the ball moss that falls from the oaks. I’ll have to try it when it warms up.

  8. Kris P says:

    That sounds like great fun all around. And you came home with mementos too!

  9. Lisa at Greenbow says:

    This dashing day sounds like what I need. I am stuck at home due to icy roads. My Dearly Beloved got hung up in our yard today! (long story starting with ice.) I am ready for some new plants, new knick knacks and some fun… Thanks for sharing your day. Sounds like a blast.

  10. Les says:

    At this point, I would sell my soul for a good road trip. We’ve been snow and ice bound for the past week. A local garden center is having their big welcome-spring show this coming weekend. It’s always a good event, but I am afraid that pent up gardening frustration might make me spend way too much.

  11. Astra says:

    I had no idea Wisteria had a brick and mortar business. I may have to drive up and get a couple more of their Indian stone lamps–I love those in the garden on summer nights.

  12. Cute family! I definitely see the resemblance with all of you! Congratulations to your son for collaborating on a neat dorm room. My daughter and her roommates could learn a few things. 😉 I love, love, love the heart-shaped succulent planter and the Tillandsia holder! And to answer your question, yes I do enjoy roadtrips! 🙂

  13. Laura says:

    I love road trips too, and plan to do more this year. Mine will be back and forth to san angelo instead of Dallas though. Love the bronze deer!

  14. Love your mom’s hair! Makes me feel like an old slug. Too cold to venture very far just out for coffee with the gal pals and a couple of lectures at Olbrich.

    • Pam/Digging says:

      Garden lectures and coffee with friends are good reasons to get out. You’re lucky to have Olbrich, especially if they offer regular classes. I loved my visit there. —Pam