December 03, 2006Early Friday morning we got our first real freeze, and another light freeze is expected tonight. Then it should warm up for the rest of the week, so I plan to uncover the tender potted plants tomorrow and maybe prune back the frost-nipped basil, yellow bells, and Salvia …

November 30, 2006 Neighbor’s sycamore—pretty good fall color for Austin Yesterday’s high temperature was a humid 80 degrees. With all our windows open, we tried to catch a slight breeze and not resort to air conditioning in November. Yesterday the neighbor’s sycamore hung onto its orange leaves, its white limbs …

November 27, 2006 Smooch! On Sunday afternoon we drove downtown, parked under MoPac, and walked the 3-mile loop around Town Lake. Reds, oranges, yellows—the trees along the lake blazed with color. Well, they blazed by Austin’s standards. It was a gorgeous day—about 79 degrees and partly cloudy—and we strolled along, …

November 25, 2006 Camellia in bloom at Bayou Bend After not one but two Thanksgiving feasts—Thursday with my husband’s family, Friday with mine—it was time to give thanks for nature’s beauty and feast our eyes instead of our bellies. So before we left Houston today we took a stroll at …

November 13, 2006 My weather wish was granted over the weekend: cool temperatures, blue skies, decidedly fall-ish weather. It was perfect for a Saturday trip to Independence, Texas, and a pilgrimage to the Antique Rose Emporium. Along with Barton Springs Nursery and Natural Gardener, it’s one of my favorite nurseries …

November 09, 2006 A queen butterfly on blue mistflower Here in Austin you take fall color wherever you can find it. It’s slim pickings for leaf-peepers, but at ground level things are happening. Perennials rebloom after biding their time through the summer. Migrating orange monarchs and other butterflies arrive. Pecans …

November 05, 2006 In the spirit of my recent Open Days tour, I took my camera along during an afternoon trip to Natural Gardener nursery for a pot of oxalis. It was a simple enough errand, and the cool, gray skies made a tour of the nursery’s gardens very appealing …

November 04, 2006 Ageratina havanensis In the afternoon, my front garden is redolent with white mistflower, also known as white shrubby boneset, a Halloween-sounding name if I ever heard one. Its fragrance is not sweet but spicy and earthy. During the day, bees frolic in its sprays of white flowers …

November 01, 2006Part of the coral honeysuckle vine on my front fence died this summer and has been looking brown and spindly, even reproachful, ever since. Last weekend I spent a couple of hours clipping the dead vines and untwisting them from the wire fence. I don’t know why this …

October 30, 2006 Please, sir, may I have some more? On Sunday evening we attended Goblins in the Garden, an annual Halloween event at the Wildflower Center. The city’s little haunters were out in force, and it was fun to see the volunteers running the event dressed in the spirit …

October 28, 2006 Colorful, xeric perennials contrasted beautifully with an Italian cypress allee. My last garden of the day, Stone House Vineyard required the biggest time commitment. At about 2 pm I took the 40-minute drive out to Spicewood, on Lake Travis. Compared to the crowded, in-town gardens, only a …

October 27, 2006 Low, curving walls set the front garden apart, with a spiraling design that draws you in. Colorful perennials and informal designs had been scarce on the Open Days Austin tour up until this point. Green, formal gardens ruled the day with clipped boxwoods, allees, precise runnels, and …

October 26, 2006 A pear allee is the highlight of Hornickel’s garden Warm, accessible, personal, with striking plant choices and a Gardens-inspired feel, this Bryker Woods garden, located within walking distance of James David and Gary Peese’s famous garden shop, is Gardens on a budget. And I mean that as …

October 25, 2006 A belvedere “modeled after the music pavilion at Versailles,” according to the Open Days Directory. We garden tourists knew this would be the most opulent garden on the Open Days Austin tour. A feature in the newspaper that tantalized with lavish photos, and mentioned that the garden …