Nurseries/Shops

July 27, 2008 Have the drought and summer’s heat got you down? Then check out the incredible collection of cacti and succulents at Oracle Gorge Nursery today, the final day of its mid-summer sale and open house. These babies need no babying, except perhaps from the cold—and who among us, ...

May 03, 2008 A naturalistic stream chattering around boulders and splashing into a large pond is the centerpiece of my garden—that is, the garden I dream of having one day. In reality, my small, flat garden is never likely to support this vision, so I make do with a 100-gallon ...

May 03, 2008 A naturalistic stream chattering around boulders and splashing into a large pond is the centerpiece of my garden—that is, the garden I dream of having one day. In reality, my small, flat garden is never likely to support this vision, so I make do with a 100-gallon ...

February 25, 2008 Front-porch “farmer” at Wildseed Farms It’s 89 degrees on my shady back porch right now, at 3 in the afternoon. I just came inside from weeding the sunny front garden, and it must be at least 90 or 92 out there. Summer-like temps in February, you might ...

September 05, 2007 Oxblood lilies How many of you Southern gardeners have planted bulbs that made a poor showing and never came back? I know I have. Our climate’s summer heat, humidity, and mild winters are the undoing of many of the flowering bulbs shown in glorious sweeps of color ...

April 25, 2007 BSN’s modest sign welcomes visitors, along with roses tumbling over agave and prickly pear. Hmm, I wonder where I picked up that roses-and-cactus aesthetic? With sunny skies and warm, humid temperatures promising a typical spring day in Austin, I decided to pay a visit to an atypical ...

January 25, 2007 Roly-poly Buddhas, fleshy succulents, and spiny cacti mingle in towering, rusted-steel saucers and planters, the signature look at Big Red Sun, an eastside Austin nursery where East meets West. I get the Big Red Sun blues (with a nod to songwriter Lucinda Williams) every time I visit ...

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 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 ...

June 26, 2006 Aviary at Barton Springs Nursery, Austin M. Sinclair Stevens over at Zanthan Gardens was just asking what everyone’s favorite nursery hangouts are. Like Stevens, I go to Barton Springs Nursery most often, even though a perfectly decent nursery, the newly updated Shoal Creek Nursery, is literally right ...