Bottle tree

October 24, 2009 The fall Travis County Master Gardeners tour today featured six gardens that fit the theme of “Sustainable Gardening for Urban Wildlife.” Three of them are the creations of Austin garden bloggers. Each one offered something unique and personal. But by far the most colorful and fun-loving garden ...

October 04, 2009 Photo courtesy of Michele Holt I continue to be amazed by the number of garden bloggers in Austin. Just because I haven’t had time to mention it lately doesn’t mean new ones haven’t been sprouting. One of the latest to catch my eye is Wabi-Sabi Home and ...

October 04, 2009 Photo courtesy of Michele Holt I continue to be amazed by the number of garden bloggers in Austin. Just because I haven’t had time to mention it lately doesn’t mean new ones haven’t been sprouting. One of the latest to catch my eye is Wabi-Sabi Home and ...

April 07, 2009 Wow! Just look at the bloom stalk the ‘Whale’s Tongue’ agave (A. ovatifolia ) is sending up! Have you ever seen anything like it before? No, neither have I. With tongue removed from cheek, here is an update on the ‘Macho Mocha’ mangave’s bloom stalk, still going ...

April 07, 2009 Wow! Just look at the bloom stalk the ‘Whale’s Tongue’ agave (A. ovatifolia ) is sending up! Have you ever seen anything like it before? No, neither have I. With tongue removed from cheek, here is an update on the ‘Macho Mocha’ mangave’s bloom stalk, still going ...

January 30, 2009 All that glitters is not gold. Sometimes it’s blue. Sometimes red. This is the back of a petal of my new amaryllis. I believe it was called ‘Red Lion.’ It simultaneously glitters like car paint and offers the tactile plushness of velvet. The new bottle tree is ...

January 27, 2009 See that hint of blue glass behind the ‘Radrazz’ rose? Could it be? Yes! The bottle tree is back. It’s more of a bottlebrush tree than before because I used more bottles and shorter branches. As you can see, I still need a couple more bottles to ...

January 23, 2009 My pictures of the blue adobe courtyard at the Antique Rose Emporium in San Antonio drew several comments from readers who didn’t know about the Alamo City location. While ARE in Brenham/Independence is better known, the Emporium in San Antonio is actually closer to us Austinites. As ...

September 24, 2008 Like this bee on blue mistflower (Conoclinium coelestinum ), I’ve been buzzing around the garden, dividing a few plants and taking down garden decor, all while keeping the garden looking good for prospective buyers. (Hello? Are you out there? The stock market may be scary, but it’s ...

April 13, 2008 On Sunday after the Garden Bloggers Spring Fling, the out-of-towners who stayed an extra day joined some of the Austin garden bloggers for a personal tour of herbal-cookbook author Lucinda Hutson’s garden. The other Spring Flingers may remember Lucinda from the happy hour at my house on ...

April 13, 2008 On Sunday after the Garden Bloggers Spring Fling, the out-of-towners who stayed an extra day joined some of the Austin garden bloggers for a personal tour of herbal-cookbook author Lucinda Hutson’s garden. The other Spring Flingers may remember Lucinda from the happy hour at my house on ...

February 28, 2008 Mexican plum (Prunus mexicana ) flowering white against a blue, blue sky. After our up-and-down temperatures earlier in the week, the forecasters promise us perfect spring weather through the weekend, with highs in the low 70s F (low 20s C) and maybe even a sprinkling of rain, ...

January 06, 2008 Path to the garden shed Yesterday afternoon I took my camera into the garden. It was 75 degrees, cloudy, balmy—a pleasant winter day in Austin. A strange thing occurred. My eyes saw the frost-browned salvias that seem to beg to be cut back, although I’ll leave their ...

January 01, 2008 Many months after I set out to remodel my garden shed, its makeover is complete. Nearly. The frame around the new screen door still requires painting, but everything else is done, several months after starting this project. Isn’t it amazing how seemingly simple projects get dragged out? ...

December 19, 2007 The Southern folk-art bottle tree must have appeal way beyond its humble origins. “Bottle tree” and “bottles for bottle tree” are consistently the number-one search terms leading visitors to Digging. I find it a little ironic that amid all the posts I’ve written about real plants, people ...

August 02, 2007 Pale pavonia (Pavonia hastata ), the impulse buy After saying somewhere recently that I rarely make impulse purchases for the garden, I’ve made quite a few lately. It’s one thing to be impulsive in the spring or fall, when the plant’s chances for survival are high, but ...