Doors

July 13, 2010 Sweet-smelling, freckled lilies. Crimson bee balm as tall as myself. Soft-textured lawn grass spangled with white clover, so different from Austin’s coarse, shaggy St. Augustine and so much more inviting. Tall, brick Victorian homes standing shoulder-to-shoulder on streets shaded by goth-cloaked Norway maples. A city eager to ...

May 10, 2010 The Bridle Path garden in the Tarrytown neighborhood was my favorite on Gardens on Tour 2010 because it had the best of both worlds: a naturalistic garden for sun and shade in the front, with a charming council-ring style seating area tucked out of sight of the ...

April 28, 2010 While my dad was in town last week, I invited us over to Jenny Stocker’s garden for a visit, knowing that it would be spectacular at this time of year. Jenny, who blogs at Rock Rose, kindly overlooked the pushiness of my request by not only welcoming ...

April 28, 2010 While my dad was in town last week, I invited us over to Jenny Stocker’s garden for a visit, knowing that it would be spectacular at this time of year. Jenny, who blogs at Rock Rose, kindly overlooked the pushiness of my request by not only welcoming ...

January 23, 2010 Before. The original dark-stained door and peachy orange color on the door surround just weren’t my style. Lackluster porch ornaments thrown into place after our recent move weren’t helping either. After. A leafy green paint job on the door brightens the entry, and painting the surround to ...

December 29, 2009 Driving around west Hyde Park I came across this adorable bungalow and front garden filled with native and adapted plants. I love it! Look at the front door—fabulous color! I’m feeling inspired to paint my future garden house (in actuality, a pool-pump shed disguised as a garden ...

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 ...

April 28, 2009 After visiting Jill Nokes’s walled garden last Sunday, the Austin garden bloggers drove to fellow blogger Jenny/Lancashire Rose‘s walled garden. Although differentiated by geography—Jill gardens on black gumbo clay in central Austin, Jenny on thin limestone “soil” and gravel in southwest Austin—they have much in common, including ...

April 28, 2009 After visiting Jill Nokes’s walled garden last Sunday, the Austin garden bloggers drove to fellow blogger Jenny/Lancashire Rose‘s walled garden. Although differentiated by geography—Jill gardens on black gumbo clay in central Austin, Jenny on thin limestone “soil” and gravel in southwest Austin—they have much in common, including ...

October 17, 2007 One of my garden goals is to learn more about Japanese gardens, ideally through a trip to Japan. (Have you noticed that I like to travel?) Last spring I was inspired by Tom Spencer’s beautiful garden photos from Japan. Despite my appreciation for their quiet, reflective beauty, ...

July 17, 2007 Traveling home from Tanzania, my dad and I stopped for two nights in Amsterdam to have a look around, as we were passing through and neither of us had been to the Netherlands before. What a change from dusty, dry-season Tanzania. Surrounded by water and picturesquely built ...

May 18, 2007 The homeowner’s front porch. Do you sense that a garden lover lives here? We headed to central Austin’s tony Tarrytown neighborhood for the last garden of the tour. I didn’t expect much from this garden, frankly, after looking at the black-and-white brochure photo. Shot in winter, with ...