Native plants

March 07, 2013 A blue sky and mild spring breeze drew me outdoors yesterday, and I ended up popping into the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center for a brief visit. A raspberry-colored Texas redbud (Cercis canadensis var. texensis) in full bloom arrested my progress through the parking lot. Just look ...

August 28, 2012 Not that long ago, native plants got little respect. They were considered weeds, inelegant scrub, and surely harbored ticks, chiggers, and rodents. Ahead-of-their-time native-plant enthusiasts faced resistance from neighbors concerned about an unkempt look. And even if you did want to grow these plants, you couldn’t find ...

November 28, 2011 The Little House Garden—the children’s garden—beckoned on our way out of the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center last Friday afternoon. The child-sized door leads to the Little House, a craft and educational room for kids; the open wooden door leads to a small courtyard with a vine ...

November 28, 2011 The Little House Garden—the children’s garden—beckoned on our way out of the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center last Friday afternoon. The child-sized door leads to the Little House, a craft and educational room for kids; the open wooden door leads to a small courtyard with a vine ...

November 27, 2011 Friday’s blue skies enticed me outdoors and down to the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center for a stroll. For yesterday’s post about the entry courtyard, woodland garden, and Hill Country Stream, click here. A limestone wall separates the woodland garden from the sun-drenched demonstration garden, which opens ...

November 27, 2011 Friday’s blue skies enticed me outdoors and down to the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center for a stroll. For yesterday’s post about the entry courtyard, woodland garden, and Hill Country Stream, click here. A limestone wall separates the woodland garden from the sun-drenched demonstration garden, which opens ...

November 26, 2011 Avoiding the Black Friday madness and taking advantage of a beautiful fall day in Austin, my family and I headed to the Wildflower Center for a post-lunch stroll yesterday. Since all the plants at the Wildflower Center are native to Texas, it’s illuminating to see what still ...

November 26, 2011 Avoiding the Black Friday madness and taking advantage of a beautiful fall day in Austin, my family and I headed to the Wildflower Center for a post-lunch stroll yesterday. Since all the plants at the Wildflower Center are native to Texas, it’s illuminating to see what still ...

April 24, 2011 Lace cactus in flower Gardening in central Texas is all about embracing extremes—of temperature, of rainfall, of summer’s brutal duration, and, most delightfully, of the contrast between soft and spiky. One element of good design is using contrasting forms, and our native plants offer many opportunities, as ...

September 07, 2010 Sea holly, or eryngo (Eryngium leavenworthii) I tried watching an instructional DVD about using my new camera on Sunday but fell asleep halfway through. When I awoke I decided a real-life test drive should be the first step, at least to try out the semi-automatic settings. So ...

May 07, 2010 The Wildflower Center played matchmaker when I moved here, giving me the nudge I needed to fall in love with Austin’s rugged, sometimes spiky natural beauty. Still smitten, on Monday morning I strolled the grounds to see what was new. As always, I like to point out ...

April 11, 2010 Does this cow know how beautiful its Hill Country pasture is this spring? Fields so blue your teeth ache. Tender, new leaves so green they’ll break your heart. A magic carpet of Texas wildflowers. This was our quest yesterday as we drove the famed Willow City Loop ...

March 23, 2010 Anhingas and flowering bromeliads in the Everglades, Florida On telling friends that we were planning to visit Everglades National Park, my husband and I found that raised eyebrows and wrinkled noses were the most common responses. Why visit a bug-infested swamp, they asked. We have a thing ...

March 22, 2010 Over spring break we drove 3,200 miles (5,149 km) round-trip to Florida, with stops in Orlando, Miami, Everglades National Park, the Keys (all the way to Key West), and finally Naples to see the brand-new botanical garden there. Planted last August and opened to the public in ...

February 11, 2010 Shade trees in central Texas rarely grow into straight-trunked, towering giants. But what they lack in height they make up for in girth and character, like this twisting, spreading live oak at the Wildflower Center. Another look Smaller in stature but also full of character, this catclaw ...

February 05, 2010 The rain stopped, so after meeting a client this morning I grabbed my camera and drove to the inspirational native-plant gardens of the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center for a leisurely stroll and photography exercise. I’m still sorting through all my photos, but I had to put ...