August 29, 2013 Agave art! It’s only a print from Michael’s or someplace like that, but I had it framed and hung it in the living room next to the patio doors. A wider view reveals why: art imitating life. That’s Moby, my ‘Whale’s Tongue’ agave (A. ovatifolia), visible through …

August 28, 2013 They might have heard me whooping all the way up in Quebec City last Monday when I learned that I’d won the 2013 Gold Award from Garden Writers Association (now GardenComm) for Best Magazine Writing. I couldn’t make it to the GWA symposium, held in Canada this …

August 27, 2013 While native Turk’s cap (Malvaviscus arboreus var. drummondii) is easily found in nurseries and growing wild along the greenbelts of central Texas, and pink cultivar ‘Pam Puryear’, a relatively new introduction, is now common in the nursery trade, white Turk’s cap can be hard to find. That’s …

August 26, 2013 Want more bees in your garden? They do need our help, you know. And we always need theirs. Plant garlic chives (Allium tuberosum), and the bees will be busy. You’ll also enjoy sprays of sparkling, white flowers atop slender, green stems — a crisp, clean bloom to …

August 23, 2013 If mowing once a year sounds good, if pouring less water on the ground is a goal, and if you appreciate or can tolerate a shaggy, meadowy look, a sedge lawn may be your perfect alternative to a thirsty, summer-crisped St. Augustine lawn. Sedges exist for seemingly …

August 21, 2013 After escaping another Austin summer by reliving my recent California vacation it’s time to refocus attention on my own garden. The Berkeley sedge (Carex divulsa) that I planted in early March is finally filling in. Well, the left part is. The section on the right still looks …

August 20, 2013 Northern California is home not only to one of the most beautiful cities in the world but also to breathtaking natural scenery. During our family vacation in San Francisco in early July, following the Garden Bloggers Fling, we rented a car on two occasions in order to …

August 16, 2013 I’ve promised a post about my new Berkeley sedge (Carex divulsa) lawn, but it’s filling in so slowly that I keep putting it off, waiting for better “after” pics. I swear I will post all about it this fall. But in honor of Foliage Follow-Up, here’s a …

August 15, 2013 “Lawns are for kids, right? After all, they need that big, green carpet to enjoy the outdoors. Would it be an exaggeration to say it borders on neglect not to keep a lawn for your children or grandchildren to play on?” So begins my guest post today …

August 14, 2013 My family and I spent a week in early July exploring San Francisco and surrounding coastal towns after the Garden Bloggers Fling. One sunny afternoon, after several hours spent at the fascinating California Academy of Sciences in Golden Gate Park, we strolled over to the Japanese Tea …

August 13, 2013 Peering from the shadows of an exuberant, densely planted front yard, artist Marcia Donahue’s turbaned and hooded figures — exotic wood sprites? — give a sense of mystery to her Berkeley, California, garden. On July 1st, the day after the San Francisco Garden Bloggers Fling ended, I …

August 08, 2013 The San Francisco Garden Bloggers Fling wrapped up on June 30 with a cocktail party at Flora Grubb Gardens, a chic garden center named for its owner — and, yes, that’s really her name. Flora is a rock-star nursery owner, her image and her garden style recommendations …

August 06, 2013 Our 4th stop on the final day of the San Francisco Garden Bloggers Fling was my absolute favorite of the Fling: the Ann Nichols Garden. Gorgeous plants, beautifully combined and meticulously maintained, adorn a series of intimate garden rooms on a hillside lot. A subtropical front garden …

August 01, 2013 Our 3rd stop on the final day of the San Francisco Garden Bloggers Fling was the garden of artist and garden designer Keeyla Meadows, a scene of riotous, exuberant color in both plants and structures. Keeyla is the author of Fearless Color Gardens, which I reviewed here …