April 02, 2013Driving through near-downtown Bouldin neighborhood last weekend, I was struck by the number of lawnless front yards in one short stretch of W. Live Oak Street. Luckily I had my camera, so I decided a drive-by post was in order—but truth be told, I got out of the …

April 01, 2013Cocktail time!“Every great drink starts with a plant,” writes Amy Stewart in her new book The Drunken Botanist: The Plants That Create the World’s Great Drinks. “If you’re a gardener, I hope this book inspires a cocktail party.” Stewart, a former Austinite, often writes about the intersection of …

March 31, 2013 No, I’m not looking for a Mildred or Louise to eat bugs and lay eggs in my garden. But I couldn’t resist buying a ticket to Austin’s 5th annual Funky Chicken Coop Tour after watching a recent Central Texas Gardener episode (below) about Dani and Gary Moss’s …

March 30, 2013 We’re now half-convinced that the squirrel and the screech owl are cohabitating in the owl box. Either that or they’re still time-sharing the critter condo. We continue to spot the squirrel peeking out of the box on occasion, and then the next day the owl’s there. It’s …

March 27, 2013 While flipping through the enticing April/May 2013 issue of Vegetarian Times magazine, which has just hit newsstands, you’ll find that my book, Lawn Gone!, got a whole page of coverage in “The Buzz” on page 16! Willi Galloway, author of the popular Grow Cook Eat, interviewed me …

March 26, 2013 A few years ago I wrote a post explaining how to make a container pond in a stock tank, and many readers have since written to tell me they’ve made their own ponds by following my instructions. I also get a lot of questions about how to …

March 25, 2013 After my talk at Backbone Valley Nursery in Marble Falls last Saturday, we headed southwest to cruise the Willow City Loop, a series of ranch roads leading through rugged, hilly country where wildflowers are typically thick—as thick as the traffic on a wildflower-peeping Saturday in spring. On …

March 23, 2013 I’m delighted to see that my book is recommended in the May issue of Birds & Blooms magazine. They dubbed Lawn Gone! one of their “Books We Love.” Yay! Thanks, Birds & Blooms! I love your magazine too. Speaking of birds, we’ve had quite the saga with …

Lake Livingston is a fairly shallow, man-made reservoir, with an average depth of 23 feet. With a number of “islands” of flooded-out trees, swampy thickets, and tall pines, the lake is a great place to bird-watch …

The Heights neighborhood in Houston is free-spirited, as evidenced by this collection of culvert pipe scraps turned annual planters …

March 20, 2013 Is the Great Recession finally over? I see encouraging signs in the number of people hiring garden designers/landscapers these days and in the opening of brand-new neighborhood nurseries like Jardineros. Owned by Austin designer Mark Word and partner Billy Spencer (who did the landscaping at Hotel San …

March 19, 2013 Hey, all you knowledgeable gardeners in the San Antonio area. What is this GORGEOUS flowering shrub? Update: Thank you all for the ID suggestions! The consensus is that it’s desert cassia, also known as desert senna or green feathery senna (Senna nemophila), an Australian native that is …

March 18, 2013 Two weekends ago my family and I kicked off spring break with a fun day trip to San Antonio and a visit to San Antonio Botanical Garden. We were greeted with a crayon box of annual color in these containers just inside the entry. Geraniums, nasturtiums, pansies, …

March 16, 2013 For Foliage Follow-Up this month, I offer up a leafy extravaganza from the conservatory at San Antonio Botanical Garden, which I visited last weekend (for more SABG pics, click here). This is the fern room, a humid, tropical study in lines and texture. Many of the plants …