Groundcovers

May 25, 2012 Skulls, skeletons, gravestone fragments, gargoyles, and other eerie tokens are tucked into nooks and crannies… …and dangle from the eaves throughout Wamboldtopia, an art-filled garden (or garden of art) and stonemason’s paradise located off Wamboldt Avenue in west Asheville. The Goth accents… …are countered by a slew ...

May 24, 2012 Lunch on the first day of the Garden Bloggers Fling in Asheville, North Carolina, was billed as BBQ and gourmet ice cream from The Hop—yum! Shopping for locally made pottery and art at Curve Studios was promised as well—and was fantastic. But what I didn’t expect was ...

May 15, 2012 The third garden on this year’s Wildflower Center-sponsored Gardens on Tour, at 6400 Zadock Woods Drive in southwest Austin, was perhaps my favorite of the bunch because of the cheerful native-perennial beds out front, the inviting, shaded patio in back, and the attractive mix of enclosing garden ...

May 04, 2012 The heartleaf skullcap (Scutellaria ovata) is blooming! Heartleaf skullcap looks like this en masse—and once you plant it, you’ll soon have it en masse. It pops up in winter, grows steadily through the spring, blooming in late April or early May, and then dying back to disappear ...

May 03, 2012 If you’ve always thought bigger is better where a garden is concerned, think again. This week I spent a little time in East Austin’s Mueller neighborhood, a planned community (on the site of Austin’s old airport) built to encourage a sense of community with houses close to ...

April 08, 2012 Author and designer Lucinda Hutson‘s gabled purple cottage and garden in the Rosedale neighborhood of Austin is as colorful as a basket of Easter eggs… …but even better because it contains scented petals, billowy texture, and something blooming at every turn, like this ‘Julia Child’ rose. When ...

April 06, 2012 My next stop on the Houston Open Days tour on March 24 was an Old World-style home in the well-heeled River Oaks neighborhood. While their garden included the sweeping lawns, classic hedging, and emphasis on outdoor architecture commonly seen on this tour, I have to admit that ...

April 05, 2012 My next stop on the Houston Open Days tour on March 24 was the classically elegant Tudor Garden, located in the Broadacres Historic District. To my mind, the property’s best asset is the view of a double line of mature live oaks marching down the center median ...

March 08, 2012 If you’re lucky enough to have shade in central Texas, you may be unlucky in your attempts to grow traditional lawn grass. St. Augustine is the only dependable turf grass for shade, and during the drought, thirsty St. Augustine dried up and blew away all over Austin ...

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 16, 2011 Has the landscaping at a strip mall ever made you look twice? North Star Home Center, an ordinary shopping strip at Burnet Road and Anderson Lane in North Austin, is doing something right because every time I drive by I’m craning my neck to see how the ...

October 21, 2011 Sometimes you just luck into a great garden visit. Last weekend my family and I drove up to Dallas for the state fair, staying overnight at my father-in-law’s house in Richardson, a northern suburb. The day we left Austin I realized that we would be staying very ...

August 25, 2011 In late July, after the Seattle Garden Bloggers Fling ended, my family joined me for sightseeing in the Emerald City and beyond. I convinced them to see one more garden with me, the Seattle Japanese Garden in the Washington Park Arboretum. At 3-1/2 acres, the garden is ...

August 22, 2011 In the midst of a blazing summer, as we in central Texas and other drought-stricken parts of the country helplessly watch our lawns turn to straw and then dust, this month’s Garden Designers Roundtable topic of “Lawn Alternatives” is surely the most timely ever. Faced with increasingly ...

August 22, 2011 In the midst of a blazing summer, as we in central Texas and other drought-stricken parts of the country helplessly watch our lawns turn to straw and then dust, this month’s Garden Designers Roundtable topic of “Lawn Alternatives” is surely the most timely ever. Faced with increasingly ...