Aloes

April 13, 2010 It’s the perfect time of year to refresh your container plantings or create new ones. Here in Austin, where long, sweltering summers are the norm, I’ve learned to plant only succulents or cacti in my containers in order to avoid being a slave to the hose all ...

April 06, 2010 Azure carpets of Texas bluebonnets (Lupinus texensis) on the roadsides are wowing central Texans this spring. I’ve never seen such a good show in my 16 years in Austin. In my own garden, a very small patch in a raised bed brings the show home and elevates ...

April 01, 2010 No fooling! Aloes may require protection from the occasional cold winter in Austin, but the payoff comes in early spring, when red or coral flowers rocket skyward. This is ‘Blue Elf’ aloe, which generally blooms a month earlier, starting at the end of February. But this year’s ...

March 25, 2010 Tender green leaves, new buds and flowers, balmy air, June bugs flying around crazily, rain dripping from the eaves—yup, it’s springtime. Join me for a twilight stroll around my garden. Pictured above, left to right: ‘Whale’s Tongue’ agave (A. ovatifolia); iris and dianthus foliage; potted ‘Angelina’ sedum, ...

March 21, 2010 I recently discovered Floradora, a garden blog from the San Francisco Bay Area, and I am hooked on its crisp, beautifully shot photographs. The author is a garden designer/horticulturalist with a keen eye for beauty in leaf, stem, and flower, who also features her family’s hiking trips ...

March 16, 2010 New leaves are unfurling on shrubs, vines, perennials, and ornamental trees. Spring has sprung in Austin. But I still can’t overlook the beauty of succulents on this Foliage Follow-Up, a celebration of foliage on the day after Bloom Day. I mean, just look at this blazing orange, ...

January 25, 2010 Walking through the garden with camera in hand, looking to see what would catch my eye this morning, I kept coming back to succulents. Agaves are the big boys around here, and they tend to hog the spotlight. But smaller succulents, like this ‘Blue Elf’ aloe, add ...

January 16, 2010 Join me today for Foliage Follow-Up, giving foliage as well as bark, berries, and other non-flowering features a day of celebration on the day after May Dreams Carol’s popular and beloved Garden Bloggers Bloom Day. Winter in Austin is quite green thanks to an abundance of live ...

January 12, 2010 The deep freeze of the South has retreated, and now it’s time to assess the damage done to our plants. Native and well-adapted perennials and shrubs should be just fine, even if they look toasted. The best bet is to leave them alone for now, brown stalks ...

January 09, 2010 The wilted, shriveled, and browned plants were paraded across the screen yesterday for sympathy and our mutual edification on what record cold weather can do to plants on the verge (or far north of) their hardiness zone. With another record low in the teens predicted tonight, let’s ...

January 08, 2010 This water lily leaf, frozen under a half-inch of ice, its cheeks rosy with the cold, seems to be saying, “I heart the cold.” Do I? While this cold snap is certainly keeping things interesting for Austin gardeners and I hope it will kill off a few ...

January 04, 2010 There is such delight in being able to get one’s hands in the dirt no matter the time of year. Mild winters are one of the great pleasures of living in Austin, especially if you’re a gardener. Over the past two weeks of school vacation, I’ve enjoyed ...

December 16, 2009 Jellybean plant, one of the increasing number of succulents in my garden Yesterday garden bloggers across the globe posted pics of their flowers as part of Garden Bloggers’ Bloom Day, started by Carol at May Dreams Gardens. Bloom Day is not only a fun meme but a ...

October 27, 2009 Pull up a chair in Randy Case’s eclectic garden I’ve shown you three of the six wonderful gardens on last Saturday’s Inside Austin Gardens tour. Time constraints and harsh midday sunlight kept me from taking as many pictures in the other three gardens, but they were lovely ...

October 19, 2009 Kermit sang, “It’s not easy being green.” But actually it is, especially if you gravitate toward textural and architectural plants, as I do. In Austin’s subtropical, zone 8b climate, many plants stay green all year, keeping the garden “alive” even in winter. From my October Bloom Day ...

October 19, 2009 Kermit sang, “It’s not easy being green.” But actually it is, especially if you gravitate toward textural and architectural plants, as I do. In Austin’s subtropical, zone 8b climate, many plants stay green all year, keeping the garden “alive” even in winter. From my October Bloom Day ...