Fall color

September 23, 2007 Lycoris radiata at sunset A little later than usual, but already putting on a better show than last year, when the garden was struggling through a long drought, the spider lilies have sprung up seemingly overnight. In the morning light, the lilies are a cooler red. Also ...

August 06, 2007 American beautyberry (Callicarpa americana ) is one of my favorite harbingers of autumn. At the point in a typical Austin summer when you think you just can’t take the heat and humidity anymore—about now, actually, though this summer has been atypically cool—this understory shrub goes all purple ...

December 13, 2006 This is what winter looks like in Austin: autumn leaves persistently hanging on, ornamental grasses bending in a north breeze, evergreen live oaks and cedars (junipers, actually), and bright blue skies. It may not be everyone’s idea of a winter wonderland, but I love it. I visited ...

November 30, 2006 Neighbor’s sycamore—pretty good fall color for Austin Yesterday’s high temperature was a humid 80 degrees. With all our windows open, we tried to catch a slight breeze and not resort to air conditioning in November. Yesterday the neighbor’s sycamore hung onto its orange leaves, its white limbs ...

November 27, 2006 Smooch! On Sunday afternoon we drove downtown, parked under MoPac, and walked the 3-mile loop around Town Lake. Reds, oranges, yellows—the trees along the lake blazed with color. Well, they blazed by Austin’s standards. It was a gorgeous day—about 79 degrees and partly cloudy—and we strolled along, ...

November 13, 2006 My weather wish was granted over the weekend: cool temperatures, blue skies, decidedly fall-ish weather. It was perfect for a Saturday trip to Independence, Texas, and a pilgrimage to the Antique Rose Emporium. Along with Barton Springs Nursery and Natural Gardener, it’s one of my favorite nurseries ...

November 09, 2006 A queen butterfly on blue mistflower Here in Austin you take fall color wherever you can find it. It’s slim pickings for leaf-peepers, but at ground level things are happening. Perennials rebloom after biding their time through the summer. Migrating orange monarchs and other butterflies arrive. Pecans ...

November 05, 2006 In the spirit of my recent Open Days tour, I took my camera along during an afternoon trip to Natural Gardener nursery for a pot of oxalis. It was a simple enough errand, and the cool, gray skies made a tour of the nursery’s gardens very appealing ...

November 04, 2006 Ageratina havanensis In the afternoon, my front garden is redolent with white mistflower, also known as white shrubby boneset, a Halloween-sounding name if I ever heard one. Its fragrance is not sweet but spicy and earthy. During the day, bees frolic in its sprays of white flowers ...

October 15, 2004 American beautyberry in fruit October ushers in my favorite season. After the endless Texas summer, cool northern breezes begin to push back the Gulf humidity by the end of October, earlier if we’re lucky. As a child, I loved October because it is my birthday month, though ...