October 05, 2011 It’s Support Your Independent Nursery month! Each Wednesday in October I’m posting about one of my favorite independent garden centers in the Austin area. Today I’m shining a spotlight on Barton Springs Nursery, located on Bee Caves Road between MoPac and Highway 360. BSN is a great …

October 02, 2011 Butterfly vine (Mascagnia macroptera) is the only vine that really thrived in my garden this summer, thanks to the drought and unusually high temperatures. And now comes the payoff: lemon-yellow clusters of flowers that look as if they were cut out with pinking shears. The bees were …

September 29, 2011 Another 100-degree day (37.7 C), and still no rain. But over the past couple of weeks we’ve heard actual thunder, spotted clouds (clouds!) in the sky, and occasionally seen temps dip into the lower 90s. A “cold” front tonight is supposed to bring us 90-degree days through …

September 28, 2011 Dear Austin gardeners and bloggers everywhere, I hereby declare October to be Support Your Independent Nursery Month. Fall is our best planting time in the South, and even though the U.S. recession and Texas drought drag on, we gardeners must get our fix after the long, hot …

September 27, 2011 Remember that old joke about the farmer who tells the lost traveler, “You can’t get there from here”? Do you ever feel that way about your yard or garden? Does nothing invite you in or show you where to go? If your yard has a bad case …

September 24, 2011 Are you looking for a fun garden project this fall? A way to add clean-lined flair to your garden? I have just the book recommendation for you. Concrete Garden Projects: Easy & Inexpensive Containers, Furniture, Water Features & More by Camilla Arvidsson and Malin Nilsson is a …

September 21, 2011 Now that the promise of fall is in the air (yeah, it’s only going to be 96 F today in Austin), you might be thinking about that dead strip of lawn along the street and what to do about it. How about ripping out your “hell strip” …

September 19, 2011 Austin Home‘s design issue (Fall 2011) lists 22 hot trends, and one of them is growing agaves as a drought-surviving plant. In that vein, they also ran an article on local succulent and cactus guru Jeff Pavlat, and they published one of my photos of his garden …

September 17, 2011 The approach of autumn is a hopeful time for the central Texas gardener. It means we’ve survived another long, hot summer and can enjoy being outdoors again. It means time for the rains to return to revitalize the summer-weary garden, replenish our aquifers and lakes, and offer …

September 16, 2011 Not that it’s been the easiest summer to try a new bamboo, a thirstier plant than I usually bother with, but they provide such leafy, touchable, evergreen texture in the garden that I’m willing to give ’em a little extra love, i.e., water. No thirsty annuals or …

September 14, 2011 The drought is taking a toll not just on plants but wildlife too, including already imperiled honeybees. As in the hot, dry summer of 2009, bees are visiting my stock-tank pond all day long for water, which they use to regulate the temperature of their hive by …

September 12, 2011 The most difficult gardening summer I’ve ever experienced is stuttering to an end. We still have triple digit temperatures. We still have no rain. We have smoky skies from devastating wildfires. And yet the garden continues to give joy. It helps that I’ve planted a lot of …

September 11, 2011 Construction at the site of the former World Trade Center, July 2008 Les at A Tidewater Gardener asks where we were 10 years ago on 9/11. I remember clearly. I had gotten my son off to kindergarten and was back at home with my 18-month-old. In a …

September 08, 2011 I have a thing for using galvanized steel containers in the garden, as you may know from my collection of stock-tank planters and ponds of various sizes. So naturally, when I first saw galvanized culvert pipes put to use as planters, I knew I’d have to have …