Oxblood lilies in bloom and other garden excitement
September 18, 2013 The red flags of oxblood lilies (Rhodophiala bifida) bloomed for two or three days in the front garden, but by yesterday they were shriveled in the heat and hanging at half mast. A short but sweet show. I have only a few bulbs in this area, sprinkled ...
Devilishly beautiful datura
August 30, 2013 Whether you call it devil’s trumpet, jimsonweed, or Datura wrightii, this native perennial is a stunner during long summer evenings and into early mornings. Big ole moon-faced blossoms unfurl at sunset with a sweetly perfumed fragrance that attracts sphinx moths. Held up like trumpets on coarse, leafy ...
Front garden in late summer
August 21, 2013 After escaping another Austin summer by reliving my recent California vacation it’s time to refocus attention on my own garden. The Berkeley sedge (Carex divulsa) that I planted in early March is finally filling in. Well, the left part is. The section on the right still looks ...
Fearless color in Keeyla Meadows Garden: San Francisco Garden Bloggers Fling
August 01, 2013 Our 3rd stop on the final day of the San Francisco Garden Bloggers Fling was the garden of artist and garden designer Keeyla Meadows, a scene of riotous, exuberant color in both plants and structures. Keeyla is the author of Fearless Color Gardens, which I reviewed here ...
Display gardens at Sunset Publishing headquarters: San Francisco Garden Bloggers Fling
July 22, 2013 Our 2nd stop on the 2nd day of the San Francisco Garden Bloggers Fling was the low-slung headquarters of Sunset Publishing Corp. in Menlo Park, where we toured Sunset’s display gardens. While central Texas is just east of the western U.S. region covered by Sunset magazine, the ...
Plant-stravaganza at Annie’s Annuals: San Francisco Garden Bloggers Fling
July 16, 2013 We stopped for shopping and lunch on the 1st day of the San Francisco Garden Bloggers Fling at Annie’s Annuals & Perennials, a retail and mail-order nursery tucked behind high, wire-topped fences in a blighted neighborhood. “Plant heaven in the ‘hood,” adorable owner Annie cheerfully dubbed it ...
Jewel-like cactus flowers for Bloom Day
June 15, 2013 I’m discovering the joy of growing cactus, not just for the plants’ unique shapes and light-catching spines, but for their stunning flowers as well. Their flowering may be brief — generally just a day or two, so you don’t want to miss it — but what they ...
Native California plants shine at Santa Barbara Botanic Garden
June 11, 2013 The day after arriving in Santa Barbara over Memorial Day weekend, my husband and I used our Wildflower Center membership for reciprocal free admission to the Santa Barbara Botanic Garden. Like the Wildflower Center, the SBBG is a natives-only garden — but here of course the plants ...
Blossoming spring morning at the Wildflower Center, part 1
April 21, 2013 April is high season for wildflowers in Texas, and if you can’t get out for a country drive to admire them in meadows and fields, an Austinite can always get a fix at the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center. I stopped by for a wildflower stroll on ...
Kicking around the Texas Hill Country, looking for bluebonnets
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 ...
Drive-By Gardens: Colorful culvert pipe planters in Houston Heights
March 21, 2013 The Heights neighborhood in Houston is free-spirited, as evidenced by this collection of culvert pipe scraps turned annual planters. While visiting last weekend, I spotted this colorful collection at an antiques shop along a tree-lined boulevard, and we did an automotive version of the double-take: we drove ...
Spring color and edibles at San Antonio Botanical Garden
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, ...
Amorous amaryllis, be my Valentine
February 14, 2013 A sugar-dusted, peppermint-striped, sweetheart of an amaryllis opened up just in time for Valentine’s Day. ‘Apple Blossom’ is her name. Her spring-green throat is silky and touchable. Her cheeks are blushing. She brightens breakfasts and dinners at the end of our kitchen table by the window. And ...
Plant This: Abutilon, or flowering maple
February 06, 2013 Does your central Texas garden need a boost in late winter? Then add a few flowering maples and enjoy colorful, lantern-like blossoms that either hang pendant or are held horizontally on short stems. Large, maple-shaped leaves are a bonus, especially if you choose a showy, variegated variety ...
My favorite photos from Digging in 2012
January 02, 2013 Les at A Tidewater Gardener, an excellent nature photographer, always ends the year with a look back at his favorite photos from the year, and he invites other bloggers to do the same. Without further ado, here are my favorites from 2012. The first two happen to ...
Austin Open Days Tour 2012: Rockcliff Road Garden
November 10, 2012 My fifth stop on last Saturday’s Open Days tour, the Rockcliff Road Garden, was really more of a sculpture garden. Lots of open space on this lakeside property, graced with a home designed by Lake Flato Architects, gives prominence to many large works of art placed on ...
