Art display in the garden
May 13, 2010 I saved these images from a recent visit to the Wildflower Center because they are inspiring me to think about placing art in my garden in new ways. These flying birds are part of a sculpture display, and I was really taken by the lighthearted design and ...
This place I love so much: Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center
May 07, 2010 The Wildflower Center played matchmaker when I moved here, giving me the nudge I needed to fall in love with Austin’s rugged, sometimes spiky natural beauty. Still smitten, on Monday morning I strolled the grounds to see what was new. As always, I like to point out ...
Fascinating faces at the Wildflower Center
May 06, 2010 Faces of stone, metal, and bronze greeted me at the Wildflower Center on Monday—part of a sculpture show on display throughout the gardens. I’ve photographed her before. I think she’s part of the garden’s permanent collection. A pensive face for a green glade near the stream. Jumping ...
Stock tank planters gone wild!
May 05, 2010 The Wildflower Center has redesigned part of its demonstration garden, and wowza—look at this! Stock tank mania! The first three beds are now devoted to stock-tank planters or stock-tank ponds. But there’s a twist that I’d never seen before: some of the stock tanks have been cut ...
Naples Botanical Garden: Gardens with Latitude
March 22, 2010 Over spring break we drove 3,200 miles (5,149 km) round-trip to Florida, with stops in Orlando, Miami, Everglades National Park, the Keys (all the way to Key West), and finally Naples to see the brand-new botanical garden there. Planted last August and opened to the public in ...
Winter trees at the Wildflower Center
February 11, 2010 Shade trees in central Texas rarely grow into straight-trunked, towering giants. But what they lack in height they make up for in girth and character, like this twisting, spreading live oak at the Wildflower Center. Another look Smaller in stature but also full of character, this catclaw ...
Winter's quiet beauty at the Wildflower Center
February 10, 2010 The Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center‘s name can be misleading. Its native-plant gardens do not exclusively or even predominantly feature wildflowers. Hearing about the place, one might reasonably imagine sunny meadows colored by Texas bluebonnets, Indian paintbrush, and coreopsis, and the Wildflower Center does grow them. But ...
Winter’s quiet beauty at the Wildflower Center
February 10, 2010 The Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center‘s name can be misleading. Its native-plant gardens do not exclusively or even predominantly feature wildflowers. Hearing about the place, one might reasonably imagine sunny meadows colored by Texas bluebonnets, Indian paintbrush, and coreopsis, and the Wildflower Center does grow them. But ...
Sculpture show enlivens Wildflower Center in winter
February 07, 2010 Tweeet! Shaking his tail feathers and dancing to welcome spring, Pokey Park‘s Midnight Serenade Pose 1 is just one of many nature- and human-themed sculptures on display at the Wildflower Center through March 7 ...
Garden structure at Wildflower Center
February 06, 2010 Garden structure is more visible in winter, when plants are dormant. I always take pictures of intriguing rock work, trellises, and the like, gathering ideas for my own garden or others’. Maybe some of these structures at the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center will inspire your garden ...
Agave love at Austin's Wildflower Center
February 05, 2010 The rain stopped, so after meeting a client this morning I grabbed my camera and drove to the inspirational native-plant gardens of the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center for a leisurely stroll and photography exercise. I’m still sorting through all my photos, but I had to put ...
Blogger field trip: San Antonio Botanical Garden
November 08, 2009 A monarch and honeybee share space on a Mexican sunflower (Tithonia rotundiflora) Twelve Austin garden bloggers caravaned to San Antonio on Saturday to visit San Antonio Botanical Garden and the Antique Rose Emporium, with a stop along the way at Madrone Nursery in San Marcos, a native-plant ...
October garden events in Austin: Save the dates!
October 06, 2009 October is a busy month for Austin gardeners. It’s prime planting season, the weather is cool enough to start those hardscaping projects we put off all summer, classes and presentations are happening left and right, and it’s garden-tour season again. Yippee! Mark your calendars and join me ...
Wildflower Center blooming after the rain
September 14, 2009 On Sunday afternoon, with temps in the low 80s and rain-heavy clouds in the sky, the kids and I dropped by the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center for an hour-long stroll. During our hot summers I tend to avoid outings that don’t involve a steady supply of ...
Visit to Garfield Park Conservatory
June 06, 2009 I’m going to reveal my innate geekiness by comparing the Fern Room in Chicago’s excellent Garfield Park Conservatory to the lush, edenic world created by Project Genesis in Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan. Come on, you know you’ve seen it. Don’t you agree? A century old, ...
Chicago Botanic Garden wows Spring Flingers
June 02, 2009 Tulips and toadflax Where to begin? Yesterday afternoon I returned to Austin from the second annual Garden Bloggers Spring Fling, held in Chicago this year, feeling dazzled by all the spring-blooming Windy City gardens, hoarse from talking so much with friends old and new, and dog-tired from ...
