Ponds

August 27, 2009 Softleaf yucca (Y. recurvifolia) I nearly always read the last page of a magazine first. So when my Garden Design (Sept/Oct 2009) arrived today I flipped to the back to read about Arizona landscape architect Christy Ten Eyck. I’ve seen her work featured in magazines, and I ...

July 14, 2009Over the years of blogging about my stock-tank ponds (a 100-gallon container pond in my former garden, and this new 717-gallon one), I’ve been asked many times how I constructed them. I finished the new pond yesterday evening, so I’ll explain how I did it, from start to ...

June 08, 2009 For my last post about Chicago Spring Fling, I’ll revisit a gem of a garden hidden away in a corner of Lincoln Park, not far from the zoo: Caldwell Lily Pool. A sign gives you the back story. Like entering a cave or a slot canyon, you ...

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, ...

June 02, 2009 On Sunday after the official Spring Fling activities had ended, Mr. McGregor’s Daughter picked up several of the late-stayers for additional garden tours she’d arranged in the western suburbs of Chicago. The star attraction was the beautiful garden of author Trudi Temple, who welcomed us with open ...

May 20, 2009 Carlos, Jorge, and Alex are all smiles after digging out the circle lawn, leveling the slope by moving soil, and bringing in almost two cubic yards of decomposed granite. Thanks to their hard work, I’m smiling too. On Monday I faced facts. If I were going to ...

May 19, 2009 In mid-April we took out-of-town visitors to Umlauf Sculpture Garden, located near Barton Springs and Zilker Park on the site of Charles Umlauf (1911-1994) and his wife’s former home and studio. More than 130 of Umlauf’s sculptures, drawings, and paintings are on display here, including Lovers V ...

May 10, 2009 On Saturday I joined Diana of Sharing Nature’s Garden, Lori of The Gardener of Good and Evil, and a friend of Lori’s from Arizona to visit four private gardens on the Wildflower Center-sponsored Gardens on Tour, an annual tour of gardens that predominantly feature native Texas plants ...

May 06, 2009 Drive just 30 miles southwest of Austin to find one of the most beautiful natural areas in central Texas: Hamilton Pool Nature Preserve. Last Saturday we drove out for a hike, arriving about an hour after it opened, and found something we’d never experienced there before: no ...

October 13, 2008 When Annie and I visited the gardens on the Open Days Austin tour two weekends ago, I was bowled over by Stone Palms and Fatal Flower, where the hand of the owners was plainly visible in the creativity of design and plant choices. Two more gardens on ...

August 15, 2008 If you’re visiting because of my article on the gardening page of the Austin American-Statesman, welcome! Regular readers of Digging know that I’m a huge fan of using stock tanks in the garden, and I can never resist the chance to show a few more pics of ...

July 22, 2008 The Pond Garden at Chanticleer lies at the bottom of a steep hill in a wide, open space backed by a stand of trees. Though manmade, it look completely natural thanks to its setting and the coarse plantings around its edge. Here’s an overlook of the Pond ...

July 21, 2008 I’m sure something shines brightly every month that Chanticleer is open (April through October). But I felt fortunate to see the hydrangeas in full bloom since I rarely see one in Austin. I can never decide whether I prefer the pink or the blue. The lacecaps are ...

May 14, 2008 Blue pot with dianthus Can a garden you’ve visited only three times, briefly, seem almost as familiar as your own? It can if it’s Tom Spencer’s. At Soul of the Garden, Tom has been chronicling his garden—and “exploring the garden of life”—with stunning photographs and introspective essays ...

May 14, 2008 Blue pot with dianthus Can a garden you’ve visited only three times, briefly, seem almost as familiar as your own? It can if it’s Tom Spencer’s. At Soul of the Garden, Tom has been chronicling his garden—and “exploring the garden of life”—with stunning photographs and introspective essays ...

May 03, 2008 A naturalistic stream chattering around boulders and splashing into a large pond is the centerpiece of my garden—that is, the garden I dream of having one day. In reality, my small, flat garden is never likely to support this vision, so I make do with a 100-gallon ...