Patios/Decks

October 08, 2008 With temps in the 50s this morning, milder afternoon heat (80s), and even an inch and a half of rain yesterday, it’s feeling autumnal. I can never resist a hint of fall, so I abandoned my unpacking to take some photos and show you my new garden-to-be ...

July 23, 2008 Among all the beautiful, bold, and imaginative gardens at Chanticleer, why do I like the Gravel Garden best? It so resembles the dry gardens of west Austin that I feel a little sheepish to admit that in this lush, Pennsylvania garden I preferred the familiarity of home ...

July 22, 2008 During our tour of Chanticleer in early July, the mistiness of early afternoon gave way to bright sunshine as we dipped into the Asian Woods garden below the main house. Tall trees, their lower trunks wrapped in wire trellises for climbing vines, create a serene wood and ...

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 ...

July 20, 2008 If you haven’t been to Chanticleer, you must go. Hop on a plane or jump in the car and go. Now. Dubbed “a pleasure garden” in its brochure, it lives up to the billing. From the moment we arrived, just after lunchtime on a quiet Sunday in ...

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 ...

March 18, 2008 Front porch vignette Last Friday we drove three hours east to Houston to visit my sister and her partner in their house in the Heights. Despite unseasonably hot and humid weather on Friday and Saturday, we had a wonderful time kicking around at the Houston Rodeo, shopping ...

July 29, 2007 Stone patio, October 2006 I wasn’t yet blogging in 2003, when I dry-laid a small, stone patio in the back garden. So when South Carolina Pam asked me about its construction, after its appearance in my last post, I decided to write a belated “how I did ...

May 18, 2007 The homeowner’s front porch. Do you sense that a garden lover lives here? We headed to central Austin’s tony Tarrytown neighborhood for the last garden of the tour. I didn’t expect much from this garden, frankly, after looking at the black-and-white brochure photo. Shot in winter, with ...

March 06, 2007 Bottle tree at sunrise Garden bloggers are always looking at their gardens in close-up, filling posts with macro photos of plants and flowers. I tend to do this more than some. So today I thought I’d compensate by including several long-shot photos. It’s easier to see how ...

October 28, 2006 Colorful, xeric perennials contrasted beautifully with an Italian cypress allee. My last garden of the day, Stone House Vineyard required the biggest time commitment. At about 2 pm I took the 40-minute drive out to Spicewood, on Lake Travis. Compared to the crowded, in-town gardens, only a ...

October 26, 2006 A pear allee is the highlight of Hornickel’s garden Warm, accessible, personal, with striking plant choices and a Gardens-inspired feel, this Bryker Woods garden, located within walking distance of James David and Gary Peese’s famous garden shop, is Gardens on a budget. And I mean that as ...