Flowers and rich foliage at Chanticleer's Pond Garden
July 07, 2016 Is any garden feature more alluring to people than a body of water? I think not. As Diana and I emerged from Chanticleer‘s shady, green Asian Woods during our early June visit, the sunlit and flowery Pond Garden greeted us (the pond was hidden from view at ...
Up on Chanticleer's elevated walkway and Asian Woods Garden
July 04, 2016 From the formal House Garden at Chanticleer, the garden path steps off into space — or rather, onto the new elevated walkway that provides an accessible, curving descent down a sloping meadow of foxtail lilies, feathergrass, bee balm, coneflowers, and other sun lovers. I visited Chanticleer, a ...
Coneflower frenzy at Wildflower Center
June 09, 2016 What better greeting than a plethora of purple coneflowers (Echinacea purpurea)? The ballerina-skirted beauties are brightening the entry to the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center right now. Like Dr. Seussian trees, several multi-trunked Yucca rostrata stand behind them, adding shimmery drama. The long view Needle-sharp gray agaves ...
Dining, dancing amid flowers on Field to Vase Dinner Tour
May 31, 2016 A jug of wine, a loaf of bread, and thou may be pleasant enough. But add Crayola-bright fields of flowers, a big blue barn, tables adorned with festive bouquets, chef-made dishes, a western swing band, and the starry skies of the Texas Hill Country, and you have ...
Daylilies arrive with the summer heat
May 14, 2016 Hot and muggy sauna days have arrived, and with them, the daylilies. Is it a worthy trade-off? I am not sure, but since we can’t turn back the clock to balmy spring, I resolve to enjoy their sugar-glittery petals and day-in-the-sun beauty. Here’s sunny ‘Wilson’s Yellow’. And ...
Tropical blooms in the Conlon Garden at GWA Pasadena
October 15, 2015 I traveled to Los Angeles last month for the Garden Writers Association Symposium in Pasadena, which included an afternoon of three private garden visits. The first one we saw was Don and Marilyn Conlon’s, a formally designed garden filled with bold tropical blooms, like this hot-pink bougainvillea ...
Mellow mallow on Monday
August 24, 2015 Mmmmm, I do love Indian mallow (Abutilon palmeri). Those velvety, lime-green leaves and stems! Those Creamsicle-orange cupped blossoms! Its soft-orange flowers pop against cobalt blue. Its pettable green leaves soften the blue stucco wall in the back garden, unfazed by blasting sun and heat. Mmmm, mellow mallow ...
The garden knows summer is slipping away
August 20, 2015 As yet another long, hot Austin summer drags on, with no real relief expected until early October, I start combing the garden for signs of a change in season. Late yesterday afternoon I found quite a few — hallelujah! The dangling seedheads of inland sea oats (Chasmanthium ...
Night-blooming datura glows in the moonlight garden
August 15, 2015 Around midnight, at the witching hour, I asked my daughter if she wanted to go out and see if the datura (D. wrightii) was blooming. “Yes!” she said, jumping to her feet. “That’s my favorite plant.” Well, OK then! We slipped on our sandals, grabbed a flashlight, ...
Plant This: Turk’s cap
July 21, 2015 Death Star-adapted plants tend to be small-leaved and airy, the better to retain precious water. But our native Turk’s cap (Malvaviscus arboreus var. drummondii) defies that expectation with vaguely heart-shaped leaves the size of a napkin scrounged out of your car’s glove box, and just as crinkled ...
Candy lily crush
July 13, 2015 I’m sweet on you, candy lily (xPardancanda norrisii)! I’ve had this iris hybrid for a year, and it’s sweetening my summer garden with a daily unfurling of freckled flowers. The candy lilies in my front garden bloom better than those in the back thanks to a bit ...
Mexican oregano and a tall, dark, handsome partner
July 10, 2015 Each year I replant a purple fountain grass (Pennisetum setaceum) next to the Mexican oregano (Poliomintha longiflora) in the streetside garden. I love the rich color echo between the Mexican oregano’s lilac flowers and the grass’s dark leaves, which look good late-spring through fall and even, bleached ...
Crocosmia crush
July 03, 2015 When I visited my friend Melody’s lovely San Antonio garden last fall, she gave me a division of a crocosmia. I was surprised to learn that crocosmia grows in central Texas, having seen it thriving in cool-summer gardens in Portland and Seattle. This isn’t the showy ‘Lucifer’, ...
Plant This: Peter’s Purple bee balm, a pied piper for hummingbirds
May 28, 2015 The plant getting the most attention in my garden right now is ‘Peter’s Purple’ bee balm (Monarda fistulosa ‘Peter’s Purple’), a 4-foot tall perennial with pincushiony, lavender-pink flowers atop long stems. I bought my original plant 5 years ago from Plant Delights (High Country Gardens carries it ...
Water lily collection is hidden gem in West Texas town of San Angelo
September 15, 2014 Perched on the northern edge of the Chihuahuan Desert, about 200 miles northwest of Austin, the small city of San Angelo is, surprisingly, home to a locally treasured and internationally known water lily garden, the International Waterlily Collection. Then again, maybe it’s not all that surprising, given ...
Garden magic and whimsy at Floramagoria: Portland Garden Bloggers Fling
August 13, 2014 As we entered the intriguingly named Floramagoria garden on the recent Portland Garden Bloggers Fling, thunder rumbled and raindrops pelted our group of 40 or so bloggers. The reasonable — and hungry — among us ran for the two covered pavilions with box lunches in hand. The ...
