Deer-Resistant Design book features my garden, other Austin gardens!
July 19, 2019 In October of 2017, Seattle-area designer, author, and speaker Karen Chapman came to Austin to present for my Garden Spark series and to photograph gardens for a new book she was working on. That book has just been published: Deer-Resistant Design: Fence-Free Gardens that Thrive Despite the ...
A fusion of nature and art in Scott Deemer’s garden: Denver Garden Bloggers Fling
July 11, 2019 A “designer showpiece” garden conveys a grand gesture, expensive hardscaping, and maybe not much in the way of plants. At the home garden of Scott Deemer in Niwot, Colorado, a grand-gesture fireplace and beautifully designed hardscaping create a wow moment as soon as you step onto the ...
Read This: Gardentopia
June 12, 2019 Many would-be gardeners, and even gardeners with plenty of experience, feel overwhelmed by the idea of making a design for their yard. Those with a passion for collecting plants may find themselves especially puzzled by how to bring their garden together cohesively and creatively. If this describes ...
Garden retreat under the oaks in San Antonio
May 24, 2019 An invitation to tea — the real deal, with scones, clotted cream, cucumber sandwiches, lemon tarts, and champagne — was treat enough to entice me to the San Antonio home of two sisters I’ve gotten to know through a friendship with their mother. But when I arrived ...
Read about my garden in Country Gardens magazine
May 06, 2019 My garden is featured in a national gardening magazine, and I’m pretty excited about it! Grab the summer 2019 issue of Country Gardens (not just country gardens, y’all), turn to page 66, and you’ll find my article “Plant for Drought, Plan for Rain.” It’s about how I ...
The Texas Wildflower interviews me about Garden Spark design talks
April 04, 2019 Are you into garden design or keen on learning more about it from the experts? Me too! That’s why I started the garden design speaker series Garden Spark. The April issue of e-magazine The Texas Wildflower shines a spotlight on the series and how it got started, ...
Gardens and botanicals – and wallpaper! – on Tribeza Interiors Tour
February 01, 2019 Years of attending interior design and architecture tours have taught me not to expect much in the way of landscape design. Making a beautifully designed home, for many, doesn’t extend beyond the front stoop, or maybe the money runs out before a landscape architect or designer gets ...
Join my class and tour my garden on May 4
January 23, 2019 Did you ever wish you could tour a designer’s garden with her or him and learn why they made the design choices they did, or how they solved commonplace problems? Do you long to know more about the plants they grow: how much water they need, how ...
Announcing 2019 Garden Spark speaker lineup
January 01, 2019 Season 3 of Garden Spark kicks off in 2019 with 3 terrific speakers and a change of location, due to high demand, that will allow more people to attend! The new location is an event space in northwest Austin at Hwy 183 and MoPac, just minutes from ...
Gardening book roundup for holiday gift ideas
December 08, 2018 Wondering what to get your garden-loving friend or family member (or yourself) for the holidays? Here’s a roundup of recent books with something for everyone, whether their interest leans more to ornamental design, edibles, or ecology. Dreamscapes: Inspiration and Beauty in Gardens Near and Far by Claire ...
Food for people and butterflies in San Antonio Botanical Garden’s culinary and entry gardens
November 06, 2018 San Antonio was calling my name last week, so I hopped in the car with my friend Cat of The Whimsical Gardener, and we road-tripped south to see the new gardens at San Antonio Botanical Garden. Wow, was I impressed with the changes! Zachry Foundation Culinary Garden ...
Read my article about native-plant hellstrips in Wildflower magazine
October 29, 2018 Are you a member of the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center? If so, when their member magazine Wildflower arrives in your mailbox, look for my article “Heavenly Hellstrips” and photo illustration. “Heavenly Hellstrips” is about using native plants to liven up streetside verges, medians, hellstrips — i.e., ...
Read This: Desert Gardens of Steve Martino
October 12, 2018 Weeds and walls. That’s how Phoenix landscape architect and native son Steve Martino describes his life’s work of designing gardens in the Arizona desert. Steve has a knack for simplifying the language of design and explaining how his own designs work. “Weeds” is his shorthand for native ...
Read This: Hot Color, Dry Garden can help you design your waterwise garden
August 26, 2018 Homeowners who want a waterwise garden, particularly if they live in the U.S. Southwest, often feel that their options are limited to cactus and gravel — a “zero-scape,” as it’s commonly called. If instead you’d like to have a true xeriscape (pronounced zeer-escape), a garden that doesn’t ...
Topiary meadow and sunken pond garden at Great Dixter, part 2
August 14, 2018 In part 1 of my recap of my tour of Great Dixter in England earlier this summer, I confessed that I didn’t like the overplanted, claustrophobic feeling of the Peacock Garden and surrounding hedged gardens. But I found breathing room and the longer views I’d craved along ...
Close encounters of the plant kind at Great Dixter garden, part 1
August 13, 2018 After spending the morning at Sissinghurst, during our travels in mid-June, we drove a half-hour to Great Dixter, another famous English home and garden at the top of my must-see list. The family home of gardener and garden writer Christopher Lloyd, who died in 2006, Great Dixter ...
