Plant This: Forsythia sage for fall flowers
November 03, 2020 The big-box stores are pushing mums and Christmas tree rosemary topiaries (too early!!). But branch out to your local nursery and you’ll find more interesting fall fare for your garden. Like forsythia sage (Salvia madrensis), one of my favorite late-blooming perennials here in central Texas. A yellow-flowering ...
Michael McDowell’s front-yard prairie garden
October 16, 2020 How can it have been 9 years since I first visited Michael McDowell’s front-yard prairie garden? Michael’s garden lives large in my memory, alight with morning sunlight and festive fall color (click for my 2011 tour), and it inspires daily via his blog Plano Prairie Garden and ...
Autumn hike at Hamilton Pool grotto
December 14, 2019 Hamilton Pool called my name last month, and I answered by scheduling a visit through the state’s reservation page. Yes, Hamilton Pool Preserve is so heavily visited nowadays that the county park system requires a reservation to visit on weekends, and every day in warmer months. Is ...
Red and yellow autumn foliage in my garden
November 30, 2019 Fall color in Austin was surprisingly good this year, including the show put on by the ornamental trees in my own garden, like the species Japanese maple (Acer palmatum). Most years it goes rusty red in mid-December, coordinating with the red Christmas balls I hang from an ...
Colorful fall at the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center
November 13, 2019 Before the big freeze I squeezed in a short visit to the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center, unintentionally joining throngs of families streaming in to explore Fortlandia on a beautiful Sunday afternoon. I’d intended to photograph both the flowering gardens and Fortlandia but decided to save the ...
Happy fall garden
October 20, 2019 With the Death Star at bay and a little rain last week, the plants are rejoicing with a flush of flowers. It’s a second spring for us Texas gardeners. Being mostly shady, my garden isn’t exactly a flower-lover’s paradise. It’s all about foliage and texture and, frankly, ...
Plant This: Yellow spider lilies
October 19, 2019 Golden hour is a lot more golden when yellow spider lilies (Lycoris aurea) are blooming. Even after a hot, dry summer, these tough but glorious bulbs popped up right on schedule with our first fall rain. Each day brings new flowers as tardier blossoms continue to unfurl ...
Butterfly vine seedpods flutter into fall garden
October 03, 2019 Monarch butterflies will migrate through Texas this month, headed for their overwintering grounds in Mexico. But already masses of butterflies have arrived in my Austin garden. Butterfly vine seedpods, that is. Butterfly vine, also known as gallinita (Mascagnia macroptera), is my favorite late-summer flowering vine. After its ...
End-of-summer garden
October 02, 2019 Austin is eager to bid a less-than-fond farewell to summer after a record-breaking hot and dry September. I can already see a change in the light, and my garden got a bit of rain last week. With any luck, by next week temperatures will finally drop 10 ...
Plant This: Mexican beautyberry
October 01, 2019 I am not, in general, a plant collector. I rarely make impulse buys at the nursery. And yet a few plants (agave, mangave, and Turk’s cap come to mind) have captivated me enough to try different varieties, even if I don’t exactly need or have space for ...
Japanese maple turns red 3 weeks early
November 28, 2018 The species Japanese maple (Acer palmatum) at the front corner of our house reliably goes scarlet in December, turning red to match the Christmas balls I hang on an agave by the front door. But this year the color change came three weeks early compared to last ...
Golden ginkgo glory in Lucinda Hutson’s garden
November 26, 2018 My phone buzzed on Saturday as my daughter, home from college for Thanksgiving, and I were heading out to do a little shopping at Blue Genie Art Bazaar. It was Lucinda Hutson, her voice excited as she said the magic words: “The ginkgo tree is absolutely the ...
Fall flowers before an early freeze
November 20, 2018 Well, fall perennial color was pretty while it lasted. Austin’s first freeze arrived 3 weeks early last week and took out all my plants in full bloom, including forsythia sage (Salvia madrensis) and white mistflower (Ageratina havanensis). I have friends whose Salvia madrensis is still blooming, so ...
Dia de los Muertos in Lucinda Hutson’s festive home and garden
November 05, 2018 As a native of border city El Paso and a veteran traveler throughout Mexico, Lucinda Hutson has long embraced Mexican culture and traditions like Dia de los Muertos, or Day of the Dead. She recently hosted a small gathering in honor of the holiday, which is a ...
Forgiveness sculpture and Austin trees
November 02, 2018 While at ZACH Theater recently to see a show, I noticed a curious sculpture on the grounds: a rabbit cradling a greyhound. Prey forgiving the hunter? It’s a sculpture by English artist Sophie Ryder. Nearby an enormous bur oak, one of our Texas native oaks, stood as ...
Second star to the right and straight on to the pumpkin patch at Dallas Arboretum
October 02, 2018 Join Wendy, the Lost Boys, and Tinkerbell in Neverland this fall at Dallas Arboretum’s magical Pumpkin Village. This year’s theme is “The Adventures in Neverland,” and it marks the 13th year of the garden’s creative display of thousands of colorful pumpkins, gourds, and squash. I sprinkled myself ...
