Succulents

November 10, 2008 Last week I finally got the transplants from my old garden, plus a few new plants, into the raised beds I’d cleaned out recently. Today I finished mulching—the desert plants in decomposed granite, the others in shredded hardwood mulch. And since I couldn’t feel at home in ...

November 08, 2008 Funny name and all, Peckerwood Garden is a place I’d wanted to see for years. But because it opens to the public for only a handful of days each year and it bars children under 12 from visiting (for safety reasons), as well as the fact that ...

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 ...

July 27, 2008 Have the drought and summer’s heat got you down? Then check out the incredible collection of cacti and succulents at Oracle Gorge Nursery today, the final day of its mid-summer sale and open house. These babies need no babying, except perhaps from the cold—and who among us, ...

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 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 ...

July 08, 2008 Recently I posted about my summer garden-book reading list, and Sharp Gardening was one I’d picked up. I haven’t read it yet, but I’m already doing some sharp gardening myself. Pictured above: purple coneflower (Echinacea purpurea ) and softleaf yucca (Yucca recurvifolia ). I love sharp plants ...

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 ...

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 ...

November 28, 2007 Euphorbia tirucallii ‘Sticks on Fire’ A couple I’m friends with gave me this red pencil tree for my birthday. The husband explained, “We thought the pencil tree was appropriate since it is from Africa and there is a cool Texas version of the plant that grows around ...

April 25, 2007 BSN’s modest sign welcomes visitors, along with roses tumbling over agave and prickly pear. Hmm, I wonder where I picked up that roses-and-cactus aesthetic? With sunny skies and warm, humid temperatures promising a typical spring day in Austin, I decided to pay a visit to an atypical ...

February 24, 2007 Sedum mexicana ‘Angelina’ With temperatures a little cooler yesterday—in the mid-70s—I took advantage of the balmy weather to plant a few beauties I found at Natural Gardener. Above is an orange-and-chartreuse sedum I’m adding to my new pomegranate bed in the front garden. Next to the sedum ...

February 14, 2007 This Valentine’s Day, I’m giving my husband something different. It’s a sweet botanical arrangement from Big Red Sun. Isn’t it beautiful? In January I posted a photo tour of this hip nursery and mentioned, but did not photograph, their to-die-for arrangements of succulents. A few days ago, ...

November 05, 2006 In the spirit of my recent Open Days tour, I took my camera along during an afternoon trip to Natural Gardener nursery for a pot of oxalis. It was a simple enough errand, and the cool, gray skies made a tour of the nursery’s gardens very appealing ...