Otherworldly Creek Show lights up Waller Creek through Nov. 17
November 08, 2019 Despite a blue norther that dropped temps from the 80s to the 40s and ushered in a chilly rain, we trekked downtown yesterday evening for the opening night of Creek Show, an annual light-art installation along Waller Creek, which is being developed as a chain of parks ...
Chandor Gardens, née White Shadows, a hidden gem in North Texas, part 1
October 29, 2019 White Shadows — the name evokes romance and mystery — seems wholly appropriate for the dappled-shade garden surrounding a pale-gray house in the small Texas town of Weatherford, 30 miles west of Fort Worth. Here, in a series of alternately elegant and rustic garden rooms, you’ll find ...
Roman (ruin) holiday in southern France
August 23, 2019 I can explore a garden or busy market all day long, but I have a low attention span for cathedrals and museums, no matter how stunning. I joke with my husband, who loves the history and culture of such spaces, that I prefer places that are alive, ...
Sunny southern France vacation, part 2
August 22, 2019 Dodging the heat waves that plagued France this summer, my husband and I day-tripped through Provence for 5 days in late July after meeting up with our daughter following her study abroad program (she did not manage to dodge the heat waves). In my last post I ...
Provence lavender fields and rosy Roussillon
August 14, 2019 Summer in Provence — what do you think of? Fields of lavender and sunflowers, sun-washed hill towns, buzzing cicadas, hot days and cool nights, a glass of wine at a small table along a cobblestone street? Yes, yes, and yes. Years after falling for the region’s rugged ...
Eyeing London during unplanned stopover
August 13, 2019 Last month my husband and I planned to meet up with our college-age daughter in Grenoble, France, at the end of her study abroad program there. When our connecting flight through London Heathrow was cancelled (and not rescheduled for THREE days, so we ended up taking a ...
Children’s Garden at Denver Botanic Gardens: Denver Garden Bloggers Fling
July 17, 2019 Part of the Mordecai Children’s Garden at Denver Botanic Gardens, which I visited during the Denver Fling (June 2019), sits atop a parking garage, making it one very large rooftop garden. A pretty alpine garden, including this crevice garden, greets you as you enter, and it surprised ...
Spring flowers and foliage at Dallas Arboretum
April 25, 2019 At Dallas Arboretum last week, masses of foxgloves were blooming throughout the gardens. Hot pink is lovely… …but I like even better these lilac and mauve foxgloves planted under gnarled vitex trees. Pretty from any angle Honeybees enjoy the freckled flowers too. We stopped in A Woman’s ...
Hamilton Pool swimming hole, a Hill Country blue lagoon
March 11, 2019 One of the most beautiful spots in the Hill Country west of Austin is Hamilton Pool, a turquoise swimming hole half tucked under a massive limestone ledge, from which a 50-foot waterfall sheets onto a water-smoothed boulder and into the pool. In the wet season, veil-like columns ...
Family Garden and berry-bright possumhaws at Wildflower Center
February 11, 2019 Continuing with my recent visit to the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center, let’s explore the Family Garden and see how it looks in late winter. Again, possumhaw holly (Ilex decidua) berries blaze bright red, alongside early blossoms of coral honeysuckle (Lonicera sempervirens). The galvanized steel cylinder is ...
Winter hike at Pedernales Falls
January 21, 2019 A cloudless blue sky overhead, white rock and clear pools of water to explore, and evergreen trees all around. This is winter in central Texas. The family and I recently drove out to Pedernales Falls State Park, about an hour west of Austin, to scramble among the ...
Sculptural light installations glow along Austin’s Waller Creek during 5th annual Creek Show
November 19, 2018 Last Saturday, on the final day of Creek Show 2018, hundreds of tents floated sinuously above downtown Austin’s Waller Creek, glowing orange and purple like fairy lights. To reach the start of this temporary art exhibition sponsored by Waller Creek Conservancy, which is remaking the long-neglected creek ...
Play outdoors in magical Family Adventure Garden at San Antonio Botanical Garden
November 10, 2018 I’ve visited a lot of play gardens, and I play in ALL of them. But one of the most exciting I’ve seen opened this spring at San Antonio Botanical Garden. The Family Adventure Garden at SABG offers the delights of nature exploration that children instinctively love, and ...
Cotswolds country charm at Victoria Summerley’s Awkward Hill Cottage
July 19, 2018 It wouldn’t be an overstatement to say that my family and I traveled to England last month to see gardens. Particularly, romantic English gardens in the rosy flush of June. And specifically, three gardens I’ve longed to see for years: the famous estate gardens Sissinghurst and Great ...
Old school sightseeing in Oxford, England
July 16, 2018 English longhorns at Christ Church Meadow in Oxford Last month, after two nights in London, we rented a car and drove to Oxford, our home base for several day trips we’d planned for the remainder of our vacation. Oxford is a lovely old city, and we enjoyed ...
Historic kitchen garden at Château de La Roche-Guyon
July 06, 2018 Our mid-June French château-visiting plan was foiled when we missed the last house tour at Château d’Ambleville (not that I minded, with that wonderful garden to explore). But like I said, you can’t throw a rock without hitting a castle in France. So we drove 15 minutes ...
