Spring evening at home
March 28, 2019 This has been the most beautiful week of spring, with soft, warm days, cool breezes, and wildflowers galore, including a patch of Texas bluebonnets (Lupinus texensis) in my gravel front walk. Orange creamsicle flowers on gray globemallow (Sphaeralcea incana) Pink cascade on the weeping ‘Traveller’ redbud (Cercis ...
Wildflowers for the dead at Sutherland Springs Cemetery
March 24, 2019 How did I forget the name Sutherland Springs? While passing through this town of 600 people on my wildflower drive last Thursday, a riotous carpet of flowers caught my eye. I hit the brakes and pulled into Sutherland Springs Cemetery, then got out of my car to ...
Wildflower superbloom south of San Antonio
March 23, 2019 Is Texas experiencing a superbloom of wildflowers this spring? It’s certainly the best display I’ve seen since the epic flowering of 2010. Following a mild and wetter than normal winter, bluebonnets have burst into bloom several weeks early, turning roadsides and fields azure. Indian paintbrush have joined ...
Wildflowers revving up at Wildflower Center
March 19, 2019 Although its name is a bit of a misnomer — the gardens at the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center showcase native Texas trees, shrubs, grasses, perennials, succulents, vines, and water plants, not just wildflowers — the Wildflower Center really does shine in early spring when bluebonnets, pink ...
Last day of spring
March 03, 2019 Spring has been unfurling new glories every day, like this beautiful Texas redbud in full bloom on Anderson Lane. But today — boom — an Arctic cold front is blowing temps down into the upper 20s. Yeah, that’s completely normal for this time of year. But it ...
Go figure, gopher plant blooming already
February 22, 2019 With bluebonnets already blooming around Austin at least a month earlier than usual, I shouldn’t be surprised to see gopher plant (Euphorbia rigida) in full flower too. They usually start in early March, but mine and my neighbor’s, shown here, went all electric-chartreuse in mid-February this year ...
Does my garden look tasty to does?
April 25, 2018 Does the aloe that’s flowering like a coral-colored candelabra look yummy? Does that yucca bloom spike look tasty? Does the yellow bulbine look succulicious? Does the yellow puffball on the goldenball leadtree (Leucaena retusa) — the first time it’s ever bloomed! — look scrumptious? Probably not, actually ...
Glorious wildflowers and agaves in Jenny Stocker’s garden
April 20, 2018 Spring in Austin is glorious this year, and especially so in my friend Jenny Stocker’s garden. The Rock Rose blogger cultivates a gravel garden of mostly Texas native wildflowers and grasses sown among woody lilies like agave and yucca, accented with structural rockwork she and her husband, ...
Peggy Martin roses adorn stone garden shed
April 18, 2018 Ruthie Burrus used a pile of limestone rocks dug out of her garden to build a charming garden haus in her backyard. Adding antique doors, recycled windows, and metal roofing, she modeled the shed after the humble limestone structures constructed by German immigrants in the Texas Hill ...
Gopher plant ‘Winter Blush’ is mini-hydrangea lookalike
April 14, 2018 The best plants look as good going to seed as they do in flower. I’d put ‘Winter Blush’ gopher plant (Euphorbia rigida ‘Winter Blush’) in this category based on its passing resemblance to fading hydrangea blossoms. Mind you, they’re on a whole different plane than the Prius-sized ...
Bonnie bluebonnets and a polyphemus moth
April 05, 2018 Who knew a patch of bluebonnets (Lupinus texensis) by the front door could bring so much joy? Well, probably lots of Texans. It is our state flower, and we all take pictures of our kids and dogs sitting in fields of them every spring. My own personal ...
Spring flowering in Jenny Stocker’s walled courtyard gardens
March 31, 2018 When I spotted this pool-garden view from inside the home of my friend Jenny Stocker, I nearly tripped over my feet to get outside and drink it in. Jenny, who blogs at Rock Rose, is the owner of an exquisite garden that she designed herself and maintains ...
Poppies popping at The Natural Gardener nursery
March 28, 2018 On the hunt at The Natural Gardener nursery yesterday, my eyes popped wide when I spotted rows of magenta poppies near the herb garden. Shazam! Thunderstorms rolled in overnight, and I wonder if the fragile poppies still stand this morning. I’m so glad to have seen them ...
Spring flowerings in my garden
March 27, 2018 The mountain laurels and redbuds and plums are done. Carolina jessamine is done. But ‘Tangerine Beauty’ crossvine (Bignonia capreolata ‘Tangerine Beauty’) is hitting its stride as we move into mid-spring here in Central Texas. It looks especially fetching alongside the burgundy leaves of Loropetalum chinense ‘Sizzling Pink’ ...
Bluebonnets, buckeyes, and more in bloom at Wildflower Center gardens
March 25, 2018 Ahh, Texas bluebonnets! They’re turning Austin’s roadsides blue right now, and early ‘bonnets were in bloom last week at the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center. I wish everyone could experience a good bluebonnet season at least once in their lives. California poppies were blooming too, their orange ...
Flowering trees and Athena the owl at the Wildflower Center
March 22, 2018 Texas mountain laurel, one of our finest native flowering trees Whether you’re hunkered under a blanket of snow or your gardening season is well underway, let’s pause to appreciate the beauty of spring-flowering trees and other gorgeous native plants at the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center here ...
