Gardening books I’m reading right now
October 14, 2015 I’m going to need a bigger bedside table. Here’s what I’m reading right now, and just look at this awesome selection of design-oriented gardening books (and one magazine). I expect to review some of these in coming months, after the garden-tour craziness is behind me. But in ...
Read This: The New Southern Living Garden Book
May 29, 2015The New Southern Living Garden Book South by Southwest (SXSW) is not only the name of Austin’s famous music/film/interactive festival, but it also happens to be descriptive of our gardening culture. Here, the South meets the Southwest, with the Balcones Fault roughly delineating the division. Deep clay soil ...
Read This: Secret Gardens of the Cotswolds
April 20, 2015Secret Gardens of the CotswoldsFor an area so small, at least by Texas standards — only 790 square miles — the Cotswolds region of southern England is home to an astonishing number of enormous manors and elaborate gardens, each worthy of an episode of Downton Abbey. In Secret ...
Read This: Cultivating Garden Style
January 12, 2015Cultivating Garden Style Style, which is about expressing yourself and your unique taste, applies as much to making gardens as to fashion or interior design. Most gardeners naturally prioritize plants when making a garden, but who doesn’t also enjoy accessorizing his or her outdoor spaces with color, furnishings, ...
Read This: Sunset Western Landscaping Book
January 01, 2015Sunset Western Landscaping BookIf you live in the western U.S. and your New Year’s resolution is to beautify your landscaping or create a sustainable, water-smart garden, I have the book for you: Sunset Western Landscaping Book, 2006 edition. It’s not a new release, but it’s worth seeking out ...
Read This: 3 garden design books for your holiday giving (or getting)
December 01, 2014I read a lot of gardening books, especially those about design. Three books stand out for me this year as particularly worthy of being on your favorite gardener’s wish list — or your own. Aside from their focus on garden design, they couldn’t be more different, covering topics ...
Read This: Hellstrip Gardening book review and GIVEAWAY
July 09, 2014 I don’t know what people called the strip of grass between street and sidewalk before Lauren Springer Ogden coined the term “hellstrip” to describe it. But it can surely be hellish to maintain, drying to a crisp in hot climates, contaminated with road salt in northern climates, ...
Read This: A summer round-up of gardening books
July 03, 2014Now that the early summer frenzy of planting, weeding, and watering new plants is behind us and sultry midsummer is here, it’s the perfect time to kick back with a glass of iced tea and a stack of gardening books. I recently read three books authored by friends ...
Read This: Gardens Are for Living by Judy Kameon
June 03, 2014Gardens Are for LivingSouthern California is all about outdoor living, and its sunny, retro-modern vibe appeals to many Austinites, including myself. Although their summer sun is a Legoland version of the Death Star and frost rarely nips their tender plants, we Austinites with a modernist bent can find ...
Book release party and giveaway: The 20-30 Something Garden Guide
February 16, 2014 It’s the season for garden book releases, and today I’m helping to celebrate my friend Dee Nash’s brand-new book, The 20-30 Something Garden Guide: A No Fuss, Down and Dirty Gardening 101 for Anyone Who Wants to Grow Stuff. I met Dee, an Oklahoma garden writer and ...
Read This: The Bulb Hunter
December 10, 2013The Bulb Hunter Flower bulbs — those turnipy looking, husky things in mesh bags, crowded into crayola-bright display bins at the big-box stores — suffer from granny’s-garden syndrome: they’re seen as old-fashioned, fussy, and patience-straining in today’s want-it-now culture. Unlike a flat of annuals, they don’t offer instant ...
Refresh Your Garden Design book release party and giveaway!
November 03, 2013 I’m delighted to be part of my friend Rebecca Sweet’s virtual book-release party for her new baby, Refresh Your Garden Design with Color, Texture & Form. Six other garden bloggers and I are hosting 7 great giveaways this week, all related to Rebecca’s theme of refreshing your ...
Read This: Texas Getting Started Garden Guide
October 15, 2013A new book for Texas gardenersAs a new gardener in central, south, or west Texas, you soon learn that most gardening books and magazines feature plants you can never grow and gardening advice that isn’t applicable to our climate. They’ll go on about summer as the high point ...
Read This: Succulents Simplified
July 02, 2013 Succulents are a garden trend that shows no sign of slowing down. Easy to pot up for summer and tolerant of watering forgetfulness, they make the perfect seasonal accent even in freeze-prone climates. For those in mild-winter climates, a variety of succulents can be grown outside all ...
Read This: Landprints: The Landscape Designs of Bernard Trainor
June 27, 2013 I was captivated by Bernard Trainor‘s designs the moment I saw one of them on the cover of New Garden Design, which I briefly reviewed in 2010. The image: A brimming bowl of water, mirroring the sky, is set apart on a gravel patio. To the left, ...
Virtual book tour for Indoor Plant Decor, plus a Bonsai Tool Set Giveaway
May 06, 2013 My friends Kylee Baumle (Our Little Acre) and Jenny Peterson (J Peterson Garden Design) have co-authored a brand-new book called Indoor Plant Decor: The Design Stylebook for Houseplants. To celebrate and help publicize its release, I’m participating in their cyber book party. And you know what a ...
