Winter color
January 06, 2008 Path to the garden shed Yesterday afternoon I took my camera into the garden. It was 75 degrees, cloudy, balmy—a pleasant winter day in Austin. A strange thing occurred. My eyes saw the frost-browned salvias that seem to beg to be cut back, although I’ll leave their ...
No more turkey
November 26, 2007 Photo by Mary R. Vogt, courtesy of morgueFile Now that Thanksgiving is over, and our national obsession with turkey has ended for another year, I thought I’d show you my collection of non-edible birds. I never set out to collect bird ornaments, but somehow I’ve acquired quite ...
Zilker Botanical Garden: Isamu Taniguchi Japanese Garden
November 02, 2007 Aside from the new-ish Hartman Prehistoric Garden, my favorite section of Zilker Botanical Garden is the venerable Taniguchi Japanese Garden. Created as a labor of love and opened in 1969, . . . the Garden was built by Mr. Taniguchi when he was seventy years old. Working ...
Visit to Zilker Botanical Garden
October 30, 2007 When a travel opportunity knocks, I’m usually grabbing my suitcase on the way to the door. This year I resolved to mesh my love of travel and of gardens by visiting local gardens on my trips. Since August I’ve explored and blogged about Chicago’s and San Antonio’s ...
Visit to Chicago Botanic Garden: English Walled Garden
October 16, 2007 After unseasonable heat for the Chicago Marathon weekend, our last day in Chicago, October 9th, dawned clear and cooler, with highs in the 70s. Ahhh, much better! Taking advantage of the beautiful day, we took a 45-minute train ride north of town to the Chicago Botanic Garden ...
‘Wilson’s Yellow’ says hello
May 25, 2007 ‘Wilson’s Yellow’ is my showy yellow daylily. Its banana-yellow-and-rusty-red flowers splash pockets of bright color under the cedar elm in the back garden. Yak, yak, yak. Don’t they look like two gossips who haven’t seen each other in a while? ‘Wilson’s Yellow’ complements the low-growing, red-flowering Texas ...
'Wilson's Yellow' says hello
May 25, 2007 ‘Wilson’s Yellow’ is my showy yellow daylily. Its banana-yellow-and-rusty-red flowers splash pockets of bright color under the cedar elm in the back garden. Yak, yak, yak. Don’t they look like two gossips who haven’t seen each other in a while? ‘Wilson’s Yellow’ complements the low-growing, red-flowering Texas ...
Nursery tour: Barton Springs Nursery
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 ...
Visit to Big Red Sun
January 25, 2007 Roly-poly Buddhas, fleshy succulents, and spiny cacti mingle in towering, rusted-steel saucers and planters, the signature look at Big Red Sun, an eastside Austin nursery where East meets West. I get the Big Red Sun blues (with a nod to songwriter Lucinda Williams) every time I visit ...
Nursery tour: The Antique Rose Emporium
November 13, 2006 My weather wish was granted over the weekend: cool temperatures, blue skies, decidedly fall-ish weather. It was perfect for a Saturday trip to Independence, Texas, and a pilgrimage to the Antique Rose Emporium. Along with Barton Springs Nursery and Natural Gardener, it’s one of my favorite nurseries ...
Nursery tour: Natural Gardener
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 ...
Goblins in the Garden at the Wildflower Center
October 30, 2006 Please, sir, may I have some more? On Sunday evening we attended Goblins in the Garden, an annual Halloween event at the Wildflower Center. The city’s little haunters were out in force, and it was fun to see the volunteers running the event dressed in the spirit ...
Tour of Penelope Hobhouse-designed garden on Harris Boulevard
October 25, 2006 A belvedere “modeled after the music pavilion at Versailles,” according to the Open Days Directory. We garden tourists knew this would be the most opulent garden on the Open Days Austin tour. A feature in the newspaper that tantalized with lavish photos, and mentioned that the garden ...
Tour of Arth garden
October 24, 2006 Entering James Arth’s garden from the street, you step onto a small lawn punctuated by a “chess pawn” (similar to one in my own garden’s border). Visiting this central Austin garden right after the David-Peese garden was a big change, but its spare geometry rendered in limestone ...
Laguna Gloria at ease
June 28, 2006 Angel and deer sculpture While Laguna Gloria’s formal gardens enjoy the view of Lake Austin and get all the glory with weddings and galas that are held there, the informal garden has its own attractions. Amid the junipers and live oaks, you can find peacocks from nearby ...
Mom's hollyhocks
June 03, 2006 I’ve been away for a week in Tulsa, Oklahoma, visiting my mom. We spent several pleasant (mosquito-free!) afternoons in her cottage garden brimming with hollyhocks. Crowded around her purple garden shed, towering more than 6 feet tall, with flowers as broad as salad plates, Mom’s hollyhocks bloom ...
