Buy local and get a signed book
March 12, 2016 Austinites, do you like to shop local? Want a copy of The Water-Saving Garden? Do you like autographed books? If you prefer to support local retailers, I can recommend several businesses that are carrying my book. And some have autographed copies because I stopped by this week ...
Spring visit to Hill Country Water Gardens & Nursery
March 11, 2016A few days ago I visited my favorite North Austin nursery, Hill Country Water Gardens & Nursery, which is actually located in Cedar Park, just northwest of Austin. As the name implies, HCWG carries pond plants, fish, fountains, pond equipment, and other water-garden supplies. But over the past ...
The public side of writing a book
March 03, 2016 This may be stating the obvious, but to write a book you have to be able to sit in a quiet room for hours a day, for months and months, and be alone with your thoughts, and write. Words may flow like honey, or they may ooze, ...
Evening photo shoot at The Huntington Gardens: GWA Pasadena
October 29, 2015 The Huntington gardens near Los Angeles have, for years, been on my wish list of botanical gardens to visit. So I was thrilled to see an afternoon visit and after-hours photoshoot offered on the itinerary of the Garden Writers Association symposium on September 20. Unfortunately, it was ...
Garden decor lust sparks desperate question: where is Austin’s Potted?
October 11, 2015 I first visited Potted, the stylishly playful Los Angeles garden shop co-owned by Mary Gray and Annette Gutierrez, two years ago, while passing through town on the way to Santa Barbara and Lotusland. Since that first visit, I’ve ordered from their online store and received gifts from ...
Visit to Big Red Sun garden shop in Venice
October 09, 2015 Named after a Lucinda Williams song (so of course I like it), Big Red Sun shuttered its cool boutique nursery in East Austin years ago. After briefly reopening in a new location, under new management, it closed again, and now Big Red Sun in Austin is strictly ...
The yucca fields of Barton Springs Nursery Wholesale
April 08, 2015 Do you ever wonder where your nursery plants are grown? In the case of Barton Springs Nursery, beloved by local gardeners for their selection of native plants in smaller, less-expensive pot sizes, they grow some of their own stock at “El Rancho,” their 20-acre wholesale farm in ...
Treasure hunting at Adkins Architectural in Houston
March 08, 2015 Since last summer’s visit to once-upon-a-dream-like Bella Madrona in Portland — a garden in which junk and architectural relics are transformed into mysterious, magical art — I’ve been on the hunt. For what? For ways to add a spark of discovery to my garden, and in particular ...
Early spring at Thompson+Hanson nursery in Houston
March 06, 2015 Last weekend in Houston we popped into Thompson+Hanson, an elegant boutique nursery with a mouthful of a name, located on W. Alabama Street. It was late afternoon on a chilly, damp day, and the place was quiet, but we enjoyed browsing among their lovely potted displays, like ...
Keeping Houston weird at Joshua’s Native Plants
March 04, 2015 Shoehorned into a corner lot in the historic Heights neighborhood of Houston, Joshua’s Native Plants and Garden Antiques is a treasure trove of interesting plants and unusual garden art that you won’t find at every other nursery you visit. Despite a downpour that had me huddled under ...
Plant romance at Redenta’s Garden and other Dallas shops
February 23, 2015 I made a Dallas dash — a day trip from Austin to Dallas (3 hours each way) — last Saturday to visit my son at college. My mom and daughter joined me, and we hit a few unique Big D shops just before and after lunch, knowing ...
Pretty goods at Austin nurseries
February 05, 2015 By Monday morning, which was my deadline for turning in my new book manuscript, I hadn’t showered in three days, changed out of my sweats in two, or slept more than 4 hours a night for about a week, give or take a few coma-like naps. Yesterday, ...
Drive-By Gardens: South Congress Avenue in Austin
November 24, 2014 This drive-by is really a walk-by. I was on South Congress Avenue on Sunday afternoon, the center of the funky-hip Austin universe, enjoying a blue-sky, 80-degree day with my family. Fall, winter, and spring days like this are what sustain me through Austin’s broiling summers. When my ...
Autumn amble at New York Botanical Garden
October 24, 2014 After touring Wave Hill on October 11, my daughter and I took the train to the New York Botanical Garden. Although both NYBG and Wave Hill are located in the Bronx, mass transit between the two ate up some time, and we had tickets to a Broadway ...
Native plants and modern garden furnishings at Redenta’s Garden Arlington
October 14, 2014 Whew! I just got home from a whirlwind trip to New York City to visit public gardens, and does Austin ever feel blissfully small and non-crowded in comparison to Manhattan. The High Line was the highlight, and I’ll have pictures for you soon. But first I’ve been ...
Pumpkin extravaganza at the Dallas Arboretum
October 08, 2014 The Dallas Arboretum goes pumpkin crazy each fall. Last Sunday we visited to see their over-the-top Pumpkin Village, in which a whopping 65,000 pumpkins, gourds, and squash are used to create play houses, line paths, and fill a pumpkin patch that would make Linus proud. The pumpkin ...
