All cleaned up after live oak deluge
March 30, 2020 The garden reemerged last weekend, after copious raking and blowing and bagging, from the annual spring deluge of last season’s live oak leaves and subsequent pollen catkins. I ran around with the camera, capturing the gorgeousness of new flowers and fresh foliage, like this pretty combo of ...
Mexico City: Frida Kahlo’s Blue House and garden
March 23, 2020 Bird of paradise flower at Frida Kahlo’s Blue House Before the scope of the coronavirus crisis had crystallized, my husband, daughter, foreign exchange-student daughter, and I made an early spring-break trip to Mexico City. Had we known how fast the situation would escalate at home, I don’t ...
Japanese garden and prehistoric garden at Zilker Botanical Garden
March 02, 2020 Visiting the Japanese garden at Zilker Botanical Garden last week, I noticed all kinds of changes for the better at our perennially underfunded city garden. In the upper level of the Taniguchi Japanese Garden, pruning of perimeter trees has opened up a nice view of our ever-growing ...
Snow in Austin sugars the garden
February 06, 2020 Crazy Texas weather strikes again! After a high of 79 F on Tuesday, this happened Wednesday night. Sure, local meteorologists had predicted a few snow flurries in the Hill Country, but temps in Austin, they assured, would hold at 32 F. Banking on over-hype, I brought indoors ...
Winter garden flowers thrive in cool weather
January 30, 2020 Winter in my garden brings the sweet flowers of abutilon, or flowering maple. I used to have several different varieties, but harsher winters or drought killed many of them off. ‘Bartley Schwarz’ is not only a survivor but my favorite for its glowing, cantaloupe-colored flowers that dangle ...
Winter stroll at Zilker Botanical Garden
January 23, 2020 In need of a garden fix a couple of weeks ago, I stopped by Zilker Botanical Garden with my daughter, looking forward to strolling around the gardens for 45 minutes or so. I was surprised when the gate attendant told me admission for two Austin-resident adults is ...
Tree of Life, architecture, and jazz in New Orleans New Year
January 11, 2020 We rang in the new year in New Orleans, the U.S. city at the top of our Italian exchange student’s list of places to see, after New York and San Francisco. NOLA is only a 7-1/2-hour drive (with no stops) from Austin, so we rented an Airbnb, ...
Red and yellow autumn foliage in my garden
November 30, 2019 Fall color in Austin was surprisingly good this year, including the show put on by the ornamental trees in my own garden, like the species Japanese maple (Acer palmatum). Most years it goes rusty red in mid-December, coordinating with the red Christmas balls I hang from an ...
Fall xeriscape garden at Rollingwood City Hall
November 25, 2019 ‘Strawberry Fields’ gomphrena blazes with color amid bold agaves and barrel cactus. While driving through West Austin on the Open Day garden tour earlier this month, I had a sixth-sense feeling that a garden was calling my name. Oh yes, I thought, remember the xeriscape garden at ...
Hilltop getaway at Two Coves Garden: Austin Open Day tour
November 21, 2019 The last garden I visited on the Open Day tour sponsored by The Garden Conservancy was designed by B. Jane Gardens, and which B. has continued to maintain for the last three owners. Located off City Park Road, the Two Coves Drive Garden perches atop a hill ...
Hilltop pollinator garden of Ruthie Burrus: Austin Open Day tour
November 20, 2019 Having visited Ruthie Burrus’s garden before (including at Austin Garden Bloggers Fling), I knew it would be one of my favorites on the Austin Open Days tour in November, sponsored by The Garden Conservancy. Let’s start with the entry garden, where a concrete trough softened by ferns ...
Planting for a drier future at Nuevo Santander Garden: Austin Open Day tour
November 19, 2019 The Nuevo Santander Garden on the Austin Open Day tour, sponsored by The Garden Conservancy earlier this month, reminded me of native-plant gardens from the old Wildflower Center tour that used to be held Mother’s Day weekend. With its wild and woolly design using Texas natives, it ...
Hideaway garden at Davern Oaks: Austin Open Day tour
November 16, 2019 An Old Austin-style garden awaited across the street from the Greenway Garden on The Garden Conservancy‘s Open Day tour two weeks ago. What does Old Austin style look like? To me it means a mature tree canopy and a lush understory of sturdy subtropical evergreens like boxwood, ...
Colorful fall at the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center
November 13, 2019 Before the big freeze I squeezed in a short visit to the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center, unintentionally joining throngs of families streaming in to explore Fortlandia on a beautiful Sunday afternoon. I’d intended to photograph both the flowering gardens and Fortlandia but decided to save the ...
November walk at Lady Bird Lake
November 06, 2019 A perfect fall day calls for a walk around Lady Bird Lake, so on Sunday there I was, at Lou Neff Point, viewing Austin’s mushrooming skyline and the towering Jenga building. Taking the U-turn trail around Barton Creek, I paused to admire the green spring water and ...
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 ...
