Tropicals

August 30, 2012 To the tune of the Thin Lizzy song, let’s sing: The bulbs are back in town! Which bulbs? Those velvety red heralds of fall—oxblood lilies, also known as schoolhouse lilies (Rhodophiala bifida), a name that’s particularly apt this year since school just started. These bulbs have a ...

July 30, 2012 Driving around north Austin last week, I spotted quite a few nontraditional front yards, where the owners had traded in the typical expanse of St. Augustine or Bermuda for a smaller plot of grass, a sedge lawn, or a garden instead of lawn. No matter the style, ...

July 28, 2012 My son often asks me to drop him off at a friend’s house, and this arresting combo along their neighbor’s curb catches my eye every time. It’s bold, textural, and, in summer, bright with Pride of Barbados (Caesalpinia pulcherrima) blooms. Yesterday I had my camera with me ...

July 17, 2012 The Romantic Garden at Denver Botanic Gardens, which I visited earlier this month, is not festooned with the traditional roses, wisteria, and clematis. In dry, high country style, feathery grasses mingle with aromatic salvias, prairie wildflowers, and felt-leaved lamb’s ears. Accenting the garden beds stand a handful ...

June 11, 2012 I’ve been immune to the charms of canna for many years, finding them too tropical in looks and too water-loving for my gardening taste and habits. So I was caught off guard by my longing for a bright orange ‘Tropicanna’ canna after I spotted one paired with ...

May 10, 2012 Last Saturday I went on the Garden Conservancy’s Open Days tour in Dallas. My first stop was the exuberant foliage garden of Matthew Nichols. Here’s the official description: Matthew Nichols’ tropical, urban garden belies its location in the West Dallas area of Oakcliff. Most of the garden ...

June 29, 2011 As always when visiting a beautiful garden, time was short, so the Walled Garden and conservatory were our final stop at Biltmore House in Asheville, North Carolina, earlier this month. The grounds slope steeply down from the grand house, through the Italian Garden and Shrub Garden, leading ...

September 23, 2010 While my husband rested up for his big race in Madison, Wisconsin, two weekends ago, I stole a few hours with my friend and local guide Linda Brazill of Each Little World. Our first stop was Olbrich Botanical Gardens. Knowing I was short on time, she attempted ...

September 22, 2010 Boy, was I surprised to see agaves in Madison, Wisconsin, at Olbrich Botanical Gardens on my recent visit. Well, sure, they’re in containers and must spend the winter in a greenhouse, but still it was fun to see these familiar faces out of context. This border surrounds ...

September 21, 2010 Architecture in the garden makes me happy, especially when I’m taking pictures. It can be used to frame a view, like this series of doorways. Walls are nice too, and they don’t have to be made of stone. The courtyard garden at Olbrich Botanical Gardens in Madison, ...

September 16, 2010 During our visit to Madison, Wisconsin, last weekend, I noticed that big, bold tropical plants were used everywhere to great effect far from their natural climate. For this month’s Foliage Follow-Up, I’ll show you what caught my eye at Allen Centennial Gardens on the University of Wisconsin ...

August 30, 2010 Like the school bus in August, bright yellow usually indicates that summer is winding down and autumn is on the way. Around here, the hot yellows of Mexican mint marigold and copper canyon daisy will soon join summer’s sunny hymenoxys and black-eyed Susans. I’m not afraid of ...

March 23, 2010 Anhingas and flowering bromeliads in the Everglades, Florida On telling friends that we were planning to visit Everglades National Park, my husband and I found that raised eyebrows and wrinkled noses were the most common responses. Why visit a bug-infested swamp, they asked. We have a thing ...

March 22, 2010 Over spring break we drove 3,200 miles (5,149 km) round-trip to Florida, with stops in Orlando, Miami, Everglades National Park, the Keys (all the way to Key West), and finally Naples to see the brand-new botanical garden there. Planted last August and opened to the public in ...

June 06, 2009 I’m going to reveal my innate geekiness by comparing the Fern Room in Chicago’s excellent Garfield Park Conservatory to the lush, edenic world created by Project Genesis in Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan. Come on, you know you’ve seen it. Don’t you agree? A century old, ...

July 15, 2007 Beautiful Sunbird on flowering aloe. Tarangire National Park, Tanzania Carol commented recently that my African animal photos were nice and people photos would be fine too, but what she really wanted to see were photos of flowers from my trip to Tanzania. So here ya go, Carol—a ...