Containers

May 01, 2007 See the 5-ft. bloom stalk on this plant? It’s not from the prickly pear you see in front, nor an agave, perhaps, hidden behind it. It’s the inflorescence of a Nolina lindheimeriana that I’d thought was Nolina texana until now, although I had often wondered why the ...

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 ...

April 13, 2007 Chicken pot from Mexico. Wouldn’t hen-and-chicks sedum be perfect planted here? Last Saturday I attended a plant-exchange brunch hosted by an acquaintance of mine. She’s been throwing this party for several years, it seems, and knows what she’s doing. The food was delicious, the company fun, and ...

April 11, 2007 Purple prickly pear (Opuntia macrocentra) flower Flower buds cover this purplish cactus. The first two have opened, to much enthusiasm on my part. I’ve never had a prickly pear bloom before, and when I first saw the flowers budding I mistook them for new pad buds. A ...

March 16, 2007 Cattle troughs, or stock tanks, are popping up in public and private gardens all around Austin. They look great in many styles of gardens—informal cottage, sleek contemporary, rustic—and can be planted or filled with water to make container ponds. I have a small, round one (3-ft diameter, ...

February 24, 2007 Sedum mexicana ‘Angelina’ With temperatures a little cooler yesterday—in the mid-70s—I took advantage of the balmy weather to plant a few beauties I found at Natural Gardener. Above is an orange-and-chartreuse sedum I’m adding to my new pomegranate bed in the front garden. Next to the sedum ...

February 14, 2007 This Valentine’s Day, I’m giving my husband something different. It’s a sweet botanical arrangement from Big Red Sun. Isn’t it beautiful? In January I posted a photo tour of this hip nursery and mentioned, but did not photograph, their to-die-for arrangements of succulents. A few days ago, ...

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 ...

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 ...

November 09, 2006 A queen butterfly on blue mistflower Here in Austin you take fall color wherever you can find it. It’s slim pickings for leaf-peepers, but at ground level things are happening. Perennials rebloom after biding their time through the summer. Migrating orange monarchs and other butterflies arrive. Pecans ...

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 ...

October 26, 2006 A pear allee is the highlight of Hornickel’s garden Warm, accessible, personal, with striking plant choices and a Gardens-inspired feel, this Bryker Woods garden, located within walking distance of James David and Gary Peese’s famous garden shop, is Gardens on a budget. And I mean that as ...

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 ...

October 23, 2006 Entry garden. A gravel path flows around this sunny, graveled berm. It literally stopped me in my tracks as I gazed at the intriguing plant combinations. “Does this make me look fat?” I heard Gary Peese ask someone, fussing with his shirt as the Open Days tour ...

September 01, 2006 Purple prickly pear (Opuntia macrocentra) Here’s one plant well suited to this summer’s extreme weather. You won’t see a prickly pear give up the ghost easily, even one in a container that got watered maybe three times all summer. One of the Austin American-Statesman‘s front-page stories today ...

March 06, 2006 The red bed: ‘Valentine’ rose bush and purple prickly pear. I like grouping tough antique roses with cacti. It’s something about the softness and lushness of the rose petals contrasting with the spiny “modern” shape of cacti. These two show off their beautiful reds. The ‘Blue Elf’ ...