Foliage Follow-Up

October 16, 2011 I’m thrilled to announce that as part of Support Your Independent Nursery Month, eight local nurseries are partnering with Austin garden bloggers for a giveaway blogathon! Prizes from locally owned nurseries around town are being offered in random drawings on eight Austin garden blogs, and all you ...

September 16, 2011 Not that it’s been the easiest summer to try a new bamboo, a thirstier plant than I usually bother with, but they provide such leafy, touchable, evergreen texture in the garden that I’m willing to give ’em a little extra love, i.e., water. No thirsty annuals or ...

August 16, 2011 All of Texas is dreaming of rain dripping from eaves, trickling streams, and the feel of soft moss underfoot. We’re in a devastating drought that has turned our state brown. Even many of our iconic live oaks are showing stress. We desperately need rain. So for my ...

July 16, 2011 It’s Foliage Follow-Up, a day of celebrating leafy beauty in the garden. After I took my photos, I noticed that they fell into one of two categories: the fierce, pointy leaves of yuccas, agaves, dyckias, and mangaves, and the fine texture of various grasses or grass-like plants ...

June 16, 2011 For Foliage Follow-Up today (always on the day after Bloom Day), I’m celebrating plants that don’t require my standing over them with a hose. I have to admit, central Texas’s extended drought is taking a toll even on my xeric garden. Coneflowers are drooping. Daylilies are shriveling ...

March 16, 2011 Thanks for joining me for Foliage Follow-Up, a celebration of leafy goodness (or any non-blooming plant part) on the day after Bloom Day. It’s all about agaves for me today because I’ve added a couple of new ones to my collection. Pictured above is a beautiful little ...

March 16, 2011 Thanks for joining me for Foliage Follow-Up, a celebration of leafy goodness (or any non-blooming plant part) on the day after Bloom Day. It’s all about agaves for me today because I’ve added a couple of new ones to my collection. Pictured above is a beautiful little ...

February 16, 2011 February 14 marks the transition between winter and spring in central Texas gardens. Around Valentine’s Day, Austin gardeners do their big cut-back of summer- and fall-blooming perennials and grasses in preparation for spring growth. We may still get a couple of freezes (the last average freeze date ...

January 18, 2011 The sun came out and I went out, out into the garden to explore after several dreary days spent indoors. Delightfully spongy earth, fungi on the coir doormats, and a revitalized winter garden attested to our recent rainfall—who knows how much, as I had turned my gauge ...

January 18, 2011 The sun came out and I went out, out into the garden to explore after several dreary days spent indoors. Delightfully spongy earth, fungi on the coir doormats, and a revitalized winter garden attested to our recent rainfall—who knows how much, as I had turned my gauge ...

January 16, 2011 On this chilly, wet Foliage Follow-Up, let’s revisit the fabulous Tex-Asian garden in east Austin designed and built by Grace Riggan and Joshua Bowles. Its intriguing name? Fatal Flower Garden. Aren’t you just dying to see what’s behind the wall? Me too. Just don’t look for a ...

December 16, 2010 In the spirit of the season, my Foliage Follow-Up post this month is strictly to do with Christmas tree foliage. And not just any Christmas trees, but the anonymously decorated cedars along Loop 360 (Capital of Texas Highway) between 2222 and the Arboretum. Seemingly overnight Christmas elves ...

October 16, 2010 I hope you’ll join me today for Foliage Follow-Up, the day after Bloom Day when we celebrate leaves, bark, seedheads, etc.—plant characteristics often overlooked in favor of flowers. Share your favorite foliage for October, and then leave a link here in the comments so we can find ...

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 16, 2010 It’s August. It’s Austin. It’s incredibly hot and humid. Flowers for Bloom Day were pretty scarce, but foliage is, as always, carrying the garden through the toughest months. My faves for Foliage Follow-Up this month are visually cooling, with variegated or glaucous leaves. But really, anything that ...

July 17, 2010 Luscious foliage in a Lancaster Avenue garden in Buffalo, NY Even in this month of bounteous flowers, foliage anchors the summer garden. Celebrating each month’s favorite foliage plants is what Foliage Follow-Up is all about. I invite all bloggers to join me on the 16th of each ...