Modern gravel garden sips water, amps up architecture
September 25, 2015 Succulent and cactus gardeners and fans of modern design, you’ll want to see this garden on the upcoming San Antonio Watersaver Landscape Tour on October 24. I recently enjoyed a preview visit, thanks to an invitation from Shirley of Rock-Oak-Deer and Heather of Xericstyle. This contemporary garden ...
Sedgey evergreen garden of Pat Mozersky for Foliage Follow-Up
September 16, 2015 Austin designer Mark Word (see my profile about him) designed this serene, green San Antonio garden that you can see on the upcoming Watersaver Landscape Tour on October 24. I got a preview last Friday thanks to Shirley of Rock-Oak-Deer. The garden belongs to Pat Mozersky, the ...
Dreamy green courtyard and water-saving garden in San Antonio
September 15, 2015 My friend Shirley of Rock-Oak-Deer in San Antonio recently uttered the magic words: Come see a few gardens! So last Friday I hopped in my car, drove south to the Alamo City, and met Shirley to tour three gardens. Two of the gardens will be on this ...
Look for me in Rodale’s Organic Life magazine
August 05, 2015Organic Life’s “The Water Issue”Are you a former reader of Organic Gardening? That venerable magazine folded in late 2014, after 7 decades of publication (wow!), and it was relaunched earlier this year, with a broader focus, as Organic Life. I wasn’t a reader of the former, so I ...
Evergreen Brick Works community greenspace: Toronto Garden Bloggers Fling
June 30, 2015 For nearly 100 years, Don Valley Brick Works supplied Toronto with masonry bricks and helped the city rebuild and grow after a devastating fire. By 1984, however, the kilns were closed down, and the factory buildings languished. Urban explorers and partying teens found their way in, and ...
Cabbagetown garden art and Hugh Garner Co-Op Green Roof: Toronto Garden Bloggers Fling
June 29, 2015 The teeny tiny gardens of Toronto’s Cabbagetown neighborhood of Victorian homes kicked off our final day of Toronto Garden Bloggers Fling in early June. Due to the tight quarters, pictures of artful vignettes were easier to take than overview photos, and I’m sharing my favorites here. Cabbagetown ...
Ta-da! Here’s the cover of my new book, The Water-Saving Garden
June 10, 2015 I’ve missed you guys! You might have noticed a quiet week here at Digging, and the reason is because I was out of the country. In Toronto, in fact, for the 8th annual Garden Bloggers Fling, which as always was jam-packed with garden visits, socializing with other ...
Ta-da! Here's the cover of my new book, The Water-Saving Garden
June 10, 2015 I’ve missed you guys! You might have noticed a quiet week here at Digging, and the reason is because I was out of the country. In Toronto, in fact, for the 8th annual Garden Bloggers Fling, which as always was jam-packed with garden visits, socializing with other ...
Art and design intrigue in the garden of Syd Teague
June 01, 2015 Once a month the Austin garden bloggers gather at one of our gardens to socialize, talk plants and design, and do a plant swap. Last Saturday we met up in Rock Rose/Jenny Stocker’s garden, which despite a recent hailstorm and torrential rains was absolutely beautiful. But we ...
My Dry and Mighty article is in Wildflower magazine
May 21, 2015 If you’re a member of the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center, you’ll soon find the Summer 2015 issue of Wildflower magazine in your mailbox. I’m thrilled to announce that I wrote the cover story, “Dry & Mighty.” What’s it all about? “A dry garden doesn’t have to ...
Botanical bonanza at Peckerwood Garden
April 30, 2015 For new visitors, the name Peckerwood tends to elicit raised eyebrows because of the word’s history as a racial slur in the South. But touring Peckerwood Garden itself — it was named, explains the owner, after the plantation in Auntie Mame — induces amazement, both because of ...
The art-adorned, water-saving garden of Mireille Engel
April 24, 2015 Last week I had the pleasure of visiting a new garden, that of Mireille Engel, a French-speaking Swiss native turned Texan and longtime gardener, whose garden helper, Kathy Christian, introduced me and gave me a tour. Located in the Cuernavaca neighborhood and perched on the edge of ...
Going waterwise at Rollingwood City Hall
April 21, 2015 Putting their money where their mouth is, more and more cities that urge citizens to reduce their water usage are replacing thirsty lawns around courthouses and city halls with xeric landscaping. Rollingwood, a tiny city of around 500 homes just three miles from downtown and surrounded by ...
Look for me in Austin Woman and Consumer Reports magazines this month
April 03, 2015 When it rains, it pours. After the Southern Living publicity in February, a writer for Austin Woman contacted me for an interview about blogging and gardening in Austin. I was happy to oblige, and now the issue with my interview is out. You can pick up a ...
Drive-By Gardens: Grape Kool-Aid trees in northwest Austin
March 27, 2015 Can you detect a scent of grape Kool-Aid through your screen? I wouldn’t be surprised if you could. Austin’s enjoying a banner year for the fragrant, wisteria-like blooms of our native Texas mountain laurel (Sophora secundiflora). This is the tree that helped sell me on Austin, as ...
Palo verde paradise at Arizona State University Polytechnic campus
February 13, 2015 For all you snowbound readers up north or eager-beaver gardeners down south, you’ll find lots of floral sunshine in this post, which I’ve been holding onto since last spring. During my Phoenix visit last April, my friend Noelle, aka AZ Plant Lady, took me to some water-saving ...
