Corten potager beauty in Rhonda Fleming Hayes’s garden: Minneapolis Garden Bloggers Fling
July 24, 2016 I’m dubbing this summer Escape to the North. In the space of two months I’ve made three trips to the northern, cooler half of the U.S., starting with the Philadelphia area; then Providence, Rhode Island; and finally Minneapolis, where the 9th annual Garden Bloggers Fling was held ...
Chanticleer rocks a Gravel Garden
July 13, 2016 I’m excited to show you the Gravel Garden at Chanticleer, a Philadelphia-area “pleasure garden” I visited with my friend Diana in early June, as it’s one of my favorite spaces. Planted on a long, open slope overlooking the Pond Garden, the Gravel Garden reminds me of Austin ...
Flowers and rich foliage at Chanticleer's Pond Garden
July 07, 2016 Is any garden feature more alluring to people than a body of water? I think not. As Diana and I emerged from Chanticleer‘s shady, green Asian Woods during our early June visit, the sunlit and flowery Pond Garden greeted us (the pond was hidden from view at ...
Meadow views and fantasy treehouses at Longwood Gardens
June 27, 2016 Contrasting with the many formal and traditional gardens at Longwood Gardens (a Philadelphia-area estate garden I visited earlier this month), the 2-year-old Meadow Garden presents an appearance of wild nature. The meadow’s 86 rolling acres of native grasses, perennials, and wildflowers come into view from a shady ...
Thar she blows! Whale’s tongue agave flower spike attracting bees, flies
June 06, 2016 Moby, my whale’s tongue agave (A. ovatifolia), is 61 days into his fatal flowering. Fun/sad fact: agaves flower once and then die. But I’ve had 10 good years with this agave, and I knew it was coming, so I’m just enjoying the grand display. The lower tiers ...
My article about Voorhes’ homestead garden in Austin Home
June 05, 2016 A homestead garden in the city? You bet! I’ll show you the productive garden of Adam Voorhes and Robin Finlay — a commercial- and editorial-photography team (and married couple) known as The Voorhes — in the Summer 2016 issue of Austin Home, which you can find on ...
Festive spring at Lucinda Hutson’s purple cottage
April 08, 2016 Many times over the years, I’ve had the pleasure of visiting Lucinda Hutson‘s purple cottage in the Rosedale neighborhood of central Austin. It’s always a riot of flowers and festive decor. On Tuesday I stopped by to visit again and am so glad I did. Butter-yellow blossoms ...
Instagramming my garden
February 19, 2016 I resisted joining Instagram for the longest time because it seemed like One More Thing to keep up with. But its huge popularity and my dawning recognition that it’s ideal for sharing gardening goodness (my mission statement, after all!) have convinced me to take the plunge. And ...
Fall flowery goodness at Zilker Botanical Garden
November 15, 2015 For your Bloom Day viewing pleasure, how about a return visit to Zilker Botanical Garden? Colorful subtropical perennials surround the parking lot, giving visitors a nice blast of color as they walk in. Here’s ever-popular yellow bells (Tecoma stans), with the purple blooms of fall aster (Symphyotrichum ...
New blue tuteur doubles as bee B&B
August 02, 2015 The sea of green that is my deer-resistant sedge lawn and grassy borders now has a welcome shot of color. When I heard that TerraTrellis, a woman-owned, original-garden-art studio in Los Angeles, was running an online sale, I splurged on their Akoris Jr. tuteur with a bee ...
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 ...
Construction in the garden and other happenings
September 17, 2014 It was a one-two punch, seeing colorful stuccoed walls in Phoenix and Tucson in April and then in Portland in July. Unable to resist the siren song of structure, functionality, and color, I’ve hired a mason to build some walls in the back garden. Two days ago ...
Water lily collection is hidden gem in West Texas town of San Angelo
September 15, 2014 Perched on the northern edge of the Chihuahuan Desert, about 200 miles northwest of Austin, the small city of San Angelo is, surprisingly, home to a locally treasured and internationally known water lily garden, the International Waterlily Collection. Then again, maybe it’s not all that surprising, given ...
Bee-autiful activity in the curbside garden
September 07, 2014 Garlic chives (Allium tuberosum) in full bloom are like a flashing neon sign saying EATS to the local honeybees. Man, do they love it. So do I. They brighten up the summer-tired border with their frothy white blooms. Here’s a wider view of the curbside bed. The ...
Garden magic and whimsy at Floramagoria: Portland Garden Bloggers Fling
August 13, 2014 As we entered the intriguingly named Floramagoria garden on the recent Portland Garden Bloggers Fling, thunder rumbled and raindrops pelted our group of 40 or so bloggers. The reasonable — and hungry — among us ran for the two covered pavilions with box lunches in hand. The ...
Colorful desert garden of Noelle Johnson, Arizona Plant Lady
May 07, 2014 Last month I visited Phoenix and Tucson, Arizona, to see how they’re gardening in a much drier climate than Austin’s. (Drought is much on our mind in Texas). I toured Desert Botanical Garden, which was amazing, saw a couple of Steve Martino’s beautifully designed gardens, and admired ...
