European formality with relaxed Texas style in Ware Garden: San Antonio Open Days Tour
October 18, 2017 Last Saturday I road-tripped to San Antonio for the Open Days garden tour, sponsored by the Garden Conservancy. Shirley Fox of Rock-Oak-Deer was one of the organizers this year, and I was eager to see the gardens that she’d chosen for the tour. The Ware Garden is ...
Botanical art at Stutsman garden, plus Dallas/Fort Worth nurseries
October 14, 2017 I road-tripped up to Dallas/Fort Worth last weekend with a friend for two days of garden visiting and nursery shopping. The Garden Conservancy was hosting an Open Days tour in Fort Worth on Sunday, and my favorite garden turned out to be that of metal artist Wanda ...
Pumpkins in the land of Oz at Dallas Arboretum
October 12, 2017 Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain! But the woman in front of the curtain? That’s Diana, my friend and fellow explorer last weekend at the annual Pumpkin Village at Dallas Arboretum. This year the Arboretum carries you off like a tornado to “The Wonderful ...
New foundation bed, sedge lawn update, and fall color
September 29, 2017 The front garden by the house has undergone some major changes since we lost a tree last winter. But after some summer angst as formerly shaded foundation shrubs burned up, and some fixes, I’m feeling good about it again. Here’s how it looked before, with the live ...
Lan Su Chinese Garden, a downtown Portland oasis
September 23, 2017 While vacationing in Portland last month, we visited Lan Su Chinese Garden in downtown Portland. It was my third visit, and I find I enjoy it more each time I see it. Chinese gardens have had to grow on me, so different do they seem from the ...
Strolling into danger — Danger Garden, that is
September 22, 2017 Every three years I manage a trip to Portland, and each time ( and ) I’ve been fortunate to visit the garden of my friend Loree Bohl — fellow spiky plant lover, the prolific blogger of Danger Garden, and a collector-gardener with an incredibly artistic and meticulous ...
Two must-read books for succulent lovers: Succulents and Designing with Succulents
September 20, 2017 All you succulent junkies, listen up. If you love succulents or want to learn how to grow them, two newly released books by succulent-gardening trailblazers Debra Lee Baldwin and Robin Stockwell need to be at the top of your must-read list. Let’s start with Designing with Succulents ...
Garden of Gary Ratway and Deborah Whigham and their Digging Dog Nursery
August 23, 2017 Stepping through a dark-leaved doorway in a beech hedge into the display gardens at Digging Dog Nursery, located in Albion, California, you feel a bit like Alice falling into the rabbit hole. What awaits on the other side? A potted boxwood draws you through the hedge… …and ...
Potted patio where succulents rule
August 08, 2017 Shaded by a big live oak, our back patio stays relatively cool, even on hot days. That shade also makes it a good spot for a variety of potted plants, especially succulents that prefer bright shade in our blistering climate. Agave parryi var. truncata is one of ...
The whimsical woodland garden of Ellen Ash: Capital Region Garden Bloggers Fling
July 11, 2017 Although the tree-shaded entrance to this Great Falls, Virginia, garden was elegant and restrained, I knew the owner would be a gardener with a sense of humor. How? Because at the driveway’s end I spotted, atop a pilaster, a statue wearing actual sunglasses. It was the first ...
Read This: Potted: Make Your Own Stylish Garden Containers & BOOK GIVEAWAY!
July 10, 2017 I’m crazy for Los Angeles garden shop Potted and its colorful, modern accessories for patio and porch living and gardening. I’ve made two pilgrimages to the store (here and here) when passing through L.A., and I’ve ordered from and received gifts from their online store (yes, you ...
Log slices, twig spheres, and other natural art in garden of Debbie Friedman: Capital Region Garden Bloggers Fling
July 09, 2017 Though she lives and gardens in Maryland, Bethesda designer Debbie Friedman told us that she uses log slices, granite stones, and other natural accents to evoke the spirit of Mount Desert Island, Maine, where she enjoys vacationing. I visited her suburban garden during the recent Capital Region ...
Southern Gothic garden of Jeff Minnich: Capital Region Garden Bloggers Fling
July 09, 2017 I didn’t expect to see a banana tree and sago palm in any of the gardens we visited during the Capital Region Garden Bloggers Fling last month, but Arlington, Virginia, designer Jeff Minnich‘s garden is full of surprises. Reminiscent of a New Orleans cottage garden with picket ...
Casa Mariposa, Virginia winery, & Merrifield Garden Center: Capital Region Garden Bloggers Fling
July 02, 2017 Casa Mariposa With a garden called Casa Mariposa, you know it’s going to be welcoming to butterflies — and, as it turns out, all pollinators. Tammy Schmitt, head planner of this year’s Garden Bloggers Fling, bravely included her suburban D.C.-area garden on the tour. I say bravely ...
Blue fantasy in the garden of Linda Hostetler: Capital Region Garden Bloggers Fling
July 02, 2017 I saw some truly wonderful gardens during the Capital Region Garden Bloggers Fling last week, and one of my favorites was that of landscape designer Linda Hostetler in The Plains, Virginia. From the street you admire a handsome farmhouse-style home at the end of a wide, curving ...
Early summer garden offerings
June 11, 2017 A few offerings of early summer beauty in the garden. Beaked yucca (Y. rostrata ‘Sapphire Skies’) as seen from our deck — I enjoy this topside view of the spiky stunner. The galvanized pie-plate planters I filled with succulent cuttings in March have filled out beautifully. Here’s ...
