Spring stroll at the Wildflower Center
February 27, 2017 After speaking at the Native Plant Society of Texas Spring Symposium, held at the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center last Saturday (and a big thank-you to the organizers and wonderful audience members!), I strolled the gardens with my dad, who was visiting from North Carolina. The early ...
Remembering 2016 in the garden
January 01, 2017 January Happy New Year, everyone! Following Jean’s example at Dig, Grow, Compost, Blog, I’m recapping 2016 with a single photo from each of the past 12 months in my garden. Poring over my old blog posts, I was reminded of the fleeting charms of the passing seasons ...
Bugs and butterflies at the Wildflower Center, part 2
October 04, 2016 Continuing our garden stroll through Austin’s Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center (here’s part 1 of my visit), let’s enter the Family Garden, where paving by the restrooms and shade pavilion is softened with rain gardens planted with water-appreciating native plants. A rain garden, Texas-style, planted with mistflower, ...
Early autumn color at the Wildflower Center, part 1
October 02, 2016 Showy palafoxia (Palafoxia hookeriana) That first hit of cool autumn air early last week sent me running (well, battling Austin traffic) for the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center. Arriving on a solemn, overcast morning, I was surprised to see quite a few other visitors there too. But ...
Cliff dwellings at Mesa Verde National Park
August 26, 2016 Yesterday the U.S. National Park Service celebrated its centennial. My family and I love visiting national parks, and during our recent road trip through New Mexico and up to Durango, Colorado, we couldn’t pass up the chance to see a new one (to us): Mesa Verde National ...
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 ...
Need shade? Read my article about native vines in Wildflower
July 11, 2016 It’s summer. It’s Texas. And we all know it’s only getting hotter. That’s a line from an old radio ad, but truer words were never spoken. If you need shade in order to enjoy your yard at this time of year, how about giving a native vine ...
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 ...
Coneflower frenzy at Wildflower Center
June 09, 2016 What better greeting than a plethora of purple coneflowers (Echinacea purpurea)? The ballerina-skirted beauties are brightening the entry to the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center right now. Like Dr. Seussian trees, several multi-trunked Yucca rostrata stand behind them, adding shimmery drama. The long view Needle-sharp gray agaves ...
Dining, dancing amid flowers on Field to Vase Dinner Tour
May 31, 2016 A jug of wine, a loaf of bread, and thou may be pleasant enough. But add Crayola-bright fields of flowers, a big blue barn, tables adorned with festive bouquets, chef-made dishes, a western swing band, and the starry skies of the Texas Hill Country, and you have ...
Wildflower season, owlets, and native plant sale at Wildflower Center
April 09, 2016 When the universe offers a weekend of perfect weather, don’t squander it. Central Texans, if you’re looking for something to do outside this weekend, head on over to the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center. Their spring native-plant sale is being held both Saturday and Sunday, so you ...
Crimson poppy fields at Wildseed Farms
April 01, 2016 Mom and I stopped at Wildseed Farms, just east of Fredericksburg, Texas, on the way home from our Hill Country wildflower drive on Tuesday. Wildseed Farms grows wildflowers for their seed, which it sells to landscapers, retail customers, and highway departments that seed wildflowers along roadsides. With ...
Wildflower drive through the Texas Hill Country
March 30, 2016 Yesterday, under drizzly skies, my mother and I hit the road on a wildflower safari through the Hill Country west of Austin. I try to see the wildflowers at peak every year if we have a decent show (winter rains are the key), and this year it’s ...
Dreamy blues and a few surprises in the garden of Lori Daul
March 29, 2016 When a gardener urges you to come over to see something in bloom, you know you better say yes. Lori Daul of The Gardener of Good and Evil tempted me into a quick visit last Saturday — not with an apple but with “the last of the ...
Spring blooms and greens
March 26, 2016 My only Texas bluebonnet (Lupinus texensis) this year is a volunteer that popped up in a decomposed-granite path next to the driveway. I should just seed this whole path with bluebonnets and enjoy the show next year. The live oaks that shade my entire garden recently dropped ...
Bluebonnets already a-blue-m at the Wildflower Center
February 06, 2016 Well, this is a surprise! Bluebonnets (Lupinus texensis) ordinarily bloom in April, but a bonny patch was abloom yesterday in the family garden at the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center. Don’t go running over for your photo op with the kids. Only about 3 plants are blooming ...
