Moon flowers and sun flowers
June 19, 2019 I returned home Monday afternoon from five marvelous days of garden touring and sightseeing in the Denver area, where I attended the annual Garden Bloggers Fling. Night-blooming datura (Datura wrightii) greeted me when the sun went down. As dusk fell, it unfurled platter-sized, white blossoms with a ...
Hoofed visitor
May 27, 2019 Stepping onto our front porch the other day, we spotted a shy visitor who wasn’t quite prepared to come all the way to the front door, although she was close. A doe was nosing around in the sedge lawnette, seemingly noshing on the cut “hay” from its ...
Cactus blooms, round two
May 23, 2019 Summer is here in Texas, and the heat is on, with temps in the 90s all this week. While I’ll miss cooler temps, the collection of cacti on the deck loves it, blooming in unison for the second time this month. Satin flowers of pumpkin orange and ...
Fawn hiding in plain sight
May 08, 2019 Walking down the driveway to the mailbox yesterday, I passed not two feet from a tiny fawn curled up on the gravel garden path atop a cushion of green sedge. She didn’t move a muscle, holding completely still in hopes I wouldn’t see her, and I played ...
Cactus bloom for my garden class
May 05, 2019 Just 8 hours before my garden class/tour began (the first Garden Spark Tour, a new offering from Garden Spark), the sky was falling in parts of Austin, dumping up to 7 inches of rain in just a few hours and washing out low-water crossings. Thankfully, here in ...
Spring is abloom in shades of pink and turquoise
May 01, 2019 I haven’t done a photo tour of my own garden in a while, so let’s go, starting with a new planting of Gulf Coast penstemon (Penstemon tenuis) and winecup (Callirhoe involucrata), both Texas natives. Along with an artichoke — I’ve always wanted to try one — they’re ...
Spring marvels and cleanup
April 17, 2019 April unfurls new marvels to appreciate each day, like the glaucous berries of ‘Marvel’ mahonia that appeared after its yellow flowers faded in late winter. I’ve been trialing ‘Marvel’ mahonia from Southern Living Plant Collection since fall 2017. A handsome evergreen, it’s thriving in a tall container ...
Spring evening at home
March 28, 2019 This has been the most beautiful week of spring, with soft, warm days, cool breezes, and wildflowers galore, including a patch of Texas bluebonnets (Lupinus texensis) in my gravel front walk. Orange creamsicle flowers on gray globemallow (Sphaeralcea incana) Pink cascade on the weeping ‘Traveller’ redbud (Cercis ...
Tarantula going for a swim
March 26, 2019 Walking past the pool yesterday, I caught sight of an unexpected swimmer dipping its toes from its perch on one of the pool vacuum’s floats. Who knew tarantulas could swim? I got a rake and poked the tines under its front legs, whereupon the tarantula reared up ...
Cedar waxwings chirpily convene
February 26, 2019 For months piercing cries have come from the skies. Lifting my eyes from my garden work, I’ll see distant silhouettes of cedar waxwings perched and jostling for position in the highest treetops. But never close enough for a good look. Finally, two days ago, I heard those ...
Go figure, gopher plant blooming already
February 22, 2019 With bluebonnets already blooming around Austin at least a month earlier than usual, I shouldn’t be surprised to see gopher plant (Euphorbia rigida) in full flower too. They usually start in early March, but mine and my neighbor’s, shown here, went all electric-chartreuse in mid-February this year ...
Time to cut back the winter garden
February 18, 2019 Mid-February, right around Valentine’s Day, marks cut-back time for Texas gardeners. Dormant grasses and perennials are getting their annual haircut as I clear away last season’s growth (which I leave standing through the winter for wildlife habitat and its own quiet beauty) in preparation for the fresh ...
Don’t smother your tree trunk. Let it flare!
February 05, 2019 How many times have you seen a tree trunk that looks like this? It looks nice and neat, right? The trunk is tidily surrounded by mulch that’s layered right up against the bark. Maybe under that mulch there’s also a layer of soil added when sod was ...
Losing shade trees and replanting
February 04, 2019 For 10 years I’ve gardened under dozens of live oaks on our 1/3-acre lot. Last month we lost two of our treasured trees (center of photo above), which shaded our patio and one end of the pool from the blazing summer sun. It’s a big loss, and ...
Screech owl at sunset
January 29, 2019 The sky went pink last evening as a cold front blew through. In the owl box, a small screech owl watched me from his snug perch, safely out of the wind. The owl box hangs in a different spot in our back garden this winter. We recently ...
