All I need is more plants
April 02, 2021 Pop into the restroom at Barton Springs Nursery, and you’ll find you’re not alone in there. An impassive woman wearing a t-shirt that speaks for all of us — All I need is more plants — frolics in a bathtub filled with faux succulents and fiddle-leaf figs ...
Potted characters at East Austin Succulents
March 26, 2021 Weird and wonderful creatures with plants for brains — sound like anybody you know? — greeted me at East Austin Succulents last week. They were silent types with big personalities. This ghostly guy with ghost plant (Graptopetalum paraguayense) sprouting from his forehead may have been my favorite ...
New owners of Barton Springs Nursery plan to add learning, community spaces and inspire local gardeners
January 21, 2021 Barton Springs Nursery’s new owners, Amy Hovis and Willy Glenn. Photo courtesy of Amy Hovis. After 35 years, ownership of beloved Austin nursery Barton Springs Nursery changed hands on January 1, 2021. I’ve been buying plants and pots from BSN for 20 years (and blogging about it ...
In for a rose, out for a garden visit at Antique Rose Emporium
October 01, 2020 I passed through Brenham on the way home from Houston two weekends ago. Naturally, I stopped at The Antique Rose Emporium nursery, ostensibly to search for another ‘Icecap’ rose to replace one that croaked after the summer, but really to check out the gardens. They were in ...
Garden Seventeen, a new nursery in north-central Austin
July 31, 2020 It’s a happy day when a new nursery opens north of the river, especially if within a quick 10- or 15-minute drive from my house. So my head snapped up with interest when I heard about a new nursery opening — during a pandemic, no less — ...
April visit to Antique Rose Emporium garden
May 10, 2020 In early April I took a wildflower-hunting drive through the country east of Austin. I ended up driving out to Brenham and past The Antique Rose Emporium, which was open to visitors, so I stopped for a quick tour of the gardens, socially distanced of course. The ...
Leaf nursery opens a North Austin location
October 25, 2019 North Austin gardeners have been under-served in the retail business for years. I’m grateful for the excellent Hill Country Water Gardens and Nursery in Cedar Park and Green ‘n Growing in Pflugerville, both just north of Austin, as well as Shoal Creek Nursery in midtown. But compared ...
Plant pictures for your home at Articulture
August 27, 2019 It’s peace, love, and plants at Articulture, a creative-cool boutique in far-south Austin that sells living wall art and one-of-a-kind succulent and tillandsia arrangements, as well as fun accent pieces and home goods. In addition, Articulture’s design team creates incredible green-wall installations, the store hosts regular workshops ...
Crevice garden, Japanese garden, and more sculpture at Denver Botanic Gardens: Denver Garden Bloggers Fling
July 16, 2019 Continuing with my visit to Denver Botanic Gardens during the Denver Garden Bloggers Fling (June 2019), here is my favorite installation in the ongoing Human | Nature exhibit: Lights by Steinunn Thorarinsdottir. Five impassive, rough-hewn figures stand amid the grasses of the Plains Garden. Small holes punched ...
Creative display gardens at The Natural Gardener
April 07, 2019 The Natural Gardener beckoned as a fun first stop on my wildflower drive last Wednesday. Mom was with me, and after we stashed a bunch of new plants in the car, we stepped back out to explore the nursery’s colorful display gardens. The herb garden designed by ...
Succulent Native opens new shop on N Lamar
March 15, 2019 Are you a plant parent, or proud owner of plant pets in Austin? If so, you probably already know about Succulent Native, an adorable succulent and houseplant boutique that also sells cacti-themed housewares and hosts potting parties. Originally peddling plants from a mobile cart downtown and then ...
Frond, a shop for houseplant lovers
September 08, 2018 Chalk it up to my weird indifference to houseplants, but it’s taken me two years to check out Frond Plant Shop on West Mary Street, right off South 1st, even though I kept hearing good things about it. Make that former indifference! Frond has unlocked my latent ...
Shopping and English breakfast at Burford Garden Company
July 25, 2018 Before we visited Victoria Summerley’s garden in Bibury, England, last month, we stopped along the way at Burford Garden Company, a nursery, home decor, clothing, furniture, kitchenware, and gift shop. Oh, and did I mention they have a restaurant too? The place is huge, with a diversity ...
Kew Gardens walkabout: Mediterranean Garden, Treetop Walkway, and more
July 15, 2018 London’s Kew Gardens is a big place at 300 acres, with a variety of gardens, glasshouses, a magnificent arboretum, and other attractions. During my mid-June visit on a family vacation, I saw as much as I could during a 4- or 5-hour visit. Here’s the last installment ...
Post-Fling garden exploring with blogger friends
May 15, 2018 Having said goodbye to nearly 100 garden bloggers at Austin Garden Bloggers Fling, on Monday of last week I picked up 4 late-staying blogger friends — Loree Bohl of Danger Garden, Gerhard Bock of Succulents and More, Victoria Summerley of Tales from Awkward Hill, and Helen Johnstone ...
Bloggers soaked up Austin at Garden Bloggers Fling
May 11, 2018 For 11 years I’ve traveled to cities around North America to attend Garden Bloggers Fling, and I’ve helped organize two Flings held in Austin — in and again last weekend. Normally I take hundreds of pictures of the gardens I visit. (Go to Categories in my sidebar ...
