Photography

March 10, 2010 Over at Gardening Gone Wild, the theme for this month’s Picture This photo contest, judged by photographer Saxon Holt, is Awakening. We don’t get much of a winter here in Austin. But the garden still looks a little drab after our hard freezes this year. Enter gopher ...

February 21, 2010 Between last Sunday and this morning, 91 of you left a comment on my 4th blogiversary giveaway post! Many thanks for all the good wishes, and for playing along. At 10 a.m. I used a random number generator to select three numbers and matched those up to ...

February 20, 2010 After all the lovely comments (85 so far!) from all you lovely readers on my 4th blogiversary post, I’m still smiling and feeling like I’ve been to a fun party. Now I know I enticed you to comment with my giveaway offer of three sets of notecards ...

February 20, 2010 After all the lovely comments (85 so far!) from all you lovely readers on my 4th blogiversary post, I’m still smiling and feeling like I’ve been to a fun party. Now I know I enticed you to comment with my giveaway offer of three sets of notecards ...

February 14, 2010 Four years ago I found gardening to be a solitary pursuit. Four years ago I didn’t have conversations with gardeners all over the world. Four years ago I didn’t know I could take a photo that other people would enjoy. Four years ago I couldn’t have imagined ...

February 14, 2010 Four years ago I found gardening to be a solitary pursuit. Four years ago I didn’t have conversations with gardeners all over the world. Four years ago I didn’t know I could take a photo that other people would enjoy. Four years ago I couldn’t have imagined ...

January 10, 2010 “Winter’s Beauty” is the theme for January’s Picture This photo contest over at Gardening Gone Wild, with photographer Alan Detrick judging. I submit this photo of my Agave ovatifolia, each thorn cradling a bubble of ice. Note for those worried about this agave: Agave ovatifolia is a ...

January 10, 2010 “Winter’s Beauty” is the theme for January’s Picture This photo contest over at Gardening Gone Wild, with photographer Alan Detrick judging. I submit this photo of my Agave ovatifolia, each thorn cradling a bubble of ice. Note for those worried about this agave: Agave ovatifolia is a ...

November 11, 2009 Here is my entry for this month’s photo contest at Gardening Gone Wild. The theme is “End of the Line.” This is an allium gone to seed, brown and dying, metaphorically at the end of the line. It is also literally at the end of the line—its ...

September 09, 2009 We gardeners who love ornamental grasses may find autumn, their primary blooming season, to be our favorite time of year. I do love autumn. However, I’m choosing a spring-bloomer, Mexican feathergrass (Nassella tenuissima), for my entry in this month’s Picture This Photo Contest over at Gardening Gone ...

August 09, 2009 Photographer and blogger David Perry is judging this month’s photo contest over at Gardening Gone Wild. He asked us to get down on our knees for a unique perspective on our gardens. Here is my entry. As you can see, I’m playing along with the spirit of ...

July 05, 2009 Mexican plum (Prunus mexicana ), a native Texas tree with satiny gray bark, blooms in late February or early March in Austin. When in flower, it’s hugely popular with pollinators of all types, particularly bees but also tiny flies like the one visible here. This is my ...

May 22, 2009 If you dig deep enough in central Texas you might just find a big hole in the ground. That’s what happened back in 1963, when the highway department was taking core samples of bedrock limestone in preparation for the construction of I-35. In Georgetown, 25 miles north ...

May 01, 2009 Last Monday I learned that my photo of the Echinacea and other native plants, above, had won the Picture This Photo Contest at Gardening Gone Wild. Reading the nice things photographer Saxon Holt said about my image might have been prize enough—and it was quite nice indeed—but ...

April 23, 2009 Hymenoxys, or four-nerve daisy (Tetraneuris scaposa ) When I started gardening in Austin, which was really when I started gardening, period, I nearly became a native-plant snob. I’d been converted, you see, by the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center, which opened my eyes to the native beauty ...

June 10, 2008 Last Saturday morning I had the pleasure of meeting professional photographer Rob Cardillo and observing as he photographed my front garden. He was scouting for images of regional design for his upcoming fourth book with Nancy Ondra, about perennial maintenance, and for ideas he can pitch to ...