Fantastical rockwork and koi pond at Japanese Tea Garden in San Antonio
May 07, 2024 While hunting for faux bois works throughout San Antonio last month, I couldn’t miss the chance to visit the Japanese Tea Garden in Brackenridge Park. I was last there 11 years ago, and I was eager to see its distinctive rock architecture again. A torii gate of ...
A sheep pen turned country garden in Blanco
May 06, 2024 A year ago I received an invitation to visit a unique garden in Blanco, a small town an hour west of Austin in the Texas Hill Country. Because I was working nonstop on my book, I took a rain check until this spring. Recently I drove out ...
“It’s what was here”: A prairie garden grows near downtown Austin
May 01, 2024 You wouldn’t expect to find a huge prairie garden here — the backyard of a private home so close to downtown Austin that blue-glass skyscrapers peek over the treetops. Owner Colin Corgan bought a historic 1880s house in the Travis Heights neighborhood a few years ago and ...
Blue magic in Lori Daul’s garden
April 27, 2024 I returned to one of my favorite Austin gardens last weekend, the South Austin garden of designer Lori Daul. It’s an oasis with, by our count, ten water features including multiple stock-tank ponds, birdbaths, and ground-level saucers tucked into groundcovers. The color blue unites everything, adding to ...
Backyard prairie garden in East Austin
April 23, 2024 A young couple who’ve attended my Garden Spark talks told me they’d drawn inspiration for their garden from two speakers, prairie-garden advocate John Hart Asher and crevice gardener Coleson Bruce. Intrigued, I suggested a garden visit (i.e., invited myself over), and they graciously agreed. So last week, ...
Transplanted from PNW, Nancy begins new garden in Austin
March 23, 2024 I was happy to visit the new garden of a new gardening friend a few days ago. Located in Austin’s Windsor Hills neighborhood, the garden represents a new beginning for its creator, Nancy Fortner (@gardeningwhileold). In 2021, to be near their daughter, Nancy and her late husband, ...
Lucinda’s purple-heart home and garden
March 20, 2024 Who can resist Lucinda Hutson‘s purple casita with mango trim and festive garden? Not me! When Lucinda invited me over last week for a spring garden visit, I happily said yes. The color-party starts on the alcove-like porch, where grape walls and a deep-rose screen door are ...
Shantung maple’s charming flowers
March 17, 2024 When I decided to experiment with a ‘Fire Dragon’ Shantung maple last April — purchased at Metro Maples during a garden scouting expedition in the Dallas/Fort Worth area — I had no idea it would do this: burst into bloom with starry, acid-yellow flowers. My little 5-gallon ...
Early March visit to Mercer Botanic Gardens in Humble
March 12, 2024 Two weekends ago, during a trip to Houston to see family and friends, I made a morning visit to Mercer Botanic Gardens in the northern suburb of Humble. The gardens were just waking up for spring, and I enjoyed a leisurely stroll along garden paths and trails ...