Agaves, salvias, and wildflowers going strong
May 22, 2025 Early summer is a good time in the garden, with late wildflowers in bloom and foliage still fresh and green. I’ve mostly been standing under the owl tree lately, but I do walk around to see what’s new in the garden too. Let’s start in the Circle ...
Garden flowers as summer arrives
May 19, 2025 My eyes have been trained on the trees lately, as I scan for our screech owl family at all hours. But the garden catches my eye too as it transitions to early summer flowering. Here are a few recent photos from garden amblings. That’s purple skullcap in ...
Purple passion and roses in Lucinda’s garden
April 03, 2025 When April’s roses unfurl their soft petals, Lucinda Hutson whips up a batch of Purple Passion cocktails (dry gin, fresh lemon juice, and crème de violette liqueur), assembles garden-fresh hors d’oeuvres, and invites her friends over to enjoy the spring spectacle. I count myself very fortunate to ...
Not feeling cross about crossvine in bloom, and more!
March 31, 2025 When it goes, it goes. Ka-boom! An explosion of orange trailing along the coyote fence. ‘Tangerine Beauty’ crossvine is one of my favorite vines for spring color. It’s native, semi-evergreen, attractive to pollinators, vigorous but not invasive (unlike similar-looking trumpet vine — avoid!), and tough as nails ...
Exposed limestone and winter foliage in my garden
February 11, 2025 The exposed limestone slabs in the lower garden have always been one of the most remarked on features of my garden. New visitors often ask me if I brought them in. After all, moving limestone boulders around is a big part of landscape design here. We love ...
Fall at Denver Botanic Gardens: Perennial Walk and Romantic Gardens
January 12, 2025 With orange spines on its leaves and bright purple flowers, porcupine tomato (Solanum pyracanthos) looks like it’s from another planet. I spotted this one at Denver Botanic Gardens. This is Part 7 and my final post from my visit last September. Japanese anemone Crossroads Garden Let’s start ...
Prepping for first bite of winter
January 05, 2025 Austin is finally prepping for our first hard freeze this winter, delayed past the average of late November or early December. I’m grateful for the extended lovely fall we’ve enjoyed. Now it’s time for a short rest — but not until after a mad rushing around to ...
Screech owl still hanging around
October 16, 2024 The screech owl is still hanging out in the owl box each day, dozing in the doorway each morning or alert but relaxed each evening. It seems comfortable with me walking around below, staying put when I move trash bins or get the mail. I enjoy watching ...
Early taste of fall so I’m back in the garden
September 10, 2024 The weather gods gave Austin a month-early taste of fall over the past few days. Summer returns this week, but wow, what a delight it’s been to step outside in the morning to temps in the low 60s with low humidity! All day yesterday I tidied up ...
More exuberance at the Sparler-Schouten Garden, part 2
September 01, 2024 There was too much garden goodness and exuberance to contain in one post about Daniel Sparler and Jeff Schouten’s Garden of Exuberant Refuge, which I visited on the Puget Sound Fling. Here’s Part 1, if you missed it. Today, Part 2 starts on the back patio of ...
Circling back to my garden
April 24, 2024 I’ve been running around visiting gardens in Austin and beyond this spring, but every day I stop and breathe deep in my own garden, taking in the green freshness of the season. The Circle Garden view from the deck makes me particularly happy right now. Its graphic ...
Spring in full swing in my garden
April 03, 2024 What a great time of year this is in a Central Texas garden. The days have been comfortable but not hot. The humidity is low. We’ve had a little rain but also plenty of sun. And the plants are racing with new growth and flowers. They’re feeling ...
October blooms brighten my garden
October 12, 2023 October! It’s the best month of the year, providing sweet relief from a Texas summer with cooler weather and rain and bringing the garden back to life. Let’s take a stroll ALL around the garden and see what there is to see. It’s oxblood lily season! These ...
Hot summer survivors and new book news
August 21, 2023 This summer, y’all. Am I right, my fellow Texas gardeners? But even with two months of surface-of-the-sun temps and zero rain, at least a few plants are happy. Like this pink-flowering mammillaria cactus that burst into silken bloom a few days after I gave it a deep ...
Plants and pots at Shades of Green nursery in San Antonio
June 22, 2023 Friends in San Antonio told me they like to shop at Shades of Green nursery, so when I was in town a few weeks ago I decided it was time for a visit. The place looks small from the outside, but as soon as I walked in, ...
Flowers going up and coming down
April 03, 2023 The first hummingbird appeared last weekend, zooming under the dangling red flowers of soap aloes. No surprise there. Those aloes put out quite the welcome mat for hummers. The spiderwort has had a good run — here’s a volunteer by the covered porch, looking pretty — but ...
