Lawn-free prairie garden of Native Son’s Danny Bravens
May 07, 2025 This spring, Danny Bravens, owner of Native Son Gardens, gave a Garden Spark presentation about replacing traditional thirsty turf with low-water, densely planted, native prairie plants — the kind of transformational work he does every day for homeowners (and for schools through the nonprofit Plant Community). The ...
Cottage garden charm in Tom’s Tarrytown garden, Part 1
April 25, 2025 Spring is when I get invited — or invite myself — into gardens all around Austin. It’s a rush to see as many as I can before summer and the Death Star arrive. Right now though, it’s sweetness and light! Especially in the charming cottage garden of ...
Wildflower safari east to Independence
April 13, 2025 The wildflower reporters I follow — and my own eyes — say this is a poor year for Texas bluebonnets and other spring wildflowers, especially from Austin west into the Hill Country. Our ongoing drought kept seedlings from germinating last fall, and there hasn’t been much rain ...
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 ...
Austin homes on 2025 Tribeza Interiors Tour, Part 2
February 02, 2025 Flora-and-fauna wallpaper with painted trim to match. Fabulous geometric floor tile. A rich use of color and pattern. I’m a maximalist at heart and have a weakness for these bold design moves. You’ll see lots of them in today’s post — part 2 of my coverage of ...
Fall at Denver Botanic Gardens: Monet Pool, Japanese teahouse, and bonsai
January 11, 2025 The Monet Pool at Denver Botanic Gardens is the largest of several ponds at the garden. Dark-dyed water makes a mirrored surface, reflecting orange canna blossoms, reedy papyrus, and cloven waterlily pads. This is Part 6 of my tour from my visit in late September. Monet Pool ...
Fall at Denver Botanic Gardens: Pond, prairie garden, and Victorian garden
January 10, 2025 One of my favorite places within Denver Botanic Gardens‘ 24 acres is the naturalistic Gates Pond. Half-hidden in a back corner, the pond is bordered on one side by a prairie garden, on the other by a piney woodland bluff. This is Part 5 of my tour ...
Tobin Land Bridge gives wildlife and people safe passage
January 02, 2025 Before the Tobin Land Bridge was built in Phil Hardberger Park in San Antonio, deer, bobcats, coyotes, armadillos, and other four-legged wildlife had to dash Frogger-like across 6 lanes of traffic to access all 330 acres of habitat. Wurzbach Parkway kept people from exploring half the parkland ...
Exploring the Gardens on Spring Creek in fall
December 01, 2024 I always look for gardens to visit when I travel, and our fall trip up to Denver included quite a few. Happily I was able to squeeze in another during a day trip to Fort Collins, where we spent a couple hours at The Gardens on Spring ...
Cold-hardy cactus and more at plantsman Kelly Grummons’s garden
November 12, 2024 While in Denver this fall, I found Colorado gardeners to be warm and generous about sharing their creations and eager to make introductions to other gardeners they admire. That’s how I came to meet plantsman Kelly Grummons, co-owner of specialty nursery Prairie Storm Nursery. How, exactly? After ...
Checking out the new Academic Quad at Rice
November 05, 2024 This Owl flew back to Rice University in Houston last weekend for Homecoming. Under rain-threatening skies, I walked around the beautiful campus to see what was new. I always admire this sleek barn owl sculpted by Geoffrey Dashwood, which sits behind the Rice Chapel. But what I ...
Gillian Mathews’ garden for outdoor lounging and dining
September 18, 2024 I’ve wanted to visit the Seattle garden of Gillian Mathews, former owner of Ravenna Gardens, since reading about it at Danger Garden and in the Seattle Times. Designed by Richard Hartlage of Land Morphology (whose personal garden I recently visited), its modern style, lush plantings, and original ...
A little shopping at Ravenna Gardens in Seattle
September 13, 2024 I can’t buy the plants at Ravenna Gardens in Seattle — I mean, why torture them by bringing them home to Texas? — but I still love shopping there because of how beautifully they display plants, pots, and garden/home decor. I first visited during the Seattle Fling ...
Tiki-style pond and lush courtyard at the Galicic Garden
September 12, 2024 If you feel you’ve seen a lot of coverage of Washington gardens lately, it’s true. This is my 26th post about the Puget Sound Fling tour in July. While I have a few more posts about places I saw on my own, including Gillian Mathews’ garden, Seattle ...
Living on the edge in the Livingston Garden
September 11, 2024 I wish I knew how steep this garden is, and how many steps I climbed while exploring it. It’s a leg workout for sure. On the bonus day of the Puget Sound Fling in July, we visited Millie Livingston’s Seattle garden. At nearly 2 acres, the garden ...
The elegant Pepper Garden with a water view
September 07, 2024 By lunchtime, we’d already visited four gardens on the bonus Seattle day of the Puget Sound Fling. Three more to go! Our next stop was an elegant home right on Lake Washington, with welcoming owners Vangie and Daniel Pepper. Let’s start in the back garden and work ...
