Meeting up with “Gays Who Garden” Andrew and Jared
November 15, 2021 I can’t remember when I started following @gayswhogarden on Instagram, but their alliterative, cheeky, and decidedly out username caught my eye, as did their beautiful images of soft-petaled roses, colorful Texas wildflowers, and glowing dahlias (in Austin — how??). We started chatting online, and in due course ...
Lucinda Hutson’s colorful Day of the Dead garden
October 25, 2021 Austin author Lucinda Hutson‘s garden blazes with color every day of the year. But come October, for Day of the Dead, she kicks it up a big notch. Yellow and orange marigolds glow from every pot, mingling with hibiscus, coral vine, and roses in sherbet hues, all ...
Exploring reimagined Waterloo Park in downtown Austin
August 30, 2021 Shade trees are precious in a hot climate, 200-year-old heritage live oaks even more so. As Waterloo Park in downtown Austin emerges from a massive, 10-year redesign and overhaul, two grand old live oaks on the west side of the park greet visitors as if lovingly presented ...
The mysterious allure of Jacob’s Well
July 31, 2021 For years I’ve heard about Jacob’s Well, a cylindrical underwater cavern filled over its brim with chilly (68 F) artesian spring water. Extending beyond the 30-foot-deep well, the cavern’s chambers reach a depth of 137 feet, with narrow passages and silty floors that can cloud the water ...
Wild things living in my garden
July 14, 2021 A month ago I spotted twin newborn fawns in my front garden. They’re still out there most days, only they’re much bigger now and will take flight rather than crouch and hide. The bold one watches warily if we come outside while it’s enjoying an evening lie-down ...
Colorful fall foliage at the Wildflower Center, part 1
November 17, 2020 Fall pounced on Austin quickly this year, then retreated for nearly a month, and then dashed back in, ushering in a brief flare of color. We’d planned to visit Lost Maples this month in hopes of seeing the bigtooth maples flaming red and orange, but we missed ...
Michael McDowell’s front-yard prairie garden
October 16, 2020 How can it have been 9 years since I first visited Michael McDowell’s front-yard prairie garden? Michael’s garden lives large in my memory, alight with morning sunlight and festive fall color (click for my 2011 tour), and it inspires daily via his blog Plano Prairie Garden and ...
Plant trials with style at Redenta’s Landscape Design office garden
October 07, 2020 With beautiful fall weather on tap and the first of the Mexico-bound monarch butterflies reaching North Texas, last weekend seemed like the perfect time for a trip to Dallas-Fort Worth. So I reached out to a few gardeners there and mapped out a 2-day itinerary, and my ...
Wildflowers and wildlife in Yosemite meadow
July 21, 2020 Milkweed and a monarch butterfly in Cook’s Meadow While the sheer cliffs and towering waterfalls of Yosemite National Park tend to get all the attention, Cook’s Meadow in the valley is also beautiful. During our June visit (click here for how we pulled off our socially distanced ...
Wild kingdom in the backyard
April 28, 2020 Texas spiny lizards tend to be skittish, scuttling under the car or a potted plant when you walk by. But one very laid-back lizard has taken up residence on the shady upper patio in recent weeks. It calmly eyes me and holds its ground, even when I’m ...
Read This: The Pollinator Victory Garden
April 22, 2020 Today is Earth Day, a reminder to do all we can to help Mother Nature and make a positive difference for the health of our planet. May I suggest a goal of making your yard or garden (or balcony or patio!) more attractive to pollinators? Gardening to ...
Colorful fall at the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center
November 13, 2019 Before the big freeze I squeezed in a short visit to the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center, unintentionally joining throngs of families streaming in to explore Fortlandia on a beautiful Sunday afternoon. I’d intended to photograph both the flowering gardens and Fortlandia but decided to save the ...
Day of the Dead at Lucinda Hutson’s casita and garden
November 04, 2019 In early November each year, Austin writer Lucinda Hutson celebrates Day of the Dead, a Mexican holiday for remembering and honoring deceased loved ones. Decorating her Rosedale home — her purple casita, as she calls it — and Mexican-style garden with colorful flowers, food, tequila bottles, skeleton ...
Help the Monarch Migration – Cut Back Tropical Milkweed
October 09, 2019 Guest post by Sheryl Williams of Yard Fanatic Monarchs are a beloved insect, and news of their declining numbers has caused alarm. Many homeowners have planted milkweed in an effort to supply larval food for the caterpillars. These good intentions mean that retail nurseries have rushed plant ...
Butterfly vine seedpods flutter into fall garden
October 03, 2019 Monarch butterflies will migrate through Texas this month, headed for their overwintering grounds in Mexico. But already masses of butterflies have arrived in my Austin garden. Butterfly vine seedpods, that is. Butterfly vine, also known as gallinita (Mascagnia macroptera), is my favorite late-summer flowering vine. After its ...
Cat’s pollinator garden with a canyon view
May 16, 2019 Three years ago my friend Cat Jones (check out her IG and blog) and her husband, Derrick, newly empty nesters, sold their house and Cat’s lovely garden and moved to a different home in their Steiner Ranch neighborhood, not to downsize but — fellow gardeners, can you ...
