A tradition of faux bois, or trabajo rustico, in San Antonio
April 22, 2024 Faux bois palapa at Landa Library Last week I roadtripped to San Antonio to explore the city’s faux bois tradition, or trabajo rústico as it’s known locally. These functional works of art — mostly garden furniture but also planters, shade structures, bridges, and even bus stops — ...
Flowers of middle spring in my Austin garden
April 14, 2024 After Texas mountain laurels and plums have dropped their fragrant blossoms, after bluebonnets and other early wildflowers have gone to messy seed, but before heat-loving salvias and skullcap and Turk’s cap get going, we enter what I call middle spring in Central Texas. It’s lush and flowery, ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
Man, I got manifold mangaves!
March 11, 2024 In February I posted on Instagram a summer-memory photo of a mangave I love, and @plantsplantsen messaged me about it. “Nice to meet another mangave fan,” he wrote. We chatted, and he offered to send me some mangave pups in the spring. “Whaaaat? Are you a mangave ...
Crossvine, plum, and spiderwort at peak bloom
March 10, 2024 What’s making me happiest in my garden right now? Let me show you! My favorite plant this week is ‘Tangerine Beauty’ crossvine. Look at those crinkled, open-throated, mango-hued blossoms, singing spring for all they’re worth. A single vine has crept along the coyote fence at the back ...
Digging is 18 years old, and other news
February 20, 2024 Last week I celebrated two milestones. Digging turned 18 years old on Valentine’s Day, which means the blog is a full-fledged adult now. Still can’t drink though. I’m amazed by how long blogging has continued to interest me, even as so many other blogs that started around ...
Falling into ruin at Chanticleer Garden
January 13, 2024 Chanticleer’s Ruin Garden has a fairy tale quality. It’s not an actual ruin but was built in 1999 on the site of one of the original houses on the property. Plants creep up crumbling walls and emerge from cracked paving, ghostly faces appear in pools of water, ...
Wading into Chanticleer’s Pond Garden
January 05, 2024 The Pond Garden at Chanticleer draws visitors like a magnet. Water features always do. Five ponds surrounded by blousy gardens are found at the bottom of the long hillside that begins at the garden’s entrance. This is Part 6 of my visit to Chanticleer during the Philadelphia ...
Chanticleer’s dreamy House Garden
January 01, 2024 Happy New Year! Let’s kick off 2024 with another post about glorious Chanticleer Garden, which I visited in late September during the Philadelphia Area Fling. Today I’ll show you the House Garden. Gravel Circle A rooster statue — the symbol of Chanticleer — greets you at the ...
Chanticleer Garden is my cup o’ tea
December 29, 2023 The enchanting Chanticleer was worth two visits during September’s Philadelphia Area Fling tour. I flew in early from Texas in order to spend an entire day exploring Chanticleer, knowing I’d see it again for a few hours on Day 2 of the tour. More is more! This ...
Christmastime flowers and no freeze yet
December 24, 2023 Here it is Christmas, and Austin has so far escaped a hard freeze. That plus mild temps and occasional rain showers means flowers, flowers, flowers! Like Mexican flame vine (Senecio confusus) delivering punchy orange petals to the elevated deck. Giant ligularia (Farfugium japonicum ‘Gigantea’) glows with yellow daisies ...
Birds and native thorn forest at Quinta Mazatlan
December 19, 2023 In early November, I drove 5 hours south to the Rio Grande Valley, land of citrus orchards and skinny-trunked palm trees. I was there for the final photo shoot for my upcoming book on Texas gardens (due out in 2025 with Timber Press). But I couldn’t leave ...
Gardens for adventure, art, and games at Paxson Hill Farm
November 22, 2023 Picking up my tour of Paxson Hill Farm — from the Philadelphia Area Fling in September — where I left off yesterday, let’s keep exploring! After emerging from the hobbit house hideaway, I followed the path uphill through another weeping-tree arch. The romance! Am I right? The ...
