Meadow in bloom for the birds and bees
June 15, 2023 While I was in San Antonio two weeks ago, Melody shared a friend’s meadow garden with me. The Kinder garden on Winding Way glowed that morning with tall golden sunflowers, swaths of fiery blanketflower, and my new fave, shaggy lavender American basketflower. I circled the meadow, enjoying ...
Old San Antonio style in Melody’s garden
June 12, 2023 While in San Antonio two weeks ago, I met up with my friend Melody, who invited me to see her garden again. I first visited 9 years ago — whaaaat? where does the time go? — and was eager to see it again. In her large flower ...
A friend’s new garden takes shape in San Antonio
June 09, 2023 My friend Jean McWeeney, an enthusiastic gardener, birder, and naturalist, relocated to San Antonio last year from Houston, and before that from Louisiana. She left behind an established garden in Louisiana and a temporary one in Houston, and now she’s making a new garden in the drier ...
Fawns welcome me home
May 29, 2023 Did you notice it’s been a little quiet around here? If you follow my Instagram, you already know I joined my husband this spring on a 5-week RVing trip to see national parks in Utah, Colorado, Wyoming, Montana, and the Dakotas. (Find my Instagram stories about the ...
Garden party at Lucinda’s purple casita
April 05, 2023 I kicked up my heels at Lucinda Hutson‘s purple casita a week ago, charmed as ever by her festive, Tex-Mex garden and her way of celebrating life through good food, friendship, and color. I wore a Mexican-style dress like Lucinda often does, but I left the purple ...
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 ...
Spikes and springtime
March 22, 2023 Spiderwort (Tradescantia occidentalis), a self-sowing native and a springtime beauty, continues to color my shady spaces purple. Its bee-feeding flowers open at dawn and close in the early afternoon, except on cool, cloudy days, when they may stay open all day. More flower spikes line the raised ...
Crossvine trumpeting spring’s arrival
March 12, 2023 Of all the vines that grow well with little care in Central Texas, ‘Tangerine Beauty’ crossvine (Bignonia capreolata ‘Tangerine Beauty’) may be my favorite. This spring-flowering beauty blushes with abundant orange blossoms with golden centers, and the vine is semi-evergreen in winter too. It has always bloomed, even ...
Flowering trees and more unfurling
March 02, 2023 Yesterday the Mexican plum (Prunus mexicana) burst into full bloom, transforming itself from bare twigs to fluffy white flowers seemingly overnight. And early! Last year, according to this blog post, the Mexican plum bloomed 2 weeks later than usual, in late March. This year it bloomed on ...
Garden stirrings
February 27, 2023 The freeze-damaged aloes (Aloe maculata) may have lost most of their fleshy arms, but check this out: they’re sending up flower spikes for spring anyway. Go, aloes, go! Here’s another one with just a couple “limbs,” but look at the size of that flower spike. These plants ...
One-of-a-kind design on the 2023 Tribeza Interiors Tour, Part 2
January 26, 2023 I’m so glad Austin’s excellent Tribeza Interiors Tour is back after a 2-year pandemic hiatus. On Sunday’s tour day, I managed to see all 7 of the featured houses, plus squeeze in a picnic lunch courtesy of my touring partner, in the 5 hours allotted to the ...
Color-saturated homes on 2023 Tribeza Interiors Tour, Part 1
January 25, 2023 A pink front door and chromatic rug make a cheerful entry at Genie Norris’s house The quiet season for gardening makes the perfect season to focus on interiors — and to attend Austin’s annual Tribeza Interiors Tour. After a two-year pandemic hiatus, the tour resumed last Sunday, ...
Pond of the Blue Moon and bird- and gator-watching at Shangri La Botanical Gardens
December 16, 2022 Yesterday I introduced you to Shangri La Botanical Gardens & Nature Center, which sits along a bayou in Orange, Texas, right at the Louisiana border, and I shared a tour of the inner gardens. Today I’ll complete the tour starting at the back of the 250-acre property, ...
Shangri La Botanical Gardens, a garden fairy tale
December 15, 2022 Dancing Sisters bottle tree sculpture at Shangri La Sleeping Beauty has nothing on Shangri La Botanical Gardens & Nature Center. Located in the small town of Orange, Texas, just across the Sabine River from Louisiana, Shangri La’s very existence is in some ways as fantastical as the ...
Enjoying fall color and a mellow garden
December 07, 2022 By the time I hang red Christmas balls from the agave’s spines, the Japanese maple finally blushes red too. Fall comes late to Central Texas, but I’ll take it, even at Christmastime. Last week was peak color for the Acer palmatum. Today, shriveled tan leaves cling to ...
Bewitching bonsai, art, and autumn gardens at North Carolina Arboretum
November 30, 2022 Located in Asheville on the doorstep of the Blue Ridge Parkway, with views of the Southern Appalachian Mountains, the North Carolina Arboretum draws hikers, mountain bikers, and trail walkers thanks to 10 miles of wooded, hilly, dog-friendly trails. But garden lovers like myself find plenty to enjoy ...
