You're invited to a gardening talk by Coleson Bruce

You’re invited to a gardening talk by Coleson Bruce

December 13, 2023 Central Texas gardeners, join me on Thursday, January 18th, for a Garden Spark talk by Coleson Bruce, an Austin gardener extraordinaire! Tickets are on sale now. This is an in-person event, and seating is limited, so grab your spot today. And hey, a gardening talk makes a great holiday ...
James David and Gary Peese's new garden in New Mexico

James David and Gary Peese’s new garden in New Mexico

September 09, 2022 Landscape architect James David and Gary Peese departed Austin about 5 years ago, leaving behind a 36-year-old, swoon-worthy garden that regularly starred on Open Days Tours and was covered by Martha Stewart, Architectural Digest, and, ahem, yours truly (click for my final visit). Looking for cooler weather, ...
Allen Centennial Garden on UW–Madison campus

Allen Centennial Garden on UW–Madison campus

July 16, 2022 Allen Centennial Garden, a free public garden at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, offers a pleasant garden stroll around a Queen Anne mansion. The garden was our final stop on the recent Madison Garden Bloggers Fling tour. I also made a quick visit with friends before the Fling ...
Coleson Bruce's crevice garden in spring flower

Coleson Bruce’s crevice garden in spring flower

May 04, 2022 Two weeks ago Coleson Bruce invited me back to his garden to see it in spring flower. I’d first visited Coleson’s garden last fall — a garden unlike any other I’ve seen in Austin or even Texas. Colorado-style crevice gardens are unusual here, and Coleson’s is not ...
A Texas-style crevice garden - and neighborly collaboration - brings midcentury Austin home to vibrant life

A Texas-style crevice garden – and neighborly collaboration – brings midcentury Austin home to vibrant life

January 18, 2022 At the end of October, when Loree of Danger Garden was in town for her Garden Spark talk, we finagled an invitation to the tropicalesque garden of John Ignacio. John in turn introduced us to his friend and neighbor Coleson Bruce, who kindly allowed a couple of ...
Betty Ford Alpine Gardens grows high in the Rockies

Betty Ford Alpine Gardens grows high in the Rockies

August 05, 2021 At 8,200 feet above sea level, Betty Ford Alpine Gardens in Vail, Colorado, claims bragging rights as the highest botanical garden in North America. It’s named, of course, in honor of the former first lady, who along with her husband, former President Gerald Ford, was a beloved ...
Steppe garden evangelist Panayoti Kelaidis's garden: Denver Garden Bloggers Fling

Steppe garden evangelist Panayoti Kelaidis’s garden: Denver Garden Bloggers Fling

July 18, 2019 Despite its Mile High City moniker, Denver is not a mountain town. True, the snow-capped peaks of the Rockies loom on its western horizon, but Denver sits on a relatively flat, semi-arid, grassy plain — aka a steppe, one of the 4 vast steppe ecosystems in the ...
Children's Garden at Denver Botanic Gardens: Denver Garden Bloggers Fling

Children’s Garden at Denver Botanic Gardens: Denver Garden Bloggers Fling

July 17, 2019 Part of the Mordecai Children’s Garden at Denver Botanic Gardens, which I visited during the Denver Fling (June 2019), sits atop a parking garage, making it one very large rooftop garden. A pretty alpine garden, including this crevice garden, greets you as you enter, and it surprised ...
Steppe garden, foxtail lilies, and sculpture at Denver Botanic Gardens: Denver Garden Bloggers Fling

Steppe garden, foxtail lilies, and sculpture at Denver Botanic Gardens: Denver Garden Bloggers Fling

July 16, 2019 All 80+ bloggers had lunch under a pavilion at Denver Botanic Gardens on Day 3 of the Denver Garden Bloggers Fling (June 2019), and then we were set loose for about an hour. One hour is not enough time to see DBG, of course. One day hardly ...
Crevice gardens to crave at the garden of Carol Shinn: Denver Garden Bloggers Fling

Crevice gardens to crave at the garden of Carol Shinn: Denver Garden Bloggers Fling

June 28, 2019 Colorado gardeners are crazy for crevice gardens, and no wonder. When the Rocky Mountains peek over your back fence, creating a miniature mountain range in your yard makes perfect sense. Alpine plants that thrive at high altitude and require excellent drainage love these rocky niches. Crevice gardens ...
Wildflowers and Succulents: A Texas-English garden, part 2

Wildflowers and Succulents: A Texas-English garden, part 2

April 11, 2019 Doorways in chunky stucco walls frame vista after flowery vista in the garden of Jenny Stocker, also known as Rock Rose, the title of her blog. I showed you half of her Austin garden yesterday. Today I’ll lead you through the rest, starting with the sunken garden ...
Foxgloves and cacti: A Texas-English garden, part 1

Foxgloves and cacti: A Texas-English garden, part 1

April 09, 2019 Ah, let us return to the always-stunning garden of Jenny Stocker, aka Rock Rose. Born and raised in England, Jenny and her husband, David, years ago adopted Texas as their home. Jenny’s garden, a series of stucco-walled courtyards surrounding their contemporary house, reflects her English roots but ...
Rock stars at Kew: Alpine House rockery and dry garden

Rock stars at Kew: Alpine House rockery and dry garden

July 14, 2018 I’ve never been much into glasshouses. I generally find them jungly, warm, and humid — conditions I don’t enjoy during Austin’s long summers and don’t wish to experience artificially. But an alpine glasshouse, with cool temps, tidy potted plants, and a nice breeze? Bring it on! While ...
Glorious wildflowers and agaves in Jenny Stocker's garden

Glorious wildflowers and agaves in Jenny Stocker’s garden

April 20, 2018 Spring in Austin is glorious this year, and especially so in my friend Jenny Stocker’s garden. The Rock Rose blogger cultivates a gravel garden of mostly Texas native wildflowers and grasses sown among woody lilies like agave and yucca, accented with structural rockwork she and her husband, ...
Falling for the Folly Bowl, a garden amphitheater

Falling for the Folly Bowl, a garden amphitheater

October 07, 2015 Twelve years ago, Los Angeles garden designer Susanna Dadd and her husband, artist James Griffith, built a back-yard amphitheater in a ravine alongside their Altadena home. Dubbing it The Folly Bowl, they’ve been hosting free, or nearly free, public concerts each summer, choosing unique performers that will ...
Visiting a San Antonio garden with rocks, oaks, and deer

Visiting a San Antonio garden with rocks, oaks, and deer

October 25, 2014 Ahh, I’m back and enjoying our mellow Texas fall after a garden-visiting weekend in New York City, and guess what I’ve been doing since I got back? Yep! Visiting more gardens. Last Friday a few friends and I headed south to San Antonio to visit the gardens ...