cool gardens in a hot climate™
May 31, 2012 The “big” garden visit on the recent Garden Bloggers Fling in Asheville, North Carolina, was, of course, the Biltmore House gardens. I took a lot of photos of the gardens almost exactly a year ago, on a … Read More
May 30, 2012 Blue bottles on blue trees Blue chairs Blue flying baby heads Blue walls Blue rocks And ‘Blue Pearl’ poppies, the bluer ones in this group—a new cultivar selected by Christopher Mello, who welcomed nearly 90 garden bloggers … Read More
May 27, 2012 Wallowing in poppy goodness, the bees and I enjoyed a visit to the Burton Street Community Peace Gardens while in Asheville recently for the Garden Bloggers Fling. Look at this girl’s full pollen basket on her legs. … Read More
May 26, 2012 Look at this: a tarantula in my garden! I’ve never seen one here before, and this hairy fellow had made it all the way up from the lower garden (where I assume he came in from the … Read More
May 25, 2012 Skulls, skeletons, gravestone fragments, gargoyles, and other eerie tokens are tucked into nooks and crannies… …and dangle from the eaves throughout Wamboldtopia, an art-filled garden (or garden of art) and stonemason’s paradise located off Wamboldt Avenue in … Read More
May 24, 2012 Lunch on the first day of the Garden Bloggers Fling in Asheville, North Carolina, was billed as BBQ and gourmet ice cream from The Hop—yum! Shopping for locally made pottery and art at Curve Studios was promised … Read More
May 23, 2012 The first thing you learn about gardens in Asheville, North Carolina, on the slopes of the Blue Ridge Mountains, is that they have a lot of stairs. We’re talking serious elevation changes. What does this mean for … Read More
May 21, 2012 Regular readers know that I often post about my own garden projects and my garden’s evolution. Heck, when I started blogging 6 years ago, that was the whole point. Today I have a good excuse for posting … Read More
May 16, 2012 The fourth garden on this year’s Wildflower Center-sponsored Gardens on Tour, at 7316 Brecourt Manor Way in southwest Austin, was also the smallest, with only the back yard “gardened up.” The back yard opens to a view … Read More
May 15, 2012 The third garden on this year’s Wildflower Center-sponsored Gardens on Tour, at 6400 Zadock Woods Drive in southwest Austin, was perhaps my favorite of the bunch because of the cheerful native-perennial beds out front, the inviting, shaded … Read More
May 14, 2012 The second garden on this year’s Wildflower Center-sponsored Gardens on Tour, in the high-dollar Westlake neighborhood, was the exception to the smaller suburban gardens that dominated the tour. Although the garden beds (designed by Lann Sawyer of … Read More
May 13, 2012 Selected to inspire the 99%, not the 1%, this year’s Wildflower Center-sponsored Gardens on Tour in Austin was a big success. Past years have sometimes leaned too heavily on mansions with fantasy hardscaping and gardens that seemed … Read More
May 12, 2012 My third stop on the Garden Conservancy’s Open Days tour last weekend was the garden of Paul and Kay Passmore, whose new home of stone, steel, and glass is surrounded by a one-year-old, wildlife-attracting, native-plant garden. Here’s … Read More
May 11, 2012 My second stop on the Garden Conservancy’s Open Days tour last weekend was the Middleton Farm Garden, a contemporary home with homesteading flair in suburban north Dallas. Here’s the official description: A suburban oasis loosely composed as … Read More