Native plants and Hill Country style at Paula Stone’s Fredericksburg garden
A tour of Paula Stone’s native plant gardens and Gilbriar Gazebo wedding venue in picturesque Fredericksburg, Texas.… Read More
No Rain? No Problem. Read my interview about waterwise gardening in Garden Gate magazine
It’s been a hot, dry summer for a lot of us, and our gardens may be looking pretty parched right about now. I grow a waterwise garden here in Austin, but even so I lost a few plants after the rain spigot cut off in mid-July. There’s always more I can do to make my own garden more of a water-saver, not a water-guzzler, and perhaps you feel the same way. … Read More
Waterwise beauty and metal animal safari in Linda Peterson’s San Antonio garden
December 05, 2018 An invitation to Linda Peterson’s garden in San Antonio proved too tempting a treat to resist on the day before Halloween. I arrived in San Antonio in time to tour the terrific new culinary and adventure gardens … Read More
Book Review: Dry Gardens: High Style for Low Water Gardens
November 03, 2018 Not so long ago, a book about dry gardens in the U.S. would have featured cactus and rocks. Dry stuff indeed, except for the cactus aficionado. Over the past couple of decades, as drought and water shortages … Read More
Rainy day visit to Jenny Stocker’s garden
October 23, 2018 A visit to Jenny Stocker‘s gorgeous walled garden is always a treat, even on a chilly, rainy day like last Friday (and actually all this month). Jenny kindly opened her garden to me and my friend Susan … Read More
Kirk Walden’s Hill Country garden atop Lake Austin
May 25, 2018 With this killer view of Lake Austin, many homeowners might have sodded a lawn, plunked a few pots of annuals around the pool, and called it done. But Kirk Walden, whose garden was the final stop on … Read More
Waterwise outside, oasis inside a walled Sonoma garden
January 25, 2018 Last August a family road trip took me through Sonoma, California, where I had the pleasure of seeing a garden I was writing about for Garden Design magazine. The owner, Marilyn Coon Stocke, had generously extended an … Read More
Water-saving Ridgewood Road Garden: Austin Open Days Tour 2017
November 22, 2017 The talented Annie Gillespie of Botanical Concerns designed the water-saving garden at Ridgewood Road, the next garden in my recap of Austin’s recent Open Days Tour. From the street you’re invited to stroll through a low-water garden … Read More
Two must-read books for succulent lovers: Succulents and Designing with Succulents
September 20, 2017 All you succulent junkies, listen up. If you love succulents or want to learn how to grow them, two newly released books by succulent-gardening trailblazers Debra Lee Baldwin and Robin Stockwell need to be at the top … Read More
Turning a neighborhood median strip into a garden
April 18, 2017 A few years ago I toured Colleen Jamison’s beautiful garden in central-west Austin, and a few days ago I had the pleasure of a revisit. It is still wonderful! But here’s what wowed me before I even … Read More
Talking waterwise gardens, blogging & more on Still Growing Podcast
January 27, 2017 Have a seat at the kitchen table, and let’s have a chat! At least, that’s how it felt to be interviewed last week by Jennifer Ebeling, host of the popular Still Growing Podcast, for an episode about … Read More
Drive-By Gardens: Aloes abloom in modern dry garden of Karen Lantz
April 03, 2014 ‘Blue Elf’ aloes, purple prickly pear, gold sedum, and smooth sotol and silver ponyfoot in the steel ring, with an Opuntia “tree” behind I’m hearing from many of you how much you enjoy my Drive-By Gardens posts, … Read More
Sculptural dry gardens at the Ruth Bancroft Garden: San Francisco Garden Bloggers Fling
July 27, 2013 Our 1st stop on the 3rd and final day of the San Francisco Garden Bloggers Fling was the Ruth Bancroft Garden in Walnut Creek. It was about 100 degrees F in Walnut Creek that last week of … Read More