March 19, 2010 Midway in our recent road trip through the Sunshine State, we spontaneously decided to visit the Florida Keys, a series of islands extending into the Gulf of Mexico for 127 miles, traversable via the Overseas Highway and ending in Key West, the southernmost point in the continental …

March 18, 2010 A spectacular welcome-home sight greeted me today: dozens of red-and-purple poppies! When we left for a Florida road trip on March 6, these seedlings were just beginning to bud. Nearly two weeks of sun and a few rain showers work wonders when spring is at your doorstep …

March 16, 2010 New leaves are unfurling on shrubs, vines, perennials, and ornamental trees. Spring has sprung in Austin. But I still can’t overlook the beauty of succulents on this Foliage Follow-Up, a celebration of foliage on the day after Bloom Day. I mean, just look at this blazing orange, …

March 15, 2010 Recent purchases are making me happy with a sunny-side-up Bloom Day. Cute little hymenoxys, also known as four-nerve daisy (Tetraneuris scaposa), is in bud and in bloom. This tiny Texas native is super tough and nearly ever-blooming. It loves full sun and good drainage. Another hymenoxys flower …

March 10, 2010 Over at Gardening Gone Wild, the theme for this month’s Picture This photo contest, judged by photographer Saxon Holt, is Awakening. We don’t get much of a winter here in Austin. But the garden still looks a little drab after our hard freezes this year. Enter gopher …

March 07, 2010 A few years ago, I’d never come across gopher plant (Euphorbia rigida) in local nurseries. But now it’s everywhere. And with good reason. Euphorbia rigida‘s pretty blue-green foliage is topped in spring with chartreuse bracts and yellow flowers. After the hottest summer on record and one of …

March 05, 2010 Ghost plant looking gorgeous in late-afternoon light I’ve been working every spare hour on the sunburst patio around my stock-tank pond, and my back and legs are sore from moving so much stone, sand, and gravel. The fish are probably wondering what’s going on. All material © …

March 02, 2010 I’ve started paving the circular patio/path around my stock-tank pond, which for a year has lain fallow with a temporary layer of decomposed granite while I saved up for brick or stone. I enjoy making paths through the garden, and I thought it might be fun to …

March 02, 2010 I’ve started paving the circular patio/path around my stock-tank pond, which for a year has lain fallow with a temporary layer of decomposed granite while I saved up for brick or stone. I enjoy making paths through the garden, and I thought it might be fun to …

February 28, 2010 Thrusting sabres. Clashing swords. Yellow-costumed fencers are dueling in my garden. It can be a blood sport if you’re careless. But while Yucca filamentosa ‘Color Guard’ is armed with sharp spines, its leaves are fairly flexible, not stiff, and so less dangerous. Brightly colored leaves promise year-round …

February 26, 2010 Let me just say, for the record, that I love Austin’s winters. For one thing, they aren’t summer. For another, they aren’t that cold. We often enjoy sunny days in the 60s, even 70s, mingled in with some 50s, and only the occasional hard freeze. It’s a …

February 24, 2010 Night owl news! The squatter squirrel has departed or been evicted by the new tenant. At last, after a year-long wait, we have a screech owl in our owl box. I noticed her (or him) on Tuesday, as I was out covering tender plants before a predicted …

February 23, 2010 In a couple of weeks, as bulbs begin to bloom, perennials re-leaf, and spring arrives in earnest here in central Texas, the floral displays at the nurseries will sing their siren song, and it’ll be all too easy to forget about the structural foliage plants that anchor …

February 23, 2010 Fat, fluffy snowflakes have quieted the garden and outlined the trees. After our super hot summer, lengthy drought, and record cold temperatures over the past year, I don’t know why this surprises me. But it does. According to Mark Lisheron at Statesman.com, it has snowed in Austin …