Austin goes extra batty in August, when the colony of Mexican free-tailed bats under the Congress Avenue Bridge swells with newly flying pups. As the pups join their mothers on their nightly bug-eating flights, bat watching gets even better than usual …

Every so often I need a unique gift for a garden-loving friend, and I’ll head to Articulture to see what’s new. I don’t think I’ve ever left empty-handed. But first I have to get to the front door, after ogling their gorgeous outdoor planters …

After Provence, we drove north to Lyon, where we would catch our flight home. But first we had a day of sightseeing. Of course that included a garden. Lyon’s botanical garden is part of Parc de la Tête d’Or, a large city park that also encompasses the city’s zoo, a …

I can explore a garden or busy market all day long, but I have a low attention span for cathedrals and museums, no matter how stunning. I joke with my husband, who loves the history and culture of such spaces, that I prefer places that are alive, not dead. So …

We day-tripped through Provence for 5 days in late July, climbing steep lanes in the hill towns of the Luberon, chartering a boat to view the calanques of Cassis, and watching famous paintings come to life at Carrières de Lumières …

Summer in Provence — what do you think of? Fields of lavender and sunflowers, sun-washed hill towns, buzzing cicadas, hot days and cool nights, a glass of wine at a small table along a cobblestone street? Yes, yes, and yes …

When our connecting flight through London Heathrow was cancelled we unexpectedly had 24 hours for sightseeing. Along with hordes of other tourists, we rode the London Eye …

Garden design aficionados, take note! My second Garden Spark speaker of 2019 will be Thomas Rainer on Thursday, September 19th, 8-9 pm, presenting “Planting in a Post-Wild World: Designing Plant Communities for More Resilient Landscapes.” …

Morning light in the front garden, with Berkeley sedge aglow, a hulking ‘Green Goblet’ agave, and a silvery groundcover of woolly stemodia — this is a summer scene I enjoy before the Death Star gets high in the sky …

Amused by skull-tipped agaves in Dan Johnson’s Denver garden, I’ve given a few of my own agaves the Yorick treatment. Turns out, all sorts of skull beads can be found online. Who knew!? I ordered strings of yellow, orange, and white …

I’m delighted to share that I have two articles in the current issue of Country Gardens (Fall 2019), a wonderful magazine filled with design inspiration and the stories of regular gardeners with vision, enthusiasm, and a love of plants …

August 07, 2019 From such little seeds, what a profusion of flowers! Two evenings in a row this week, my seed-grown datura (Datura wrightii) unfurled more than two dozen blossoms, which shine like spotlights through the night and into the next morning. It’s a superbloom! Here’s how they look as …

Despite its chancy beginning, ‘Purple Pillar’ has thrived, gaining vigor and height each year. Following a wet spring and early summer, when it put on a burst of growth, this hardy hibiscus now stands tall and slender, its showy flowers sporting lavender outer petals with a cherry-red, starburst center …

Many people wouldn’t consider buying a house sandwiched between MoPac expressway, a multi-lane highway with freight trains chugging down the center median, and its neighborhood feeder road. But Cynthia Williams Deegan and her husband, Bobby, have a talent for transforming an unpromising property into an indoor-outdoor paradise …