Jenny Rose Carey’s charming Northview Garden, part 1
November 05, 2023 It was a soggy late-September midday at the Philadelphia Area Fling when we visited author and horticulturist Jenny Rose Carey‘s garden, Northview Garden, in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania. My bus of 50 (garden bloggers, Instagrammers, and YouTubers) was invited first to have a sit-down lunch in the carriage ...
Tropical terraces, color, and meadow at Owl Creek Farm
October 30, 2023 One of my favorite private gardens at the Philadelphia Area Fling back in September was Steve and Ann Hutton’s Owl Creek Farm. It’s not really a farm, so far as I could tell. The Hutton garden is sizeable, though, and its rural setting in West Chester, Pennsylvania, ...
Flamboyant flower borders and containers at Longwood Gardens
October 05, 2023 Longwood Gardens is a showplace of plants designed to wow, and wow it did during the Philadelphia Area Fling tour in late September. Today I’ll show the most crowded — and likely most popular — part of the garden, the Flower Garden Walk and Compartment Gardens. As ...
Into the sunflowers in Longwood’s meadow
October 04, 2023 As I roamed Longwood Gardens during the Philadelphia Area Fling, I was eager to see the Meadow Garden in its late September glory. I set off on the meadow trail in late afternoon, as the light slanted low through golden petals and tawny grasses. I reached the ...
Orchids, silver garden, and living walls at Longwood Gardens conservatory
September 30, 2023 Feathery Acacia leprosa climbing the walls The first time I experienced the over-the-top plant showmanship that is Longwood Gardens was in 2016. I returned last week during the Philadelphia Area Fling, a 3.5-day garden tour hosted by Longwood’s conservatory manager, Karl Gercens. In honor of Karl, I ...
Meadow in bloom for the birds and bees
June 15, 2023 While I was in San Antonio two weeks ago, Melody shared a friend’s meadow garden with me. The Kinder garden on Winding Way glowed that morning with tall golden sunflowers, swaths of fiery blanketflower, and my new fave, shaggy lavender American basketflower. I circled the meadow, enjoying ...
Last of the bluebonnets in Ruthie’s garden
April 14, 2023 Whenever there’s a chance to show more bluebonnets, before they’re gone, show more bluebonnets. I spotted these in Ruthie Burrus’s garden last week. Her spring garden is always a vision, but the last of the bluebonnets, mingling here with pink evening primrose, are what I’m thinking of ...
Spring spurs spuria irises
April 07, 2023 The spuria irises have sprung! Their burnt gold, droopy-petaled flowers perch atop tall stems, surrounded by slender, sword-shaped leaves, sheltered under a crape myrtle canopy. Their distinctive color pops against a green backdrop. They glow behind mauve, fleshy ‘Fiercely Fabulous’ mangave. They make a golden filling between ...
More red trumpets!
September 13, 2022 Last week I came home from a trip to Santa Fe to find the oxblood lilies up and blazing in the back garden. Yesterday, after a weekend trip to Houston, I found a second round in fiery flower. Bonus! Oxblood lilies (Rhodophiala bifida) are a passalong — ...
Explosion of oxblood lilies and datura
September 07, 2022 I vamoosed from the Texas heat last week for the drier, cooler, high-desert climate of Santa Fe. It was a great trip, but the whole time I was away I fretted that I was missing one of my late-summer favorites at home: the eruption of oxblood lilies ...
Read This: Black Flora
August 28, 2022 A few years ago I had the pleasure of attending a Texas-swing Field to Vase dinner at a flower farm in Blanco as the guest of Debra Prinzing, founder of Slow Flowers, which advocates for using American-grown flowers in the U.S. floral industry. Debra is also co-founder, ...
Cindy Fillingame’s glowing, rainy-day garden
August 09, 2022 Let’s pedal on into another lovely Wisconsin garden from the Madison Fling in June, this one belonging to Cindy Fillingame. An old, three-wheeled bicycle greets you out front, a tub of yellow pansies glowing behind the seat, pink penstemon popping up through the spokes. While Austin continues ...
A little cottagey romance
May 19, 2022 Delphiniums and hollyhocks and roses, oh my! Andrew Ong and Jared Goza of gayswhogarden invited me to see the spring show in their East Austin garden at the end of April. Although it was unseasonably hot that day, I marveled over their cottage garden beauties, including flowers ...
Poppies a-popping at Antique Rose Emporium, plus Round Top shopping
May 10, 2022 A month ago it wasn’t blazing summer in Austin but gentle spring. Early April found me on a wildflower safari with Patterson Webster, visiting from Canada, and my friend Diana Kirby. The Antique Rose Emporium in Brenham We drove out to Brenham for lunch at Truth BBQ ...
Gathering spaces in Ruthie Burrus Garden, part 2
May 02, 2022 In my last post I hope I wowed you — as I was wowed — by the colorful wildflower meadow and textural spiky-soft shade garden of Ruthie Burrus. If you missed it, check out Part 1 of my visit to Ruthie’s West Austin garden. Today we’ll explore ...
Wildflower-palooza at Ruthie Burrus Garden, part 1
April 30, 2022 I first photographed Ruthie Burrus’s garden 8 years ago, when she emailed an invitation to come visit. I was wowed by her wildflower meadow, textural foliage garden at the front door, giant rainwater cisterns, charmingly rustic garden haus, and skyline view. Here’s her garden haus in spring ...
