Revisiting Biltmore Gardens at Asheville Garden Bloggers Fling
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 less-crowded and less-sunny morning (links at the end of this ...
Asheville Garden Bloggers Fling: Christopher Mello’s garden has the blues
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 into his eclectic, colorful, recycled-art garden on the first day ...
Bee-utiful community and food gardens at Asheville Fling
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. Like slipping into satin sheets Dusted with pollen Off to ...
Asheville Garden Bloggers Fling: Wamboldtopia, an artists’ garden
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 west Asheville. The Goth accents… …are countered by a slew ...
Asheville Garden Bloggers Fling: Curve Studios Garden recycles junk into garden structure
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 as well—and was fantastic. But what I didn’t expect was ...
Asheville Garden Bloggers Fling: Gentling Garden, a mountainside eden
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 the gardeners who live here? Well, for one thing they ...
Gardens on Tour 2012: Brecourt Manor Garden & Foliage Follow-Up
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 of the greenbelt beyond, so native plants were chosen to ...
Gardens on Tour 2012: Zadock Woods Garden
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 patio in back, and the attractive mix of enclosing garden ...
Gardens on Tour 2012: Ridgecrest Garden
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 Lannscape) at 1400 Ridgecrest Drive would scale well to a ...
Gardens on Tour 2012: Shadow Mountain Garden
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 beyond the reach of the average Joe. But this year ...
Dallas Open Days Tour 2012: Passmore Garden
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 the official description: The gardens surround a new contemporary house ...
Dallas Open Days Tour 2012: Middleton Farm Garden
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 three distinct aspects. A casual, manicured space of green lawn, ...
Dallas Open Days Tour 2012: Matthew Nichols Garden
May 10, 2012 Last Saturday I went on the Garden Conservancy’s Open Days tour in Dallas. My first stop was the exuberant foliage garden of Matthew Nichols. Here’s the official description: Matthew Nichols’ tropical, urban garden belies its location in the West Dallas area of Oakcliff. Most of the garden ...
Lee Clippard’s naturalistic garden with a modern edge
April 29, 2012 I recently visited the East Austin garden belonging to blogger Lee Clippard of The Grackle and Martha Stewart Living fame to get a few pictures for my upcoming book, Lawn Gone!. As you can see, Lee’s lawn is indeed long gone, replaced by a dappled-shade garden of ...
Lucinda Hutson’s Easter-egg colorful garden
April 08, 2012 Author and designer Lucinda Hutson‘s gabled purple cottage and garden in the Rosedale neighborhood of Austin is as colorful as a basket of Easter eggs… …but even better because it contains scented petals, billowy texture, and something blooming at every turn, like this ‘Julia Child’ rose. When ...
Houston Open Days Tour 2012: Wolf Residence Garden
April 06, 2012 My next stop on the Houston Open Days tour on March 24 was an Old World-style home in the well-heeled River Oaks neighborhood. While their garden included the sweeping lawns, classic hedging, and emphasis on outdoor architecture commonly seen on this tour, I have to admit that ...
