Containers

April 05, 2012 My next stop on the Houston Open Days tour on March 24 was the classically elegant Tudor Garden, located in the Broadacres Historic District. To my mind, the property’s best asset is the view of a double line of mature live oaks marching down the center median ...

April 04, 2012 My next stop on the Houston Open Days tour on March 24 was the clean-lined Lofgren-Bayer Garden, also located in the close-in Montrose neighborhood. Pictured above is a lovely dining patio in the rear garden. The official description of the garden: A stately live oak dominates this ...

April 03, 2012 My next stop on the Houston Open Days tour on March 24 was the classic, walled J. Green Garden, located in the Montrose neighborhood. The official description: This urban garden in Montrose is a lovely counterpoint to the house owned by well-known Houston interior designer Jon Green, ...

April 02, 2012 The Garden Conservancy’s 2012 Open Days program opened on March 24 in Houston, a 3-hour drive east of Austin. Diana of Sharing Nature’s Garden and I made a day trip of it and started our tour at the Cortlandt Street Garden. Here’s the official description: Located in ...

March 09, 2012 For a mostly evergreen garden, mine is looking pretty flowery right now, although perhaps not in the wide view. I took these pics yesterday after I’d planted several new plants and before the cold front and rain blew in, dropping temperatures from the 80s to the 50s ...

March 05, 2012 Yes, I went back to the nursery to pick up this beautiful new agave for my collection, ‘Royal Spine’ (not hardy here, folks, so it’ll have to be brought indoors during freezes). I picked the pot to match the blood-red thorns. What else is looking beautiful and ...

March 02, 2012 Care to take a garden stroll with me? Spring has sprung in Austin. The earliest sign, the Texas mountain laurels, are already past peak. But in my garden the mountain laurels aren’t big enough to really flower, and the early show is at knee level. Case in ...

February 28, 2012 Got a wall or fence that keeps getting tagged with graffiti, defacing and devaluing your property? Take heart—you could be on the front end of a trend toward using graffiti art in the garden. I’ve spotted graffiti-decorated walls and planter boxes in Austin and Dallas over the ...

February 23, 2012 ‘Royal Spine’ agave Two nurseries for the price of one. That’s what you get when you visit East Austin Succulents or Tillery Street Plant Co., as I did last weekend. The two nurseries share a spacious lot in East Austin, with Tillery Street’s offerings on display as ...

February 21, 2012 I just potted up a purple oxalis in a pretty blue pot for the porch. It really pops against the bronze pots I have there. Glass bead “mulch” is the finishing touch. Hello, spring! All material © 2006-2012 by Pam Penick for Digging. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited ...

February 20, 2012 This brainiac baby head is just one of the creative succulent planters I spotted during a recent visit to Tillery Street Plant Co. in East Austin. Tillery Street sells wholesale and retail “to the unwashed masses,” with a concentration of agaves, yuccas, acacias, small succulents, and other ...

February 16, 2012 Hot on the heels of Bloom Day, we’re once again celebrating Foliage Follow-Up, praising the oft-unsung hero of all good gardens: plants with beautiful or intriguing foliage. My theme this month is bold foliage. Well, that’s my theme most months, as I have a weakness for plants ...

February 11, 2012 We’re parachuting into spring here in Austin. This is white potato vine (Solanum jasminoides), a dainty little climber for shade or part shade. I had two of these until last summer. The survivor is perking up for a spring show. Chinese fringeflower (Loropetalum chinense) marks the landing ...

February 07, 2012 This sweet pot of pansies was brightening up the patio at a client’s house yesterday. In her garden beds, the fresh green leaves of bulbs stood tall, and nodding snowdrops spoke of spring. I love the promise of this time of year, don’t you? All material © ...

January 26, 2012 A few months ago Link Davidson, who has a talent for collecting and repurposing industrial leftovers in gardens (see the garden he designed for his neighbor, Wendy), sold me a piece of heavy steel pipe. He even delivered it to my house, and let me tell you, ...

January 21, 2012 Doesn’t everyone want to go to Margaritaville in the winter? I do, so I planted a Yucca recurvifolia ‘Margaritaville’ in a tall culvert pipe I’ve been hoarding for several months, waiting for inspiration to hit. Now it adds height to the drop-off bed behind the pool, next ...