A woodland art collector’s garden on Vashon Island
The Carharts created their 3-acre garden by first planting around the house, which overlooks the Harbor, and then taming the steep slope. … Read More
Organic sculptures by Steve Tobin at Houston Botanic Garden
At Houston Botanic Garden, an art exhibit by Steve Tobin plus subtle winter beauty make for a pleasant stroll.… Read More
Peacocks and giants: Visiting Mayfield Park and Laguna Gloria
Visit Mayfield Park and Laguna Gloria in West Austin for peacocks, contemporary sculpture, and gardens, plus a vision of Old Austin.… Read More
Totemic sculpture by Dustin Gimbel evokes desert flora
The next best thing to a cool sculptural plant is a cool sculpture that looks like a plant — like Dustin Gimbel’s ceramic sculptures.… Read More
LongHouse Reserve ramble, Part 3: Pond, zodiac amphitheater, and grass garden
In Part 3, I share more of LongHouse Reserve, the garden-and-sculpture showpiece of late textile-artist Jack Lenor Larsen in the Hamptons.… Read More
At Bedrock Gardens, the land is an artist’s canvas, part 2
The creators of Bedrock Gardens are artists with plants and found objects they’ve turned into unique sculpture. Here’s part 2 of my tour.… Read More
At Bedrock Gardens art leads you on a journey
Bedrock Gardens is a journey garden that evokes humor and magic thanks to found-object art among creative plantings.… Read More
Octopus joins fantastical creatures at Mueller parks
A giant purple octopus wraps its tentacles around the restrooms at brand-new Jessie Andrews Park in Austin’s Mueller development.… Read More
Crevice garden, Japanese garden, and more sculpture at Denver Botanic Gardens: Denver Garden Bloggers Fling
Continuing with my visit to Denver Botanic Gardens, here is my favorite installation in the ongoing Human | Nature exhibit: Lights by Steinunn Thorarinsdottir. Five impassive, rough-hewn figures stand amid the grasses of the Plains Garden. … Read More
Steppe garden, foxtail lilies, and sculpture at Denver Botanic Gardens: Denver Garden Bloggers Fling
All 80+ bloggers had lunch under a pavilion at Denver Botanic Gardens on Day 3 of the Denver Garden Bloggers Fling (June 2019), and then we were set loose for about an hour. One hour is not enough time to see DBG, of course. One day hardly is. Happily, this being a garden open to the public, I’d already enjoyed a lengthy visit before the Fling officially kicked off. This is part 1 of my tour, combining photos from both excursions.… Read More
Bigger than life jackalope on N. Lamar
A bigger-than-life bounder crouches on North Lamar Boulevard. “Bigger than life” may not be quite accurate, of course, seeing as the jackalope is a mythical beast of Texas legend.… Read More
Family Garden and berry-bright possumhaws at Wildflower Center
Continuing with my recent visit to the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center, let’s explore the Family Garden and see how it looks in late winter. Again, possumhaw holly (Ilex decidua) berries blaze bright red, alongside early blossoms of coral honeysuckle (Lonicera sempervirens). The galvanized steel cylinder is a rainwater cistern. … Read More
Sculptural light installations glow along Austin’s Waller Creek during 5th annual Creek Show
November 19, 2018 Last Saturday, on the final day of Creek Show 2018, hundreds of tents floated sinuously above downtown Austin’s Waller Creek, glowing orange and purple like fairy lights. To reach the start of this temporary art exhibition sponsored … Read More
Houston, capital of Southern-cool art?
August 24, 2018 Detail of Dixie Friend Gay’s mosaic Wild Wonderland in Houston’s Midtown Park Speeding away from the sleepy South Carolina town I grew up in, I rolled into megatropolis Houston at the nadir of the mid-1980s oil crash. … Read More