November 02, 2018
What looks good with Buff Beauty rose
April 27, 2011 My new ‘Buff Beauty’ rose is knocking me out with its luscious color and sweet fragrance. I’m giving it some support with a low, arched trellis made of cattle panel. Next to it I’ve planted ‘Acapulco Salmon & Pink’ agastache, whose rosy, warm colors should complement ‘Buff …
Top Landscape Plants for Garden Designers Roundtable
April 26, 2011 Although I’m not posting this time around, I hope you’ll check out my fellow designers at Garden Designers Roundtable, who are offering up their choices today for “Top Landscape Plants.” Of course gardening is local, and top plants for Denver or San Jose will not necessarily be …
Going to extremes at the Wildflower Center
April 24, 2011 Lace cactus in flower Gardening in central Texas is all about embracing extremes—of temperature, of rainfall, of summer’s brutal duration, and, most delightfully, of the contrast between soft and spiky. One element of good design is using contrasting forms, and our native plants offer many opportunities, as …
Raise a glass to winecup & other spring beauties
April 22, 2011 The winecup (Callirhoe involucrata), one of Texas’ native wildflowers, is quieter in my garden this year, not sprawling as far as in previous springs nor producing as many flowers. And yet a close-up look (convenient since it’s planted atop a retaining wall) in the light of late …
Prickly pear blossom aglow
April 21, 2011 I’m always amazed by cactus flowers, unfurling with such beauty and rich color from such a seemingly inhospitable plant. For instance, this purple prickly pear (Opuntia macrocentra), with its Mickey Mouse-ear shape and needle-like spines. Each spring, horn-like buds appear… …and blossom into a buttery cup of …
Read This: How to Steal Like an Artist
April 20, 2011 It may seem like I’m taking a break from garden writing to tell you about two Austinites whose websites are inspiring me this week, but there’s a connection. You’ll see. First is Austin Kleon, author/artist of the book Newspaper Blackout. His inspiring and yet practical post How …
Great horned owlets nesting at Wildflower Center
April 20, 2011 One great horned owlet… …two owlets… …three owlets are nesting in a planting niche on a stone wall at the Wildflower Center. I visited yesterday to take pictures of the raptor family and observed the three active chicks for 45 minutes. Mama owl was absent—taking a well-deserved …
Plant This: ‘Etoile Violette’ clematis
April 18, 2011 A classic garden beauty, ‘Etoile Violette’ clematis has proven hardy in my garden for the past two years through our blazing summers and unusually nippy winters. Its name means Violet Star in French, and its blossoms are indeed star-shaped, large, and open, unlike our native bell-shaped clematis, …
Honeybees love aloe blossoms
April 17, 2011 The Aloe saponaria flowers are attracting a busy fan base. Or should I say buzzy? The dangling, coral-red blossoms are alive with honeybees. A quick glance gives no hint of the activity going on inside each tubular flower. But watch carefully and you’ll see bees emerging rump-first …
Of the garden, but not the garden
April 15, 2011 A few interesting things I’ve seen this week in various gardens around town. First, Southern Living photographer Ralph Anderson leaning in for a close-up of a miniature donkey at Nancy Whitworth’s garden. I drove Steve Bender and Ralph to a couple of gardens while they were here …
More spring beauty from Lucinda’s garden
April 14, 2011 For those of you who loved the images of Lucinda Hutson’s garden (and who doesn’t?), here are a few more luscious spring pics, including this bee burrowing into a Jerusalem sage blossom. A long shot of the Jerusalem sage (Phlomis fruticosa) in Lucinda’s front garden. Its tiered, …
Enchanted evening in Lucinda Hutson’s cantina garden
April 12, 2011 “Let’s go into the garden! Ai-yi-yi-yi!” trills Lucinda Hutson as she leads her guests, each with a rosy prickly-pear margarita in hand, over the threshold of her purple cottage and into her Rosedale garden. Lucinda is the kind of hostess who can pull off such cross-cultural exuberance …
Carolina wren nesting on my front porch
April 10, 2011 What a crazy mama wren, to pick a nesting spot so close to our front door, putting her nest in a high-traffic area several times a day. She’s tucked it among the Texas sedges planted in the pot. See the round opening? And here she is, sitting …
Bluebonnets, ‘Chocolate Chips’ & more in bloom
April 07, 2011 Is this perhaps the prettiest week in central Texas? Or will it be next week? I don’t know, but early April is looking mighty fine in my own garden and I hope in yours as well. Our state flower, the Texas bluebonnet (Lupinus texensis), adorns a miniature …
