Fields of bluebonnet dreams
It’s bluebonnet season in Texas! While the consensus is that wildflowers are paltry this spring because of drought, even a poor bluebonnet year is a good year. … Read More
Wild bighorn sheep and wildflowers in the Rocky Mountains
Bighorn sheep bounded across the road and climbed the mountainside as we neared the Continental Divide. All that and wildflowers too!… Read More
Modern ranch garden embraces water collection and wildflowers in New Braunfels
Cody and Michelle Koehler made a contemporary ranch garden around their New Braunfels home, complete with water collection and wildflowers.… Read More
Bluebonnet safari in Round Top and Brenham
I cruised the back roads of Round Top and Brenham on Tuesday, hunting bluebonnets. Right away I found several good fields of blue.… Read More
Wildflowers and birding at Montaña de Oro State Park
Wildflowers galore and great bird-watching amid the chaparral at Montana de Oro park in California, 30 minutes west of San Luis Obispo.… Read More
Wildflower fiesta at Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center
The Wildflower Center reopened to members last weekend, and the late spring wildflowers like purple coneflower, firewheel, and thistle are looking glorious.… Read More
April visit to Antique Rose Emporium garden
An early April stroll through the gardens of The Antique Rose Emporium, where fuchsia pennants of Byzantine gladiolus were flying.… Read More
Wildflowers for an Easter quarantine
During this quarantined Easter, here’s a glimpse of spring loveliness from past years’ wildflower drives to brighten your day.… Read More
Cat’s pollinator garden with a canyon view
Three years ago my friend Cat Jones and her husband, newly empty nesters, sold their house and Cat’s lovely garden and moved to a different home in their Steiner Ranch neighborhood, not to downsize but — fellow gardeners, can you relate? — to upsize their lot. A canyon view in the backyard, perfect for summer sunset-watching, sold them on the house. Out front, Cat has been steadily turning the standard lawn with foundation shrubs into a beautiful pollinator garden with a low-profile evergreen backbone.… Read More
Hill Country bluebonnet drive
Bluebonnets peak a little later in the Hill Country than in Austin and San Antonio. The superbloom I photographed south of San Antonio two weeks ago whetted my appetite for more, and since Austin’s roadside ‘bonnets have faded, I headed into the Hill Country on Wednesday. … Read More
Wildflowers revving up at Wildflower Center
Although its name is a bit of a misnomer — the gardens at the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center showcase native Texas trees, shrubs, grasses, perennials, succulents, vines, and water plants, not just wildflowers — the Wildflower Center really does shine in early spring when bluebonnets, pink evening primrose, columbine, and Indian paintbrush begin their rainbow show.… Read More
Read This: Wildflowers of Texas
An advance guard of bluebonnets scattered across the grassy shoulder of MoPac at Bee Cave Road augurs blue battalions soon to arrive. When they do, green roadsides will surrender and turn sky-blue, touching off the annual frenzy of bluebonnet peeping and photo ops. Parents will crouch before children plopped in their Sunday best among the flowers, crooning for a smile.… Read More
Austin Garden Bloggers Fling kicks off today!
May 03, 2018 For two years now, my fellow bloggers Diana Kirby and Laura Wills and I have been planning a big event for garden bloggers called Garden Bloggers Fling. This weekend is when it finally happens — rain or … Read More
Glorious wildflowers and agaves in Jenny Stocker’s garden
April 20, 2018 Spring in Austin is glorious this year, and especially so in my friend Jenny Stocker’s garden. The Rock Rose blogger cultivates a gravel garden of mostly Texas native wildflowers and grasses sown among woody lilies like agave … Read More