cool gardens in a hot climate™
March 25, 2018 Ahh, Texas bluebonnets! They’re turning Austin’s roadsides blue right now, and early ‘bonnets were in bloom last week at the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center. I wish everyone could experience a good bluebonnet season at least once … Read More
March 22, 2018 Texas mountain laurel, one of our finest native flowering trees Whether you’re hunkered under a blanket of snow or your gardening season is well underway, let’s pause to appreciate the beauty of spring-flowering trees and other gorgeous … Read More
March 21, 2018 When I opened this book and saw the title-page photo of a tiny patio garden awash in chartreuse foliage and leafy texture, with two well-chosen pieces of garden art, a pair of acid-green chairs, and a steel … Read More
March 19, 2018 It’s still exciting when an article I wrote appears in print, and in the current issue of Garden Design (Spring 2018) I have two! And one of them goes with the cover image. You can read about … Read More
March 18, 2018 For 5 years in a row, screech owls nested in our owl box every spring. Watching them raise their chicks was an annual delight. But then they stopped coming, and for the past 2 years, no owls, … Read More
March 16, 2018 Spring looks a lot like fall in my garden, as this photo shows: fresh green leaves surrounded by brown live oak leaves. Live oaks stay green all winter, like an evergreen tree, but come spring they do … Read More
March 11, 2018 Fiddle-dee-dee! It’s looking ferny around here. River fern (Thelypteris kunthii) fiddleheads are popping up beneath the Japanese maple, right on schedule. Unfurling into shepherds’ hooks, the fronds will soon fill out and add springtime lushness to the … Read More
March 02, 2018 ‘Sizzling Pink’ loropetalum is still sizzling in the lower garden and knocking my socks off every time I look at it. Yesterday the sun was lighting up those fuchsia blooms like a stained-glass window. The fringey flowers … Read More
February 26, 2018 It’s the in-between season in Austin, when Mexican plums and redbuds and daffodils color the twiggy landscape, but winter still lingers in bleached grasses, cut-back perennials, and piles of soggy leaves. Into the breach, the ripe berries … Read More
February 25, 2018 Spring is coming along ever so slowly, although of course it’s still only February. But still — I’m so ready! Stepping out of my car in the driveway with a bag of groceries, I spotted this blazing … Read More
February 14, 2018 Thank heavens for evergreens, grasses, yuccas, and structural features like stock-tank ponds, big containers, and low walls. After this withering, frostbitten winter, my garden would otherwise be flattened. Of course I’ve been moaning and groaning about the … Read More
January 30, 2018 Central Texas gardens got walloped by Old Man Winter this year, and a lot of plants that normally contribute to Austin’s evergreen palette — bamboo muhly, sago palm, flax lily, even ‘Alphonse Karr’ bamboo — are sporting … Read More
January 25, 2018 Last August a family road trip took me through Sonoma, California, where I had the pleasure of seeing a garden I was writing about for Garden Design magazine. The owner, Marilyn Coon Stocke, had generously extended an … Read More
January 18, 2018 It may be cold and gray outside, but that means it’s a perfect time of year to curl up with the new Winter 2018 issue of Garden Design magazine. I got my copy today and am excited … Read More