Cold-hardy cactus and more at plantsman Kelly Grummons’s garden
A visit to the xeriscape garden of Colorado plantsman Kelly Grummons, co-owner of specialty nursery Prairie Storm Nursery.… Read More
Heidi Harris’s Denver dry garden, inspired by David Salman, outshines any lawn
After tearing out her lawn, Heidi Harris turned her Denver backyard into a beautiful, colorful, waterwise paradise for pollinators.… Read More
A Texas-style crevice garden – and neighborly collaboration – brings midcentury Austin home to vibrant life
Coleson Bruce created Texas-style crevice gardens and a xeriscape in NW Austin by teaming up with a knowledgeable neighbor. Here’s my tour.… Read More
Xeriscape in bloom at Wells Branch Community Garden
Lemon-lime retama trees in bloom caught my eye recently as I drove by the Wells Branch Community Garden and its native xeriscape.… Read More
Fall xeriscape garden at Rollingwood City Hall
The xeriscape garden at Rollingwood City Hall, designed by Scott Ogden, Lauren Springer Ogden, and Patrick Kirwin, eschews lawn to showcase the beauty and diversity of our native Texas plants, including wildflowers in all seasons, as well as many excellent non-native but adapted plants. … Read More
Planting for a drier future at Nuevo Santander Garden: Austin Open Day tour
November 19, 2019The Nuevo Santander Garden on the Austin Open Day tour, sponsored by The Garden Conservancy earlier this month, reminded me of native-plant gardens from the old Wildflower Center tour that used to be held Mother’s Day weekend. With … Read More
A dryland garden inspired by Mother Nature: Denver Garden Bloggers Fling
After 24 years as a radio talk show host on gardening, Jim Borland may have retired, but his Denver garden continues to broadcast loud and clear about how to garden in semi-arid eastern Colorado (15 inches of annual precipitation) without using any supplemental water. His gardening inspiration? Mother Nature. “She perfected the notion of growing a vast number of species in un-amended soils with no mulch or supplemental irrigation,” he says.… Read More
Waterwise beauty and metal animal safari in Linda Peterson’s San Antonio garden
December 05, 2018 An invitation to Linda Peterson’s garden in San Antonio proved too tempting a treat to resist on the day before Halloween. I arrived in San Antonio in time to tour the terrific new culinary and adventure gardens … Read More
Read my article about native-plant hellstrips in Wildflower magazine
October 29, 2018 Are you a member of the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center? If so, when their member magazine Wildflower arrives in your mailbox, look for my article “Heavenly Hellstrips” and photo illustration. “Heavenly Hellstrips” is about using native … Read More
Read This: Hot Color, Dry Garden can help you design your waterwise garden
August 26, 2018 Homeowners who want a waterwise garden, particularly if they live in the U.S. Southwest, often feel that their options are limited to cactus and gravel — a “zero-scape,” as it’s commonly called. If instead you’d like to … Read More
Kirk Walden’s Hill Country garden atop Lake Austin
May 25, 2018 With this killer view of Lake Austin, many homeowners might have sodded a lawn, plunked a few pots of annuals around the pool, and called it done. But Kirk Walden, whose garden was the final stop on … Read More
Spiky garden of Matt Shreves
December 10, 2017 Six months ago I visited the spikylicious garden of Matt Shreves, an Austin gardener I met on Instagram (see his Instagram page at OG_Agave). Last month, he kindly invited the Austin blogger group over (or maybe we … Read More
Linda Peterson’s green-walled xeriscape garden: San Antonio Open Days Tour
October 25, 2017 The highlight of the recent San Antonio Open Days garden tour, as I knew it would be, was Linda Peterson’s beautiful xeriscape and green-walled courtyard garden. Twice before I’ve had the pleasure of exploring Linda’s garden (in … Read More
Sculptural dry gardens at the Ruth Bancroft Garden: San Francisco Garden Bloggers Fling
July 27, 2013 Our 1st stop on the 3rd and final day of the San Francisco Garden Bloggers Fling was the Ruth Bancroft Garden in Walnut Creek. It was about 100 degrees F in Walnut Creek that last week of … Read More