Last October I had the pleasure of visiting John Ignacio’s northwest Austin garden, a treasure box of rare plants that John has collected (including on a plant-hunting expedition with the late John Fairey) and hybridized. I returned this April to see it at the beginning of the growing season, and much was in bloom including some big, beautiful hesperaloes. This hesperaloe flower wand is pictured with a sotol behind it.

I asked John if this is the Mexico native Hesperaloe campanulata that he shared with neighbor Coleson Bruce for his crevice garden. He replied that it may be, but it might also be a campanulata hybrid with our native H. parviflora. At any rate, the flowers, rose and pale yellow, are beautiful.

In the rock paving at the entrance to the garden I admired the symmetry of Agave lophantha — aka Agave univittata, as John ID’d it — loosened up with winecup (Callirhoe involucrata).

Maybe my favorite plant in John’s garden, especially as displayed in square steel pipes cut to different heights: the sotol Dasylirion berlandieri, commonly called blue twister.

What a handsome plant! That’s John’s Mayan-inspired house that he designed in the background. In the foreground, rain lilies and wildflowers were blooming in mid-April.

Blue wild indigo, aka blue false indigo (Baptisia australis var. minor), protected by a concrete block. I recently saw this blooming at the Wildflower Center and resolved to give it a try in my own garden.

A narrow grove of Texas mountain laurels and live oaks shields John’s house from the street. A limestone entry path runs lengthwise across the garden past the trees. Feathery dioons grow under the canopy.

John isn’t afraid to topiary a tree, including our native Texas mountain laurel. This one, he said, serves as an outdoor Christmas tree in December.

Standing winecup (Callirhoe digitata) makes a pretty pot display for spring.

I hadn’t seen this pale pink oxalis before (Oxalis crassipes, a light form).

John thinks he got it at the John Fairey Garden (formerly Peckerwood) or Yucca Do many years ago.

The stone path is fitted together so well. I always admire it.

Looking the other way, you see how the path leads through the front garden. It makes an L from the curb (off to the right), and then another L toward the front door (at the far end). The skinny, pale tree trunks along the left side of the walk are ‘Will Fleming’ yaupons that John severely prunes in spring to keep them very tight and upright.

Scarlet clematis (Clematis texensis) on a trellis along the path

We stopped here for a photo. Pictured with John are friends Cat and Diana.

Past the path and trees, the steel-potted Dasylirion berlandieri also help screen the road. Wildflowers and ‘Quadricolor’ agaves add sun-loving color.

Palms and cycads for evergreen foliage and texture

A shaggy palm trunk

And another dioon

Along the street, spiky sotols mingle with wildflowers spiderwort and white prickly poppy. A sotol’s bloom stalk from last season lay toppled over amid the flowers.

More hesperaloe flowers about to pop

Gulf Coast penstemon (Penstemon tenuis) looking lovely against a stone wall

And more white prickly poppy (Argemone albiflora spp. texana)

Japanese honeysuckle grows along a fence between John’s garden and his next-door neighbor’s. It’s invasive but oh so sweetly scented. I took a deep whiff, which flooded my mind with memories of running around as a child on the dirt roads at my grandmother’s place in rural Oklahoma.

John invited us to see his neighbor’s walled front garden, which John takes care of. It was bright with amaryllis, poppies, and spiderwort.

John hybridizes amaryllis and says, “These are all Hippeastrum hybrids I made that are fully hardy in the ground here. All of them made it through Snowmaggedon. They need to be much more widely planted, as they are one of the best bulbs for Central Texas.“

Hippeastrum johnsonii x H. ‘Apple Blossom’ ‘Candy Cane’

Hippeastrum johnsonii x H. ‘Red Lion’

Hippeastrum ‘Luna’ x H. ‘Evergreen’

An American Indian bust amid the poppies and amaryllis draws the eye.

As does this surprising sign: Danger: Snakes in the Grass. Oh really?

Nearby, another sign advises, “Lie on the grass if you are Young & Beautiful.” I got a laugh out of these and think there may be some double entendre going on.

We exited the neighbor’s garden through the driveway and popped into John’s backyard for a quick peek at his palmy terrace…

…and his amazing greenhouse packed to the ceiling with his collection of orchids and other tropical plants. Wow! I did not see this coming but should have. John says, “I started growing orchids when I was 16, was a judge by the time I was 23, and have been growing and hybridizing them ever since.”

A beautiful Cattleya maxima orchid in bloom

Just look at all this — and how wonderfully displayed

John has so many unique plants and collections packed into his garden, which makes every visit an exploration — and there are fun stories too. Thanks for sharing your garden again, John!

I welcome your comments. Please scroll to the end of this post to leave one. If you’re reading in an email, click here to visit Digging and find the comment box at the end of each post. And hey, did someone forward this email to you, and you want to subscribe? Click here to get Digging delivered directly to your inbox!

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Love ponds? Attend the ZENsational Pond Tour June 4-5, organized by Austin Pond Society. North Austin ponds are on tour June 4th, South Austin ponds on June 5th. One ticket gets you into both days. Early registration is $25 until May 31. Or register at any pond on May 4 or 5 for $30.

Join the mailing list for Garden Spark! Hungry to learn about garden design from the experts? I’m hosting a series of talks by inspiring designers, landscape architects, and authors a few times a year in Austin. These are limited-attendance events that sell out quickly, so join the Garden Spark email list to be notified in advance. Simply click this link and ask to be added. The 6th season kicks off in fall 2022.

All material © 2022 by Pam Penick for Digging. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited.

The post Spring in plant collector John Ignacio’s garden appeared first on Digging.

Eve’s necklace may not be widely known among gardeners. But bees and other nectaring insects sure know it and love it. Formerly called Sophora affinis, now Styphnolobium affine, this small deciduous tree with lacy foliage occurs naturally in well-drained limestone (i.e., alkaline) soils in North and Central Texas, as well as in Oklahoma, Arkansas, and Louisiana.

Cascading clusters of pink-and-ivory blossoms appear in late March or early April, attracting a contingent of bumblebees, honeybees, and the occasional wasp. By the time I took these photos in mid-April, the flowers were fading to a pinky beige reminiscent of Farrow & Ball’s Setting Plaster. Grandmacore, anyone?

My tree grows under live oaks and still flowers prolifically. However, its canopy is loose, almost rambling, in the shade. In full sun, Eve’s necklace fills out into a full, rounded canopy. Dave Creech, director of the SFA Gardens at Stephen F. Austin State University in Nacogdoches, recommends Eve’s necklace as a substitute for crape myrtle in the Deep South, where our beloved crapes are being decimated by newly introduced crape myrtle bark scale. He’s also developing a cultivar called ‘Amy’ with darker, more richly colored flowers.

Beneath the pendant blossoms, it’s fun to watch the eager pollinators. I stood here one day and watched a large bee zipping from flower to flower. Unfortunately I wasn’t able to get a good photo, so you’ll just have to imagine it.

After the flowers fade, distinctive black seedpods form along the stems. These beaded strands give Eve’s necklace its common name. As with its cousin Texas mountain laurel, the seeds are poisonous, so no grazing.

Once established, Eve’s necklace needs no supplemental irrigation. It grows in sun or shade to a height of 15 to 30 feet and is hardy to Zone 7. It’s time to acknowledge Eve’s necklace is a tree worth knowing.

Note: My Plant This posts are written primarily for gardeners in Central Texas. The plants I recommend are ones I’ve grown myself and have direct experience with. Check online forums for your region or local independent nurseries to see if a particular plant might work in your area.

I welcome your comments. Please scroll to the end of this post to leave one. If you’re reading in an email, click here to visit Digging and find the comment box at the end of each post. And hey, did someone forward this email to you, and you want to subscribe? Click here to get Digging delivered directly to your inbox!

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Love ponds? Attend the ZENsational Pond Tour June 4-5, organized by Austin Pond Society. North Austin ponds are on tour June 4th, South Austin ponds on June 5th. One ticket gets you into both days. Early registration is $25 until May 31. Or register at any pond on May 4 or 5 for $30.

Join the mailing list for Garden Spark! Hungry to learn about garden design from the experts? I’m hosting a series of talks by inspiring designers, landscape architects, and authors a few times a year in Austin. These are limited-attendance events that sell out quickly, so join the Garden Spark email list to be notified in advance. Simply click this link and ask to be added. The 6th season kicks off in fall 2022.

All material © 2022 by Pam Penick for Digging. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited.

The post Plant This: Eve’s necklace for spring flowers that bees love appeared first on Digging.

A month ago it wasn’t blazing summer in Austin but gentle spring. Early April found me on a wildflower safari with Patterson Webster, visiting from Canada, and my friend Diana Kirby.

The Antique Rose Emporium in Brenham

We drove out to Brenham for lunch at Truth BBQ — yum! — bluebonnet fields, and plant shopping at the Antique Rose Emporium, where the display gardens were blushing with poppies. I love the way they seed poppies into their xeric beds for spiky-soft spring combos like this.

A pink-and-lavender poppy stands out against a blue glass gazing ball.

Poppies and more poppies with a towering trellis in the background

Those poppies were a-poppin’!

A closeup

Frilly poppies framed by tree trunks and yuccas — yup, also good.

More of that spiky-soft contrast I admire

Frilly poppies

Two women in dresses, boots, and hats caught my eye as they scouted the best selfie spots.

She’s dressed for spring.

ARE displays garden art in abundance throughout the gardens.

I enjoy their leaning bottle trees.

More Texas sotol with poppies

Poppy gorgeousness

Along a trickling stream, two grand old bald cypresses keep their toes in the water and their crowns in the sky.

A fishscale-shingled, purple greenhouse

Diana dwarfed by enormous wind chimes

A long pergola supports pink roses and vines.

Galvanized envelope planters enliven the rustic Corn Crib, one of ARE’s gift-shop outbuildings.

In the main gift shop, I found one of my books for sale. Yay! Thanks for carrying The Water-Saving Garden, ARE!

Junk Gypsy in Round Top

With plant purchases stowed in the trunk, we headed on to Round Top, where we stopped at Junk Gypsy, a boho-cowgirl home goods and clothing shop.

On the front porch, giant foo dogs guard the doors. Exotic hanging lanterns and colorful barn wood siding add global-country style.

Inside the airy, barn-like store, it was all bohemian hippie-meets-redneck, ruffles and fringe and sparkly belt buckles in a wink-wink, over-the-top Texas style. How did I not know about this place?

It was fun to poke around, and I bought a couple pairs of earrings.

Loved these boots!

And hats

And more hats

Lots of angel wings…

…and “junking finds” for creating that flea-market-treasure vibe.

Eclectic exterior decor

Humble Donkey Studio

We also stopped in at Round Top’s Humble Donkey Studio, where this funny sign made me hee-haw.

I welcome your comments. Please scroll to the end of this post to leave one. If you’re reading in an email, click here to visit Digging and find the comment box at the end of each post. And hey, did someone forward this email to you, and you want to subscribe? Click here to get Digging delivered directly to your inbox!

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Join the mailing list for Garden Spark! Hungry to learn about garden design from the experts? I’m hosting a series of talks by inspiring designers, landscape architects, and authors a few times a year in Austin. These are limited-attendance events that sell out quickly, so join the Garden Spark email list to be notified in advance. Simply click this link and ask to be added. The 6th season kicks off in fall 2022.

All material © 2022 by Pam Penick for Digging. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited.

The post Poppies a-popping at Antique Rose Emporium, plus Round Top shopping appeared first on Digging.

Early May is giving me end-of-May vibes this year — that is to say, near 100 degrees F and humid. You know…full-on Texas summer. And despite the blanket of Gulf humidity, we’re still not getting any real rain. Well, thankfully the plants don’t seem to mind yet. In fact, everything is blooming its heart out in my garden, including ‘Rooguchi’ clematis. This delicate-looking but very hardy vine with bell-shaped purple flowers twines up a wire I’ve wrapped around a tall pot.

A week ago, when I took this photo, my sole rose — ‘Peggy Martin’ aka the Katrina rose — was in full lipstick-pink bloom on the back fence. It’s faded now, but I enjoyed the spring show.

I’m also loving the lemony flower wands of several hesperaloes growing in the lower garden. Typically our native Hesperaloe parviflora (aka red yucca) has coral-red flowers. But the yellow “red yucca” is one of my favorite varieties. I have three that flower equally well in full sun and part-shade, growing amid cracks in the limestone bedrock.

One more view because it’s so pretty. Behind it, that’s purple heart (Tradescantia pallida) growing between the pool and a low rock wall.

Red yucca ‘Desert Dusk’ (Hesperaloe parviflora ‘Desert Dusk’) has also sent up a bloom stalk. Despite being grown against a south-facing wall in full sun, this cultivar never blooms as well for me as the yellow one. But I’m happy to see the flowers that do appear. Soap aloes (Aloe maculata) and lanceleaf blanketflower (Gaillardia aestivalis) are in full bloom beside it.

A transplanted yucca unexpectedly died in this spot this spring. I replaced it with annuals I picked up at The Antique Rose Emporium in Brenham: ‘Angel Wings’ senecio, ‘Fireworks’ gomphrena, and ‘Senorita Rosalita’ cleome. I don’t grow a lot of annuals, but it’s fun to occasionally experiment with heat lovers with a long flowering season. Will the gorgeous senecio hold up in our summer heat and humidity? There’s only one way to find out. Come on, ‘Angel Wings’. I’m rooting for you!

Another clematis climber, ‘Etoile Violette’, comes back every spring and pumps out these royal-purple flowers. Here they are on an overcast day.

And again on a sunny day.

‘Frazzle Dazzle’ is my favorite dyckia, and I grow it throughout the garden, usually in pots to show off that tribble-like foliage. In spring and usually again in summer and fall, ‘Frazzle Dazzle’ sends up adorable yellow bloom spikes that contrast with the pewter-gray foliage. Deer nip the flowers in the front garden, but in back they’re all mine.

I don’t know what possessed me to buy a 4-inch pot of variegated nasturtiums (Tropaeolum majus ‘Alaska Mix’) last winter, but I did. And then had to carry it in and out for a couple of months until I was able to plant it in early March. I wasn’t sure if it would do anything, and as temperatures warmed I thought it might miss the cool-season window. But it started flowering about a month ago, and continues today.

Nasturtium fades away by June in Texas gardens, but I’ve enjoyed the cheery orange flowers and speckled leaves.

A couple of Texas spiny lizards basking on the patio edge caught my eye the other day. Usually they’re skittish, but these two just kept an upturned eye on me as I went about my business. We’re finally coming to an understanding.

Cacti have been trying to outdo every other plant with their extravagant flowers, like this flower-crown-wearing mammillaria cactus.

And this peanut cactus (Echinopsis chamaecereus), a passalong from Ragna in San Antonio. Stunning!

Out front in the island bed, the ‘Old Mexico’ prickly pear that was killed to the roots by the snowpocalypse is sloooowly coming back. From its “dinosaur bone” — the woody root structure visible at soil level where the plant used to stand — new upright pads are emerging.

Finally after 15 months, some real regrowth. The Beast lives!

In the backyard, paleleaf yucca (Y. pallida) is sending up a bloom spike.

Lemon-lime coloring

And purple coneflower is rampant in the circle garden around the potted whale’s tongue agave.

Pretty, but it sure gets thirsty every afternoon, wilting pitifully until morning revives it, even if I give it a drink every couple of days. I didn’t think purple coneflower was such a diva.

I can’t quite find the perfect flowering combo for this circular bed. I’ve tried tall verbena, ‘Fireworks’ gomphrena, and now purple coneflower. Everything gets too big and rank, overpowering the other plants in here like purple skullcap, society garlic, and purple sage. Hmm, maybe gopher plant would be the way to go.

The purple coneflower is a nice nod to the blackland prairie though.

And it sure is cheery.

I welcome your comments. Please scroll to the end of this post to leave one. If you’re reading in an email, click here to visit Digging and find the comment box at the end of each post. And hey, did someone forward this email to you, and you want to subscribe? Click here to get Digging delivered directly to your inbox!

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Join the mailing list for Garden Spark! Hungry to learn about garden design from the experts? I’m hosting a series of talks by inspiring designers, landscape architects, and authors a few times a year in Austin. These are limited-attendance events that sell out quickly, so join the Garden Spark email list to be notified in advance. Simply click this link and ask to be added. The 6th season kicks off in fall 2022.

All material © 2022 by Pam Penick for Digging. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited.

The post Flowering vines, cacti, and hesperaloes in my garden appeared first on Digging.

Two weeks ago Coleson Bruce invited me back to his garden to see it in spring flower. I’d first visited Coleson’s garden last fall — a garden unlike any other I’ve seen in Austin or even Texas. Colorado-style crevice gardens are unusual here, and Coleson’s is not only beautifully constructed but planted with hardy succulents, cacti, and perennials. No alpines needed!

It was a pleasure to return and see many of the plants in bloom, including native red yucca (left of the path) and spiderwort (on the right).

An ocotillo not only had leaves (ocotillo is often bare-stemmed) but was flowering! Native to the high desert of West Texas, ocotillo appears in Central Texas rock gardens from time to time, but it rarely seems to thrive in our humid subtropical climate. It was a treat to see this one looking so happy.

Red flower clusters appear on the tips of its upright stems.

Rambling through a citrus tree, scarlet clematis echoed the ocotillo’s red flowers.

Let’s pull back for a wider view of the crevice garden along the front walk. Potted cacti — some hardy and some tender — bristle amid blue saw palmetto (Serenoa repens), small agaves, creeping groundcovers, and flowering four-nerve daisy (yellow), spiderwort (purple), and dyckia (orange spikes).

The plants and rocks are beautifully composed.

Spiral cactus (Cereus peruvianus ‘Spiralis’) in a pot and extravagantly pink, oversized flowers on a petite, spiny cactus make for a fun combo. Whenever a cactus flowers it’s a celebratory moment, one I’m enjoying in my own garden right now.

Spiral cactus

‘Quadricolor’ agave

To the left of the front walk, bristle-headed Yucca rostrata are tipped with fresh, green growth. Hesperaloes flower among them, including red yucca up front and giant hesperaloe between the yuccas.

I think I’d be a prickly pear collector if I lived in a drier climate. I find them so appealing in form and flower. Coleson has one with stunning red flowers and chunky, blue-green pads. Gorgeous!

A closer look

A side view of the crevice garden, with catmint and ocotillo in the foreground, spiderwort and red yucca in the middle, and citrus trees in blue pots at the back.

Hummingbirds must be going wild for these hesperaloe flowers.

They make a coral-pink scrim as you approach the front door. The beaked yuccas screen floor-to-ceiling windows and provide some privacy from the street.

A larger crevice garden fills an island bed along the street, and also buffers passing cars. Holey limestone boulders lie on the diagonal, their gravelly crevices displaying cactus, dyckia, agave, and other dry-loving plants. Coleson left open space in the middle of the bed for access to the water meter and irrigation box.

A palm nearly recovered from Snowpocalypse adds height and screening. It plays backdrop to an assortment of small agaves, dyckia, and hesperaloe, as well as some groundcovering perennials.

On the right, a gigantic golden barrel cactus sits regally in a high niche.

Cholla and small succulents and grasses cluster around.

Christmas cholla (Cylindropuntia leptocaulis), a large, orange-spined shrub, is underplanted with a stream of silver ponyfoot and ‘Quadricolor’ agave.

The streetside view reveals Pride of Barbados growing alongside the palms to provide more screening by summer.

On the downhill side of the garden, a double row of square steel planters makes an eye-catching scene. They screen the busy throughway below while making clear that a gardener lives here.

Coleson said he located a long square pipe in Houston (if I recall correctly) and had it cut to his measurements to create planters that remain at the same level as they march downhill. Pruned-up blue-green sotols seem to explode from the containers.

A few smaller pipe remnants display yucca and more cactus.

At the corner, a sculptural but freeze-dried prickly pear still stands — a relic of pre-Snowpocalypse. But notice that new pads are appearing not only at the base but along some of the seemingly dead branches. It lives!

Coleson inherited some grand old live oaks that also deserve admiration. This one spreads its black limbs across half of the front yard, creating shade for a bit of lawn. A hanging chair, baby swing, and stone table and stools provide places to relax under that leafy canopy.

The shallow back yard wraps around the house, and part of it overlooks the limestone cliff along Bull Creek. Capital of Texas Highway (aka Loop 360) runs behind the bluff, which effectively buffers all that road noise.

Coleson graciously let me invite along a few friends, including Lori Daul of The Gardener of Good and Evil, pictured at left. Next to me on the right is internationally known garden photographer Claire Takacs. Lori and I were both a little starstruck to meet her. Claire, an Australian who travels around the world on assignment, was in Austin to photograph gardens for a book she’s working on. Not only was I thrilled to meet her, I was happy to be able to introduce her to some gardeners and designers working creatively within the constraints of our climate to produce beautiful gardens, Coleson very much one of them.

Accompanying Claire was Giacomo Guzzon (in the black shirt), an Italian landscape architect living in London. Giacomo is writing the book for which Claire is currently photographing. It was a pleasure to meet both of them, and I’m so encouraged to see writers and photographers branching out from the well-covered East Coast and West Coast corridors to explore gardens in the overlooked but vast middle of the U.S. I dream of the day when I can routinely pick up a garden book and find photos of at least a few gardens I can relate to in terms of climate and plants.

OK, getting off that soapbox, I want to point out the beehive-shaped structure above. It’s a playhouse that Coleson constructed himself from pieces of wood he meticulously measured and cut. Cantilevered steps allow climbing, or children can go inside via a doorway on the other side.

Another massive, contorted live oak creates shade here, and living sculpture.

The sculpted bust of a woman, placed on the ground nearby, seems to gaze up at the tree while shading her eyes.

A retaining wall carves out a niche for a contemporary-style pond. Floating pavers make an L-shaped path around it, skirting a potted loquat.

In the corner, a trough fountain is both a boggy planter and the source of a waterfall spilling into the pond.

Looking back you see a shady lawn, the massive live oak, and a simple paver path extending from the floating pavers in the pond.

Square planters of gray Lueders limestone display gray ghost plant near the back gate.

The ghost plant was flowering too, its ivory sprigs a subtle but lovely finish to the spring garden visit.

To see Coleson’s garden in late October, plus learn how he teamed up with a neighbor during Covid quarantine to build the garden, read my earlier post: A Texas-style crevice garden – and neighborly collaboration – brings midcentury Austin home to vibrant life.

I welcome your comments. Please scroll to the end of this post to leave one. If you’re reading in an email, click here to visit Digging and find the comment box at the end of each post. And hey, did someone forward this email to you, and you want to subscribe? Click here to get Digging delivered directly to your inbox!

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May 5th at 8 pm: Attend the final Garden Spark talk of the season! Jennifer Jewell, award-winning author and Cultivating Place podcast host, shows that gardens are powerful agents for change, addressing challenges like climate change, resource use, habitat loss, and more. Using beautiful images from her book Under Western Skies, she’ll share innovative gardens that celebrate western landscapes. Get your ticket at this link. Tickets must be purchased in advance; no walk-ins. Come learn something new and hang out with fellow garden lovers!

Join the mailing list for Garden Spark! Hungry to learn about garden design from the experts? I’m hosting a series of talks by inspiring garden designers, landscape architects, and authors a few times a year in Austin. Check out the 2021-22 schedule. These are limited-attendance events that sell out quickly, so join the Garden Spark email list to be notified in advance. Simply click this link and ask to be added.

All material © 2022 by Pam Penick for Digging. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited.

The post Coleson Bruce’s crevice garden in spring flower appeared first on Digging.

In my last post I hope I wowed you — as I was wowed — by the colorful wildflower meadow and textural spiky-soft shade garden of Ruthie Burrus. If you missed it, check out Part 1 of my visit to Ruthie’s West Austin garden. Today we’ll explore the back garden, where Ruthie has divided her long, shallow backyard into welcoming and charming hangout areas for family and friends.

White garden

As you come around the house, you see a Mediterranean-style white garden — a new design since I last visited. A kiln-style pizza oven once sat at the rear of the house, but it’s been removed. Now a gravel garden sparkles with white flowers and silvery green foliage, nothing too tall — a vision of coolness. I bet this space is especially beautiful in the evening, as the plants take on a moonlight-garden glow.

The focal point of this space is Ruthie’s garden haus, cobbled together with Old World charm from stones unearthed from her property, scrap roofing, and antique doors and windows.

‘Helen von Stein’ lamb’s ear edges a curving stone path from the back door and porch to the garden haus. A pink ‘Peggy Martin’ rose once graced the shed’s face. But after the snowpocalypse killed it, Ruthie began training another type of rose.

A wider view of the white garden shows native blackfoot daisy along with artemisia and agapanthus.

Top view of the two-toned agapanthus, aka lily of the Nile.

Side view of the lamb’s ear path, with shapely pots of lavender, raised beds overflowing with pink evening primrose, and a curved border of dwarf apricot roses.

The white garden as seen from the lawn

Ruthie’s training roses up tall metal trellises.

L-shaped rusty steel bars make the sturdy frame, with cattle panel inserts.

Everything is welded together in back.

Another view of the garden haus. Notice how Ruthie echoed the burnt orange and sandy hues of the shed’s stones with terracotta pots and apricot roses. Even the decomposed granite fits the color scheme.

I couldn’t get enough of the stone shed, so here’s one more view.

Atop a stone wall, tiny purple flowers grace a round rustic pot.

And hardy Agave lophantha pairs up with a dainty succulent in a dish planter.

Flower border and skyline view

The next garden room perches on a steep hillside overlooking downtown Austin. Ruthie grows colorful perennials and annuals along the edge, backed by a trimmed hedge of Texas mountain laurels that screen the houses below.

It was a hazy morning, but what a view.

Standing winecup and California poppies replicate a little of the color explosion of the front meadow (seen in Part 1).

Hangout spaces

A wall of steel-framed windows looks out on that skyline view and a covered dining porch.

Beyond is a rectangular swimming pool framed by trees and backed by a part-shade garden of yuccas, native ornamental trees, and wildflowers. I love the petal-like stone dish planters by the pool.

They display a dusky lavender mangave underplanted with white flowers.

In another pot, a Queen Victoria agave bristles over a trailing ice plant.

I love this combo of feathery prostrate Japanese plum yew, blackfoot daisy, and verbena. I’m kind of surprised this works because blackfoot daisy can be finicky about too much water, and the new plum yew probably needs regular water. But it’s beautiful and looks happy.

From the pool you look across a lawnette of sedge — Berkeley sedge, I think — toward a three-sided porch. To the left of the porch…

…is a bigtooth maple underplanted with giant ligularia.

A flowering aloe in a round pot drew my attention to the porch.

But what stopped me in my tracks was a stunning floral display of flowering bulbs on the outdoor fireplace mantel.

I walked over, muttering, “I bet they’re real.” And of course — somehow — they were!

I marveled over the freshness of the flowering bulbs without any obvious water source, the beautiful way they’re arranged, the spiny eryngium tucked in here and there, the moss seeming to hold it all together. How pretty the colors look against the black-and-white picture of a bird nest.

It’s like a still-life painting.

Ruthie told me it’s the creation of Keith at Westbank Flower Market, and she had it made for a special event at her house.

From the shelter of the porch, you can admire — or mourn, depending on how long ago you arrived in Austin (haha) — the growing downtown skyline.

And oh hey, another pretty succulent dish

Ruthie has a talent for putting together eye-catching containers. I admired this spiky beauty in a copper tub.

I think that may be a ‘Sharkskin’ agave with the paddle plant.

The pool looks inviting as Austin heats up for summer. Those two white-and-black squares just beyond the hedge are chimneys on the roof of a neighbor’s house, which gives you a sense of the dropoff.

At the far end of the pool, a garden bristling with Yucca rostrata and giant hesperaloe is softened by flowering Gulf Coast penstemon and spuria iris.

There’s also a bronze rabbit sculpture, by Colorado artist Jim Budish.

Spuria iris

Spikes and softness. The rabbit’s long ears fit right in with those spikes.

Yucca rostrata, Gulf Coast penstemon, and heartleaf skullcap in bud. Broad limestone slabs make a rustic path through this garden and around to a private side yard.

The perfectly placed rabbit can be observed from the pool and porches. And he observes back.

Side garden

Following the flagstone path around the house I discovered more wildflower wildness in standing winecup and pink evening primrose.

And a few poppies for good measure

Hard-working bees too

A stone-walled circle appeared amid the wildflowers — a large planter showing off dianthus, flowering aloes, and more. A carved stone eagle perches on one side.

A window overlooks this planter, and it must make a lovely view from inside. As must every inch of this beautiful garden.

Thank you, Ruthie, for sharing your garden with me again this spring!

For a look back at Part 1 of Ruthie’s garden, including a colorful wildflower meadow, click here.

I welcome your comments. Please scroll to the end of this post to leave one. If you’re reading in an email, click here to visit Digging and find the comment box at the end of each post. And hey, did someone forward this email to you, and you want to subscribe? Click here to get Digging delivered directly to your inbox!

__________________________

Digging Deeper

May 5th at 8 pm: Attend the final Garden Spark talk of the season! Jennifer Jewell, award-winning author and Cultivating Place podcast host, shows that gardens are powerful agents for change, addressing challenges like climate change, resource use, habitat loss, and more. Using beautiful images from her book Under Western Skies, she’ll share innovative gardens that celebrate western landscapes. Get your ticket at this link. Tickets must be purchased in advance; no walk-ins. Come learn something new and hang out with fellow garden lovers!

Join the mailing list for Garden Spark! Hungry to learn about garden design from the experts? I’m hosting a series of talks by inspiring garden designers, landscape architects, and authors a few times a year in Austin. Check out the 2021-22 schedule. These are limited-attendance events that sell out quickly, so join the Garden Spark email list to be notified in advance. Simply click this link and ask to be added.

All material © 2022 by Pam Penick for Digging. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited.

The post Gathering spaces in Ruthie Burrus Garden, part 2 appeared first on Digging.

I first photographed Ruthie Burrus’s garden 8 years ago, when she emailed an invitation to come visit. I was wowed by her wildflower meadow, textural foliage garden at the front door, giant rainwater cisterns, charmingly rustic garden haus, and skyline view. Here’s her garden haus in spring 2018. And I photographed the whole garden again in fall 2019, a lusher, more mature garden. Last week Ruthie made me drop everything by emailing to say that the wildflowers were in full bloom — come see. My favorite words.

Driveway wildflower meadow

Ruthie wasn’t at home when I arrived but had left the driveway gate open for me. Her house sits at the end of a quiet cul-de-sac in West Austin and has almost a secret garden feel. The driveway curves steeply uphill, and passersby might not even notice all the color unless they looked up.

Along the slope, Ruthie layers native trees like Texas mountain laurel with dry-loving yuccas and agaves, underplanted with masses of flowering perennials and seed-sown wildflowers. A beaked yucca (Yucca rostrata) near the gate is sending up a flower spike. Salvia flowers in front.

This may be ‘Mystic Spires’ salvia. A whale’s tongue agave offers contrast with its muscular, toothy leaves. And it’ll still be there, looking good, when the spring flowers go to seed.

Ruthie grows native and adapted wildflowers, so there’s Englemann’s daisy and pink evening primrose cavorting with red corn poppies. Yuccas and hesperaloes add spiky foliage and evergreen structure and blooms of their own.

Standing winecup (Callirhoe digitata) may be my new favorite Texas wildflower. I’ve always loved the sprawling winecup (Callirhoe involucrata). But standing winecup holds its delicate magenta cups aloft on upright stems, more like a poppy. It’s beautiful mingling with other wildflowers or as a solitary specimen or even in a pot.

Standing winecup with red poppies and Englemann’s daisy

Ah, those vivid red corn poppies! (Has anyone been to the Red Poppy Festival in Georgetown, Texas? I’ve never been. Am I missing out?)

Rock Rose Jenny, who is from England, calls them Flanders poppies.

Softleaf yucca with Englemann’s daisy, pink evening primrose, and a few bluebonnets — natives all.

The last sighting of Texas bluebonnets this year, probably. Those early wildflowers have mostly gone to seed.

Gorgeousness along the driveway with red poppies, standing winecup, larkspur, and hesperaloes

Standing winecup

Softleaf yucca in flower amid pink evening primrose and winecups

Purple larkspur popping up amid standing winecup, Englemann’s daisy, and pink evening primrose. That stone retaining wall is pretty too.

A dark little hummingbird flitted into view, stopping to sip from the salvias.

I’m not familiar with this thorny but attractive small tree with bright-green leaves. Ruthie tells me it’s a bluewood condalia, also called Brazilian bluewood (Condalia hookeri) even though it’s native to Central Texas. She has several along the driveway, and I believe she told me they seeded themselves there.

More confetti-like wildflowers with giant hesperaloe poking up on the right

A closer view

California poppies and pink evening primrose

Poppies, tall verbena, Englemann’s daisy, and spiderwort

Ah, larkspur — so lovely, especially with standing winecup

A closer look

Texas sotol — a gorgeous plant when backlit by the setting sun. The spherical, strappy form is good too, especially contrasting with delicate wildflowers.

A frilly red poppy

Bumblebee on a salvia

Red poppies and whale’s tongue agave

And red poppies with ‘Green Goblet’ agave

Entry garden

At last I tore myself from the wildflower parade along the driveway to approach the house. Here Ruthie has made a textural, mostly green garden under live oaks. It’s lush with masses of perennials dotted with bold-foliage plants like agave and palms.

I especially love this vignette of matte, blue whale’s tongue agave backed by shiny, leathery giant leopard plant (Farfugium japonicum ‘Gigantea’), with soft green leaves on either side. This is SO GOOD.

Agave and leopard plant have different watering needs, so you have to be careful about irrigation and make sure the agave has sharp drainage (or put it in a big elevated pot). But this is a surprisingly popular combo in Austin for bright shade, and no wonder.

Summer annual Blue Daze makes the perfect front-of-border plant, its sky-blue flowers playing off the whale’s tongue agave’s powder-blue leaves. While Blue Daze prefers full sun, it was blooming well even in part shade.

Chinese indigo (Indigofera decora), a suckering groundcover, is here too and just starting to bloom.

Giant leopard plant with Mediterranean fan palm and Jerusalem sage, flowering yellow at the bend in the path

On the right side of the walk, a trough-style fountain makes a serene and rustic focal point.

River fern and spiderwort, both shade lovers, soften the trough’s rough stone frame.

Spiderwort flowers open in the morning and close in the afternoon.

Fern frond

Irises add a little more rich purple.

On the front porch, shapely pots contain annual torenia.

Side yard view

Ruthie’s house sits atop a high hill — what many Austinites would call a mountain. It commands a view of Lake Austin from the side yard, beyond the neighbor’s yard. That neighbor really loves red Knock Out roses, and Ruthie has tied in with them by sowing red corn poppies along the fence.

The poppies look charming against Ruthie’s big metal cistern too. This cistern, one of three, can store 10,000 gallons of rainwater, which Ruthie uses to irrigate her garden.

Up next: Ruthie’s spectacular back garden, with her stone garden haus, flower borders, welcoming patios, and a killer view of the Austin skyline.

I welcome your comments. Please scroll to the end of this post to leave one. If you’re reading in an email, click here to visit Digging and find the comment box at the end of each post. And hey, did someone forward this email to you, and you want to subscribe? Click here to get Digging delivered directly to your inbox!

__________________________

Digging Deeper

May 5th at 8 pm: Attend the final Garden Spark talk of the season! Jennifer Jewell, award-winning author and Cultivating Place podcast host, shows that gardens are powerful agents for change, addressing challenges like climate change, resource use, habitat loss, and more. Using beautiful images from her book Under Western Skies, she’ll share innovative gardens that celebrate western landscapes. Get your ticket at this link. Tickets must be purchased in advance; no walk-ins. Come learn something new and hang out with fellow garden lovers!

Join the mailing list for Garden Spark! Hungry to learn about garden design from the experts? I’m hosting a series of talks by inspiring garden designers, landscape architects, and authors a few times a year in Austin. Check out the 2021-22 schedule. These are limited-attendance events that sell out quickly, so join the Garden Spark email list to be notified in advance. Simply click this link and ask to be added.

All material © 2022 by Pam Penick for Digging. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited.

The post Wildflower-palooza at Ruthie Burrus Garden, part 1 appeared first on Digging.

In early April I visited Mayfield Park for the Trowel & Error gardening talks. Of course if you visit Mayfield Park you’re going to see peacocks.

Mayfield Park

Two dozen of these beautiful birds — peacocks and peahens — roam the grounds. Unafraid if a little wary, they hang out on fences, trees, and roofs, and lounge on the lawn like sunbathers.

The gardens, maintained by volunteers who adopt various plots, were just coming into bloom with cottage favorites like bearded iris…

…and Chinese ground orchid.

Mayfield Park is a slice of Old Austin, tucked away on a winding road in a posh West Austin neighborhood. It’s free to visit, and while there’s not a lot there, it’s pleasant. Children especially love the many ponds and peacocks.

There’s no grand estate home here, just a modest white cottage with a wonderfully roomy 3-sided porch. Here’s the backstory:

“Allison Mayfield purchased the board and batten, twin-gabled cottage and 23 acres for his family as a summer and weekend retreat in 1909. A prominent Austin political figure, Mr. Mayfield was Chairman of the Railroad Commission and former Texas Secretary of State. He and his wife had one child, Mary Frances, who married Milton Gutsch in 1918. Dr. Gutsch was Chairman of the History Department at the University of Texas for many years. As a young couple, Mary and Milton moved into the cottage in 1922 and added porches to three sides of the house, reflecting the Bungalow style of the early 20th century.

Mary Mayfield Gutsch designed the gardens while Milton directed the building of the stone walls, ponds, and garden features with the help of Steve Arredondo, resident gardener for many years. The peacocks were gifts from friends in 1935 and their descendants are here today. The Mayfield-Gutsch family developed this site over a 62 year period. Dr. Gutsch died in 1967. Mary Mayfield Gutsch died in 1971 and left the home and acreage to the City of Austin to be used as a park.”

https://mayfieldpark.org/mayfield-park-and-preserve-history/

A stone arch — one of the details that makes Mayfield a popular destination for portrait photographers.

Laguna Gloria

Right next door you will find a grand estate house, Driscoll Villa, plus a sculpture garden, art school, outdoor café, and gift shop. This is Laguna Gloria, which is part of The Contemporary Austin museum and home to interesting works of modern art. Our family has been coming here for two decades to attend art classes, including several years of week-long art camps when the kids were young.

The aluminum-foil giant (it’s actually stainless steel) is called Looking Up by Tom Friedman. It dominates the entry lawn and makes you look up too.

Paths lead around the Italianate villa, which overlooks Lake Austin on two sides. Read more about the villa and its adventurous and wealthy owner Clara Driscoll at Texas Highways.

Sculptures — some of them interactive — greet you at every turn along the scenic wooded paths. I was intrigued by this green 1953 Chevrolet coupe seemingly abandoned along the trail. This is Road Angel by Terry Allen. The headlights and taillights glow, and music emanates from the interior, which is hidden behind fogged windows. It’s a little eerie, half alive, reminiscent of Stephen King’s Christine or J.K. Rowling’s magical Ford Anglia.

I was also drawn to, and creeped out by, Nicole Eisenman’s Man at the Center of Men. A grotesque figure, his chest opened and ropy, perches side-saddle on another man kneeling on all fours. The riding man holds two garbage pail lids with mirrors on the inside, and seems about to clap them together, or perhaps he’s tanning himself in reflected sunlight.

Fresh green trees were reflected in the mirrors too — a vision of renewal amid the corruption seemingly implied.

If you enjoy sculpture gardens, go visit Laguna Gloria. It’s open Wednesday through Sunday and is free on Thursdays.

I welcome your comments. Please scroll to the end of this post to leave one. If you’re reading in an email, click here to visit Digging and find the comment box at the end of each post. And hey, did someone forward this email to you, and you want to subscribe? Click here to get Digging delivered directly to your inbox!

__________________________

Digging Deeper

May 5th at 8 pm: Attend the final Garden Spark talk of the season! Jennifer Jewell, award-winning author and Cultivating Place podcast host, shows that gardens are powerful agents for change, addressing challenges like climate change, resource use, habitat loss, and more. Using beautiful images from her book Under Western Skies, she’ll share innovative gardens that celebrate western landscapes. Get your ticket at this link. Tickets must be purchased in advance; no walk-ins. Come learn something new and hang out with fellow garden lovers!

Explore the Surreal Garden at Zilker Botanical Garden. For two consecutive weekends, the public is invited to attend evening soirées at Zilker Botanical Garden, including botanical-themed neon surrealism, interactive art sculptures, local-favorite foods, craft cocktails, live music, costumes, dancing, and more! A portion of the proceeds benefits the ZBG Conservancy. Tickets are $40 in advance, $50 at the door (plus fees & tax). Dates are April 22-23 and 28-30 from 6 pm to 10 pm. Get tickets here.

Join the mailing list for Garden Spark! Hungry to learn about garden design from the experts? I’m hosting a series of talks by inspiring garden designers, landscape architects, and authors a few times a year in Austin. Check out the 2021-22 schedule. These are limited-attendance events that sell out quickly, so join the Garden Spark email list to be notified in advance. Simply click this link and ask to be added.

All material © 2022 by Pam Penick for Digging. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited.

The post Peacocks and giants: Visiting Mayfield Park and Laguna Gloria appeared first on Digging.

Last Friday my husband and I decked ourselves out in floral clothing and headed to Zilker Botanical Garden to attend The Surreal Garden, an interactive neon-art event. I have to say, it was even more fun than I’d imagined. Fantastical neon light sculptures filled the gardens (mainly the prehistoric garden, rose garden, and winding ramp to the visitor center), creating a Vegas-y glow amid the palms, cypresses, and ponds.

Dance music played throughout the garden, and costumed attendees roamed the grounds to enjoy the art, dance in neon-lit cages, relax on neon benches, or pedal an interactive neon octopus — yes, really. Many of the neon artworks, created by Austin’s Ion Art, are customized to the garden’s permanent features, like the red cowboy boots “worn” by the bronze dinosaur in the prehistoric garden (pictured above). They are all delightful to experience. If you love art and gardens and people-watching, you should go.

The Surreal Garden occurs after hours, from 6 to 10 pm. We arrived around 7 pm and had no problem finding free parking along Stratford Drive, although ride sharing is officially encouraged. Here’s David under a double snake arch at the entrance to the prehistoric garden.

A neon rendition of Diana the Huntress? By the way, all the artwork is for sale, with price lists at the garden’s entrance. Can you imagine finding a spot for something like this in your home or garden? In the right context, I think it could be pretty fabulous — and certainly a talking point.

Two-dimensional glowing Easter Island heads were some of David’s favorites.

This glam mirrored jellyfish woman wowed us.

She’s keeping one Picassoesque eye on her admirers.

The dinosaur is ready to go boot scootin’ in his neon red cowboy boots.

An orangutan perches atop the waterfall in the prehistoric garden — a popular spot for a selfie.

Later, after dark, the colors grow more pronounced.

A spouting whale with fishbone teardrop

An evolving anglerfish?

Another look at the cowboy dinosaur

A neon snake slithers down a tree.

A shade pavilion has been transformed by a neon sign and light tubes into The Jungle Lounge.

A glowing Mayan head amid cycads

Aliens are landing in the palms, as a fog machine adds mystique.

Greetings

A limestone cliff created a perfect opportunity for neon petroglyphs. Here’s one of several along the cliff wall.

Glowing tiki columns echo the straight trunk of a bald cypress, alongside another Easter Island head.

People-watching at an event like this is as fun as experiencing the art. This happy foursome was rocking a mix of surreal, botanical, and steampunk costumes.

On the Rose Garden lawn, we found the party in full swing, with glowing meteors dipping and swaying above, music pulsing through the air, and neon light washing everything with color.

An arm-waving octopus who has snagged the moon is powered by anyone willing to hop on a stationary bicycle. Others can then walk between the octopus’s moving arms to ham up being attacked.

We found a bar under a neon sign for the Aloha Room.

All around the garden are places to sit — or dangle — and people-watch.

Neon jellyfish hang from trees…

…creating an under-the-sea vibe.

Sharks fit right in.

As does a giant fishhook.

On the sea, there be pirates.

After circling the koi pond, we followed a directional sign to find the sea monster. The Real World was lit up, but we weren’t ready to leave yet.

A winking lion-baboon greeted us along the way.

Neon benches were popular with selfie-takers.

And for glamour shots of bottles of booze, apparently.

A wide view of the jellyfish area

A scorpion with a flickering tail on neon rocks

A pair of flamingos foraging in the ferns

How about a snailadillo? This is a creative alternative to the other Texas creature mashup, the jackalope.

Blue-eyed Susan flower

The glowing scene along the path

The Butler Window offers an overlook of the party lawn.

And hey, we found the sea monster! It’s a toothy anglerfish…

…and like Marlin and Dory we moved in for a closer look.

If you survive the teeth, you can walk through the monster’s body — a tunnel of angular lights.

Near the exit, a hammerhead lurks.

The younger set was cage-dancing to the music.

Heading up the hill we found pacing tigers…

…a prosaic housefly rendered beautiful in neon light…

…a tiki mask…

…and a prancing monkey with an umbrella.

In a pond by the visitor center, a serpentine whale’s tail stands tall.

The Surreal sign at the visitor center

In the gift shop I saw both of my books for sale. Thanks for carrying them, ZBG!

What a fun costume, with her glowing antlers and flower crown

Near the food trucks a jaguar lounges in a tree.

Here the prices for Ion Art’s artworks are displayed.

The bigger pieces are expensive, naturally, but the smaller ones aren’t crazy for original art.

Blue-Eyed Susan and Snailadillo are calling my name. Which would you choose?

A Salvador Dali costume, complete with pet ocelot Babou, is very much on-theme.

Botanical costumes are good too!

A long-legged elephant caught my eye, as did the costumed group beside it.

The woman in the magnificent headdress kindly posed for me.

Salvador the Elephant did too.

Check out the curled-paper owl mask this woman made.

And this couple. She’s wearing a floral, light-up hat. He’s a fly caught in a Venus flytrap!

At last it was time to return to the real world. We passed a yellow sub-sardine on the way out, with flickering tail and bubbling bubbles. Check it out, and a few other short videos of the event, in my Instagram stories today.

The Surreal Garden runs for three more nights, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday from 6 to 10 pm. Tickets are $50. Surreal or botanical-themed costumes are encouraged. A portion of the proceeds benefits the Zilker Botanical Garden Conservancy.

I welcome your comments. Please scroll to the end of this post to leave one. If you’re reading in an email, click here to visit Digging and find the comment box at the end of each post. And hey, did someone forward this email to you, and you want to subscribe? Click here to get Digging delivered directly to your inbox!

__________________________

Digging Deeper

May 5th at 8 pm: Attend the final Garden Spark talk of the season! Jennifer Jewell, award-winning author and Cultivating Place podcast host, shows that gardens are powerful agents for change, addressing challenges like climate change, resource use, habitat loss, and more. Using beautiful images from her book Under Western Skies, she’ll share innovative gardens that celebrate western landscapes. Get your ticket at this link. Tickets must be purchased in advance; no walk-ins. Come learn something new and hang out with fellow garden lovers!

Explore the Surreal Garden at Zilker Botanical Garden. For two consecutive weekends, the public is invited to attend evening soirées at Zilker Botanical Garden, including botanical-themed neon surrealism, interactive art sculptures, local-favorite foods, craft cocktails, live music, costumes, dancing, and more! A portion of the proceeds benefits the ZBG Conservancy. Tickets are $40 in advance, $50 at the door (plus fees & tax). Dates are April 22-23 and 28-30 from 6 pm to 10 pm. Get tickets here.

Join the mailing list for Garden Spark! Hungry to learn about garden design from the experts? I’m hosting a series of talks by inspiring garden designers, landscape architects, and authors a few times a year in Austin. Check out the 2021-22 schedule. These are limited-attendance events that sell out quickly, so join the Garden Spark email list to be notified in advance. Simply click this link and ask to be added.

All material © 2022 by Pam Penick for Digging. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited.

The post Zilker Garden turns surreal after dark with fantastical neon art appeared first on Digging.

Are you a DIYer? If so, Better Homes & Gardens Do It Yourself magazine may be the perfect magazine for you. As it happens, I have an article in the Summer 2022 issue, which hits newsstands soon.

My article, “Feeding Body & Soul” on page 94, is about the bountiful and beautiful vegetable garden Nashville homeowners Faith Salmon and Matt Hoiles made. Check it out if you’re interested in growing “food for the table with plenty of eye candy for dessert.”

I welcome your comments. Please scroll to the end of this post to leave one. If you’re reading in an email, click here to visit Digging and find the comment box at the end of each post. And hey, did someone forward this email to you, and you want to subscribe? Click here to get Digging delivered directly to your inbox!

__________________________

Digging Deeper

May 5th at 8 pm: Attend the final Garden Spark talk of the season! Jennifer Jewell, award-winning author and Cultivating Place podcast host, shows that gardens are powerful agents for change, addressing challenges like climate change, resource use, habitat loss, and more. Using beautiful images from her book Under Western Skies, she’ll share innovative gardens that celebrate western landscapes. Get your ticket at this link. Tickets must be purchased in advance; no walk-ins. Come learn something new and hang out with fellow garden lovers!

Explore the Surreal Garden at Zilker Botanical Garden. For two consecutive weekends, the public is invited to attend evening soirées at Zilker Botanical Garden, including botanical-themed neon surrealism, interactive art sculptures, local-favorite foods, craft cocktails, live music, costumes, dancing, and more! A portion of the proceeds benefits the ZBG Conservancy. Tickets are $40 in advance, $50 at the door (plus fees & tax). Dates are April 22-23 and 28-30 from 6 pm to 10 pm. Get tickets here.

Join the mailing list for Garden Spark! Hungry to learn about garden design from the experts? I’m hosting a series of talks by inspiring garden designers, landscape architects, and authors a few times a year in Austin. Check out the 2021-22 schedule. These are limited-attendance events that sell out quickly, so join the Garden Spark email list to be notified in advance. Simply click this link and ask to be added.

All material © 2022 by Pam Penick for Digging. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited.

The post Look for my article in Do It Yourself magazine appeared first on Digging.

I’m overdue for a visit to the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center — and it’s only been two weeks since I was there! But a lot happens in April and May. What was blooming two weeks ago (highlights are pictured here) is probably done, and new plants are strutting their stuff. There’s much to see at this time of year!

Recent Garden Spark speaker Pat Webster and I toured the Wildflower Center gardens during her early April visit. Near the entrance I admired a row of fleshy-leaved manfredas, all of them kicking up bloom spikes like the Rockettes.

Almost ready to bloom

Masses of native wildflowers including bluebonnets and ranunculus colored the café garden. The silo-like structure is a rainwater-collecting cistern.

In a shadier spot, spiderwort and golden groundsel made a pretty pair.

Along the Hill Country Stream, a white-flowering shrub — viburnum? — glowed in the dappled light.

And scarlet buckeye added heat with its fiery flowers.

A pipevine swallowtail butterfly was enjoying the abundant flowers.

Pat spotted this little tree frog clinging via sticky-toed magic to an upright palmetto leaf.

Look how cute! He was taking a midday snooze…

…while keeping a slitted eye on me just in case.

Spaghetti-leaved Texas nolina was flowering, its subtle, ivory sprays held close within its stringy foliage.

I’ve always liked this plant, which is tough as nails and lovely cascading down a rocky slope. Keep away from paths though, not because it’s sharp (it’s not) but because the stringy leaves can trip you if you step on one end and your other foot catches on it. The leaves don’t easily break, so you’ll be the one to stumble. Trust me on this.

Penstemon with last season’s grasses

Peek-a-boo window in a stone wall

The Demonstration Garden, with square beds showing plants from various areas of Texas, or different themes. I confess this area has never been my favorite. It’s more of a teaching garden, and I prefer to be wowed by a gorgeous design. If only the demonstration beds could be moved somewhere less prominent, leaving this space open for a more contemporary or eclectic garden of native plants, as a contrast to the naturalistic gardens you pass through to get here.

Mexican buckeye flowering as new leaves emerge.

In the Family Garden, more bluebonnets — as brightly colored as the tiled wall behind them

The ponds and waterfall in the family garden are always popular with children, and I stopped to watch a little boy play.

What’s more fun than getting wet? Not much!

And here were MORE bluebonnets, with ‘Brakelights’ hesperaloe adding red spikes

Some big agave survivors of last year’s snowpocalypse

We spotted a cardinal that seemed to have a lot of brown on its wings — perhaps a different species than we usually see here? Another visitor who was a birder got excited about it, sure it was a pyrrhuloxia. A what? When I looked up pyrrhuloxia at home later, our bird didn’t look that brown. Perhaps a vermilion cardinal then? But no, its crest isn’t that prominent. It’s probably a regular old cardinal but still pretty, and I learned about some other species.

Verbena

I’ll leave you with a busy bee working a bluebonnet flower, her pollen baskets already full. She’s like me! I’ve been busy visiting all kinds of gardens lately, and my pollen baskets are full too. I’m working to get new posts cued up so I can share them with you.

Meanwhile, I plan to return to the Wildflower Center in two weeks with my next Garden Spark speaker, Jennifer Jewell of Cultivating Place. By the way, I still have a few seats available for her talk, so if you’d like to come, please do!

I welcome your comments. Please scroll to the end of this post to leave one. If you’re reading in an email, click here to visit Digging and find the comment box at the end of each post. And hey, did someone forward this email to you, and you want to subscribe? Click here to get Digging delivered directly to your inbox!

__________________________

May 5th at 8 pm: Attend the final Garden Spark talk of the season! Jennifer Jewell, award-winning author and Cultivating Place podcast host, shows that gardens are powerful agents for change, addressing challenges like climate change, resource use, habitat loss, and more. Using beautiful images from her book Under Western Skies, she’ll share innovative gardens that celebrate western landscapes. Get your ticket at this link. Tickets must be purchased in advance; no walk-ins. Come learn something new and hang out with fellow garden lovers!

Explore the Surreal Garden at Zilker Botanical Garden. For two consecutive weekends, the public is invited to attend evening soirées at Zilker Botanical Garden, including botanical-themed neon surrealism, interactive art sculptures, local-favorite foods, craft cocktails, live music, costumes, dancing, and more! A portion of the proceeds benefits the ZBG Conservancy. Tickets are $40 in advance, $50 at the door (plus fees & tax). Dates are April 22-23 and 28-30 from 6 pm to 10 pm. Get tickets here.

Join the mailing list for Garden Spark! Hungry to learn about garden design from the experts? I’m hosting a series of talks by inspiring garden designers, landscape architects, and authors a few times a year in Austin. Check out the 2021-22 schedule. These are limited-attendance events that sell out quickly, so join the Garden Spark email list to be notified in advance. Simply click this link and ask to be added.

All material © 2022 by Pam Penick for Digging. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited.

The post Wildflower Center abloom in early April appeared first on Digging.

Austin-area readers, you’re invited to my next Garden Spark talk on Thursday, May 5th! Jennifer Jewell of the award-winning podcast Cultivating Place will present “Cultivating Place: How a Place-Based Garden Culture of Care Strengthens Places and Their People.” Jennifer is also author of two excellent books, The Earth in Her Hands and Under Western Skies. If you’re unfamiliar with her work, check out her interview on Austin’s own “Central Texas Gardener” from last spring.

Tickets available here

I couldn’t be more excited that Jennifer is coming to Austin specifically for Garden Spark. She’s a highly sought-after speaker, and I know her talk will be entertaining and thought-provoking. Plus she’s offering a book sale/signing, so it’s a chance to get autographed copies of her books!

Here are all the details:

Jennifer Jewell presents “Cultivating Place: How a Place-Based Garden Culture of Care Strengthens Places and Their People”

When/Where

Jennifer will speak and hold a book signing on Thursday, May 5, at 8 pm. The approximately 1-hour talk with Q&A will be held at Barton Springs Nursery. Seating will be outdoors under the big live oak. In the event of rain, seating will be in the event barn. 

Tickets

Get your ticket at this link. Tickets must be purchased in advance; no walk-ins.

Ticket price is $38, plus a small fee that goes to the ticket-processing website. Tickets are non-refundable, except in the event of illness. Your attendance helps cover a fair speaking fee for the presenter and other expenses, and collectively we’re able to bring talented design thinkers to speak to us!

Seating is limited, and tickets were made available first to Garden Spark subscribers. (Simply click this link and ask to be added for future talk notifications.) If you miss out on one of the remaining seats, please let me know if you’d like to be added to the waitlist. I’ll be able to open more seats the week of the talk if the weather is good.

Talk Description

Jennifer will explore the philosophy of her Cultivating Place podcast: that gardens and gardeners are powerful agents for positive change, helping to address challenges as wide ranging as climate change, resource use, habitat and biodiversity loss, cultural polarization/marginalization, and individual and communal health and being. Using photos from her new book, Under Western Skies, she’ll illustrate these ideas by sharing innovative gardens that celebrate western landscapes, including the landscape of Texas.

Speaker Bio

Jennifer Jewell hosts the national award-winning weekly public radio program and podcast Cultivating Place: Conversations on Natural History and the Human Impulse to Garden. She is the author of award-winning The Earth in Her Hands: 75 Extraordinary Women Working in the World of Plants and Under Western Skies: Visionary Gardens from the Rockies to the Pacific Coast. Her greatest passion is elevating the way we think and talk about gardening, the empowerment of gardeners, and the possibility inherent in the intersections between our places, our cultures, and our gardens.

Thank you to our sponsor!

The 2021-22 season of Garden Spark is sponsored by Barton Springs Nursery, which has been serving the needs of Central Texas gardeners since 1986 by offering one of the best selections of native and well-adapted plants for this area. Many thanks to Barton Springs Nursery for providing such a beautiful venue and making us all feel so welcome!

I welcome your comments. Please scroll to the end of this post to leave one. If you’re reading in an email, click here to visit Digging and find the comment box at the end of each post. And hey, did someone forward this email to you, and you want to subscribe? Click here to get Digging delivered directly to your inbox!

__________________________

Digging Deeper

Explore the Surreal Garden at Zilker Botanical Garden. For two consecutive weekends, the public is invited to attend evening soirées at Zilker Botanical Garden, including botanical-themed neon surrealism, interactive art sculptures, local-favorite foods, craft cocktails, live music, costumes, dancing, and more! A portion of the proceeds benefits the ZBG Conservancy. Tickets are $40 in advance, $50 at the door (plus fees & tax). Dates are April 22-23 and 28-30 from 6 pm to 10 pm. Get tickets here.

Join the mailing list for Garden Spark! Hungry to learn about garden design from the experts? I’m hosting a series of talks by inspiring garden designers, landscape architects, and authors a few times a year in Austin. Check out the 2021-22 schedule. These are limited-attendance events that sell out quickly, so join the Garden Spark email list to be notified in advance. Simply click this link and ask to be added.

All material © 2022 by Pam Penick for Digging. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited.

The post Come hear Garden Spark talk by Jennifer Jewell appeared first on Digging.

Ah, April. It’s a beautiful month for Austin gardens — if you can ignore the live oak pollen catkins hanging off every surface and piling up underfoot. Which I can (just barely). Let’s take a spin through the garden to see what’s blooming this month. These photos were taken during the past couple of weeks up to today, so not everything is still blooming right now. But most of it is!

Above is ‘Bartley Schwarz’ abutilon, aka flowering maple. I love, love, love the dangling apricot flowers of ‘Bartley Schwarz’, which really wants to sprawl. Ideally it would be planted in a shady raised bed where you can look up at it from below, but mine is growing along a fence. I just let it lean on surrounding shrubs and an empty decorative pot to get those flowers up where I can enjoy them. Did this plant survive the 2021 Snowpocalypse and this winter’s 20-degree temps? Yes, it sure did.

Lavender Shoshana’s iris is flowering on tall stems behind a trio of potted ‘Color Guard’ yuccas.

Tall verbena (Verbena bonariensis) has popped up in that bed too, adding more purple. I’ve also recently planted a ‘Desert Diva’ desert willow here, which has burgundy flowers. My plan is for it to help shade our heat-blasted deck.

Another native ornamental tree, Anacacho orchid tree (Bauhinia lunarioides) is in beautiful full bloom in the hot and sunny gravel garden near the front door. That’s a red yucca (Hesperaloe parviflora) in the red tractor-rim planter beside it. The red yucca is trying to flower, but the deer will soon find those tasty bloom spikes and devour them.

The weeping Texas redbud (Cercis canadensis var. texensis ‘Traveller’) looked like this about two weeks ago, but it’s all gone to green leaves now. Sure was pretty while it lasted though!

Giving Asian garden vibes

Here it is peeking out behind the massive ‘Sapphire Skies’ Yucca rostrata. Behind it is a pruned-up ‘Blue Ice’ Arizona cypress (Cupressus arizonica var. glabra). Almost invisible (for now) in this blue and pink color scheme is a burgundy loropetalum to the left of the redbud. The Snowpocalypse maimed the 6-foot loropetalum that grew in that spot, so I recently planted a new one — ‘Cerise Charm’. I look forward to seeing those richly colored leaves filling in the hole.

In the side garden, new steel trellises hang in place of the old acrylic-mirrored ones, which began falling apart last winter. The stylized meadow of Mexican feathergrass and ‘Baby Gem’ boxwood balls is starting to fill in nicely.

There’s also society garlic and coreopsis in there, but no blooms yet. In the steel planter, an ‘Opal’ variegated American agave holds court.

Golden thryallis (Galphimia gracilis) has recovered from the winter freezes and will be blooming soon along the fence.

Out front, I’ve been enjoying the openness of the new front patio — just two Polywood Adirondacks on a semicircle of Texas Black gravel, accented with a Corten planter of golden barrel cactus. I’m slowly filling the planting area behind the rock border with small perennials. But the established trio of giant ligularia (Farfugium japonicum ‘Gigantea’) is looking lush, as is the newly leafed out Japanese maple (Acer palmatum).

That Japanese maple is now big enough to shade this little patio from the afternoon sun.

Along the back of the house, soap aloes (Aloe maculata) are blooming like crazy, attracting hummingbirds that spar over access to the candelabra-like flowers.

Here they are from the opposite direction.

A new gaura (Gaura lindheimeri) is flowering behind ‘Everillo’ sedge (Carex oshimensis). In the background, ‘Quadricolor’ agave and ‘Alphonse Karr’ bamboo add more yellow to echo the sedge.

Gaura closeup

After clearing the dead leaves of a winter-killed ‘Moonglow’ mangave from this pot, I was delighted to find several small pups coming up from the roots. I’ve gradually pulled out the runts and am letting the two biggest ones duke it out. Eventually I’ll leave just the biggest and hopefully have another full-size plant again by midsummer. I’m glad I wasn’t too hasty in buying a new plant for this pot.

When Jenny of Rock Rose moved away, she gifted me some species tulip bulbs, and now they’re blooming — a reminder of Jenny and many pleasant hours spent in her own springtime garden. This is Tulipa clusiana ‘Cynthia’, a tulip I’ve grown before but which had faded away over the years. I’m happy to have new bulbs to enjoy.

Another gifted bulb, St. Joseph’s Lily hardy amaryllis (Hippeastrum x johnsonii), is blooming for the first time. Austin gardener and found-object artist Tom Ellison gave it to me during a visit last year.

Its big, red trumpet-shaped flowers were attracting pollinators this afternoon.

Spiderwort (Tradescantia occidentalis) is winding down after a spectacular early spring show. This year I noticed some variation in flower color, even though I planted just purple ones initially — like these.

After years of natural hybridization (I guess?) I’m now seeing not only purple flowers but sky blue and icy pale blue, plus dark pink.

Here’s a light blue and a purply pink. Yes, spiderwort does self-sow all over my garden, but I love it and so do the bees. Just don’t be afraid to pull it up where you don’t want it, and whack some plants back when it starts to go to seed to prevent having tons of seedlings next year. But I always let some go to seed.

And now I’m rewarded with a colorful assortment of spiderwort flowers.

I welcome your comments. Please scroll to the end of this post to leave one. If you’re reading in an email, click here to visit Digging and find the comment box at the end of each post. And hey, did someone forward this email to you, and you want to subscribe? Click here to get Digging delivered directly to your inbox!

__________________________

Digging Deeper

Explore the Surreal Garden at Zilker Botanical Garden. For two consecutive weekends, the public is invited to attend evening soirées at Zilker Botanical Garden, including botanical-themed neon surrealism, interactive art sculptures, local-favorite foods, craft cocktails, live music, costumes, dancing, and more! A portion of the proceeds benefits the ZBG Conservancy. Tickets are $40 in advance, $50 at the door (plus fees & tax). Dates are April 22-23 and 28-30 from 6 pm to 10 pm. Get tickets here.

Join the mailing list for Garden Spark! Hungry to learn about garden design from the experts? I’m hosting a series of talks by inspiring garden designers, landscape architects, and authors a few times a year in Austin. Check out the 2021-22 schedule. These are limited-attendance events that sell out quickly, so join the Garden Spark email list to be notified in advance. Simply click this link and ask to be added.

All material © 2022 by Pam Penick for Digging. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited.

The post Spring glow-up in my Texas garden appeared first on Digging.

If you open the current issue of Better Homes & Gardens magazine (May 2022), you’ll find an article I wrote!

“Bite-Size Gardens” on page 84 shows beautiful combos of edible plants (with a few ornamentals) sized for container gardening — perfect for patios or small yards. The photos of Scott Johnson-created planters look pretty mouthwatering to me.

Speaking of mouthwatering, I wish you a lovely Easter dinner if you celebrate the holiday. And happy spring to all!

I welcome your comments. Please scroll to the end of this post to leave one. If you’re reading in an email, click here to visit Digging and find the comment box at the end of each post. And hey, did someone forward this email to you, and you want to subscribe? Click here to get Digging delivered directly to your inbox!

__________________________

Digging Deeper

Explore the Surreal Garden at Zilker Botanical Garden. For two consecutive weekends, the public is invited to attend evening soirées at Zilker Botanical Garden, including botanical-themed neon surrealism, interactive art sculptures, local-favorite foods, craft cocktails, live music, costumes, dancing, and more! A portion of the proceeds benefits the ZBG Conservancy. Tickets are $40 in advance, $50 at the door (plus fees & tax). Dates are April 22-23 and 28-30 from 6 pm to 10 pm. Get tickets here.

Join the mailing list for Garden Spark! Hungry to learn about garden design from the experts? I’m hosting a series of talks by inspiring garden designers, landscape architects, and authors a few times a year in Austin. Check out the 2021-22 schedule. These are limited-attendance events that sell out quickly, so join the Garden Spark email list to be notified in advance. Simply click this link and ask to be added.

All material © 2022 by Pam Penick for Digging. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited.

The post Look for my article, Bite-Size Gardens, in Better Homes & Gardens appeared first on Digging.

Last week I hosted one of my Garden Spark talks at Barton Springs Nursery, and their beautiful outdoor classroom was made even more beautiful by a wisteria in full bloom.

If you know anything about Chinese wisteria, you know it’s a monster of a vine. But its spring show is what seduces anyone who plants it: lavender cascades of sweetly scented flowers.

The back rows of chairs occupied a cloud of delicate, sweet fragrance.

As the sun dropped low, the flowers glowed and swayed in a light breeze. It was breathtaking.

One more photo from underneath — a perspective that also shows the mass of muscular, woody vines. For those who love wisteria but rightly fear its aggressive tendencies, consider planting American wisteria (Wisteria frutescens) instead. And never let any wisteria bloom without taking deep, happy sniffs every chance you get.

Barton Springs Nursery has long been a favorite of mine.

Now that the baton has been passed to new owners, the place has seen some freshening up of the grounds and structures, and a more modern aesthetic is being revealed.

Every time I go there’s something new, like the lending library. This time it was a mural that reads, Plants are the family you choose. A stork carrying a bundle of leafy joy flies overhead. How charming is that?

Garden Spark talk

The Garden Spark talk last week was by Canadian garden writer and artist Patterson Webster, who presented an engaging talk about art in the garden.

Thanks, Pat, for coming all the way to Austin to get us thinking about art in new ways! Thanks also to Barton Springs Nursery for sponsoring the talks, and a HUGE thank-you to each and every attendee for coming to hear the speakers. Your support is helping to broaden the conversation about garden design in our community. To be notified of upcoming talks and receive early access to tickets, simply click this link and ask to be added to my email list.

I welcome your comments. Please scroll to the end of this post to leave one. If you’re reading in an email, click here to visit Digging and find the comment box at the end of each post. And hey, did someone forward this email to you, and you want to subscribe? Click here to get Digging delivered directly to your inbox!

__________________________

Digging Deeper

Explore the Surreal Garden at Zilker Botanical Garden. For two consecutive weekends, the public is invited to attend evening soirées at Zilker Botanical Garden, including botanical-themed neon surrealism, interactive art sculptures, local-favorite foods, craft cocktails, live music, costumes, dancing, and more! A portion of the proceeds benefits the ZBG Conservancy. Tickets are $40 in advance, $50 at the door (plus fees & tax). Dates are April 22-23 and 28-30 from 6 pm to 10 pm. Get tickets here.

Join the mailing list for Garden Spark! Hungry to learn about garden design from the experts? I’m hosting a series of talks by inspiring garden designers, landscape architects, and authors a few times a year in Austin. Check out the 2021-22 schedule. These are limited-attendance events that sell out quickly, so join the Garden Spark email list to be notified in advance. Simply click this link and ask to be added.

All material © 2022 by Pam Penick for Digging. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited.

The post Wisteria-scented Garden Spark at Barton Springs Nursery appeared first on Digging.

If I’m lucky, springtime means an invitation to Lucinda Hutson‘s festive garden. And last weekend I felt lucky indeed to be invited to her purple casita on a perfect spring day. Out front, pansies were still somehow hanging on, despite recent warm temperatures. Ready to take over, poppies and begonias added dashes of red and pink among all the fresh greenery.

Along the gravel driveway, round-bellied terracotta pots glow with orange marigolds and hot-pink guara.

A closer look

A stone fish greets you from atop a stone wall that hides the rear garden — the first hint of the mermaid grotto on the other side.

Or should I say, the mermaid lounge? Lucinda’s garden helper, Ernesto, created this trellis-trained bougainvillea, which perfectly frames a copper mermaid as you enter the garden.

I’ll come back to the mermaid grotto, but first let’s head down the stone walk toward the purple garage. Colorful decor and pots draw you in.

As you emerge from a shady arbor along the narrow path, the space suddenly opens up — in width and to full sun. Here Lucinda tends vegetable beds that she’s cleverly dressed up to resemble actual beds. Yes, those are iron headboards at the end of each raised plot. All of this is built atop her old driveway. Raised beds and containers provide plenty of canvas for her gardening exuberance.

I spy red-stemmed chard among herbs and other edible plants.

Silverware flowers too — perfect for a garden of eatin’!

Looking back toward Lucinda’s greenhouse, now largely empty after protecting tender plants last winter

A chocolatey leaved begonia with hot-pink flowers in a golden sunflower pot shows that Lucinda has no fear of color. And somehow she found the perfect pillows to match.

The Virgin Mary shows up in statuettes and homemade shrines in this tucked-away seating area, a reference to the Mexican-influenced gardens of Lucinda’s El Paso childhood and her travels throughout Mexico.

Beautiful textiles and a terracotta Virgin against a blue-painted fence

Floral stepping stones bring color even to the paving underfoot.

Lucinda enjoys a bit of Tex-Mex word play, as evidenced by Our Lady of La Tina. La tina means the bathtub in Spanish, and of course there’s Latina too. Next to the Madonna tub, a soap aloe is flowering — soap, get it?

It’s a charming piece of folk art, built into a mortared wall of holey (holy?) limestone.

A Mexican honeysuckle in full bloom made me wistful for the ones in my own garden that should be blooming now. But February’s hard freezes killed them to the roots. They’re coming back, but blooms are a ways off. It’s nice to see Lucinda’s (she protected this container over the winter) as a preview of hummingbird-attracting blossoms to come.

Wow, check out this stellar geranium (Pelargonium ‘Vancouver Centennial’), perfectly matched to its pot.

Back through the rose arbor, where another folk-art shrine gives you a reason to stop and look, and maybe offer up a little prayer. This is St. Anthony, patron saint of lost things — which for Lucinda means keys.

The mermaid grotto lies ahead, just inside the filigreed gate that leads to the front garden. See how the stone wall with the fish divides this private space from the more public front garden?

The smoky red bougainvillea frames another mermaid from this direction.

There she is — in the ceramic basin leaning against the wall. Other mermaids perch on rocks alongside seashells, tile mosaics, and ferns. Below, a small pool trickles with water, completing the mermaid grotto.

In the front garden, eclectic chairs, a mirror, and carved panels add interest to a fence that hides a neighbor’s driveway.

Birdhouses and metal birds glued to the mirror and fence show that feathered friends are welcome.

Perhaps the metal birds also prevent real birds from trying to fly through the mirror? If so, that’s a clever solution.

Other animals — ceramic turtles and a frog — “swim” in a birdbath.

A scrollwork table with a pretty posy from the garden

A hummingbird basket displays a vivid begonia and Easter eggs, a nod to the season.

While I was exploring the garden I found Laura, a fellow guest, had been sent out to gather pansies…

…which were promptly used to garnish our cocktails. Beautiful and tasty!

Soon Lucinda was bringing out platters of tostadas, each garnished with herbs from the garden. The artichoke tostadas were swiftly devoured.

As were the fruit tostadas. What a delicious treat.

Colorful food and drinks to go with Lucinda’s colorful house and garden!

A miniature of Lucinda’s house — a birdhouse replica complete with tiled arch and window boxes — hangs near the front door. It’s the perfect adornment for her purple casita.

Thank you, Lucinda, for a beautiful morning in your garden filled with laughter, friends, and festive food!

I welcome your comments. Please scroll to the end of this post to leave one. If you’re reading in an email, click here to visit Digging and find the comment box at the end of each post. And hey, did someone forward this email to you, and you want to subscribe? Click here to get Digging delivered directly to your inbox!

__________________________

Digging Deeper

Explore the Surreal Garden at Zilker Botanical Garden. For two consecutive weekends, the public is invited to attend evening soirées at Zilker Botanical Garden, including botanical-themed neon surrealism, interactive art sculptures, local-favorite foods, craft cocktails, live music, costumes, dancing, and more! A portion of the proceeds benefits the ZBG Conservancy. Tickets are $40 in advance, $50 at the door (plus fees & tax). Dates are April 22-23 and 28-30 from 6 pm to 10 pm. Get tickets here.

Join the mailing list for Garden Spark! Hungry to learn about garden design from the experts? I’m hosting a series of talks by inspiring garden designers, landscape architects, and authors a few times a year in Austin. Check out the 2021-22 schedule. These are limited-attendance events that sell out quickly, so join the Garden Spark email list to be notified in advance. Simply click this link and ask to be added.

All material © 2022 by Pam Penick for Digging. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited.

The post Spring garden party at Lucinda’s purple casita appeared first on Digging.

It’s peak bluebonnet season in Central Texas! And while the consensus is that bluebonnets are paltry this spring because of ongoing drought, even a poor year is a good year where bluebonnets are concerned. Seeing bonnie blue flowers mingling with orange-red Indian paintbrush, how can you feel anything but happy?

April means it’s time for my annual wildflower safari. Last Friday I headed east, aiming for back roads in Brenham and Independence, having heard that bluebonnets are a little thicker there than in the drier Hill Country west of Austin. Along for the ride were Pat Webster, visiting from Canada, and Diana of Sharing Nature’s Garden.

Pat had never seen bluebonnets before her visit to Austin for Garden Spark, so we were on a mission. A blue-ribboned field a few miles from the Antique Rose Emporium called for a photo op at a roadside pull-out.

Texas bluebonnets (Lupinus texensis), Indian paintbrush (Castilleja indivisa), and the stray magenta winecup (Callirhoe involucrata) — native Texas beauties.

I was excited to see wild white gaura growing here too.

I grow a cultivated variety in my home garden, known formerly as Gaura lindheimeri but now Oenothera lindheimeri.

Bluebonnets and paintbrush, a classic sight along Central Texas roadsides in April

Indian paintbrush

After shopping at the Antique Rose Emporium, we headed down the road to Old Baylor Park, where we found more wildflowers. An dog-trot log cabin makes a picturesque backdrop.

Yellow wildflowers joined the crazy quilt here. Anyone know the name of this yellow flower?

Diana and Pat were wildflower paparazzi too.

Beautiful reds, blues, and yellows

A swing set under the trees had a pretty view of wildflowers.

A small herd of cows across the road added to the pastoral scene.

Mooooving on

A fellow wildflower hunter here told us she’d seen an amazing field of bluebonnets near the Salem Lutheran Church in Whitehall, and I was tempted to head that way. But the afternoon was getting along, and we had plans to visit Round Top on the way home, so we had to pass up that field of bluebonnet dreams. Ah well, we saw some pretty dreamy fields ourselves. Happy spring, y’all!

I welcome your comments. Please scroll to the end of this post to leave one. If you’re reading in an email, click here to visit Digging and find the comment box at the end of each post. And hey, did someone forward this email to you, and you want to subscribe? Click here to get Digging delivered directly to your inbox!

__________________________

Digging Deeper

Explore the Surreal Garden at Zilker Botanical Garden. For two consecutive weekends, the public is invited to attend evening soirées at Zilker Botanical Garden, including botanical-themed neon surrealism, interactive art sculptures, local-favorite foods, craft cocktails, live music, costumes, dancing, and more! A portion of the proceeds benefits the ZBG Conservancy. Tickets are $40 in advance, $50 at the door (plus fees & tax). Dates are April 22-23 and 28-30 from 6 pm to 10 pm. Get tickets here.

Join the mailing list for Garden Spark! Hungry to learn about garden design from the experts? I’m hosting a series of talks by inspiring garden designers, landscape architects, and authors a few times a year in Austin. Check out the 2021-22 schedule. These are limited-attendance events that sell out quickly, so join the Garden Spark email list to be notified in advance. Simply click this link and ask to be added.

All material © 2022 by Pam Penick for Digging. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited.

The post Fields of bluebonnet dreams appeared first on Digging.

If you’ve visited Kingsbury Commons at Austin’s Pease Park lately, you may have encountered a startling and surprisingly beautiful sight: clusters of trees with Majorelle blue trunks and limbs. The Blue Trees is a temporary environmental art installation by New Zealand artist Konstantin Dimopoulos. It brings our attention to the crises of deforestation and climate change by transforming local trees with a harmless temporary color that slowly washes away.

The Blue Trees

In the artist’s own words:

“In…The Blue Trees, the colour and the Tree come together to transform and affect each other; the colour changing the Tree into something surreal, while the Tree, rooted in this earth reflects what we may lose. This change highlights ecological issues, such as the ecocide of our forests and climate change, and effects a transformation in the psyche of people by raising our social consciousness referencing how individually and collectively we shape the world we inhabit. The Blue Trees has a strong regenerative aspect to it, an organic work that is continually changing and evolving. From season to season the trees grow through the cycles of nature and the colors begin to change and disappear. Time passing is a part of the concept; time that determines our own existence is measured through these trees.” 

https://kondimopoulos.com/the-blue-trees/

Dimopoulos has created Blue Trees at sites around the world, inviting local volunteers to help him color trees with his non-paint mixture of chalk and water. Why the otherworldly blue? Because it makes you look. As the saying goes, sometimes we can’t see the forest for the trees. By drawing attention to individual trees, Dimopoulos hopes to get people thinking about the importance of forests, not just in Austin but around the world. We need forests to help combat climate change, but there’s so much deforestation going on.

I visited Pease Park on April 6th with a visitor from Canada, Patterson Webster, who’d come to Austin to give a presentation for my garden-design speaker series, Garden Spark.

Pat is an artist herself, one whose often large-scale sculptural works incorporate trees and fields and reflect on the passage of time. She was an ideal companion with which to explore The Blue Trees.

Some of the blue trees are upright, regularly spaced specimens in a lawn. People were picnicking and lying beneath them in a scene right out of Georges Seurat’s A Sunday Afternoon.

Other blue trees are wilder looking. Bent and twisted junipers seem to dance with young saplings in a wooded area along the trail.

The ultramarine blue makes the texture of each tree’s bark stand out.

This shrubby tree astonished me, with each twiggy branch painstakingly highlighted with blue, and new green leaves glowing against it. How long must it have taken someone to carefully color each branch?

And check out this pair of blue trunks. The late afternoon sunlight created a blacklight effect.

Bark texture and new green leaves coming to life

The blue coloring should last a couple of months, but go soon to see them in full ultramarine glory.

Texas mountain laurel

After we’d explored the blue trees we found a purple tree — a Texas mountain laurel still in full bloom. I was happy Pat got to smell the grape Kool-Aid fragrance of this Central Texas native.

The Treehouse

I also showed Pat the Treehouse, a two-story rebar-and-steel sphere with a net floor. Pat showed an adventurous spirit by walking right out onto the bouncy net, which supports you about 12 feet above the ground.

Right off the airplane, and here she is, having fun like a local.

Under the Radar with Christine Ten Eyck

We also had tickets to an AIGA Under the Radar presentation at Pease Park by landscape architect Christy Ten Eyck. She talked about her work in designing the revamped Kingsbury Commons section of the park, as well as other projects throughout the Southwest. Her stories are so inspiring about bringing water, native plants, and new life into over-paved, unwelcoming spaces and turning them into places people and wildlife want to be, places that celebrate the “sacred path of water.”

There’s much inspiration to be found in people like Christy and Pat, and in places like Pease Park and artwork like The Blue Trees. Pat spotted her first Texas bluebonnets here at Pease Park, and we’d see more in the days ahead at the Wildflower Center and on a wildflower drive out to Brenham. I’ll have pics to share soon!

I welcome your comments. Please scroll to the end of this post to leave one. If you’re reading in an email, click here to visit Digging and find the comment box at the end of each post. And hey, did someone forward this email to you, and you want to subscribe? Click here to get Digging delivered directly to your inbox!

__________________________

Digging Deeper

Explore the Surreal Garden at Zilker Botanical Garden. For two consecutive weekends, the public is invited to attend evening soirées at Zilker Botanical Garden, including botanical-themed neon surrealism, interactive art sculptures, local-favorite foods, craft cocktails, live music, costumes, dancing, and more! A portion of the proceeds benefits the ZBG Conservancy. Tickets are $40 in advance, $50 at the door (plus fees & tax). Dates are April 22-23 and 28-30 from 6 pm to 10 pm. Get tickets here.

Join the mailing list for Garden Spark! Hungry to learn about garden design from the experts? I’m hosting a series of talks by inspiring garden designers, landscape architects, and authors a few times a year in Austin. Check out the 2021-22 schedule. These are limited-attendance events that sell out quickly, so join the Garden Spark email list to be notified in advance. Simply click this link and ask to be added.

All material © 2022 by Pam Penick for Digging. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited.

The post Blue trees in Austin’s Pease Park spotlight tree loss around the world appeared first on Digging.

Last week Barton Springs Nursery was marinating in grape Kool-Aid fragrance thanks to a bumper crop of Texas mountain laurel (Sophora secundiflora) blossoms. Purple clusters of sweet-smelling flowers greeted me at the entrance to the nursery yard.

More grapey trees — including a giant of about 15 feet — beckoned near the parking lot entrance.

Double bliss: Texas mountain laurel with a Spanish dagger in voluptuous bloom. Or is that Spanish bayonet? I’m not sure of the difference between those two intimidating yuccas.

One more shot of its starburst form and heavily guarded flower

Bookshop

Inside Barton Springs Nursery’s gift shop, I visited their new bookshop, located in a back room. It’s so great to see a nursery willing to carry books, despite Amazon’s attempts to become the only bookseller in the world.

Oh hey — there’s my book The Water-Saving Garden! Thanks, BSN. I also spy my friend Loree Bohl‘s Fearless Gardening.

Lending library

In another little room next to the bookshop, I discovered BSN’s new lending library. How cool is this? Shelves of gardening and design books are available to check out on the honor system.

The rules are spelled out in a picture frame sitting on a shelf. It’s easy to check out a book on a self-serve basis, assuming you can find the wooden box marked “Checkouts.” I had to ask for help to locate it, and of course it was sitting right in front of my face. D’oh!

Here’s the book I selected. Search out the bookshop and library the next time you’re at BSN buying plants, and maybe you’ll find a new book to read too.

Today’s unseasonable 97F temperature means the end of mountain laurel season. It’s been an amazing spring for these native trees, many of which took a hit during the 2021 Freezepocalypse, and we Texans have been reveling in their beauty and fragrance for a couple of weeks. The early spring show is ending. What’s up next?

I welcome your comments. Please scroll to the end of this post to leave one. If you’re reading in an email, click here to visit Digging and find the comment box at the end of each post. And hey, did someone forward this email to you, and you want to subscribe? Click here to get Digging delivered directly to your inbox!

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Digging Deeper

Come hear an in-person talk about art and garden design on Thursday, April 7th. Patterson Webster, a garden writer, garden travel guide, and accomplished sculptor from Quebec, will be in Austin to share her knowledge as my next Garden Spark speaker. The talk will be held in a beautiful outdoor setting at Barton Springs Nursery. Only a handful of seats remain, so email me today for ticket info. No walk-ins; advance tickets only. Come learn something new and hang out with fellow garden lovers!

Join the mailing list for Garden Spark! Hungry to learn about garden design from the experts? I’m hosting a series of talks by inspiring garden designers, landscape architects, and authors a few times a year in Austin. Check out the 2021-22 schedule. These are limited-attendance events that sell out quickly, so join the Garden Spark email list to be notified in advance. Simply click this link and ask to be added.

All material © 2022 by Pam Penick for Digging. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited.

The post Texas mountain laurel bliss – and books! – at Barton Springs Nursery appeared first on Digging.

In early March, on a quick trip to Houston, I returned to Houston Botanic Garden for an end-of-winter visit. HBG is still a new garden — it opened in September 2020; click for my visit — and the culinary garden with its massive, aqua-tiled water wall is the newest section.

Culinary Garden

Raised beds artfully displayed cabbages, chard, and other cool-season vegetables.

I was intrigued by the strip of tall grasses that screen a patio with cafe seating.

I like the scrim effect.

Honeybee on an allium flower

There’s a tree-shaded patio too.

It’s nice to see people using the seating areas, although it was surprisingly quiet at the garden for a warm Saturday afternoon.

Cabbagey view toward the gift shop

Water Wall and Table

Houston was my first real exposure to architecture. I lived there in the late 80s as a college student and goggled at Space Age structures like the Astrodome, rectilinear midcentury buildings, and the fantastical neo-Byzantine style of the Rice campus. Those years conditioned me to expect interesting structures in Houston, and the botanic garden doesn’t disappoint. This water wall, for example. What is that — Art Deco style? Miami?

Papyrus grows in a boggy bed at the base of the dripping, trickling wall.

A thin stream of water makes its way along a series of ledges built into the wall.

In a central plaza, a curvy table continues the water theme with a rill running down the center. Near the edge, the stream zigzags through a serpentine flourish and drops…

…into a round, shallow basin. A pebble-edged rill then directs the water…

…through the plaza to a spiraling drain, from which the water presumably recirculates. You can see that spiral on my post about HBG from last December.

Ball-like supports for the water table

Along this tiled wall, scuppers arc water into a narrow pool.

On the back side, mauve paint adds contrast, and bamboo trellises await espaliered trees.

Global Collection Garden

Moving on, the Global Collection garden was still wintry looking in early March, with tawny grasses and winter-browned perennials that hadn’t been cut back yet. The palms, however, look to have recovered from the freezepocalypse of February 2021.

The arid garden’s agaves are looking green and happy too.

A beautiful mix of agaves, prickly pear, sotol, and Yucca rostrata. The pine trees make a surprising backdrop, don’t they?

Another view

The orange and gray rocks add so much to this garden, creating a canyon-like effect.

A sign explains that they’re onyx boulders from Arizona.

A pair of carved-stone birds with two tiny eggs rested atop one boulder.

Scrim of Texas sotol

A rocky bed of cholla and grasses was still in winter mode.

But early spring weeds were prolific between masses of golden barrel cacti. This is the challenge of cactus gardening in a subtropical, moist climate — weeds. I wonder if the garden has enough staff to get after them, or if the weeds just all popped up at once? It’s got to be challenging to weed between these spiky barrels.

A wider view

Leaving the arid garden, I followed steps leading onto a high berm planted with pines — an overlook in flat-as-a-pancake Houston.

Bananas browned by frost rattled in the breeze.

Nearby an artistic blue tree added color and whimsy.

Throughout the garden, patios with comfortable chairs and potted plants invite you to relax and hang out. This space overlooks…

…the Space Age-style arcade and planter wall that runs the length of the garden — one of the architectural features I admire at HBG.

Aloe in bloom

A frilly-leaved mangave

A temporary art installation of neon-and-plexiglass letters runs the length of the arcade. It’s called Mother, a 3-word poem by artist Liss LaFleur that’s on display through June 2022. Large letters spell out “OTHER MOTHER ANOTHER,” referring to both Mother Earth and the maternal figures in our lives. 

Carolina jessamine vine, a herald of spring, was blooming. No doubt spring has transformed the garden in the month since my visit, and I hope to return again soon.

To read my earlier posts about Houston Botanic Garden, click the links below:

• Houston Botanic Garden brightens the holidays with Lightscape
• Brand-new Houston Botanic Garden showcases tropical and subtropical plants – part 1
• Houston Botanic Garden’s surprising cactus garden and more – part 2

I welcome your comments. Please scroll to the end of this post to leave one. If you’re reading in an email, click here to visit Digging and find the comment box at the end of each post. And hey, did someone forward this email to you, and you want to subscribe? Click here to get Digging delivered directly to your inbox!

__________________________

Digging Deeper

Come hear an in-person talk about art and garden design on Thursday, April 7th. Patterson Webster, a garden writer, garden travel guide, and accomplished sculptor from Quebec, will be in Austin to share her knowledge as my next Garden Spark speaker. The talk will be held in a beautiful outdoor setting at Barton Springs Nursery. Only a handful of seats remain, so email me today for ticket info. No walk-ins; advance tickets only. Come learn something new and hang out with fellow garden lovers!

Join the mailing list for Garden Spark! Hungry to learn about garden design from the experts? I’m hosting a series of talks by inspiring garden designers, landscape architects, and authors a few times a year in Austin. Check out the 2021-22 schedule. These are limited-attendance events that sell out quickly, so join the Garden Spark email list to be notified in advance. Simply click this link and ask to be added.

All material © 2022 by Pam Penick for Digging. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited.

The post Houston Botanic Garden edibles, water wall, and end-of-winter gardens appeared first on Digging.