Blog Profile / Digging
| URL : | http://www.penick.net/digging/ | |
|---|---|---|
| Filed Under: | Hobbies / Gardening | |
| Posts on Regator: | 1145 | |
| Posts / Week: | 4.2 | |
| Archived Since: | March 5, 2008 | |
Blog Post Archive
Beautiful simplicity for Foliage Follow-Up
I’m in the midst of posting about an Austin garden tour this week, but I’m taking a break today for Foliage Follow-Up. Still inspired by the garden at Highland Terrace West, I’m showing another view of this living still life — white,...Show More Summary
Gardens on Tour 2013: Highland Terrace West Garden
I used to walk by this house every day while picking up my son from kindergarten, and each time I’d gape at the lush, shade garden fronting the charming cottage with the welcoming front porch, wondering what the rest of the place looked like. Show More Summary
Gardens on Tour 2013: Placid Place Garden
The homeowner-designed Placid Place Garden, located in north-central Austin’s Highland Village neighborhood, was the third we visited on the Wildflower Center-sponsored Gardens on Tour last Saturday. While the overall design was too unstructured for my taste, I did admire several features, including this double-arbor entry gate into the back yard. Show More Summary
Gardens on Tour 2013: Westridge Drive Garden
The second garden I visited on the Wildflower Center-sponsored Gardens on Tour last Saturday was, like the first, located in south Austin’s Barton Hills neighborhood. The contemporary home on Westridge Drive, which is embraced by a wood...Show More Summary
Gardens on Tour 2013: Kathy Cove Garden
Garden tour season in central Texas kicked off last Saturday with the annual Wildflower Center-sponsored Gardens on Tour, which this year featured five Austin gardens in which native plants play a predominant role. I toured with three...Show More Summary
Sleepy screech owl
Over dinner on the deck last night, we watched Mama Screech Owl sitting in the door of her owl box, looking for all the world as if she needed another nap before dark. We think she has chicks in there, as she spends much of her time at the doorway now, rather than down in the box. Show More Summary
Happy about these garden blues
I’m singing the blues with majestic sage (Salvia guaranitica)… …with a blue bottle tree, purple skullcap (Scutellaria wrightii), and ‘Whale’s Tongue’ agave (Agave ovatifolia)… …with Texas bluebonnets (Lupinus texensis)… …and with more purple skullcap and bluebonnets, plus velvety mullein. Show More Summary
Virtual book tour for Indoor Plant Decor, plus a Bonsai Tool Set Giveaway
My friends Kylee Baumle (Our Little Acre) and Jenny Peterson (J Peterson Garden Design) have co-authored a brand-new book called Indoor Plant Decor: The Design Stylebook for Houseplants. To celebrate and help publicize its release, I’m participating in their cyber book party. Show More Summary
Springtime visit to the Garden of Good and Evil
Last weekend Lori, a gardener in southwest Austin who blogs at The Gardener of Good and Evil, hosted a meet-up of local garden bloggers. It was my second visit. I’d seen her lovely garden three years ago and posted about it then. Lori loves roses, and in 2010 they dominated her garden. Show More Summary
Gorgeous succulent bowl
Wow, check out this stunning succulent bowl! It was a gift from my friend Diana of Sharing Nature’s Garden, put together by Vivero Growers Nursery, and I LOVE it! The colorful aeonium (please let it live through our hot, humid summers!),...Show More Summary
Honeybees spelunk in aloe flowers
The life of a garden is sometimes better revealed in close-up views. Take these honeybees, for example. They love the candelabra-like flowers of Aloe maculata, formerly A. saponaria. When the tubular blossoms open, bees converge to spelunk the depths. Show More Summary
Spuria iris bloom at last
About 4 years after acquiring them, my spuria iris are blooming at last. Passalongs from Linda Lehmusvirta of Central Texas Gardener, who told me she received her divisions from author/designer Scott Ogden, these tall (about 3 feet),...Show More Summary
Screech owl in the April garden
Someone’s been watching me as I amble through the garden in the morning and evening. Whooo? I didn’t see him when I was dazzled by the variegated agaves and yuccas in the raised bed along the back of the house. I didn’t see him whenShow More Summary
Lucinda Hutson’s purple cottage, cantina garden, and Viva Tequila!
My friend Lucinda Hutson invited me over to her purple cottage on Sunday to see her angel’s trumpets in bloom, plus all the rest of her exuberant, flowery garden. Lighting up her quiet Rosedale neighborhood street like a fiesta in full swing, Lucinda’s garden is an irresistible mix of color, romance, humor, and creativity. Show More Summary
Blazing blanketflower and more at the Wildflower Center, part 3
So many wildflowers were in bloom last Friday at the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center that it’s taken three posts for me to show you everything. Today I’m leading with the eye-popping hotness of a swath of Indian blanket, also known as firewheel (Gaillardia pulchella). Show More Summary
Bonny bluebonnets and more at the Wildflower Center, part 2
I promised you Texas bluebonnets (Lupinus texensis) in my previous post, part 1 of last Friday’s visit to the Wildflower Center, and bluebonnets you shall have, with a bonus of winecups (Callirhoe involucrata)! This little boy was certainly enjoying the bluebonnet meadow, running his hands along the tops of the flowers. Show More Summary
Blossoming spring morning at the Wildflower Center, part 1
April is high season for wildflowers in Texas, and if you can’t get out for a country drive to admire them in meadows and fields, an Austinite can always get a fix at the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center. I stopped by for a wildflower stroll on Friday morning. Show More Summary
Meet Austin designer Mark Word
Photo by Maggie Goen. Used with permission from Mark Word Design. For Austin designer Mark Word, selecting plants for clients’ gardens is akin to playing a good jazz set at a hopping nightclub. “You do plenty of crowd-pleasing standards,”...Show More Summary
Leafy spring Foliage Follow-Up
In the wake of the bombing in Boston yesterday, putting together a Foliage Follow-Up post seemed awfully trivial, and I didn’t have the heart for it last night, even though I’d already taken my photos that morning. As the wife of a former...Show More Summary
My article about John Fairey’s Peckerwood Garden wins award
Last year I wrote an article for Garden Design magazine about Texas plantsman John Fairey and Peckerwood Garden, his decades-in-the-making collector’s garden in Hempstead. “The Plant Man” appeared in the June 2012 issue of Garden Design (now, sadly, out of business). Show More Summary