Garden Conservancy in Houston

  • Post published:04/09/2011
  • Post comments:5 Comments

A garden is an ephemeral thing. It is created by the vision, knowledge, skill and passion of the gardener. When that gardener must give up the garden it will not last long without a careful intervention. In 1989 a group of passionate people who recognized the importance of gardens in telling the history of a time, place and culture founded The Garden Conservancy. Since then the Garden Conservancy has provided that intervention for ninety exceptional gardens across the…

The Corner in Katy

Cindy MCOK, lives in Katy which is is not far from Missouri City where my daughter lives. When I told Cindy we were coming to Texas she invited us, my husband, daughter and me, to visit her garden. I thought it would be fun to feature Cindy's garden on Three for Thursday which she started.  When we first made plans she said she thought the poppies would be in bloom. And they were!  We were still a distance…

We’re in Texas

  • Post published:03/28/2011
  • Post comments:5 Comments

I got to Houston just in time for the Garden Conservancy's Open Garden Days.  My daughter Kate (R),  Melissa the Houston Garden Girl (center) and I set off to see many beautiful gardens surrounding beautiful houses in some of the historic neighborhoods in the city. I can't show you all 500 photos I took, but I want to give you just a taste of what we saw.  More will show up over time. It is azalea season in…

Who Was Madame Hardy?

  • Post published:01/22/2011
  • Post comments:5 Comments

Many of the plants in our garden have a name attached to them. I have grown the Madame Hardy rose, and assumed she was a real woman. Others have a name that is less obviously that of a real person like Anemone nererosa 'Robinsoniana'.   But who are these people whose names are attached to plants. Who was Perry, or Mrs. R.O. Backhouse or the Vicomtesse Byng? It is easy to know who is being honored when you…

Elise Schlaikjer

Elise Schlaikjer has named all the houses she has lived in Phoenix House, but when she moved to Greenfield, just two years ago, the name was especially apt. It took a fall and a head injury, but Schlaikjer decided that after 23 years in Michigan it was time to move nearer her daughter Laura, in Greenfield. At the age of 73 she was ready to start a new life, like the Phoenix rising from the ashes, reborn and…

Celebratory Butterflies

  • Post published:11/09/2010
  • Post comments:4 Comments

This past weekend we were invited to a celebratory 60th birthday party at our local Butterfly House. We thought it was an apt site for the party because while most of us are familiar with the 12 animal Chinese zodiac, the reality is that the complete Chinese zodiac requires going around the 12 year cycle five times - when you begin again. The 60th year can be challenging, but it can also be a time of new beginnings.…

Three Reds for Thursday

  • Post published:10/28/2010
  • Post comments:5 Comments

I planted this redvein Enkianthus because the description promised pendulous clusters of bell shaped yellowish flowers. I imagined a graceful plant with graceful flowers, but this is what mine looks like at this time of year. It is so upright - as it was described - that it is almost corseted, it is so rigid looking. I am disappointed in the shape of the shrub which can reach up to 12 feet, but it is growing slowly.  The…

Bulb Planting Season

  • Post published:10/19/2010
  • Post comments:6 Comments

Not all my bulbs have arrived, but I spent all night dreaming about where to plant these from Brent and Becky's Bulbs. I have never grown ornamental alliums before, but there were so many beautiful varieties in gardens this year that I decided the time had come. Brent and Becky offer 26 varieties of allium.  I ordered A. aflatunense 'Purple Sensation' which has a slightly airy globe of tiny violet purple flowers on a 20 to 30 inch…