Text and photographs are © by Ellen Spector Platt & Ellen Zachos, all rights reserved.


Sunday, March 21, 2010

a roving reporter visits Austin, TX


If I say Austin, do you think blue bonnets? Chances are if you're a garden fanatic, you know Austin, TX as the home of the Ladybird Johnson Wildflower Center. This time of year is when the blue bonnets (aka Lupinus texensis) bloom, and despite the fact that the last few days in Austin have been colder than NYC, the flowers are starting to pop. It's a few weeks away from peak, but I still enjoyed the show.

Also at the Wildflower Center was a spectacular yellow jasmine (Gelsemium sempervirens) climbing up a galvanized water tank; what a great juxtaposition of color and texture. But they should really do something about the fire ant problem. Cayce's screams were heard for miles as she was dragged back to the colony.

Downtown the streets are full of music lovers enjoying SXSW. (For more about the weekend in general, click here.) Street horticulture in Austin is predictably different from NYC; the plant palette tends toward the succulent, and galvanized is definitely in.




Flying home tomorrow, and this preview of spring has got me psyched to start planting! I wonder if bottle trees are hardy in New York City.


2 comments:

Hilda M. Morrill said...

Hi Ellen,

Loved your post! Maybe if Austin is not too far away, hubby and I will pop over after GWA meeting in September. Happy Spring to you and Ellen *:-)
~ Hilda

Shady Gardener said...

What a great time you had!! I love the ants!! Wouldn't it be fun to have one of those?? ;-)

Happy Spring!!


  © Blogger template Joy by Ourblogtemplates.com 2008

Back to TOP