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The images below come from my former garden. I still have a great attachment to the garden pictured here, it was my labor of love for sixteen years (1984 - 2000.)

In my former garden, I knew that spring had truly come when the Mexican Plums began to bloom. They have an incredible fragrance that perfumes the air up and down the block where I used to live.

This view shows the back of the courtyard that I shared with my neighbors. I created this space for meditating, conversation, and entertaining. The small square of river stones is what I called my "beach." You can read about this space in the library section of this website.

A statue of Our Lady of Guadalupe used to stand at the back of a raised bed in the courtyard of our garden. (I have taken the statue with me to my new home!)The oxalis in the foreground blooms through the winter into late spring. A garden gnome given to me by a German friend is hiding in the grotto in the lower left. Other plants include fragrant sumac, weeping yaupon, rusty blackhaw viburnum, nandina, and bigtooth maple.

This close-up is of some daylilies that typically bloom in early May. They are difficult to maintain since they require a good bit of water. But it's hard to argue with the wonderful show of color they provide.

A garden is always a work in progress, and this area of the garden has changed substantially since this photo was taken. But the Japanese maple is still there, and every fall it lights up the garden. Just goes to show you-- you can have fall color in Texas!

I first "got serious" about gardening in the Houston area. It was there that I fell in love with Louisiana Irises. This one is called "Deneb" and it is one of my favorite flowers. The plants in the background are English ivy and oxalis.

I used to live in a condominium and when I designed the shared space I tried to create individual garden rooms. This little space is enveloped by that garden and is one my favorite places in the garden. Since this picture was taken, the trees have grown and I've changed the plantings quite a bit to cut down on the watering that is needed. There are a lot more native plants now and much more shade. A possumhaw holly now blocks this view from my old front porch, it's my favorite tree in the garden and is covered with thousands of bright red berries during the winter.

River fern unfurling in the morning light. There is something incredibly refreshing about a bed of ferns. I guess they remind us of the coolness of a forest floor. These ferns are shaded by a Savannah Holly tree that is nearly 30 feet tall. They are watered throughout the summer courtesy of the drainage from four air conditioning units!

This is a view of a small rock table made of limestone and slate that used to sit on my front porch. I love to use stone and found objects in the garden. Here I mixed stones, shells, fossils, and driftwood along with potted plants. When I stepped outside my front door, I was reminded of the many special places where I found these things. Compare this to the earlier shot taken from my porch and you can begin to see how the view has changed.

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