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Friday, March 23, 2012

OUR GARDEN IN SOUTHERN LIVING MAGAZINE

When Steve Bender and Ralph Anderson, from Southern Living, fixed the date to come out and film my garden last year, I was a basket case for weeks. I think Steve was too! Every gardener would like to show their garden at its best and so for weeks I was saying to myself, 'Drop everything and come today, what will be left, will it be raining, will it be windy?' I don't suppose I will ever change. I was just the same when Central Texas Gardener came to film for TV, the Wildflower Center Tour, The Master Gardeners' Tour and Gardeners' Supply catalogue. It was all OK in the end. The flowers were still there, the sun shone and all was rosy in the garden.


It is enormously rewarding for a gardener to have their garden showcased in a magazine and we are thrilled with the 5 page spread. Ralph Anderson took wonderful photographs and Steve Bender, who oversaw the whole process and put our garden into amazing words, finally convinced me that it really was ready to share with their readership. The filming concentrated on the sunken garden and the English garden, both located at the back of the house. You can see the rest of the photos in the April edition of Southern Living Magazine.

42 comments:

  1. What an honor...and greatly deserved. I've always admired your garden. Glad others around the nation will get to share in its beauty. You have done a fantastic job! Well done:)

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  2. Oh my goodness, it looks fantastic! I've just shown it to all my colleagues here in London. Many congratulations xx

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  3. Congratulations! How exciting! You have one of the prettiest, toughest gardens in the Southwest. I'm looking forward to getting a copy of the magazine.

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  4. That 2-page spread is really something. Congratulations!

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  5. Yea! I'm so happy for you!
    I'm going to the store right now and picking up a copy of Southern Living! You do so much to add personal touches to your garden and you know your flowers and plants intimitately. Your garden has the right botanical species for a Texas climate and you love the animals, birds, and butterflies that happen to share in this journey. Without reading the article, I do hope they included all of these. Southern Living could not do better!!!
    David/:0)

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  6. Wow, what an amazing spread! I have to admit when I see my RSS feed reader update with something you've posted, I always come over here to check it out and ooh and ahh over your pictures and amazing garden. Congratulations!

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  7. Wow -- Congratulations Jenny!

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  8. Congratulations! I'm totally envious of your accomplishments!

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  9. Your garden deserves to be spotlighted and shared, so congratulations.

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  10. Congratulations again. I love your garden so much! I would really love a video tour of it, maybe some day? :D I'll probably never get to see it in person, and it really is one of my favorite gardens.

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  11. Congratulations & well-deserved!

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  12. Congratulations, I look forward to getting my hands on a copy.

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  13. Congratulations! Your garden is so amazing that it's easy to see why it would get a photo spread in Southern Living magazine. I'll have to go out and buy the issue to read the full article.

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  14. Congratulations to you and David. Now all of Southern Living's readers will get to see your magical garden. I haven't found a copy yet, it must be flying off the shelves!

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  15. Jenny, I finally found my copy of Southern Living today! Your place looks stunning, but I have to admit, it looks even better in person. Congratulations - your hard work is getting the recognition it deserves, what a joy for you. And I get to show the magazine to friends and say "I know her!"

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  16. My jaw dropped when I saw that photo spread on Pam's blog yesterday, simply gorgeous! Congrats to you and David for getting the attention you deserve!

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  17. How wonderful! Congrats to you!! You should be very proud-such a wonderful garden!

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  18. Congrats!!!! What an honor! And a well deserved one I might add!

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  19. How exciting. Congrats. I am thrilled that I got to see your garden when I went to Austin.

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  20. Congratulations, Jenny! You and David have created such an amazing garden. You certainly deserve the recognition. :-)

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  21. Congratulations...that's such an honor (which you TOTALLY deserve, btw)! That spread is amazing...looks so peaceful. If I lived in your area, I'd definitely sign up for a chance to see your garden in person :-)

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  22. My issue arrived yesterday. How exciting!! And, very well deserved. You and David have done so much work there, and it's a beautiful garden.
    Someday, maybe I'll get to see it in person.

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  23. I was so please to see your garden in my copy of Southern Living. My only complaint is that the article was too short! Your beautiful garden and it's history could easily take up the whole magazine. Congratulations.

    Barbara H.

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  24. Thank you everyone for all your comments. I really appreciate that you stopped by. Keep on coming.

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  25. Just too marvelous, Jenny!!

    It really is a magnificent garden and house; I daydream of it often.

    Congratulations from the bottom of my heart.

    Michele

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  26. I look forward to reading it. Congratulations!

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  27. Congratulations!! I will have to get a copy of the magazine.

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  28. Congratulations! A well-deserved honor. So nice to see Texas style gardens featured.

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  29. My magazine arrived yesterday... what a gorgeous layout for a fabulous garden. Congratulations!

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  30. Congratulations Jenny!
    A great design with hardy plants, I love your garden!

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  31. I was so excited when I opened the new Southern Living, and there you were! They did a wonderful job showcasing you lovely garden. Kudos to you!

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  32. A very well deserved honor Jenny. Congratulations!

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  33. Congratulations! WHat a garden! I was thinking about you today and wondering how things have been going. Anymore trips? What issue/month is your article in? I will have to retrieve a copy. So inspiring, yet you have set the bar real high! Stunning! Congrats again! :)

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  34. Congratulations!! It is so well deserved - I have admired your beautiful garden so much on the blog!

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  35. A beautiful spread. Congratulations my friend! I love how fresh and cool everything looks when we know Texas can be so brutally hot. You've created paradise.~~Dee

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  36. You've inspired so many people, including me, with your gorgeous garden, and now that it's a star in a magazine it can inspire even more to see how beautiful Texas gardening can be. Congratulations!

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  37. Your garden is an inspiration to me living in the same area with the same kind of thin, alkaline soil and attempting to have an English garden too! This may seem like a silly question, but why keep so many rocks in the yard when they absorb and reflect our brutal heat? Your house may be cooler indoors, and there are good reasons to xeriscape, but why not use a native ground cover such as Buffalo grass? Is it just aesthetics? Please don't be insulted, I need advice! No question your garden is beautiful and thank you again for sharing it with the magazine and in your blog!

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    Replies
    1. Thank you for your thoughtful comments. You are correct that the rocks do make for a much hotter garden around the house. The problem is that these gardens are quite small and there would hardly be enough area to support buffalo grass. Also in the front we had to address a drainage issue and the dry creek seemed to be the best solution. The sunken garden is a rain water collector in that the rain drains into the lower section and soaks into the granite below the sandstone. I had buffalo grass at my old house and it was very difficult to maintain; became weedy and we do live in a very weedy area because there are many undeveloped areas around us. Hope this answers your question.

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    2. Thanks for answering my question about the rocks and the heat problem. It's nice you have a hidden rain water collection system. You have a wonderful eye for your garden design. Do you have a professional garden designer (in the Austin area) too and would you share their name? Thanks!

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