The Heart of Austin

Queen of the Gardens at the Zilker Garden Festival

This weekend is the Zilker Garden Festival at the Zilker Botanical Gardens on Barton Springs Road.  Austinis famous for its spring festivals, and this is one of the best.  John Dromgoole and Tom Spencer, Austin’s gardening gurus, will broadcast their radio shows there and there will be workshops led by experts from the Men’s Garden Club sharing a variety of topics.  If you have always wanted to learn how to make compost tea, plant a vegetable garden, grow medicinal herbs or harvest rainwater, this is your big chance to talk to the experts.  There will also be lots of vendors selling everything from gardening tools and accessories to birdhouses and herbal products. It is really a great event.

My dad was a member of the Men’s Garden Club for years. He had an amazing green thumb and grew and sold the most gorgeous hanging baskets you ever saw.  He and mom started it as a hobby, then grew it into a business that they enjoyed for many years, aptly named “Hang it Up”.  Located at the corner of Jefferson and Pecos, West Austinites would load their cars with Daddy’s prize specimens.  Eventually, Tom Thumb grocery began carrying hanging baskets and they closed the business, but Dad and Mom had the most gorgeous backyard at their home on River Road that you ever saw.  Three layers of hanging baskets filled with ferns, begonias, and many exotic plants lined the fences and hung in the trees.  One week, they left me in charge while they took a trip to the Coast.  It took me two hours to water all of those baskets!

When my sister, Ellen, was in high school at Stephen F.Austin High (the old one on West Avenue!), the Men’s Garden Club sponsored a contest for “Queen of the Gardens” to raise money for some gorgeous street lamps that they wanted to gift to the Zilker Botanical Gardens.  The daughter of the Club member who sold the most tickets to the Zilker Garden Festival would be crowned the Queen.  Well, if you know my sister, she is the best salesperson ever, and we share a very competitive spirit!  The whole family got involved selling tickets at $5.00 a piece (the same price that they are for today’s entry!) and, of course, no one could top her sales. Ellen was crowned, presented with a lovely gold flower ring with small diamonds in the center and the ZilkerGarden got the gorgeous Victorian street lamps that line the entrance to the Gardens.  The president of the Men’s Garden Club said that Ellen had sold more tickets than anyone in the history of the Festival.  I hope that you will have an opportunity to visit the Zilker Botanical Garden Festival today. Proceeds benefit the Gardens.  The festival website is www.zilkergarden.org

Garden enthusiasts should also visit John Dromgoole’s fabulous store, The Natural Gardener, at www.NaturalGardenerAustin.com  John has been teaching and preaching organic gardening to Central Texans for 3 decades.  His radio show, Gardening Naturally, comes on Saturday mornings on KLBJ.  John is truly on of Austin’s greatest treasures!

8648 Old Bee Caves Road, or visit

March Madness in Austin

March is my favorite month of the year in . The weather is turning warmer—Friday it was a record 97 degrees; South by Southwest (SXSW) brings musicians from all over the world to fill every music venue and sidewalk café in town; the UT students (and the traffic!) leave for Spring Break; UT baseball is in full swing at the new Disch-Falk Field; and basketball fans watch their favorite teams make their way through the conference championships toward the coveted Final Four playoffs. The energy all over town is fantastic.

Austin is dubbed the Music Capital of the World and it is one of the things that Austinites know keep our city unique. You may have seen the bumper sticker “Keep Austin Weird”. The Austin music scene does a significant amount to do just that. SXSW is the grand daddy of the music festivals. Musicians play in the parks, on the sidewalks and in all of the clubs and many of the restaurants just about 24-7. Brad and I sat under the stars at the Backyard with two of our favorite friends Friday night to hear Willie Nelson. The night was nirvana! Those that come here for the festival have a hard time believing there is a place like Austin. The city reminds me of a teenager who just won’t grow up! To find the schedule and learn more about South By Southwest Music Festival, visit www.sxsw.com. Texas University of sports fans go to www.texassports.com

TexasYesterday, we bathed in the sun and watched a scrappy baseball team beat the Kansas Jayhawks. It was a gorgeous day, 80 degrees with a nice breeze. Between innings we raced up to the foundation tent to check the basketball score. The Longhorns beat OU and advanced in the Big 12 conference. The day was just about perfect. If you would like to go to a UT baseball game this season, Brad and I have an extra set of two tickets in Section 1 and row 11 on the first base side. We bought two sets of season tickets this year so that we could share our love of the game with our friends and clients. My email address is Laura@WestAustin.com

Highest Flying Kite

Today is Kite Day in Austin,Texas. For 80 years, people have been flocking to Zilker Park with kites in hand to test their kite flying skills. When I was 6, my dad and I built my first kite from tissue paper, sticks and string bought at the Five and Dime across from Casis School in Casis Shopping Center. Together, we drew a pattern on multiple pieces of card board, the kind that came from the cleaners and stuffed inside Daddy’s white starched shirts. Then, we carefully cut the thick green tissue paper and attached it to the frame we had made from the sticks and string. To decorate my kite, I cut a gold piece of paper in the shape of the Girl Scout seal and glued it carefully to the middle of my kite. We were ready for the big day. I could hardly wait to take my kite to Zilker Park the next Sunday after church. We arrived early and tied the string to the intersecting strings at the middle of the kite. I held the kite and Daddy held the large spool of string. In minutes, the kite took flight and I was exhilarated to see my kite soar higher and higher each time I let the string out on the spool. What a thrill! It was almost like the thrill I had when I first road my first bicycle without falling and drove my car to Austin High for the first time by myself. Shear power and freedom.

Brad and I had breakfast at Las Manitas on Congress this morning before taking to the Hike and Bike trail for a Sunday morning walk around Lady Bird Lake. It was really exciting because a camera crew was setting up inside to do a photo shoot or interview or something. Everyone was being very secretive about what was going to happen, but with all of the election buzz, we figured Hillary might stop in at this popular Hispanic breakfast place to do a photo op. There were Hillary signs in the front window along with lots of other signs, so we weren’t sure that we were right, but it was exciting nonetheless to think that we might be participating in a historical Austin moment. Regardless who your candidate is, when the buzz is in your neck of the woods, it is quite exciting. And yes, we feel very special to be the national center of attention right now here in the capital city. Actually, it is just another excuse to feel special here in Austin, because the people in Austin work hard at “being special”. If you have ever been to Austin or you live here, you probably know what I mean!

After a large plate of chorizo and eggs and several cups of coffee, we headed down to the trail. It was gorgeous today! The sky was overcast and the temperature in the low 70’s. We wound our way around the Lake enjoying the newly budded trees, ducks and turtles swimming in the water and the joggers, bikers and strollers. There was just enough wind to keep us cool and the kites soaring. The trail runs along the lake and through the park where the 80^th Austin Kite Festival was in full swing. Music was blasting out of loud speakers, kids in strollers, dogs on leashes, and kites of all shapes and sizes filled the sky with a cacophony of laughter from young and old. It was a magical day in Austin,Texas. As we walked through the crowd, I looked up in the sky in hopes of seeing that green kite and large girl scout emblem. Today some lucky kid will win “Highest Flying Kite” and feel the same thrill I felt when I got the ribbon so many years ago with my home made kite. You gotta love Sunday’s in Austin,Texas. Kite Day is always the 1^st Sunday in March.