Outside the Back Door ...

Don't miss our Opening Reception for this vibrant exhibition by Carroll Swenson-Roberts!

Tomato Cage, Broccoli

Discover what lies "Outside the Back Door" with Texas Discovery Gardens' summer art exhibition. Using pencil, ink, pastel and natural objects like leaves and seeds, artist Carroll Swenson-Roberts captures the essence of a summer garden.

"All of the parts of the world are forever changing and individual," Carroll says. "You can observe this in the way a tiny seed grows into a large flower. Each bug and bird is slightly different as it becomes part of a pattern that swarms and flies above the grocery store in the evening. I can see this in my neighborhood and out my back door and I find joy in that."

Pieces like the 30" x 24" Tomato Cage explore the colors and patterns found in a garden, from the plants to the wildlife.

"When I make my marks, I am trying to understand and celebrate the details that make up the whole world we live in," Carroll says.

The exhibition is curated by Janet Reynolds.

Exhibit runs: May 14 through Aug. 27, 2011. Free admission on Tuesdays.

Opening reception: Sunday, May 15, 2 pm to 5 pm. Admission to Texas Discovery Gardens is free for the reception. 
  

May Activities/Workshops 

Butterfly Plant Safari
Friday, May 20, 2 pm to 4 pm

This pre-sale tour by the man behind the plants, Horticulture Director Randy Johnson, shows you how to incorporate native and adapted plants into your landscape. If you enroll in the walk, you can purchase plants at our Member's Preview Night.

See our site for details and to pre-pay.  $15; $10 members.

Member's Butterfly Plant Sale Preview

Friday, May 20, 4 pm to 7 pm

Members: save 10 percent and gain an early day to shop at our biggest event of the year! If you're looking for hard-to-find plants, this is your best bet. Popular varieties go fast! You can buy or renew your membership at the plant sale.

Butterfly Plant Safari

Saturday, May 21, 8 am to 10 am

New! We now also offer this Saturday am if you can't make the Friday safari. We will open our lobby at 7:45 am to give you time to pay, but we strongly recommend buying your tickets in advance, as the tour starts promptly at 8 am. See our site for details and to pre-pay. $15; $10 members.

Butterfly Plant Sale

Saturday, May 21, 10 am to 2 pm 

Snap up hard-to-find butterfly host and nectar plants in this annual event that attracts more and more people each year! We grow many host and nectar plants here, giving you the benefit of organic plants tuned for Dallas summers. What we can't propagate ourselves (like some slow-growing trees and other plants), we buy from regional growers so that you can create a diverse garden that attracts multiple pollinators.

Plus! Don't miss our Fancy Nancy Butterfly Tea Party June 9! 

Thanks as well to Harold Spiegel, with Preservation Tree, and Steve Gaharan, with Moore Tree Care, who serve on our Board of Directors.

Sweetgum trees are native east of the DFW area and often do not live long here, although we do have a healthy specimen near our wildlife pond.

When adding trees to your yard, think about native vs. nonnative, the eventual height and width of the trees, and how "messy" they are (for example: do you want a pecan tree dropping pecans and leaves over your swimming pool or to plant a young live oak below a power line? Both make gorgeous trees in larger open areas, however).  

When you do have to have a professional tree care service remove a dying/diseased tree, grinding down the stump allows you to reclaim the garden space immediately.

 

Click here to see the Turtle Creek Chorale fundraiser flier!

 

 

Thank you as well to Shakespeare Dallas and Turtle Creek Chorale for helping us promote our Organic in the City Fashion Show + Auction in April! They have some exciting events coming up!