October 22, 2025
An invitation to visit Lucinda Hutson‘s purple casita is always a happy occasion. Both Lucinda and her garden are welcoming, colorful, and one-of-a-kind.
I stopped by two weeks ago, just as Lucinda was finishing her extensive decorating for Day of the Dead. She cleverly staples Day of the Dead-themed tote bags from H-E-B to brighten her front porch with skulls and hearts.
Passionflower rambling along a fence adds to the purple color scheme.
At ground level, sweet rain lilies were in bloom.
At the front porch, a flowery skeleton lady welcomes visitors…
…as does another bony fellow.
Lady Mariposa — a Day of the Dead figure with butterfly wings — watches over a small seating area.
With monarch wings spread open and a halo of butterflies, she clasps a bouquet of marigolds and grasses.
As seen from the street, Lady Mariposa offers a Janus view with another skeleton face, this one masked.
Day of the Dead pillows dress up purple wicker chairs.
Playful skeletons cavort in pots of petunias.
Our Lady of Guadalupe adorns a pot of marigolds.
A stone cross marks the grave of Lucinda’s beloved Sancho cat.
A tall, peaked arbor invites you into the back garden. Sky vine cloaks one side…
…offering sky blue flowers to passing butterflies.
A skeleton banner is a seasonal addition.
Bougainvillea view
Smoky red flowers
Turning around, you see Lady Mariposa and the front patio. But now we’re in the Mermaid Garden, where mermaid skeletons offer a seasonal twist.
They make me smile.
Evoking Venus in a clamshell, an iron mermaid poses within a seashell wreath.
Hibiscus brings on the heat.
Bougainvillea and hibiscus
Another skeleton mermaid dangles from the umbrella.
There’s even a skeleton fish — on a tiled fish table, no less.
Continuing on, you see a bathtub-shrine Madonna — one of many pieces of folk art in Lucinda’s garden.
A flower tile adorns a pot of orange zinnias.
A grinning ceramic pumpkin echoes the colors of stacked children’s chairs — an unexpected sculptural element.
Coral vine was in full, cascading bloom in early October.
The pink flowers are beautiful against the purple house.
Golden mums evoke the color of the fall — even when it feels fall hasn’t really arrived yet.
Another view, with Lucinda’s house paint changing to yellow in back.
Purple bougainvillea
A carved wooden gate reads El Jardin Encantador — the enchanting garden.
At the very back, colorful skull flags flutter over a deck.
A table is dressed for Day of the Dead celebrations.
On a buffet, a skull grins at you from a pottery bowl.
Lucinda opened her back door to show us her mosaic-tiled “stairway to heaven.”
This room always amazes new visitors — it displays Lucinda’s extensive collection of Mexican folk art, books, and art. A large Day of the Dead altar fills the back wall, adorned with skeletons, marigolds, and photos of loved ones who’ve passed away.
Folk-art diablo figures (devils)
Our Lady of Guadalupe is framed in the dining room. A few old Mexican sugar skulls, carefully preserved for decades, rest at her feet.
More sugar skulls line a windowsill.
Jolly skeletons are everywhere at Lucinda’s house for Day of the Dead. These playfully spill out of a terracotta jug.
Their beauty and playfulness remind us that death is simply the next stage.
Here is Lucinda — in purple, of course — with visitors Jill Nooney and Bob Munger of Bedrock Gardens. Thank you, Lucinda, for sharing your beautiful Day of the Dead home and garden with us!
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Digging Deeper
My new book, Gardens of Texas: Visions of Resilience from the Lone Star State, is here! Find it on Amazon and other online book sellers. It’ll make a great holiday gift for anyone who loves gardens or the natural beauty of Texas. More info about Gardens of Texas here.
Come see me on tour! I’m speaking in cities across Texas to celebrate the release of Gardens of Texas. Talks in October include: SFA State University’s Fall Plant Fair in Nacogdoches on 10/23; Houston Botanic Garden on 10/25; and The Arbor Gate in Tomball on 10/26. Join me to learn, be inspired, and get a signed copy of the book!
Oct. 25: Tour 5 gardens in Cedar Park, Leander, and Georgetown, 10 am to 3 pm, during the Hill Country Bloomers Garden Club’s fall garden tour. Local artists will be at each garden with works for sale, and plants will be for sale at one of the gardens. Tickets are $20 — more info here. Proceeds go to garden grants for local schools.
Nov. 6: Learn about garden design and ecology at Garden Spark! I organize in-person talks by designers, landscape architects, authors, and gardeners a few times a year in Austin. The next talk on 11/6 is my own — a presentation on resilient Texas gardens! Tickets available here. Subscribe to Garden Spark by clicking here to email — subject line: SUBSCRIBE.
Nov. 8: Tour 5 Austin gardens on the Open Day Tour for Travis County, sponsored by the Garden Conservancy. I’ll be at the Belmont Parkway Garden with a book-signing table for Gardens of Texas, so come say hi! Tickets for each garden must be purchased online in advance, and some gardens limit attendance, so reserve your spot early. Find full details and ticket links here.
All material © 2025 by Pam Penick for Digging. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited.
