Digging

February 7, 2010

Sculpture show enlivens Wildflower Center in winter

Filed under: Birds, Botanical Gardens, Garden art, Sculpture — Pam/Digging @ 10:05 am

Tweeet! Shaking his tail feathers and dancing to welcome spring, Pokey Park’s Midnight Serenade Pose 1 is just one of many nature- and human-themed sculptures on display at the Wildflower Center through March 7.

This bird will make you smile. He's dancing over a field of bluebonnet rosettes, and when that field turns blue (if it blooms before the sculpture show ends) his dance will truly seem an ode to spring.

We gardeners will be doing this when spring arrives in a few weeks.

Handsome Texas Jack by Marla Ripperda, framed by a window in a stone wall

7 Petal Fun Flower by Delbert Beckham. According to the price list, this sculpture was the most affordable at $450.

I think this is Guardian by Herb Long.

I like Hill Country Gemini by Peter Mangan.

Carin’s Offering by Barry George

Be sure to visit the Wildflower Center by March 7 to see the sculpture show. Many pieces are on display throughout the gardens, adding to the fun sense of discovery one always has when exploring a garden.

To see yesterday’s post about garden structures at the Wildflower Center, click on the link.

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February 6, 2010

Garden structure at the Wildflower Center

Filed under: Arbors, Botanical Gardens, Trellis — Pam/Digging @ 3:33 pm

Garden structure is more visible in winter, when plants are dormant. I always take pictures of intriguing rock work, trellises, and the like, gathering ideas for my own garden or others’. Maybe some of these structures at the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center will inspire your garden building as well.

Pictured above is a twig tepee in the children’s garden. I love the way it looks against the galvanized metal siding.

The twigs are gathered and tied with wire at top.

I like the way this building is framed by a massive live oak.

An asymmetrical arch and rusty orange stone make for a dramatic entrance to the main courtyard. Perhaps it references the mission architecture of south Texas?

Tucked in a nook near the top of the wall grows a beautiful sotol.

Looking back toward the parking lot, more arches frame meadow views and support an aqueduct that carries water from the rooftop to a large cistern.

A wider view

A cedar ladder-trellis supports a coral honeysuckle vine.

This new cedar structure is at once practical and decorative, creating a relaxed barrier and providing support for vines.

One of two long cedar loggias in the demonstration garden, this structure provides welcome shade on hot days and a beautiful view year-round.

Another pergola in the meditation garden offers intriguing patterns when viewed from below.

Another look

Bent cattle-panel pieces provide sturdy support for plants soon to emerge from dormancy. I am going to try this simple solution for a few floppy plants in my garden.

A large fossil anchors the center point of a formal path in the demonstration garden.

For more pics from my visit to the Wildflower Center last Friday, click here for Agave Love. To see tomorrow’s post on the sculpture show on display at the Wildflower Center, click here.

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February 5, 2010

Agave love at Austin’s Wildflower Center

Filed under: Agaves, Botanical Gardens, Grasses, Texas natives, Xeric plants — Pam/Digging @ 11:41 pm

The rain stopped, so after meeting a client this morning I grabbed my camera and drove to the inspirational native-plant gardens of the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center for a leisurely stroll and photography exercise.

I’m still sorting through all my photos, but I had to put up some pics of the beautiful agaves growing there. ~~I’m not sure if these are Agave harvardii or neomexicana (anyone?), but~~ This is Agave neomexicana, and I am smitten by its black, needle-like spines and regal, erect bearing.

Against the softness of the Lindheimer muhly grasses, its stiff form really stands out. What a wonderful deer-resistant combo for sun. Texas bluebonnets will be blooming in front in a month or so. I saw hundreds of rosettes.

I do, Mrs. Johnson. I do.

Agave lophantha glistening with raindrops

A soulful combination of Agave americana, Mexican feathergrass (Nassella tenuissima), and Texas persimmon (Diospyros texana)

This Agave americana stands at least as tall as I am (5 ft 10 in).

Agave americana and sotol (Dasylirion wheeleri)

Her special cause has provided me with many quiet joys and satisfactions as well. I’m grateful for her vision.

For my next post about my Friday visit to the Wildflower Center, click here.

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February 2, 2010

Groundhog Day pick-me-up

Filed under: 2nd garden--2010, Bulbs — Pam/Digging @ 4:35 pm

Six more weeks of winter? Say it ain’t so, Phil!

Actually, it isn’t so—not in central Texas anyway. While Old Man Winter has overstayed his welcome this year, freeze-browning many of our plants during his tenure, cold is relative, and Austin winters are just not that bad.

But it seems a week since we’ve seen the sun, and with the groundhog promising six more weeks, I thought that yet another picture of my mystery amaryllis might help me feel spring’s cheer a little earlier.

I hope it does for you too. Cheers!

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