My fourth stop on Saturday’s Open Days tour was the Bonnell Drive Garden in hilly West Austin, created by my friend Curt Arnette of Sitio Design. (For a post about Curt’s fascinating personal garden, click here.) The contemporary front garden complements the Texas-modern style of the wood-and-limestone house.

A dynamic, poured-concrete walk curves downward to the front door. Curt said the owner wanted the home to have universal design (generally thought of as being wheelchair accessible), so steps were eliminated in favor of a ramp-like path set in contrasting Texas Black gravel.

The driveway is constructed in a similar style, with “floating” concrete pads “grouted” by gravel, allowing air and water to reach the roots of trees growing close to the house. Chartreuse clouds of bamboo muhly (Muhlebergia dumosa) accent either side of the driveway.

Stepping back to the streetside garden, you see an explosion of fall-blooming Gulf muhly grass (Muhlenbergia capillaris), beautifully sunlit. Bamboo muhly glows on the left, desert spoon (Dasylirion wheeleri) adds a spiky sphere on the right, and ‘Sharkskin’ agave and silver ponyfoot (Dichondra argentea) fill in below.

Is there anything more lovely than this? Agave parryi var. truncata, a spiky rosette of an island in a sea of silver ponyfoot.

Well, this may be more lovely, with the addition of yellow-gold skeleton-leaf goldeneye (Viguiera stenoloba ).

Farther around the corner lot, where the property drops off steeply, exposing the caliche bedrock, tough agaves and native perennials find a home: Agave ferox ‘Green Goblet’ and skeleton-leaf goldeneye (or the native variety, plateau goldeneye).

Yuccas stand tall above groundcovering silver ponyfoot. I don’t know the name of the handsome shrub at left. Update: It’s Jatropha dioica, or leatherstem (thanks, Cheryl!), a South Texas native.

More daisies, spineless prickly pear, and silver ponyfoot—tough, drought-tolerant, and beautiful.

In the background stands a shoestring acacia (Acacia stenophylla), an Australian native.

Just look at all those ruby-red tunas—the fruit of the prickly pear. You can make jam or lemonade out of the tunas if you burn off the thorns and glochids (tiny, almost translucent thorns).

More sotol and Gulf muhly. The toothy sotol leaves catch the light so beautifully.

Yucca rostrata ‘Sapphire Skies’

Between the streetside beds, which help to screen the house from view, and the home itself is a lawn that slopes down to a limestone-block wall with a row of vertical windows. At the house end of the wall, a gate opens onto this view…

…a reflecting pool with a carved stone fountain by Berthold Haas at one end.

A small lawn to the left leads to this view of the terraced back garden and a view of downtown Austin in the distance.

Aloe (‘Blue Elf’?) and giant hesperaloe (Hesperaloe funifera) edge the top of the terraced garden.

Monumental limestone blocks and treads create a stair that leads down to the lower part of the property, which is more naturalistic than the streetside garden in front.

More massive limestone blocks terrace the steep hillside, creating planting pockets. Curt told me that a lot of the native trees in the densely planted lower garden were already here, and he built the garden around them. This sunny opening offers a spot for agaves, palms, and roses as well.

The lower part of the garden is a sloping, narrow lawn that runs between beds of perennials and ornamental grasses, and leads to another stair that takes you up to the back patio. Philippine violet (Barleria cristata) was in glorious purple bloom alongside skeleton-leaf goldeneye, Gulf muhly grass, Mexican feathergrass (Nassella tenuissima), and groundcovering pink knotweed (Polygonum capitatum).

Another view of the Gulf muhly, daisy, and Philippine violet. I really need to try the Philippine violet in my own garden. It’s stunning!

Steel risers and Texas Black gravel treads, edged with limestone blocks, make a contemporary stairway up through the hillside garden.

A queen butterfly was enjoying Gregg’s mistflower (Conoclinium greggii) and butterfly vine (Mascagnia macroptera).

‘Whale’s Tongue’ agave (A. ovatifolia) and pink roses

Looking back, you see a haze of pink muhly and lovely fall perennial blooms.

A wider view down the steps to the garden

At the top of the steps, a limestone patio offers a shady spot to enjoy the garden. A deck off the second floor, above, shades this patio from the Texas sun, as does a cluster of live oaks.

Climbing up to the second level, you enjoy this view of Lake Austin between the trees.

A pool with a beautiful Lueders limestone terrace sits atop the slope at one corner of the house. ‘Sparkler’ sedge, one of my favorite shade plants, brightens up a dark corner under a Valencia orange tree.

And here’s the man who created all this for the lucky owners, Curt Arnette.

Up next: A tour of an art collectors’ garden on Rockcliff Road on Lake Austin. For a look back at Christine Ten Eyck’s water-conserving garden, click here.

All material © 2006-2012 by Pam Penick for Digging. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited.

An early morning photo shoot at Tucson Botanical Gardens, one of the events at the recent Garden Writers Association symposium, gave me (and about 60 other garden writers and photographers) a chance to see the gardens relatively uncrowded and illuminated by the rising sun. I expected a mostly desert garden, but I was soon surprised by the variety of plants grown here.

Of course there are magnificent mature specimens of golden barrel cactus, prickly pear, and agave.

Many odd and weirdly shaped plants grow here too, like carrion flower (Stapelia grandiflora), also known as starfish flower for obvious reasons. I didn’t notice any odor of rottenness, probably because it was early and the air was still and chilly.

A surprising amount of lushness also exists at the botanical garden, like this patch of firecracker fern (Russelia equisetiformis). This is a drought-tolerant plant (not like cactus, of course) that we can grow here in Austin too, and it really greens up a shady area in the gardens.

A wide view of a main path, arching trees, and shady pavilion reveals a garden view not unlike those we see in central Texas.

This reminds me of San Antonio, which always seems a bit more tropical than Austin: a bed of Turk’s cap (Malvaviscus drummondii) under a tree that shades an inviting patio, with glimpses of cactus in the background.

Turk’s cap and Mexican bush sage (Salvia leucantha), a hummingbird’s dream planting

Speaking of hummingbirds, they were everywhere, zipping from flower to flower and even tasting this split-open pomegranate that still clung to the tree.

Tasty!

Whew, time for a rest.

Looking up at another tree, I caught this amusing view of a hummingbird’s butt, his long, orange beak visible on the right.

And in a patch of Autumn sage (Salvia greggii), the hummers darted and dipped. I snapped like crazy and got a couple of recognizable shots of these incredibly fast and tiny birds.

As the sun rose and the air temperature warmed, queen butterflies appeared to breakfast on tithonia. In the background is a large, plywood butterfly that you can stand behind, providing the butterfly’s head for a photo op.

The iconic plant of the Sonoran Desert, the saguaro cactus (Carnegiea gigantea), is well represented here too.

If you’ve never seen one in person, it’s hard to convey how massive these plants are. They look heavy and dense, and they stand quite tall, the size of a small tree. According to desertmuseum.org, “Saguaro are very slow growing cactus. A 10 year old plant might only be 1.5 inches tall. Saguaro can grow to be between 40-60 feet tall (12-18m). When rain is plentiful and the saguaro is fully hydrated it can weigh between 3200-4800 pounds.” Yeah, heavy.

They are easy to anthropomorphize. You almost want to say hello to them.

You wouldn’t want to give one a hug though.

Its pleated “ribs” can expand when full of water or contract during drought.

Saguaro skeletons dot the desert and local gardens, standing like sculpture long after the plant’s death.

A tiered fountain seems an essential part of a hot-climate garden, doesn’t it? I saw a hummingbird darting into the top spray for either a drink or a bath.

Smooth-leaf sotol (Dasylirion leiophyllum)—this is a mature version of the plant in my steel-pipe planter in my own garden. Gosh, I hope it’s slow growing!

Sunlit cholla and prickly pear

Desert wildlife find ingenious ways to survive. A bird had built its nest in the spiny embrace of a cholla, a plant I’m too chicken to have in my own garden because it’s so spiny—and y’all know how I love agaves, right?

Two speckled eggs nestled inside, protected from predators, one hopes, by the vicious spines.

Next up: Part 2 of my visit to Tucson Botanical Gardens, including a “home garden” complete with Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) decorations. For a look back at the artful desert garden of Keith and Helga Zwickl, click here.

All material © 2006-2012 by Pam Penick for Digging. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited.

Keith and Helga Zwickl welcomed us to their Tucson, Arizona, garden during the Garden Writers Association symposium a couple of weeks ago. I really enjoyed this garden, not only for its stunning collection of cacti and succulents, but also for its creative and often slyly humorous homemade garden art.

The Zwickls have spent nearly 3 decades creating this garden. It flows around their house and blends with the native plants growing in the rolling foothills of the Catalina Mountains, whose rocky slopes can be glimpsed above the airy desert trees and tall saguaros. The garden wows right at the entry, with a beautifully planted island bed in the driveway/parking area. A vase-shaped ocotillo anchors one end of the bed, surrounded by variegated American agaves, barrel cactus, and cholla. The ever-present, deep-blue desert sky adds its own color to the scene.

I felt lucky to visit the garden in early morning, with morning rays caught in the spines and hairs of these tough desert plants.

Just look at these Tricocereus hybrids, glowing golden in the morning sun.

Trickster coyote, slinking past variegated American agaves. This is a metal silhouette created, I think, by the owner.

He also constructed this metal saguaro, complete with a mockingbird perched on an arm. Keith told us that he wanted a big saguaro in his garden but didn’t have 75 years to wait for it to mature to this size. So he made one instead!

A wider view of the front garden. Those are the Catalinas in the background.

Keith is a plant collector and a plant rescuer; he showed me one barrel cactus that had been decapitated by “kids with a machete,” which he brought to his garden and nursed to recovery. It’s easy for a collector’s garden to be a bit of a jumble in terms of design, but Keith uses repetition of plants effectively to give it rhythm and continuity. He also has an eye for contrasting forms.

Keith telling us about his garden.

The rear garden is a narrow space along the back and side of the house, woven through with paths and rocky cactus and succulent beds.

Airy trees offer filtered shade.

A small deck is elevated in a back corner, offering views of the garden and the wild greenbelt behind the house.

More of that sly humor is evident in this barbed-wire barrel cactus, which echoes the shape of the real one behind it.

Planted cowboy boots are good for a grin too.

‘Queen Victoria’ agave

Richly hued amaranth adds annual color.

The pool garden along the side of the house is another spot for annual color, with swaths of bright zinnias and tithonia.

Tithonia

Zinnias

Butterflies were attracted to the zinnias…

…and so was I.

A wider view reveals a riot of colorful zinnias and more metal animal art—this time a family of javelinas.

Oh, and look what the Zwickls have on their pool deck—a metal, fairly lifelike rattlesnake. Boo!

Most of the “fanged” occupants of the garden are, of course, the spiky plants, which you do have to be careful of as you explore the garden. But just look at that fascinating pattern of spines—like white stars.

Spiny ocotillo branches are used to make a screen for the A/C. A living ocotillo (yes, it’s alive even though it looks dead; ocotillo leafs out after a rain) grows at left. I think that’s a piece of a saguaro skeleton leaning on the fence at right. Doesn’t it look like a dinosaur bone?

Here’s an actual saguaro skeleton standing tall in the front garden. A closer inspection revealed a support network inside: metal rings and rebar to hold the thing up. I guess that Keith found and reassembled this saguaro skeleton, much as dinosaur fossils are displayed in museums. It is beautiful, sculptural, and a ghostly memory of an ancient plant.

Another plant on the way out—a dying agave, growing more colorful as it fades away following the exhausting work of pushing up a bloom stalk.

One of the many prickly pears (Opuntia) in the garden.

Docents were on hand to offer us prickly pear lemonade, which is a delightful thirst slaker, let me tell you. One of the ladies offered to show me how to peel a tuna—the fruit of the prickly pear—from which they make the lemonade. Here she is making a vertical cut on one side of the tuna.

The skin just peels off.

The cherry-red fruit is slipped out of its skin…

…cut up, and made into a refreshing drink.

Yum!

For a look back at the DreamFlower desert garden of Lorien Tersey, click here. Up next: Part 1 of my visit to Tucson Botanical Gardens.

All material © 2006-2012 by Pam Penick for Digging. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited.