Driving through near-downtown Bouldin neighborhood last weekend, I was struck by the number of lawnless front yards in one short stretch of W. Live Oak Street. Luckily I had my camera, so I decided a drive-by post was in order—but truth be told, I got out of the car and walked up and down a block of Live Oak to better view several of these gardens.

Traditional Bungalow with Gravel Garden

This traditional bungalow with a spare gravel garden in lieu of lawn is the first one that caught my eye. The Texas Black gravel is a hip choice for contemporary Austin gardens, as are the “floating” concrete pavers. It’s all a little spare for my taste, but I appreciate the softening influence of the Mexican feathergrass on the left and the Knock Out roses on the right. I bet their water bill is low! Look carefully to the left of the roses and you’ll see an old-fashioned reel mower—an ironic yard-art display?

Texas-Style Cottage

Across the street, this yellow cottage says howdy with a bermed, xeric garden outside a rustic plank fence. Agave, bamboo muhly, coral honeysuckle, and various groundcovers combine pleasantly, framed by a low, ranch-style wooden fence and simple, flat-top arbor. The bermed plants and fence provide a sense of privacy for a small lawn and the house.

Contemporary with Feathergrass

Back across the street, next door to the first house I showed you, is this contemporary home with a touseled garden of Mexican feathergrass, shrub daisies, and shoestring acacias. It’s a little messy, definitely shaggy—and I quite like it. The aqua metal planters topped with yellow-flowering bulbine are a funky and fun touch. The one inside the fence is elevated on a chunky, rusty metal post.

Outside the fence, a second planter sits on the ground.

Contemporary with Red Lines & Metal Fence

OK, this one still has a lot of lawn, but the house and fence caught my eye, as did the stoplight-red Knock Out roses. A lot more could be done with this one to complement the style of the house, don’t you think?

I do like their contemporary mailbox.

Contemporary with Desert Garden

This one may be my favorite based on the garden alone. But wow, look at the house too—kind of like a Mondrian painting. I found a lot of info about this home online. Check out the tour of the interior and owner interview on Apartment Therapy. I also learned that Big Red Sun designed the landscaping.

Are any desert gardeners (or Big Red Sun employees) reading this? What kind of cactus are the tall, columnar ones? I’ve never seen any that big growing in Austin. Update: Two readers have ID’d it as Argentine saguaro (Trichocereus terscheckii). The soap aloes were in full bloom already (my own are just starting to bloom) and eye-catching.

Their coral-red blossoms really stand out against the dark siding on the house.

Another view, with golden barrel cactus in the foreground.

Another view shows drought-tolerant bulbine and bamboo muhly as well.

A few agaves, sedum, desert willows, and Lindheimer nolina round out the xeric scene.

Notice how they slightly bermed this garden and mulched with gravel for sharp drainage. These plants will rot in soggy soil.

A lusher aesthetic takes hold behind a low wall with the house number carved into it (love!). A Texas mountain laurel on the right is underplanted with some type of sedge—maybe Texas sedge? The Japanese maple in gravel (at left) in our hot climate makes me cringe a little; they love cool, moist shade, after all. But I do like the sedge “lawn” that doesn’t need mowing. I have reservations about the zig-zagging boardwalk front path. It feels a little too beachy and too haphazard for the clean lines of the house. Wouldn’t a floating concrete-paver walk or Corten-edged path have been a better choice? Still, what an interesting low-water garden!

Contemporary with Bamboo Muhly Grass

Just a few blocks away on West Mary Street, I slammed on the brakes when I spotted this contemporary home floating in a cloud of chartreuse bamboo muhly grass and airy, xeric trees. With a few clumps of Texas bluebonnets, roses, and steel-blue agaves to set it off, this mass planting is really effective.

A closer look at this water-thrifty streetside planting.

A side entrance reveals a citron-yellow door, playing off the chartreuse bamboo muhly, and an irregular, floating-concrete walk. Agave, nolina, and rosemary add evergreen foliage on the right, and huge oaks lean over a graveled court (for parking?).

Some patchy lawn remains in back, but this fuchsia penstemon (I think) is what caught my eye. Cool garden!

Bouldin Castle

If you don’t care for contemporary boxy houses and straight lines, maybe a rugged stone castle is more your style? I’d never come across Bouldin Castle before, located at 715 W. Mary St., but it’s apparently quite well known, as I discovered when I looked it up online. Originally constructed in 1925 as a church, the “castle” has been preserved over the years, most recently as a rental vacation house.

A fortress-like wall hides most of the garden from view. Outside the wall, a spiky “moat” of agaves mulched with decomposed granite, accented with a few xeric trees (Texas persimmon? Texas mountain laurel?), keeps things simple.

How I’d love to step through that gate and see the rest of the garden and inside the house. Luckily, photos of the fascinating interior and the courtyard garden and lap pool are available online.

It looks like an eclectic mix behind that wall.

I hope you enjoyed this mini-tour of a few interesting streets in Bouldin neighborhood. All I could think, as I drove and walked around, was how cool it would be to live in such a diverse neighborhood, with so much to see every time you step out the door.

All material © 2006-2013 by Pam Penick for Digging. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited.

Ooh, I am so excited to show you my two steel wall planters that I commissioned last fall from talented metalsmith and Austin blogger Bob Pool at Gardening at Draco. It’s taken me all this time to hang them and plant them, but that was just as well since I wanted to stuff them with succulents, and needed to wait out any freezes.

If you’re a fan of Potted, the fabulous L.A. garden boutique and online store, you’ll see a resemblance to their iconic City Planter. Indeed, I had Bob riff on that design for me. His interpretation is a bit more rugged, less polished, but equally tactile and simply stunning when filled with succulent cuttings and hung on a wall or fence. (I hope Potted doesn’t mind! I love that store and have one of their Circle Pots.)

Bob made these out of scrap steel he had lying around. On this one he used a semicircular piece for the planter. Isn’t it great?

Bob welded it all together and drilled drainage holes in the bottom and hanging holes in the back plate. My husband helped me cut pieces of plywood slightly smaller than the back plates, and we hung the planters with the plywood in-between the wall or fence in order to prevent rust from dripping down the wall over time (I hope!). We used masonry screws to attach the rectangular planter to the garage wall, and wood screws to attach the semicircular planter to the fence by the back gate.

I’m in love with these planters. The deer better leave them alone!

And don’t forget: The Lawn Gone! Book Party is rockin’, and you’re invited! Seven bloggers are hosting 7 cool, alt-lawn related giveaways this week. Find all the links on my giveaway post, and leave a comment on each one for your chance to win!

All material © 2006-2013 by Pam Penick for Digging. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited.

I took a fire-wise landscaping class at the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center last week, and I arrived early enough for a leisurely stroll around the gardens. The sunshine and blooming Mexican plums promised spring, but a chill in the air spoke of winter. By the time I went inside, my hands were numb. Even so, I loved being able to photograph the gardens in the light of early morning. Ordinarily you can’t get in until 9 am, well after the “magic hour” for taking photos.

In the parking lot my eye was caught by a Mexican plum (Prunus mexicana) in full bloom. Its spicy-scented white blossoms were backlit so beautifully.

As were these seedheads, the light tracing each stem with glowing incandescence.

Turning toward the wooded path that leads through the parking lot, I admired this vignette of Anacacho orchid tree, yucca, and nolina, all suffused in the golden light of morning.

I always take a photo of this pairing of American agave and Mexican feathergrass. Simple yet stunning.

A weatherbeaten Texas persimmon (Diospyros texana) stands sentinel along the main walk.

Inside, the shadows lay long on the entry plaza, but the Wildflower Center’s landmark spiral tower, visible to the right, was spotlit by the rising sun.

A possumhaw holly (Ilex decidua) in full winter berry accents the base of the tower.

The architecture of the place always fascinates me. Check out the planter pocket built into the tower wall.

Another view, with wire-suspended beams acting as a pergola.

On the back side of the tower, a terraced, rocky garden of agave, opuntia, sotol, and Mexican feathergrass creates a scene of xeric beauty.

Lindheimer muhly grasses (Muhlenbergia lindheimeri), their fall blooms still held aloft, screen the cafe’s patio seating. In front, wildflowers and perennials are starting to green up at their feet.

Looking toward the Hill Country stream garden, bare trees accent a green understory of yucca and nolina.

Glancing back toward the tower again

Heading into the sunny demonstration garden, I strolled under the long grape arbor, as I always do. But on this cold morning there was no need of shade.

Looking left, I admired a magnificent Harvard agave (Agave harvardiana), framed by the limestone-and-cedar shade structure in the background.

Its Mickey Mouse ears warmed by the sun, a spineless prickly pear is all texture and shape.

A patch of Habiturf lawn is on display. Habiturf is the Wildflower Center’s own ecological lawn mix of short, slow-growing native grasses, which can be sown by seed to create a lawn that needs little water and only occasional mowing. (Click the link for more info, including the very specific installation instructions.)

I was invited to take off my shoes and walk on it barefoot, but the morning was too chilly for that.

At this time of year, you really notice the architecture of the gardens, not just the plants—like this rustic cedar gate.

Looking across the still-shadowed demonstration garden

The new Texas Arboretum—”where visitors can learn about the diversity of Texas trees”—has opened since I last visited, but I ventured only as far as the entry since I was running short on time. I’ll have to come back later in the spring. This is another Texas persimmon.

For rugged screening and fencing, you can’t go wrong with a coyote fence. So very central Texas. I like how this one is cut at different levels, becoming more welcoming, at picket-fence height, on the side you approach from.

Each cedar post (juniper, to be precise) is encircled with sturdy wire that’s attached to two cables running horizontally along the fence. Those metal pipes along part of the fence must be for extra stability.

In the kids’ Little House garden, a vine “tepee” is given a twist. Instead of bamboo poles, an upturned cedar trunk and branches provides the structure.

As I was about to enter the auditorium for my class, a staff member asked if I’d seen their visitor, and pointed up at a planter niche built high on the wall near the entry pond. I immediately knew he was referring to a great horned owl because I’d seen one raising chicks in that same spot two years ago. Sure enough, there was Mama owl, snuggled into her usual spot under a Wheeler sotol.

The employee said they thought it was the same owl, and that this is her third year to nest in that spot.

If you didn’t know she was there, you might never notice. See her up there? If you go see her in person, walk softly and carry binoculars for a better view.

All material © 2006-2013 by Pam Penick for Digging. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited.