Drive-By Gardens: Bouldin neighborhood in South Austin
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.
I finally know the name of the aloes that have been catching my eye all over town – thank you!!
You’re welcome, Juliet. The botanical name is Aloe maculata, formerly Aloe saponaria. —Pam
What a great little mini-tour! I loved it. I also really like that zigzag wooden plank walkway, it echoes the square wooden lines of the house, but with a zigzagy difference.
I’m glad you enjoyed the tour, Alison. By the way, you’re not the only one who likes the zigzag walkway. See other comments below. —Pam
WOW – love all these, especially the modern homes. Great photos! Thanks for the garden/yard inspiration.
My pleasure, Susan. —Pam
I love that cactus garden. I drive by it every day taking Stella to school. If it lasts through a few hard freezes, I’m cribbing all the plants. Love it.
That’s the real test, isn’t it? We haven’t had a prolonged hard freeze in a couple of winters. When we do, not only the saguaro but the golden barrels, bulbine, aloe, and even bamboo muhly can be vulnerable. Of course, most years they come through fine, so I still use all those plants (except the saguaro) myself. —Pam
I love every one of those modern treatments and that is how I would do a garden if I had the chance again. Thanks for the visit. Some of those aloes are spectacular. Hard to grow from a 4″ pot! The only part I couldn’t live with was the offset, diagonal decking. Just really jarred with me.
I could see the Argentine saguaro in your garden, Jenny. I wonder how it will hold up long term? The soap aloe will grow just fine from a 4-inch pot, or from one of the many pups I share at our blogger gatherings. But it might be more vulnerable to cold in your garden, I suppose. I’m with you on the zigzag walkway. —Pam
LOVE this post, thanks Pam! So many cool things to stare at. I think the oddest one for me though was the fact the pavers in the first garden stopped short of the sidewalk. Almost as though they are saying “we really don’t want you to come to our front door…”
I noticed that too, Loree, and wondered why they didn’t have one more tying it into the sidewalk. Did they not measure properly and leave enough room? Who knows! —Pam
Great examples of ‘Lawn Gone’.
I think I’m going to have to have one of those aloes. My neighbor, Elli, had one planted in her redone back yard last year. It has held up to the cold here, and has a bloom stalk. Like everything else here, it’s behind other parts of the area.
Our son & daughter-in-law lived on Eva St. @ Monroe, when they were first married. So close to that ‘castle’, and I never saw it.
Thanks for the tour.
The aloes are really beautiful this year. I have had three in a protected spot in my garden for several years, and they’ve grown quite large. I’m now experimenting with another clump in a more exposed area to see how it holds up. I’m heartened to hear that they’ll make it through the colder winter temps in Wimberley. —Pam
Thanks for posting – I have loved some of these houses and it’s neat to have info about some of the landscape architects and interiors.
I’m glad you enjoyed the post, Kate. —Pam
Nice! I like the zig-zag boardwalk~Especially the zig-zag. Would it work as well if it were concrete? Maybe. Fun tour Pam…
Another vote in favor of the zigzag boardwalk. 🙂 —Pam
Meant to add that Drive-By Gardens is one of my favorites parts of your site!
I’m glad to hear it, Kate. I’ll have more in the future. —Pam
I really like most of these, especially that mass planting of bamboo muhly with a few agaves! But wow, that’s Bouldin Creek? I wonder whether I would even recognize that neighborhood these days. It’s been a few years since I’ve been there.
I hear it’s changed a lot in recent years, but I never knew it before these modern houses went in. I wonder what the old-timers think? (I bet, like most Austinites, they hate seeing change come to a place they love.) —Pam
I love most of these! And aesthetically I do love the dark ballast gravel against the white limestone steps – but how do you feel about its contributions to the urban heat island? It doesn’t seem to make a lot of sense with our recent heat.
I think it’s a trade-off, as with most other landscaping choices. Yes, it’s bound to heat up in the summer and radiate heat. On the other hand, it doesn’t require pouring precious water on it or contribute to air pollution from mower use. If you’re someone who uses the garden primarily in the evening, after work, or in the morning, the midday heat effect might not be an issue for you. —Pam
Fab tour Pam! I liked the zig zag boardwalk idea but agree, not necessarily with that house. The castle was my favorite! Thanks for posting all the links. Bamboo muhly is really beautiful, and should be hardy here. I’ll look for it!
Bamboo muhly is one of my favorite grasses. I hope you can find it in the Pacific NW! It does like good drainage, being native to Arizona, so plant it accordingly. —Pam
What a fun tour. I don’t see many contemporary houses in this area.
This part of Austin really seems to be attracting modern design, Lisa. I like it, and my teen daughter went nuts over it. —Pam
Nice tour of the gardens and houses. The neighborhood looks a lot different from the days I used to visit my aunt there.
The cactus might be Argentine Saguaro. Jeff Pavlat has one in his garden.
I like all the plantings though the one garden is a bit traditional for the house. Bamboo muhly looks amazing massed on the slope. I think the boardwalk has one too many angles in it, they might have tried to pick up the angle in the awning but it mostly looks askew.
Thanks for the ID, Shirley. I agree with you about the boardwalk design—too many angles, too askew. But other readers like it, so for some people it works. —Pam
That columnar cactus looks like an Argentine saguaro which is supposed to be more cold tolerant than the Saguaro that grows wild in Arizona. I have one I purchased that was already 4 feet and weighed a couple hundred lbs but I managed to get it in a raised bed. Have not had a tough winter yet but if it gets down to 15 I think I will wrap it (at last the top part) in bubble wrap. I have heard that can work for cacti.
Thanks for the ID, James. A couple hundred pounds at 4 feet tall? Whew! I would like to have seen how you wrestled that cactus into position. —Pam
Great tour, Pam. Thanks. The houses look like thermal disasters, better suited to the Pacific NW, and the boardwalk looks vaguely dangerous, esp. at night. The gardens are very adventurous. The one in front of the “red” house might benefit from extending the river stones to replace the strip of lawn. What do you think?
For the “red” house, I think the traditional-looking Italian cypresses and potted topiaries along the fence need to go, along with the grass outside the fence. I’d suggest architectural plants like agave or yucca and xeric groundcovers with gravel mulch instead, which would better complement the house. —Pam
All of those have nice elements, but the Contemp w/ Red Lines house and the Contemporary w/ Desert Garden are almost my favorites. But the TX-Style Cottage wins for me, at least today. Nothing like the meeting of savvy clients, budget and taste! What a killer tour.
I’m glad you enjoyed the tour, David. It was a fun one for me too. —Pam
Terrific tour. Love the soap aloes; I’ll have to look for those.
You would probably have to keep them indoors in the winter in the D.C. area, MHM. They are marginally winter hardy here in Austin’s 8b hardiness zone. —Pam
Thanks Pam. I love several of these contemporary houses, stunning architecture. You are right, with the correct landscaping the red line house will look great. The zigzag boardwalk is gorgeous in design and proportion, but the material used is not right. This is a design from the Asian modern school but the material used needed to be a darker hardwood with a different finish such as teak, or smooth concrete.
Interesting, Nicole. I could see that working better. —Pam
Thanks for the tour, Pam. Very interesting.
Glad you enjoyed it, Laura. —Pam
I love all of these gardens so much, Pam. I also like the desert one best. Those huge saguaro are cool – I did not realize they could be hardy here. Thanks for the eye candy and ideas!!!!
I’m still suspicious about the longevity of the Argentine saguaros here, Heather, and I’ll be keeping an eye on these, especially after our next big cold snap. But wow, they sure are fabulous in the garden. —Pam
Love all the Muhly grass, and the lawnless front yards are nifty! Sounds like folks in that neighborhood are a creative bunch. Thanks for the tour!
My pleasure, PP. They do seem to be a creative bunch there—or at least they hire creative folks. —Pam
now you’ve got me itchin’ for an Austin road trip again. Beautiful adaptation to your extreme sun and drought. Maybe that berming and attention to drainage will bring the plants through an eventual freeze? What amazing results when the tyranny of a square of lawn is given the boot.
Yes to an Austin road trip! I bet you’re right that the berming helps get some of these plants through our (sometimes) wet winters. —Pam
I lived on live oak for more than 2 years…. These are all my neighbors homes and loved walking the neighborhood all times of the day…. cool summer nights with accent lighting makes some of these even more amazing. You could even bump into Leslie at times… He always had dog treats.
Go back to the castle and 2 or 3 doors east is the story book house made by the same architects as the castle. It looks like Hansel and Gretel live there!!
I’ll have to go back and take a look, Cord. It sounds charming! —Pam