Drive-By Gardens: Lawn-gone and neighbor-friendly in central Austin
Coming home from a garden tour last Saturday, I traded the backed-up traffic on MoPac for a meandering drive through the charming central Austin neighborhoods of Pemberton, Rosedale, and Allandale. I had my camera with me, and for your enjoyment I furtively snapped photos of front-yard gardens that delighted me with neighborly patios, winding paths, and/or lawnless gardens, starting with this adorable stone cottage in Rosedale. I love the half-circle front patio with inviting Adirondacks and that tomato-red, contemporary door. Perennials and cactus in terracotta pots casually mark the patio’s edge. The only possible improvement would be a welcoming front walk winding to the street and driveway, edged with tidy garden beds to reduce the lawn.
This blue charmer in Rosedale reduced the lawn and went neighbor-friendly with the addition of a limestone-edged, rectangular patio. The owners, acquaintances from our children’s grade-school years, are lovely people, and the husband, as you might have guessed, is into palms. What a great way to reduce the lawn and get to know the neighbors.
This Rosedale ranch ditched the lawn altogether for a strolling garden with Texas Black gravel paths and native grasses, trees, and perennials. This looks like a drought-tolerant and wildlife-friendly garden.
The owner of this sunny home hired me to design a no-lawn garden for her back yard a few years ago. Her front garden (not my design), which was already underway at that time, is a cottage-style, low-water garden that offers a pretty view from the comfortable front porch.
This is different! Rusty steel screening panels and planters give this gravel garden and patio a contemporary edge.
In the Pemberton Heights neighborhood, I drove by this old favorite, a colorfully painted stucco home with a blue-tile roof. A clipped hedge and trellis-covered arbor give privacy to the front patios along a busy street. But the garden is cottage-friendly with a meadowy planting of larkspur for the neighbors to enjoy.
Driveway vignette: An indigo wall, a modern steel planter and agave, and a blue moped, with Jerusalem sage and billowy grasses contrasting with the clipped hedge. This looks like a playful garden.
And along Shoal Creek Boulevard in the Allandale neighborhood, I was pleased to see a garden I designed last year being installed. The owner had requested a garden to replace her gigantic, thirsty St. Augustine lawn, with room for a small patio near the front door and a fruit orchard along the sunny side of the yard. Although it’s hard to see the details here, it’s essentially a strolling garden, with broad gravel paths that draw you into and through the space. It looks like the owner has made tweaks of her own, planting large swaths of shade annuals rather than the sedge meadow I’d suggested under the trees, but that’s fine. It’s all part of making a garden your own. I also like how she broadened and swooped the path where it meets the sidewalk and wish I’d thought to do that!
For comparison, here’s a “before” shot — so much lawn and not very interesting. Her new garden is a gift not only to herself and to local wildlife but to her neighborhood.
All material © 2006-2014 by Pam Penick for Digging. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited.
So cool to see your designs implemented — and they are lovely. I can’t believe you still had the energy to slog on through the heat o Saturday!
Well, I didn’t get out of the car for these. 🙂 —Pam
So great to see the before and after shots on your design! It is so much more charming now. All the front yards are so charming.
In Rosedale everyone was outside in their yards and gardens or walking along the streets. It seems a very social neighborhood, where those front patios and porches will really get used. —Pam
Inviting and fun gardens vs. St. Augustine lawn desert? It’s nice to see more and more homeowners choosing gardens like these.
Loved the colors on the cottages and the use of structure in the form of plants, planters, and seating to keep the gardens interesting. Enjoyed seeing the before on your design and how much better it is now.
I agree, Shirley. It’s very encouraging and certainly a lot more fun to look at. —Pam
So fun. That Pemberton Heights house is one of my all-time favorites. Later in the season the larkspur on that slope are replaced by a swath of Datura. I drive by as often as possible! Loving that upper window outlined in red on the first house and the tree planter as house number display further in the post as well. (You really didn’t get out of your car? You are a stealth photographer nonpareil!)
Ha ha — nope, I just roll down the windows, pull to the curb, and take a few photos before driving away. These are literally “drive-by” posts. —Pam
I really like that one with the rusty screens and containers in the gravel garden.
I love raw steel metalwork too. I’m not sure how I feel about the cylinders around the trees, but the screens are fabulous. —Pam
What a difference on that last one! Do you have any recommendations for edging to put between paths and beds? I’m slowly cutting down my lawn in back (hopefully the front will follow someday) and want to put in some paths. I’m looking for edging that will do a pretty good job of keeping mulch and stones separate and with look nice, and of course isn’t too expensive. Or would you recommend a hardscape path instead?
Flexible steel, aka landscaping edging, from the big-box stores is budget-friendly and does the job. Benderboard is even nicer if you can find it; however, it seems to be more common on the West Coast. Stone, while more expensive, is my favorite; chopped stone or small boulders both work well. Sometimes you can source freebies or cheap stone from Craigslist if you’re willing to haul it away. Here in Austin, small boulders are free for the hauling at Austin Memorial Cemetery, and I’ve used them to line my gravel hillside paths. —Pam
Thank you! I actually just bought one coil of Benderboard to try out before I even asked the question. 🙂 I’ll see how I like the look of that.
Some charmers there–most of them really. The Fail for me is the Rusty Screen house–which ignores the home’s style completely, I think. Best to work with the style of the home–what they built belongs to a contemporary home–looks like it accidentally got installed at the wrong address.
I’m of two minds about that garden myself. I like the rusty steel as a concept and think it can work even with traditional homes. But I think it’s overdone here, especially with the nonfunctional cylinders around the tree trunks. Less steel and more plants would soften the garden and make it work with the house style. Still, I’d rather see someone trying to do something fun and different than just sticking with the status quo. It keeps things interesting! —Pam
My son and family just moved back to Texas to Austin after getting out of the Air Force. Consequently we will be visiting much more often than our usual one or two trips a year to the Austin area. I`ll look forward to driving a few of the neighborhoods, Pam.
That’s great, Randy. Have fun on your drive-bys! —Pam
I love the blue house with the pindo palm, naturally. And I spot a beautiful washingtonia robusta and sabal texana at the Pemberton Heights colourful house! Sooo nice 🙂
You’re good with the IDs, Louis. There are lots of palms in Austin. You’d enjoy a visit! —Pam
Love and admire the creativity! It’s nice to see the whole picture in context once in a while, than just closeups.
I agree, Ray. Closeups are pretty, but long shots tell the tale. —Pam
I love before and after shots. It must be so gratifying to see your own design take shape. The garden looks beautiful.
Since I don’t offer installation, I don’t always learn whether my designs have been implemented. So I especially love it when a client sends me pictures later, or when I drive by and see that it’s been installed. —Pam
The difference in the last two shots is beyond dramatic. Really shows why reducing lawn means a prettier landscape as well.
Exactly, Linda. A small, defined lawn can be pretty. But a wall-to-wall, yellow-green shag carpet? Not so much. Planting beds filled with shrubs, grasses, and perennials are so much more interesting to look at and explore. —Pam
Wow, the before and after photos of that Allandale house – inspirational! Seeing the after photo first, I could hardly wrap my brain around it being all grass before. I love it.
It was fun designing this garden because it was such a blank slate, aside from the trees. What I’m impressed by is that she implemented the whole plan in one fell swoop, rather than piecemeal over time. I can’t wait to see how it evolves. —Pam
Great photos and such an inspiration! Love that rusty steel.
Thanks for sharing!
I’m glad you enjoyed the drive-by, Elizabeth. —Pam
I just drove by the lawn on Shoal Creek today on the way home from work and notice how beautiful it was and wished that my yard looked like that! Great design!
Thanks, Anna! —Pam