Drive-By Gardens: Lawn-gone curb appeal in Crestview, Brentwood and Allandale

June 27, 2014


Driving through the north-central Austin neighborhoods of Allandale, Brentwood, and Crestview yesterday, I noticed a number of face-lifted ranches and bungalows, freshened up with paint and/or reasonably sized additions and eye-catching, lawn-reducing landscaping.

Let’s start this Drive-By with a charming, painted-brick ranch with a lime-green screen and front door — so fun! I feel sure the concrete walk must be new, despite its aged color, because original, builder-grade walks of this era are typically arrow-straight and as skinny as a Victoria’s Secret model. Where front walks are concerned, voluptuous is better! (You decide about the models.) This walk is broad enough for two, curves invitingly, and widens near the door to the width of the tiled front porch.

Modern, linear lines are introduced with the straight limestone edging of planting beds on either side of the walk. The beds fill in the curves and simultaneously define the remaining lawn as modern, rectangular swaths. Lemon-lime ‘Color Guard’ yuccas echo the door color; bulbine and four-nerve daisy add even more sunny gold and yellow. Note how the yuccas are planted in a loose triangular formation, leading the eye across the walk and toward the door. The bulbine is planted along a diagonal line, as are the two large softleaf yuccas, creating a sense of movement from curb to door. The beds are mulched with Texas Black gravel, which complements the gray-green of the house.


This house, on a busy street near a busier intersection, achieves a sense of separation and privacy via a low, concrete-block wall and a sturdy screen of large agaves. A smattering of low, flowering perennials, grasses, and a couple of ornamental trees soften the scene. Set back from the heat-reflecting street about 8 feet, the reduced lawn offers its cool, green lushness to front-porch sitters.


Another home along the same busy street has a higher wall and a gate, which create a private courtyard for the owners. Modern concrete pavers, puzzled together, flow seamlessly from the courtyard to the public front walk. While not curvy, the walk is generously sized and inviting. Red yucca (Hesperaloe parviflora) adds color on either side of the gate, and white roses and datura add cooling white blossoms and fragrance day and night.


This corner garden along another busy street is a head-turner with blazing-red cannas and salvias, billowing grasses, and colorful pots. The generously proportioned garden eats up half of the front lawn and is more gorgeous, interesting, and attractive to wildlife than a lawn could ever be.


For comparison, I happen to have “before” pictures because the owner was one of my very first design clients back in 2006. She already had a collection of lovely plants but wanted some order and definition. I drew in a strolling path through the garden, working around a large shade tree that is no longer there, and suggested groupings of plants for impact.


One more “before” image


She was already an experienced gardener 8 years ago, when I worked with her briefly, and her care and attention to detail are obvious. These days, groundcovering plants like Mexican feathergrass, pink skullcap, purple heart, and ferns are massed and repeated to draw you along the path. A bench attracts your eye as it follows the winding path, which gives definition to this large, corner-garden bed. Where the shade tree once stood — perhaps where its stump remains — she’s placed an eye-catching trio of pots filled with annuals, with groundcovers filling in (and hiding the stump?) at their feet.


What a lovely gift for the neighbors who walk and drive past this highly visible corner.


I appreciate when readers share good Drive-By addresses with me, as my friend Shelley did recently. She’d spotted this meadowy sedge lawn, and I had to go see for myself. I love the texture, and I bet the owners are enjoying not having to mow more than a few times a year. I bet they see savings on their water bill too.


This last house caught my eye not because of any big, lawn-reducing garden but because of a single, beautiful gesture: a thoughtfully constructed garage arbor, with two pots of morning glory vines clambering up either side, their purple blossoms a perfect complement to the green of the house. Notice too the trio of concrete pavers — Baby Bear, Mama Bear, and Papa Bear sized — that align along the driveway to make a simple, modern bridge between the drive and the front porch. Nicely done!

All material © 2006-2014 by Pam Penick for Digging. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited.

23 responses to “Drive-By Gardens: Lawn-gone curb appeal in Crestview, Brentwood and Allandale”

  1. Clare Townes says:

    Thanks for showing some eye-catching landscaping in the area I live close to. Since my house and yard are similar to some of these, especially the first one, this is a very useful post for me. I really like the one you designed.

  2. Shirley says:

    How pretty and well thought out those all are. I especially like the arbor over the garage door because I have thought that would work well to soften the view of my garage someday. That they were able to use the vines in pots is a inspiration.

    • Pam/Digging says:

      Isn’t that morning-glory arbor sweet? I wouldn’t want to have to keep the pots watered though. Maybe they could be hooked up to a drip system. —Pam

  3. Oh that first image is so appealing to me! I love that screen door. The agaves in the second are pretty fabulous too, thanks for the eye candy Pam!

    • Pam/Digging says:

      My pleasure, Loree. You know, I think that screen door was on the house originally, before the place got all spruced up a few years ago with paint and new landscaping. But it didn’t stand out until it got that coat of lime green. Paint is a little thing that makes such a big impact. —Pam

  4. Jenn says:

    Those yuccas are triangles overlapping triangles, really dynamic planting with those. I’m liking the big, medium, small use too.

  5. I love your drive-bys.
    There are good ideas from each one of these.
    Thanks…

  6. TexasDeb says:

    Not to sound ungrateful for the many design elements you highlighted, but what first drew my eye was the fact that all the spaces were wet! It’s been raining! Not how I’m used to seeing outdoor spaces in Austin and it really made me smile.

    What’s especially fascinating here is how the various gestures from large to small all make such a difference in how spaces attract the eye as well as the visitor. No matter how “complete” a space might be there’s always room for a pop of color via a potted planting. No matter how ordinary a yard might seem there are ways to install a sidewalk that make the trip from curb to porch more enticing. And I especially appreciate your deconstruction of the placement of plants in the first yard shown. It is one thing to look as say “nice!” but quite another to recognize WHY it is so nice and how plants are placed in order to draw the eye along towards the house. Great post!

    • Pam/Digging says:

      RAIN! I’m loving it too, Deb, even if it did POUR on me several times during my Drive-By excursion. Because of the humidity, my camera lens kept fogging up, until I had to give up on the A/C and drive around with the windows down, my hair frizzing up in the damp. What I won’t do for the blog. —Pam

  7. katina says:

    There’s a house down by Big Stacey (at least I think it’s Big Stacey pool…maybe it’s Little Stacey…in any case, it’s a Stacey), that has a driveway arbor with morning glory climbing up it and a cow skull right in the center of it. It’s actually a very charming thing…which looks better when the flowers are in bloom, naturally.

  8. Indie says:

    That first house is so cute with that front door and all the pops of color! The design of the whole thing seems to be balanced so perfectly. I love the yard that you helped design as well. The path with all the plants with their different colored foliage looks really peaceful and inviting (definitely more inviting that just plain lawn!)

  9. I think of you, Pam, every time I see a homeowner who is employing these techniques to reduce lawn size! It’s good that you give examples that it need not be an all or nothing approach. Even a well planned corner is an improvement. And I LOVE the morning glories. That was a marvelous idea! Good for them!

    • Pam/Digging says:

      Thanks, Kathryn. I’m not into the all-or-nothing approach, as you know. Not everyone has the time or energy (or money) to convert an entire lawn. But those areas along the street that get dried out in summer are prime candidates for xeric makeovers, and it’s fun to spot those as I drive around town. —Pam

  10. Kris P says:

    I appreciate your ongoing series of posts on this subject, Pam, especially as I continue to contemplate what the heck to do with my own miserable front lawn. I like the idea used by your client of clustering a group of large pots as a visual break – I may try something on that order (in addition to extending the beds on either side). I can’t quite bring myself to consider taking down the large Magnolia in the middle of the lawn even though that would resolve a number of issues with that space.

  11. Astra says:

    We just moved in a year ago in Allandale and inherited a huge (huge) lawn. About 1/4 of it is now a dryland succulent bed but we’re just getting started. Perhaps we’ll be a drive-by in a few years! 🙂

  12. Kim Smith says:

    This is so cute. I never thought of it as a “Drive By” when I drive around looking at gardens to get ideas! Now I can feel not just “Nosy.”