Neighborhood walk
Neighborhood photo-strolls have become the latest garden-blog meme, thanks to Chuck and Kim. Since I always enjoy the local flavor that comes through on these tours, I thought I’d join in. Tag along, if you’d like to see more of my north-central Austin neighborhood.
Leaving my house and walking south on a Sunday morning in early September. Even a light walk at 10 am induces sweating at this time of year. At least the street is nice and shady.
My neighborhood is a mix of modest mid-century-modern homes like this one and post-war cottages. I’ve blogged about this house’s rusted-steel raised beds before. It’s unusual for the neighborhood, but I think it suits the angular, contemporary style of the house.
This L-shaped bungalow shelters under a huge Southern magnolia. Austin must be in the far-western range for these stately trees, and often they look drought-stressed. But this one appears happy.
A redbud tree, a variegated pittosporum, and a tidy border garden add charm to this house.
Local wildlife
The ubiquitous but still lovely watermelon-colored crepe myrtle
This ’50s ranch sprawls across a corner lot under several red oaks. As you can see, many people in this older neighborhood have planted more than just a foundation hedge in the front yard. Yea for older neighborhoods with no rules about what you can and can’t plant out front.
In a sunny front garden, this silvery tree (eucalyptus?) and red Turk’s cap make a nice combo.
New kid on the block. I’m not sure whether this was a complete tear-down or just a remodel from the studs up, but new houses are popping up more frequently these days. Just recently, a house was torn down one block away, and we’re all waiting to see what will be built there. Unlike some Austinites, I don’t mind the rebuilding of Austin’s older neighborhoods, so long as the new homes are good neighbors (not hulking monstrosities). Quite a few homes in my neighborhood are showing their age, their foundations cracked and sagging because of expanding and contracting clay soil. Unrepaired, they linger on as decade-long rentals. I’d be happy to see them replaced with bigger homes that would entice growing families to stay rather than move out to the southwestern suburbs.
Pretty blue flowers growing along the curb. I believe this is widow’s tears, or blue spiderwort (Commelina coelestis ).
This is one of my favorite redos in the neighborhood. The owners transformed a plain, little house into a charming Texas cottage by adding a vine-covered trellis along a new limestone walk, a splashing fountain (not visible), big copper gutters, and that gorgeous, huge agave.
Here’s a xeric cottage garden, built up in raised beds.
This homeowner’s island bed pays off at this time of year, as the Salvia leucantha bursts into purple bloom. White begonias flower at its feet; orange trumpet vine clambers over the garage nearby.
I think these are ‘Natchez’ crepe myrtles. Very pretty, even in winter when the peeling bark reveals cinnamon-colored trunks.
Yard art
A banana-yellow, red-freckled canna towers over the sidewalk in this front garden.
In a shady garden nearby, an American beautyberry (Callicarpa americana ) has reached gigantic proportions. It must make the mockingbirds very, very happy.
If you miss those tree-climbing days of childhood, how about building an adult-sized treehouse in the back yard?
Another look.
More mid-century modern
Frisbee golf, anyone? This homeowner ought to be pretty good because he has a practice basket in his yard.
And here we are again, approaching home from the south side of the front garden. Looks pretty lush, doesn’t it? I sure am grateful for the summer rains this year.
Thanks for tagging along. I look forward to seeing the sights on your neighborhood walk. Let me know if you post one.
I’m not saying it just to get on your good side, but… the nicest garden is the last one… yours. It’s a very interesting neighborhood, seems shaded and “homey” overall. My neighborhood is quite sunny. I’m planning a walkabout in a few weeks.
“Shaded and ‘homey'” is right. My yard has much less shade than most because it was rebuilt from a tear-down 11 years ago, and they took out the big trees, if there were any, at that time. When we bought it, I planted a shade tree in the back yard, and it’s getting pretty shady back there. But I’ve intentionally kept the front yard mostly sunny so I can grow more flowers. I expect your sunny neighborhood to have a lot more flowering plants than mine. —Pam
What a wonderful tour–but as Carol said, the best garden IMHO is the one at the end!
I love that rusted-metal edging on the first mid-century modern house. As you said, it fits the space well. If I could get away with using that as edging in some of my beds here, I would do it in a heartbeat… the color is gorgeous, especially with silvers and blues.
What’s keeping you from using steel edging, Kim? I bet it would look good with your garden’s textures and colors. —Pam
Fabulous! Your neighborhood looks relaxed and peaceful. It’s all those big trees, isn’t it?
That plus the laid-back Austin vibe, I guess. Even the in-town Austin neighborhoods are pretty quiet compared to those in cities like San Francisco, I would think. For good or for bad, local zoning laws prohibit most businesses from locating within neighborhoods, so they maintain that suburban feel even well within the urban core. —Pam
P.S. Do you know the folks with the xeric garden in raised beds? That one intrigues me, and I’d love to a full tour… 🙂 🙂
I see them a few times a year and know the wife by name. I don’t know them well enough to go knock on their door and ask if I can blog about their garden though. However, if the opportunity ever presents itself, I’ll do it and let you know. It is a nice-looking garden. —Pam
Thanks for giving me the head’s-up about your walking neighborhood tour – what a huge beautyberry! I love the agaves, everytime I see them here, I like them more and more (and I saw some huge gorgeous ones out at the beach today, so I know that I can do them – it’s just a matter of where). I like older neighborhoods that don’t follow one rigid (and often boring) plan – they just end up so interesting – my neighborhood is ‘in transition’ and so far it’s okay, still a bit funky and beachy.
I love the limestone too.
Pam, I didn’t realize how “beachy” your neighborhood is until your post about going to the beach with your dog. That’s pretty cool. I look forward to seeing more of the beachy flavor of your neighborhood. —Pam
Thanks for the tour — and I didn’t even have to brave the heat and humidity to join you on your walk! Took the dogs this morning at 9 and it was already pretty unbearable. Your neighborhood looks lovely – just like where my neighbor and business partner and I remodeled 3 houses over the last 2 years! I love the character and diversity of all the houses and the gardens. It’s just cozy and fun. Thanks for sharing!
Maybe it was my neighborhood. There’s a lot of remodeling going on here these days. Glad you enjoyed the tour, Diana. —Pam
Great walking tour. I love the large shade trees in your neighborhood. In my neighborhood all the houses are built basically the same, I enjoyed seeing the different styles, in homes and gardens on your tour.
Thanks for “touring” with me, Robin. I enjoy the variety of housing styles too. If you can believe it, a nearby street of mid-century homes was originally built for Austin’s first Parade of Homes. Expectations were a lot more modest in those days. —Pam
This was fun, Pam – I like the mix of architecture in your area, with houses of different styles and vintages, and with some adventure in the horticulture. The houses in my neighborhood vary a little in style, but the street was begun and completed within a couple of years, so is nowhere near as interesting.
And as one who has been there in person, I can attest that your garden really is the nicest one!
Annie at the Transplantable Rose
Thanks, Annie. I didn’t show all the gardens in the neighborhood though, just the ones that I passed on my short walk. 😉
Your neighborhood isn’t as old as mine. Maybe a couple more decades will lead to more diversity of style, as remodels occur and landscaping is redone. —Pam
Count me in as one who also thinks your garden is best! But I sure enjoyed the tour, it’s fun to get an idea of where our blogging friends live. The treehouse, ohmigosh! Someone must have bribed the zoning dept. in Austin. What a diverse group of plants you’ve shown us, and most of them very exotic to me! Thanks for the tour.
Isn’t that treehouse amazing? I’m not sure I’d want to live in the house behind it, but it would be fun to have the use of, wouldn’t it? —Pam
Your neighborhood reminds me of some of the older, just slightly more upper middle class neighborhoods in the town I grew up in in north Florida. The plants used are nearly identical. It is the trees that give these older neighborhoods so much ambiance.
I would have to drive my neighborhood and there isn’t much of a shoulder along the road to safely pull off the to the side and frankly the ones with gardens are few and far between. A lot of the others are some what scary. Of course that could make an interesting post.
I haven’t gotten a good sense of other houses and gardens in your neighborhood, Christopher. Actually, I didn’t know that you were even in one. But your photos of the mountains and the wild plants have given me a good sense of your larger “neighborhood.” It’s very beautiful. —Pam
I just came back to drool over that huge agave again… wow. And to say that I think it’s very cool that so many people put an effort into their front yards where you live. We have a mix here, and it seems like the houses where the people who own them live in them, and where the people who rent have landlords who are lenient about planting up their yard, are the ones with the gardens in front.
I like that too. Even a small island bed or border garden is more interesting to look at than a plain foundation hedge and lawn. I always feel grateful toward neighbors who grow anything else in their front yards, even if the design doesn’t exactly work or the plant choices are odd. At least it gives you something to look at when you’re passing by, and it adds individuality to the home. —Pam
Very nice neighbourhood, Pam. It certainly makes for a great meme.
Will we be joining you for a walk in your neighborhood soon, Stuart? —Pam
Echoing what others have said, I really like the mix of architecture, and that people aren’t afraid to be interesting. I’ve never seen a beautyberry that huge, and I’m wondering how much pruning it takes to keep that trumpet vine from devouring the garage. Our northern Virginia neighborhood is approaching 25 years old, so the trees and shrubs have matured, but the houses are all very alike in style (80s faux colonial).
I had the same thought about that trumpet vine, Entangled. I wouldn’t dare put one on my house. —Pam
Beautiful neighborhood. Looks like Bryker Woods or Alandale.
Nope, but close.
Thanks for dropping by, Seventh Sister. —Pam
What a fun walk this was. It’s nice to see what kind of houses and gardens there are in your neighbourhood. I liked it that you also mentioned how hot it still is in Austin, it adds some colour locale to your story about the walk.
BTW forget about that house, I would live in the tree house instead. 😉
I like the house well enough, but I’m with you : the tree house looks like great fun. I’d be up there for most of the day. —Pam
What a wonderful tour of your neighborhood. It seems that people in Austin are more interested in gardening than our sterile neighborhood. Great tree house!
Before this post I hadn’t thought of my neighborhood as being particularly full of front gardens, but it is. I’ve walked the streets a thousand times, but by taking photographs, this time I really saw it. Isn’t that ironic? —Pam
Thanks for the tour; there are a few magnolias here in El Paso, and for now (I suspect that will change soon) they are even on a approved planting list for city projects.
I can’t imagine magnolias growing in El Paso! They just wouldn’t fit with the landscape—would they?? Not to mention their preference for deep soil and regular water. —Pam
I found this site when googling the American Beautyberry; what a beautiful neighbourhood! I stay in Berlin / Germany and it was a pleasure to visit you !! Kind greetings from Europe, Dorit
Dorit, thank you for writing to say hello. Please visit again anytime! —Pam
Thanks for some great ideas about what to do with my front yard. Very helpful!