Going vertical: Jeff Pavlat's hillside Austin garden
Cascading down a steep-sloping front yard, Jeff Pavlat’s 8-year-old terraced xeric garden is a symphony of form, texture, and subtle color echoes. I met Jeff a year ago at an Oracle Gorge Nursery sale and have asked his advice about agaves and aloes from time to time. President of the Austin Cactus and Succulent Society and an avid collector, he really knows his plants. Recently Jeff kindly invited me over for a tour of his garden, and yesterday I gladly took him up on it.
Built on the side of a canyon in the Westlake neighborhood, Jeff’s house sits at the bottom of a long, sloping drive, and Jeff says the rocky soil on the formerly untamed slope used to wash down when it rained. To solve the problem, he and his partner decided to terrace the slope with a series of limestone walls, creating in the process a richly textured front garden that you pass through via short flights of steps and a small, nearly hidden terrace with a millstone fountain. Pictured above is the street view, looking down on house and garden, which seems nearly vertical from this angle.
From the bottom of the drive looking up, it’s evident how much garden space the terraced walls created. The beds are chock full of agaves, yuccas, aloes, dyckias, opuntias, and a few softening perennials like rosemary, lantana, and Salvia greggii. Though a collector, Jeff has an artist’s eye for juxtaposing form and color, and his mostly evergreen garden is anything but monochromatic or boring.
At the base of the drive, more steps (also built by Jeff and his partner) lead down to a playscape and the rear of the house, a natural area backing up to the canyon. Standing sentinel at the steps, a pair of branching Yucca rostrata that must be about 14 feet tall shimmer like blue Koosh balls. In the foreground, a small swath of grass stands in for the traditional sweeping American lawn.
Climbing up the stairs to the street you get long views of the planted terraces. This one shows off golden barrel cacti, rosemary, and several types of agave.
Midway up the slope, you encounter this tucked-away terrace with a free-form cutout filled with Mexican beach stones, a trio of small boulders, and a bubbling millstone fountain. Jeff’s aloe collection fills out the perimeter walls.
Golden barrel cactus’s round form is a perfect counterpoint to the spiky, starburst shapes of agave and yucca.
A peaceful, Asian-garden mood is enhanced with a few pieces of statuary and garden ornament.
This elegant yet simple pot, simply planted, looks beautiful nestled amid gray stones by the stairs.
I noticed that Jeff mulches most of his garden with a wood mulch rather than gravel or rock. I assume this is to cut down on weeding chores, though I neglected to ask. I did ask him about the mulch itself, which he says is a loose hardwood mulch, not the native Texas mulch that knits together. He thinks this looser mulch absorbs water better. One must have excellent drainage for these plants, of course, no matter what mulch is used. Jeff waters only once every few weeks in the summer—a great selling point after a summer like Austin just experienced.
This dyckia and its pot are a perfect match.
An overhead view
Jeff incorporates a number of potted plants into his garden. He brings the cold-tender ones into his greenhouse when one of Austin’s occasional freezes threatens. This vignette is a series of terra-cotta planters set atop homemade stained-concrete pillars.
Agave macroacantha, also known as black-tipped agave
Jeff’s garden contains so many gorgeous specimens. Here’s a sampling, beginning with this trio of Agave lophantha, a fast-spreading agave.
Wheeler’s sotol (Dasylirion wheeleri)
Golden barrel cactus (Echinocactus grusonii)
Agave desmettiana variegata, with squid agave (A. bracteosa) behind it.
Agave desmettiana ‘Joe Hoak’, a pale version I’d never seen before.
Like a ghostly satellite dish, Agave colorata points toward the sun.
I was quite taken with its white coloring and the distinct imprinting from its furled leaves.
The Dyckia in the foreground echoes the color of the agave’s glazed pot.
Agave parryi var. truncata
Agave ‘Sharkskin’
After a tour of the hillside garden, Jeff showed me his greenhouse.
Inside, sturdy shelves held a fantastic assortment of neatly labeled cacti and succulents.
A grid of aloe pups
Larger pots with beautiful single specimens occupied the floor space around the tables.
I loved the watercolor look of this one.
More agave beauty
Immediately in front of the house is the first project Jeff and his partner built in the garden: a lovely waterfall and fish pond, with a big sago palm (Cycas revoluta) behind it.
Passing through his light-filled home, we walked out on the high back deck, which offers a stunning view of the canyon.
Jeff’s garden was so fascinating that I took up 2-1/2 hours of his time asking questions about each plant. Thank you, Jeff, for your time and your generosity in sharing your gorgeous garden with me! Readers, if you’d like to see more of this amazing garden, check out this video of Jeff’s recent appearance on KLRU’s “Central Texas Gardener.”
He even sent me home with a cute little Aloe ciliaris hybrid, which I will plant along one of my own retaining walls for an eventual cascading effect.
By the way, if you’re interested in starting or adding to your own succulent/cactus collection, you won’t want to miss the Austin Cactus and Succulent Society’s Fall Show and Sale this weekend, September 5-7, 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. at Zilker Botanical Garden. Admission is free.
All material © 2006-2009 by Pam Penick for Digging. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited.
Oh My Gosh…what an inspiration. What beauty. I bet you left from there with your head spinning with ideas. I saw so many plants I have never seen before. WOW.
I don’t know what to say but…..BEAUTIFUL!
Love the hill country setting. What gorgeous plants — lots of color and foliage texture (!) Just great.
This is very inspirational. I have been trying to figure out how to display my cactus and succulent collection during the summer and then take them inside during the winter. I got several ideas here. Thank you for sharing Jeff’s garden with us.
WOW! What a gorgeous place!
Just beautiful, that should convince anyone that drought tolerant is lovely. I love the barrel cactus & agave parryi. The millstone fountain is to die for!
My goodness-I have never felt like being the non law abiding citizen before but for a few seconds there I felt like taking off with some of these cool plants LOL. What a collection! Also interesting is the use of agave and cacti multiples-what to do with all those offsets.
Ah, Pam, all those colors, all that form and texture. I am in love with Jeff’s garden. Maybe I can come and see it someday. I think you need Agave colorata. By the way, I bought an agave for my birthday next week. I am going to plant it in a container so I can move it up next to the house in the winter. Unfortunately, there was no tag on the pot (it being from a box store), but a beautiful specimen with a pup in tow.~~Dee
A highly successful garden made with drought tolerant plants. Just the thing for Texas. 😉 Love the contrast between the canyon and the garden.
Ok, I’m really beginning to warm up the idea of agaves and succulents. I previously thought of them as boring, non-cuddly, sparse landscaping. I’m learning that I cannot have a lush cottage type gardent in Texas without loads of work. I’m a low-maintenance person, so I am beginning to see the beauty and appeal of yuccas, agaves, grasses and the like. Thanks for the inpsiration as always.
kat
I’ve watched that video from CTG many times, already. Now, you’ve given us some extras views of this fabulous garden. The enormous work that went into this masterpiece has certainly paid off. It’s a beautiful…and inspiring…place.
Thanks for sharing your visit. Great photos, as usual.
Wow, Jeff’s garden is fabulous. Thanks to you and Jeff for sharing with us. I’ve been thinking about the native hardwood mulch too. It seems like it forms such an impenetrable mat that nothing can get through. this is good in the case of weeds, but nothing can reseed (the things that i want) and water just rolls off. I’d be interested to know where he gets the mulch and which he uses. I’ve always chosen native because, well, it’s native.
Lee, I followed up with Jeff about the mulch, and this is his reply:
I am intrigued by Jeff’s choice of mulch too. I generally put decomposed granite around my very xeric plants, but it tends to get quite weedy in our climate. For the rest of my garden I’ve always used the mat-forming Texas native mulch. If it gets really dried out, it can be hard for water to get through. But I’ve always found that a deep soak once a week will reach plants mulched with it. —Pam
Thanks for sharing your personal tour of a fantastic succulent garden. It was inspiring. donna
WOW. I’ve looked through this post twice already and I don’t think I’ve absorbed it all yet. I am in love!!!! Jeff you have created paradise on earth! Thank you so much Pam for using your fabulous photography skills to show us all this wonderful place. Jeff if you ever want to test the cold/wet hardiness of any of your aloes and agaves I’ve volunteering to be your Portland, Oregon, test garden! (wink wink)
Hey Pam – great pics. This house was on the pond tour one year – absolutely beautiful. They’ve added a few things since I was there. Thanks for sharing.
Truly spectacular. Ok, I’m decided. Complete makeover of the front rock garden. However, Geoff has an incredible number of expensive plants so I fear it will take a while before it could come close to this. I visited Geoff’s garden some years ago. I think it was a house tour and he kindly gave me some pads off his opuntias. they haven’t done near so well as his. I know he is in the hills but it must just be more sheltered from cold there because it is among tree. Or maybe his plants get some shade from the oaks. Even my agaves have suffered burn this year.
Yes, Jeff does have an amazing collection of plants. But he pointed out how fast many of them have grown with occasional extra irrigation. Yes, he does have some shade from an escarpment black cherry and something else. The top of his garden has a western exposure. As for temperatures, he mentioned that his lows are close to what Camp Mabry gets, which puts him in one of the warmer parts of Austin. —Pam
Spectacular! Some gardens are incredibly special~~this one is. Something tells me he loved sharing his expertice with a gardener who his agaves and cacti! gail
What a fantastic garden!
Very cool! Gorgeous design. Love the little touches like the mixture of mulches used.
Stunning.
I want to live there.
Pam,
Outstanding post. You captured the garden and literally took us with you. Thank you for sharing this. The photos were beautiful.
What a beautiful post! I follow your blog in part to enjoy your photography. And it was great to see a waterwise, imaginative use of vertical space.
Hi Pam, anything but boring is an understatement. What a collection he has and how he has tamed that steep incline is pure art! The retaining walls are the perfect place to showcase those wonderful specimens. Each and every plant is a world unto itself. You must have gotten so many ideas, hope you wrote them down, or the photos could be a reference for the future too. This is truly a WOW garden paradise! 🙂
Frances
… … … WOW! I don’t even know what to say, I’m just completely blown away by this garden!
There’s so much of this that I would like to incorporate into my garden, if only I were a few zones warmer. I am definitely copying the homemade concrete pillars topped with terracotta bowls idea, though. I do have a couple of those bowls and am tired of leaving them sit on the ground when that looks so much more interesting. 🙂
Very groovy, and just goes to show you collector-types always have the best gardens! I also really like the cutout with river stones and fountain.
What a wonder. It’s as spectacular as any public botanic garden.
You did a great job capturing it, as always.
That was very yummy Pam! I’m surprised to see some of the plants in his beds. Looks like they survive the occasional Austin freezes. I guess there must be micro-climates that work for that (as well as the well drained soil?). The Agave desmettiana is the one I’m most interested in since it’s the one I have that seems to have a lot of trouble with the cold (even with some protection). I’m thankful I didn’t come into Austin this weekend as the last thing I need is more cacti from the Zilker annual sale! LOL.
Jean, Agave desmettiana is cold-tender here as well. Jeff told me he has built portable cold-frames out of lightweight PVC that he’ll pop over the tender plants in the ground and then cover them with a sheet. He pointed out that we’ve had pretty mild winters for the past 8 years that he’s been gardening. If a record cold snap ever hit, as Austin experienced in 1989, he said, he’d probably lose a lot of plants. But then so would we all. Most gardeners in Austin push our zone when it comes to semi-tropical plants. And we usually get away with it. But not always! —Pam
All I have to say is lucky you and WOW!!!
totally awesome! I was almost late for work this morning because I couldn’t tear myself away from the photos and then the video. ;>) I’ll have to try the pvc cold-frames..great idea!
I walk by this amazing garden every morning but only see the street level. Thanks for letting me in for a closer look! Very inspirational after this summer.
After the summer we’ve had, this post is exactly the kind of inspiration I needed. 😀
Hi, Pam — I was searching the Internet for agave photos and ran across your post. What a treat to see Jeff’s garden again via such superb photos. (I was there in March.) His collection is outstanding and memorable, as is he! Debra
Thanks, Debra. I’m glad you enjoyed the pics, and that you’ve been able to see Jeff’s remarkable garden in person. —Pam