Whirlwind gardening week
As March rushes into April, the past week has been a rush of manual labor in my new-baby garden, garden visits, and the excitement of new plants to try out in the garden. Last Saturday, I dragged my family to the Palisades West office complex in southwest Austin for a tour of a private green roof built on top of a parking garage. Despite a gusty, cold wind that whipped across the football field-sized rooftop, we enjoyed the novelty of strolling on a park-like lawn surrounded by trees—even live oaks!—growing several stories above ground (pictured above). My thanks to Casey Boyter for letting me know about the tour and to developer Tim Hendricks of Cousins Properties for talking with us about the installation. I learned a good deal and also had the pleasure of running into MSS of Zanthan Gardens and new blogger Patrick of I Heart Gardening.
Backing up, on Friday I was excited to accept an invitation from authors and designers Scott and Lauren Ogden to visit their south Austin garden. Jenny of Rock Rose, who was already acquainted with Scott, joined me, and we arrived just as a thunderstorm tore loose over Austin. Scott and Lauren invited us in to wait it out, which gave me a chance to ask them to autograph their latest book, a wonderful collaboration titled Plant-Driven Design, which I reviewed last fall.
The silver Mediterranean fan palm pictured above is not from their garden but from mine, a new purchase (the last 3-gallon pot at Barton Springs Nursery) inspired by my visit to the Ogdens’ garden. They don’t allow photographs, but they were very generous with their time and their extensive knowledge of plants. Their garden is an evergreen tapestry of palms, agaves, succulents, and bamboo layered under the dappled shade of live oaks, interwoven with threads of seasonal color from bulbs, iris, and aloe blooms. I scribbled furiously in my rain-spattered notebook as Scott rattled off the botanical names of plants I’d never heard of, and I’m planning to try several of them in my own live oak-shaded garden. The first is the silver fan palm, which I hadn’t known would tolerate dappled shade but saw lighting up a corner of their garden.
Thanks, Scott and Lauren, for sharing your garden with me. Readers, if you’d like to see what their garden is like, here’s a link to a “Central Texas Gardener” episode featuring the Ogdens.
Backing up a little further, I received a shipment of annuals and a few perennials from Proven Winners, who’d asked if I’d be willing to trial some plants in my garden. I agreed, and so I spent a recent afternoon helping my kids plant most of them in their new deck-side flower bed. I’d never have purchased such a crazy quilt of colors on my own, but the Crayola effect delighted my children, and we will watch carefully and report on how these plants grow in a central Texas, somewhat dry garden shaded by oaks. More on that later. (Disclosure: The plants were sent to me for free, I didn’t get to choose which ones, and I agreed to post my honest assessment of them after a growing season in my garden.)
Back to today, here’s an update on the bloom stalk that’s developing on the ‘Macho Mocha’ mangave.
As you can see, it’s several inches taller than it was just a few days ago. Go, Macho, go.
All material © 2006-2009 by Pam Penick for Digging. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited.
That’s a lot of gardening fun one weekend. Tours, more tours, new plants, more new plants. Keep us posted on the bloom stalk. I want to see what that looks like when in full flower!
I curious to know what it will look like too, Carol. I’ll be posting. —Pam
What a whirlwind of a week you had Pam! I look forward to seeing your trial garden of plants from Proven Winners. I’ve never been disappointed by any of the varieties with their name on it.
I will provide updates about once a month, Racquel. I’m eager to see how they perform myself. —Pam
I can’t believe that is a parking garage roof! I wish the parks in my neighborhood looked that good!
It’s pretty amazing, isn’t it? It’s so different from the other green roofs I’ve seen, which are typically planted with lightweight, low-growing, xeric plants, not trees and shrubs. —Pam
It still amazes me that you can build a garden on a roof top like that! I don’t understand how they do it. Most especially with Oaks! I’m glad you enjoyed your weekend. 🙂
Perhaps I’ll post more about the green roof since several commenters are wondering how this one was built. I didn’t take notes, but I remember a few of the details the developer provided. —Pam
Like, Randy, I’m amazed that gardens can be built on rooftops. The weight of all that soil, (especially after a heavy rain), and trees that will eventually grow quite large, it just seems like it would eventually affect the structural integrity of the building. I’m sure they have engineers that have studied that though. I would love to see how they do it, I wonder if they deliver everything by way of helicopter.
The developer talked about the weight issue during our tour. It was a big concern. Perhaps I’ll post more about it tomorrow, Robin. —Pam
That sounds like a lot of fun–it’s fun to get out and about, even though I usually only go anywhere if it has anything to do with plants! 😉
This time of year, the weather is so nice that it seems a crime to stay indoors. It was fun to go out and see gardens and work in my own. —Pam
Whew, you have been a busy girl. I can’t wait to see a post about the rooftop garden. I have heard about them but have not seen one in person. Mocha is looking quite macho with its bloom developing.
Perhaps I will post more about the green roof since several commenters are expressing their curiosity about it. Stay tuned, Lisa. —Pam
It’s that wonderful, busy gardening time of year! Hooray! 🙂
Cameron
You bet, Cameron. I hope you’re enjoying your garden too. —Pam
I was just writing about some of the Proven Winners plants. I’ll be interested to hear how they do for you.
I’ll post about them as the season goes along, Phillip. Stay tuned. —Pam
That’s a weekend chock-full o’ gardening! I’m sure your tour of the Ogdens’ was the highlight of your weekend — it sounds wonderful. And free new plants for your big new bed sounds like a good deal. They had Proven Winner seedlings at Hood’s Gardens in IN and we talked about how they cannot propagate from those plants as they are trademarked. Very interesting concept they have there — trying to be the Starbucks of plants, I supposed. Their material is beautiful, so I will be interested to see how they grow. Did you make it to the Zilker Gardenfest?
No, I didn’t make it to Gardenfest. Did you go, Diana? —Pam
Amazing and they have live oaks too? It must have been something to see in person!
I will be waiting for updates on your PW flowers.
Have a great week!
Thanks, Cindee. I hope you’re able to enjoy your garden this week too. —Pam
Hi Pam, so much to digest here. The first photo is a rooftop? It looks like it is firmly on terra firma! Wow, the engineering involved boggles the mind. Lucky you, I have the Ogden book you had autographed and have been pouring over it for ideas. The location of their gardens is not similar to my own, but the planting combinations are wonderful sources for inspiration. I will be watching your patchwork planting too, it will be a colorful photo op in the coming months. And your Macho guy is quite the specimen! I will say no more about that. 🙂
Frances
Oh, you’re naughty, Frances. 😉 —Pam
Can’t wait to see what that bloom is going to look like. I’ll have to look back and see where the progression of the bloom of my aloe was in my blog. It was something to behold as it got taller and taller. And then that color of tangerine. Hope your children enjoy their “quilted garden.”
Brenda
They sure had fun planting it. We also threw some seeds out there from my old garden. —Pam
An enjoyable post, the Ogden’s website is real garden eye candy and full of inspiration. That mangave looks great, I am glad you’ll have pups to use. I saw the mangave bloodspot online and must must get that on my next trip to the US.
That would be a great addition to your garden, Nicole. —Pam
Just a note: trademarked plants can be propagated-you just can’t use the trademarked name esp in sales. Patented plants cannot be propagated. Of course there are plants that are patented and trademarked.
Thanks for the info. I didn’t know that. —Pam
That is an amazing green roof. It’s hard to tell that it is a roof. I would love to see a lot more of those around.
‘Macho’ is coming on strong. I can’t wait to see your photos of the blooms.
I wonder how long it will take it to open? I’m watching and waiting. —Pam
Can you tell we are all amazed, delighted and surprised that the roof garden is indeed a roof garden! I would love to see these in Nashville…next decade, maybe! I have the Ogdens’ book and it is a wonderful read and as Frances said…their plant combinations are inspiring, but I really like the design philosophy. It sounds like a wonderful day …too bad about no photos, but you have a great eye and can probably remember the plants! gail
Taking notes is the key, and I was writing fast the entire time. If you’d like to see their garden, I’ve gone back to my post and added a link to a video of it. —Pam
What a busy weekend you had, Pam. I would love to hear more about the roof-top garden…and your freebie test plants–I’m so jealous! I am glad to see Mr. Macho’s bloom stalk wasn’t damaged in the hail-storm last week.
We were lucky to escape the hail last week, Jenny. Macho mangave is still going strong. —Pam
My kind of weekend – and free plants to boot!
Can’t beat it, right? —Pam
Pam, I intended to attend the green roof tour, but didn’t get to go. I saw it from the road yesterday; it’s amazing to see those trees so high up in the air! I really want to hear more about what you learned; it’s quite fascinating and wonderful. And sigh…I definitely want to hear more about the new and different plants you found out about from the Odgens; I seem to be running out of shade ideas without my garden looking like everyone else’s. And I’m definitely looking forward to hearing about the Proven Winners, how exciting for you to participate! Great post, but all you did was whet my appetite for more details. And you didn’t miss much by not going to Zilker last weekend; I would have much rather did what you did.
I’ll post a list from the Ogdens’ garden soon, Robin. I was thinking that others would appreciate knowing about some of their plants for dry shade also. —Pam
That Macho is hubba hubba! I am waiting to see the bloom! And, insanely jealous you saw Scott and Lauren’s garden. I hope to see the Colorado one some day. Texas too. OK, all of them. And your new baby garden.
OH BOY free plants! Let us know how that turns out.
I want to see them all too, MA! And your Idaho garden included. Someday! —Pam
That is really impressive! Reminds a little of a fancy high rise apartment building we saw in Vancouver last summer. It had a GIANT tree growing from the top. I couldn’t stop looking up at for our entire visit!
That would be something to see. I wonder if one would ever get used to it? —Pam