Gardens on Tour 2009: Kempson Drive garden
Our fourth and final stop on the Wildflower Center-sponsored Gardens on Tour was the Kempson Drive garden. Tucked in the suburban back yard of a hilly, new-ish development of same-looking, two-story homes in southwest Austin, this garden offered a dual surprise. One side of the garden featured a xeric, sun-loving mix of grasses, salvias, agaves, and small flowering perennials. The other side (which, to my regret, I didn’t photograph) preserved the junipers and other small trees original to the property, carving trails beneath their canopy and using them as a shady counterpoint to the adjacent sunny garden and as a living screen between their yard and the exposed properties nearby.
The sunny side stole the show, with waving feathergrass (Nassella tenuissima ), pink Autumn sage (Salvia greggii ), prickly pear (Opuntia ), and rose campion (Lychnis coronaria ), a non-native with beautiful silver foliage and hot-pink blossoms, pictured on the right.
I believe this is a smooth-leaf sotol (Dasylirion leiophyllum ).
Blond Mexican feathergrass sets off the blooms and foliage of other xeric plants so beautifully.
It was hot, in the mid-90s, and we enjoyed a stroll under the junipers before we departed. My thanks to Diana for driving. It was fun to see the gardens with fellow bloggers.
For a look at the previous garden I visited at Buckeye Trail, click here. Thanks for following along with me on this garden tour. I hope you enjoyed it.
All material © 2006-2009 by Pam Penick for Digging. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited.
I can see why this colorful garden was attention getting. The movement and color is stellar…and I now have an idea where to plant the salvias I just had to have! Pam, what is the crushed stone they are using in the beds? Gail
Gail, the stone was an angular, pinkish granite, maybe quarter-inch pieces, and it was used as a mulch and as the path material. It wasn’t crushed, and it wasn’t the typical rounded pea gravel. I speculated to Diana that maybe it wouldn’t get as weedy as decomposed granite, which is commonly used as a xeric-plant mulch in Austin, but she thought it would. At any rate, it was quite nice-looking. —Pam
I love that look. Do you know if the owners designed that garden or someone else?
This one, like all the others, was designed by a professional, Jean. —Pam
Well, this one is my favorite just based on the first picture! Lychnis is used so differently here. I can’t think of it growing among grasses at all. I also like the variety of plants in the meadow…no restricted plant palette here. Thumbs up.
The mixture of feathergrass and salvias is a fairly common look around Austin, in my opinion, although it’s very well executed in this garden. I think the main thing in keeping this garden looking good would be regular pruning of the salvias and weeding to keep seedlings and other volunteers under control. —Pam
I lovelovelove the smooth-leaf sotol, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen one for sale. It’s gone on my “must-have” list.
One thing I was really curious about in this garden was the original cedar thicket layout. What with all the neighboring houses looking right down into the backyard, I’m kind of surprised the owners didn’t opt to keep the wooded area around the edges of the property to screen the view rather just on that one side. Maybe there were no trees original to the sunny side of the property? Anyway, I thought it was an interesting landscaping decision.
That’s a good point, Lori. I would have wanted a screen around the entire yard also, with the sunny garden in the middle. So maybe it was open on that side. Now I wish we could ask the designer about it. —Pam
What a beautiful garden. When one mentions xeriscape you don’t always envision soft and flowing….more agave or cactus type. This is a wonderful example of color and texture can go hand in hand with xeriscaping.
You’re right, Janet, that many people think only of cactus when they hear the word “xeriscape.” But there are so many drought-tolerant plants that can be used instead of, or (as I prefer) in addition to, structural agaves and yuccas. —Pam
Oh my gosh, I just LOVE this. Thanks so much for posting these. I have really enjoyed them. I have a hill I planted with several grasses and mixed blooming things, I hope it someday becomes something similar to this. I think it is interesting they have gravel as the base. I think it is pretty, but so permanent. Great post…. come visit sometime! ~Brooke
Thanks for bringing us along with your beautiful pictures, Pam.
I love that grass in the third picture! I’m not a big fan of them, but that one captures my attention.
I love the way they used the grass. Very nice! -Jackie
I have enjoyed seeing all the garden tours you’ve been posting, but this one REALLY speaks to me! I especially love that they did this type of flowing xeric garden in a newer, more cookie-cutter subdivision.
Are the purple salvias on the left Victoria or Indigo spires or something else? I’ve never seen a rose campion before–kinda reminds me of a pink version of Jerusalem sage. Thanks for letting me tour!
I believe the salvia you’re referring to is Salvia farinacea. There is also a raspberry Salvia greggii. You can view the entire plant list in pdf form on the Wildflower Center’s Gardens on Tour page.
I have enjoyed the garden tour though the eyes of your camera, Pam. Thanks for taking us along. There are some amazing gardeners in the Austin area! I am always charmed by the variety and originality of seeing other people’s gardens.
Hi Pam, that garden star had to be the feather grass. Ours is coming into bloom now also. What a stunning plant. I was interested in the description of the gravel. Would that be hard to locate in your area? We can’t get crushed granite of any type here. All those flowers must have been a butterfly and hummingbird haven too.
Frances
I expect that gravel would be easy to find, Frances, although I haven’t any experience with it myself. The local stone yards carry a good selection of gravels (a dark variety called “Texas black” is popular for contemporary gardens), and the decomposed granite is ubiquitous, carried even at Home Depot. —Pam
This has somewhat of an edge, yet a cohesiveness I really like. Thanks for the tour!
Brenda
Hi Pam.
I have really enjoyed reading your eloquent and descriptive tour through all of these great gardens Pam. I thought your photography of the feather grass with the “bloomers” stunning, an aesthetic fest! I cannot wait to develop a similar “look” in my own garden.
Those smooth leaf sotols are simply bizarre, almost a fake plant…hardly any root structure at all, but they seem to do just fine here in Austin. I have planted a few in containers that continue to do well. I have no experience with them in the ground..do you? Seems like the one in your photo is doing just fine!
Regards.
ESP.
Hi, ESP. Thanks for sharing your experience with the smooth leaf sotols. I’ve never grown this one, only the commonplace Texas sotol, but I’d love to try it. Where did you find yours? —Pam
I just wanted to thank you for taking us along on an enjoyable tour. I liked the pictures from all four gardens, but especially the Academy Dr. garden.