Green roof tour, Yucca Do’s move, & another Austin blogger

March 26, 2009


Golden barrel cactus, ‘Angelina’ sedum, and two ‘Elegans’ sedums

For anyone in the Austin area who’s interested in green roofs, I thought I’d share info about this Saturday’s tour of the largest green roof in town. Casey Boyter of GRoWERS writes:

I am pleased to announce that GRoWERS will be hosting a tour of the largest green roof in Austin this Saturday, the 28th, at noon at the Palisades West office complex [at 5300 Bee Caves Rd]. This private office complex is located at the northwest corner of Bee Caves and 360. The roof itself is an engineering feat atop the parking garage! Planted on the roof are huge live oaks as well as Mexican plums and redbuds in a park-like setting. The green roof is a beautiful example of an intensive system designed by SWA landscape architects and installed and maintained by Cleanscapes. So…… come one, come all and meet the GRoWERS at this amazing private tour. If anyone has any questions, please email me at caseyboyter at yahoo dot com. Parking should be available at the garage, and we will meet up there.


Tulipa clusiana ‘Cynthia’

In other regional news, I just learned that online plant seller Yucca Do has completed its move from Hempstead, near Peckerwood Garden (click here for the Austin bloggers’ tour of Peckerwood last fall), to its new location in Giddings, about an hour east of Austin.


White trunk of Texas persimmon (Diospyros texana )

And there’s yet another Austin garden blogger to let you know about: Patrick Hempton, a recent transplant from Seattle back to his home state. Patrick maintains the website and garden forum I Heart Gardening.com and blogs about his own eastside garden at Patrick’s Gardening Blog.

All material © 2006-2009 by Pam Penick for Digging. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited.

17 responses to “Green roof tour, Yucca Do’s move, & another Austin blogger”

  1. Gail says:

    Even more reasons for me to want to move to Austin! I need to remember that your summers are worse then ours, I need to remember that your summers are worse then ours…If I repeat that often enough it might stick! gail

  2. Diana Kirby says:

    Pam – thanks for all the scoop. I’m thinking that there is a Yucca Do visit in our future. That would be a good garden outing for fall, don’t you think?

  3. Frances says:

    Hi Pam, that is good news for you Austinites and should bring more off the street, er highway customers their way as well. It was a little out of the way before, but the proximity to Peckerwood was good. Your blue planter looks wonderful. I have five large blue ones now and am wondering what to plant for summer into fall. Last year each had a coleus that took over the other smaller things originally planted and looked good. Now they have violas and yellow tulips almost open. I was thinking about the variegated soft yuccas, saw some at a local nursery in a small size. But more coleus or maybe angelonia would be good.
    Any ideas?
    Frances

  4. Monica says:

    Green roofs rule! I’ve been meaning to blog about them for years now… maybe i will succeed soon!

  5. Layanee says:

    Pam, I keep forgetting that you are in the middle of the gardening season and I should check your posts EVERY day. Work and baby are taking up time but that picture looks beautiful with the curve of the wall, the bark of the tree and the blue bottle tree in the background. SERENITY NOW!

  6. Jenny says:

    Thanks for the heads up on the roof garden tour. We will try to make it. I’ll be checking out Patrick’s blog. I love the photo with persimmon. I love this tree and am happy to have several outside my walls. One is really encroaching on the front path but I won’t pull it out until we can’t walk down there.

  7. Les says:

    Thanks for the links, I unexpectedly enjoyed the tale of moving Yucca Do. I keep an old tattered copy of their catalog in a file at work and use it as a reference.

  8. Jean says:

    Hmm, maybe that means I can finally make it to Yucca Do now. Just a slight detour on the road to Austin for me. 🙂 Thanks for the info.

  9. That green roof sounds amazing! I had no idea trees could be part of a green roof. I would love to see that.

  10. Vertie says:

    Thanks for the information. Wish I could tour the green roof but I’ll be off installing gardens.

    Maybe it’s just me, and maybe it’s just this morning, but those links to Patrick’s sites aren’t working for me.

    I also wanted to let you know that my friend Eleanor has started a blog, http://www.gardenofe.blogspot.com/. Her garden will be on the master gardener tour in the fall. Half my plants are cuttings or divisions from hers!

  11. Brenda Kula says:

    Did you build that little flagstone area with the wall? Or was it already there when you moved there? I like that.
    Brenda

  12. I couldn’t help but comment on that photo of Tulipa clusiana. I don’t know about Austin, but in Birmingham, this is a great perennializing tulip that more people should plant. I have T. clusiana ‘Lady Jane.’ It bloomed like crazy this spring (even my non-gardening wife noticed, which is saying a lot!), and it’s multiplying on its own. Another little-known species I’ve had good luck with is T. whittallii. I got both from Brent & Becky’s Bulbs.

  13. You have some very nice photos here. I like the idea of garden roofs too.

  14. Pam, good for you for bringing attention to any and all green roofs. The concept needs all the good publicity it can get. It is such an excellent avenue to help with greenhouse gases. Bravo!

  15. Austin appears to be the garden blogger Mecca of the world. Have fun if you go on the tour.~~Dee

  16. jodi says:

    Green roofs are so fascinating, aren’t they? They’re a bit of a challenge here, but some people are starting to explore the possibilities. Love the Clusiana tulip!

  17. eliz says:

    Lovely Cynthia! I can see her leaves just emerging in my front garden.