Foxgloves and cacti: A Texas-English garden, part 1

April 09, 2019

Ah, let us return to the always-stunning garden of Jenny Stocker, aka Rock Rose. Born and raised in England, Jenny and her husband, David, years ago adopted Texas as their home. Jenny’s garden, a series of stucco-walled courtyards surrounding their contemporary house, reflects her English roots but also shows a Texas preference for tough, waterwise plants like cactus and agave. Gravel provides ideal growing conditions for volunteer wildflowers as well as spiky desert plants. The result is dreamy perfection.

Jenny leads visitors into her garden from a side entrance off the driveway. Decked steps lead up to door-framed garden view — a peek at what’s to come.

At this time of year an enormous (is there any other kind?) Lady Banks rose dominates the front garden. Cascading branches of butter-yellow roses swag over spiky agaves and tufts of wildflowers growing in the gravel.

Native purple skullcap (Scutellaria wrightii) and claret cup cactus (Echinocereus triglochidiatus)

Artichoke agave (A. parryi var. truncata)

The yellow stripes of ‘Quadricolor’ Agave lophantha echo the yellow Lady Banks roses.

Lady Banks blooms just once a year, but what a show.

Agave weberi, globe mallow (Sphaeralcea ambigua), and Lady Banks rose

A shady corner glows with yellow columbine

Jenny sprinkles her garden with many, many succulent containers, like this trough of kalanchoe.

A pergola-roofed patio just inside the formal entrance is greened up with dozens of containers too.

Even the walls! Jenny calls this display shelf her cactus theatre.

It’s a lovely display.

Amid the spiny barrel cactus and fleshy succulents, here’s a surprise: a potted foxglove! That’s something you don’t see every day in an Austin garden. Jenny says this one is blooming several weeks earlier than usual.

Another view, looking toward the front door

Now we step outside the garden walls, exiting through the front entrance.

A rugged area between the front gate and driveway is filled simply yet elegantly with Agave weberi, bluebonnets, and Mexican feathergrass. A dry creek handles runoff during Texas gullywashers.

Small, wood-framed mirrors hang on the stucco wall, mimicking windows.

We picked our way through a swath of bluebonnets to reach the next courtyard doorway.

Cholla like a bristly balloon animal (don’t touch this one, kids!) amid the bluebonnets

Looking back to admire the Lady Banks rose cascading over the garden wall

Stepping through the gate you enter a narrow patio garden alongside the house. The close walls are greened up with fig ivy and adorned with garden faces.

Inspired by crevice gardens she’s admired at Denver Botanic Gardens and elsewhere, Jenny has made a few herself using thin wedges of limestone. This one is tucked along the patio. Small succulent cuttings take root amid the stone.

As we thread our way through the garden, we’re back outside the walls again. This beautifully pruned prickly pear is, it turns out, not pruned at all. “It just grew that way,” Jenny swears. I’d love for any of mine to look like this open candelabra.

I forget what these little daisies are called. Update: daisy fleabane is the name. They seeded themselves into the stony soil, Jenny says, and look right at home with Texas bluebonnets.

Through another gate, this one adorned with tendrils of ‘Tangerine Beauty’ crossvine

Cat of The Whimsical Gardener photobombing a little gargoyle on the fence

Next up in the string of courtyard garden rooms is the circle garden. A large, brick-edged circle of roses and bluebonnets is anchored by a birdbath and surrounded by a semicircular raised bed. Circular pavers made by Jenny and David lead through the garden.

A circular patio near a French door overlooks Jenny’s growing collection of hypertufa spheres and a stand of bluebonnets.

Circles and circles and circles

Nasturtium

A self-hybridized yellow-and-red columbine

Lest this post grow too long, I’ll pause the tour here. Next up is Jenny’s flowerlicious sunken garden.

__________________________

Digging Deeper

Come learn about gardening and design at Garden Spark! I organize in-person talks by inspiring designers, landscape architects, authors, and gardeners a few times a year in Austin. These are limited-attendance events that sell out quickly, so join the Garden Spark email list to be notified in advance; simply click this link and ask to be added. Season 8 kicks off in fall 2024. Stay tuned for more info!

All material © 2024 by Pam Penick for Digging. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited.

32 responses to “Foxgloves and cacti: A Texas-English garden, part 1”

  1. How fortunate we are to have this stellar garden in Austin! You captured it beautifully. The little daisy is fleabane, I believe.

  2. emma says:

    Love her garden and love your blog!

  3. Marcia says:

    I love Jenny and David’s garden. Its artistic displays inspire me to put additional time into my garden and make it more beautiful.

    Btw, the little white daisy is called fleabane, I believe.

    Thanks for your beautiful photos and descriptive words, Pam. It’s always a treat to read your newsletters.

  4. Jenny says:

    Wow! I’m impressed…..with your photographic skills. As always the magic of your camera, the perfect angles and the perfect framing. The subject says thank you very much for showcasing her beautiful blooms.

  5. Lisa at Greenbow says:

    I never tire of seeing this garden. I changes not only with the seasons but with each visitor showing what captures their eye.

  6. When I saw your title, I thought this has to be Jenny’s garden. Only she would manage those plants in one garden and both would look great.

  7. Kim says:

    Her garden is just incredibly beautiful and thought out and your photos perfectly capture it all. Such an enjoyable blog post!!

  8. ks says:

    Thanks for this early spring visit to Jennys garden-one of the highlights of last years Fling. Jenny is such a gifted gardener it is a pleasure to see her garden in any season

  9. Kris P says:

    It’s lovely to see Jenny’s garden during Spring’s peak. And there’s another well-placed mirror! I admire the crevice garden too – creation of one of those is on my list of projects for this year too.

  10. Dori says:

    Beautiful Garden! I can’t wait to see the 2nd part. Thank you.

  11. Denise Maher says:

    So good to see Jenny’s garden again — there isn’t another one like it! It really is such a creative fusion of so many influences, taste, climate, geology — thanks, Pam!

    • Pam/Digging says:

      A creative fusion — that’s a great way of putting it. I’m so glad you got to see it last spring, Denise.

  12. Janet Davis says:

    Truly beautiful garden. Complex…. full of surprises, floriferous. A triumph (and I’ve seen a *lot* of gardens!) Thanks Pam and Jenny & David.

  13. “The result is dreamy perfection”…indeed! Jenny’s garden is a bit of magic only she and David could create.

  14. Maggie C says:

    Thanks for sharing your version of this gorgeous garden-it’s such a treat to get to see it through your eyes. Jenny and David have created something unique, beautiful, and inspiring!

  15. Carolyn says:

    Jenny Stocker’s garden is DIVINE! I have had a photo of her swimming pool surrounded by wildflowers as my laptop’s “wallpaper” for years now. When I need a pick-me-up I go to her website and get lost in the photos. Her photos of their travels in Europe are wonderful too. Extra bonus: seeing her husband working on many projects with a big smile on his face! I always wonder if I should have gone to England to find a husband….. 🙂
    Thanks for the updated photos, Pam, Jenny’s garden (like yours) grows more glorious every year

    • Pam/Digging says:

      Haha, you’re so right about David always having a big smile on his face while doing herculean chores in the garden. Today, I hear, it was cutting down a large dead tree! Jenny does take wonderful photos of her garden and on her travels. Her blog is a terrific resource for garden lovers.

  16. Laurie Golding says:

    As others have mentioned Pam, your photographs are beautiful, as is this fabulous garden that Jenny and David have done so well. I had no idea we had something like this in Austin, so thank you for sharing. I’ll viewing the second part eagerly. Could you send me the link to Jenny’s blog, please? Although, between keeping up with yours and adding hers, I may never get anything else done!