Water, water everywhere in Cat’s wildlife-friendly garden

September 22, 2020

Every time I visit my friend Cat Jones‘s garden, it’s lovelier than the time before. Over the past 4 to 5 years she’s been busily making her Steiner Ranch garden, which overlooks a wildflower meadow and a wooded canyon, into a retreat for her and her family and for the wildlife she encourages. Water features tucked here and there throughout her garden are a key part of her avian welcome mat, and she’s noticed that birds coming in for a drink or a bathe favor different water features — a birdbath, the brown ceramic fountain pictured above, shallow water dishes, a steel bowl with dwarf waterlily, and a stock-tank pond — depending on the species.

Here’s what Cat says: “The blue birdbath is favored by cardinals and eastern phoebes. The fountain by the deck is the finches’ absolute favorite, along with the mockingbirds and summer tanagers. Chickadees, titmice, and cardinals visit the dishes on the north side of the house. Doves visit the tanks, as do springtime flocks of cedar waxwings and robins. They robins and waxwings also like congregating around the base of the fountain.”

It’s interesting to hear how varied are birds’ preferences for water features, and it’s also a compelling argument for having multiple kinds.

A tall, dark, and handsome, pot-style disappearing fountain burbles near Cat’s dining patio amid shade-loving shrubs and groundcovers. Looking past it you see her sunny stock-tank pond, which is so much better than mine ever was with its lush-leaved pond plants. Whenever I need a stock-tank pond fix, I’ll just come here.

But to be honest, I think this vignette is even more beautiful, in a quieter way. The tall, bubbling fountain has a dish-style top that allows birds to wade in for a bath. It’s surrounded by brightly contrasting ‘Everillo’ sedge and stripey ‘Sparkler’ sedge, both of which Cat uses to fill in the gaps, as do I. Oakleaf hydrangea, loropetalum, and a potted yew add taller foliage along the horizontal skirting of an elevated deck.

A feathery Japanese maple stands like a tiny parasol over a nearly-black pool of ‘Chocolate Chip’ ajuga and a silvery ribbon of lamb’s ear.

Pink phlox stands out amid shades of green. Along the front of the bed, stakes topped with glass telephone insulators act as hose guards.

Around the side of the house, American beautyberry is loaded with magenta berries — for now, until the mockingbirds find them.

A blue saucer on a garden chair holds water for the birds. Under a cedar tepee, a ceramic figure that Cat made gazes across the garden.

Against a contemporary privacy fence, two mirrors, a metal tuteur, and a potted Agave desmettiana ‘Variegata’ atop a limestone boulder make a pretty vignette.

That limestone boulder is part of the edging for a robust dry creek that funnels water from Cat’s uphill driveway through the side garden and past the stock-tank pond. I wish I’d gotten a better photo because it’s nicely done.

Broad slabs of limestone provide places to stand next to the pond for tending plants or feeding the goldfish. The fish come “running” when Cat appears.

One thing that makes Cat’s pond so successful is how she’s integrated it with taller plants that embrace the back curve, making the pond an extension of the border bed. Nearly black colocasia in the pond echoes the eggplant leaves of in-ground ‘Princess Caroline’ pennisetum, and both contrast with the yellow flowers of golden thryallis. The color echoes and contrasts appear across the pond in progressively smaller plants.

On her outdoor dining table, Cat displays a pretty arrangement of loquat cuttings and squid agave pups, passed along from my garden, in a round Mexican-style bowl.

A little bronze mouse holds a single red gomphrena stem like an offering.

Passing through the sunny side yard I stopped to admire Pride of Barbados…

…and ferny-leaved cypress vine.

The front garden that flows out from Cat’s front porch is a tapestry of low-growing foliage mounds, drifts of flowering perennials, and a stream of silver ponyfoot. Some of her favorite foliage plants for this morning-sun space are ‘Pringles’ dwarf yew (I’m determined to find a place for this one myself) and ‘Cream de Mint’ pittosporum.

‘Macho Mocha’ mangave’s purple-freckled leaves add fleshy texture amid the wisps of Berkeley sedge and ‘Ruby Crystals’ grass. Another of Cat’s water features, a steel vessel tucked behind the mangaves, holds a dwarf waterlily and floating balls.

I saw a baby anole sunning itself here.

A thirsty wasp alighted on the floating plants in the steel bowl for a drink.

Oxblood lilies were still flowering when I visited last week. They look pretty next to the purple flowers of sandpaper verbena (Verbena rigida). The silver ponyfoot stream meanders behind.

Purple sweet potato vine rambles across a lime-green ‘Cream de Mint’ pittosporum.

Pink Japanese anemones will be blooming soon next to this Celtic garden spirit.

Even gone to seed, coneflowers add interesting texture to the garden, and birds love to eat the seeds.

Native rock rose (Pavonia lasiopetala) adds carnation-pink color spring through fall.

Glowing daisies and ‘Strawberry Fields’ gomphrena

Another cute anole. Don’t you love her blue eyeliner?

An orangey shrimp plant picks up the color of a rust-orange agave pot.

In a sunny spot near the street, Cat is growing a plant I’d never seen before: pyramid plant, or teabush (Melochia tomentosa), native to South Texas and South Florida and on down to Mexico, the West Indies, and Brazil. Lovely magenta flowers are held along upright stems of this 2-3-ft. relative of globe mallow. Cat said she found it at Barton Springs Nursery about a year ago, and it bloomed throughout the long, hot summer. We’ll all be looking for this one, won’t we?

I’ll leave you with ‘Diana’ rose of Sharon, whose white flowers glow in the shade. My thanks to Cat for sharing her beautiful garden with me once again!

__________________________

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.

45 responses to “Water, water everywhere in Cat’s wildlife-friendly garden”

  1. Jenny says:

    Simply put. Gorgeous. And after this brutal August!

  2. Kris P says:

    Thank you for sharing Cat’s beautiful garden! I think the virtual tour brought down my blood pressure by at least 5 points. I loved the shots of the anoles and even the wasp but especially that bronze mouse holding the gomphrena flower.

    • Pam/Digging says:

      That mouse! Cat and I recently texted over her online hunt for that mouse, after she saw a similar one on Instagram. And now she has it, and it’s so freaking cute.

  3. Laura says:

    It’s elegant and obviously wildlife friendly…My favorite kind of garden.

  4. Gail says:

    What a beautiful garden! How fabulous that it thrives so beautifully in your summer heat.

  5. Karin says:

    Love everything about this gorgeous garden but also the orange vase and the puppies in the Mexican pot. All my preferred styles.

  6. Holly S. says:

    Lovely garden and photos.

  7. ks says:

    Very well done ! It looks like a wonderful retreat in your hellish summers. Thanks for taking us along !

  8. Cat has a way with plants and gardens and creativity. The limestone pathways are perfect. Thanks for this tour.

  9. Lori says:

    Cat’s garden just keeps getting better & better! I am so jealous of her ponds. My $%$^&^ raccoons would trash that kind of plant arrangement in five minutes flat.

  10. Deborah HH says:

    So beautiful. I’d never considered using multiple and varied sources of water for the birds, but I will now.

  11. caren magill says:

    Such a pretty garden! I just moved into my home in Riverplace (next door to Steiner Ranch) last year and I’ve got a blank canvas of weeds to contend with. This provides tons of inspiration!

    Thanks for sharing.

  12. Lori said what I was thinking. The beauty of that huge open stock tank and it’s lush plantings. Gah! I see everything knocked over and torn to shreds thanks to the destructive little jerks that have terrorized my tank.

    Cat you’ve created a wonderful garden, thanks for sharing it Pam!

    • Cat says:

      Thank you, Loree! There are racoons around but maybe kept in check by larger predators in the area? There are also natural water sources nearby. Whatever the reason I’ve been allowed to have this pond, I’m thankful and fingers crossed, the racoons will continue to leave it alone. Cat

    • Pam/Digging says:

      I’m sorry to hear your tank is still being treated as Club Med by raccoons, Loree. So frustrating!

  13. Paula Stone says:

    A beautiful garden beautifully photographed.

    I’ve had the same experience with water for my birds. A small galvanized tub catches the air conditioner condensate by my backdoor. The goldfinches use that one exclusively. I’ve seen as many as 20 birds perched on the stock panel arch awaiting their turn for a drink.

  14. lcp says:

    HOW is she doing this? All that lush gorgeousness everywhere, after the summer we have had? Cat’s garden is Dorian Gray while my sad, dessicated sticks are his attic portrait; the only thing green down here is envious me! 🙁
    POSITIVELY BEAUTIFUL!

  15. Ginny says:

    Indeed a lush and splendid garden, especially considering the time of year. Thanks for sharing, both of you!

  16. Lisa at Greenbow says:

    It is a gorgeous garden. Thanks so much for sharing your visit with us.

  17. Cat says:

    Thank you for coming by, Pam. You’re always so much fun to walk with as you wander the garden. I enjoy discovering new views through the garden as you snap away! 🙂

  18. Heather says:

    I loved seeing Cat’s garden! It is so full of color and texture. Everything works together and is so soothing. I can hear the water through the pictures…and love her sculpture!

    • Pam/Digging says:

      I do too, and she’s set it off so well under the cedar tepee. Her garden is full of little discoveries like that.

  19. Maggie C says:

    What a gorgeous garden, and so much inspiration! I went through this post several times, and back through your last post on Cat’s garden, and enjoyed every minute. She’s done a beautiful job in our trying climate. Thank you both for sharing!

    • Pam/Digging says:

      It makes me happy to know you’ve gotten so much enjoyment out of the posts, Maggie! Cat’s created a beautiful sanctuary, and it’s my pleasure to be able to share it. Check out her Instagram too for artistic images from her garden.

  20. Kate S. says:

    “A little bronze mouse holds a single red gomphrena stem like an offering.”

    A very Cat Jones-esque tiny vignette. 🙂

    Pyramid bush: Natural Gardener has (or had – can’t remember if they moved it) in the back left area of the butterfly garden that is mostly now rosemary, mistflower, etc. I have been looking for it ever since 3 years ago when I saw more bees on it than I’ve ever seen on any plant in my life! Supposedly WFC occasionally has it listed for the native plant sale, but I’ve never actually seen it.

    Lovely tour and garden. Thank you!

    • Pam/Digging says:

      I heard today that Far South Wholesale Nursery is growing some, but that’s wholesale. I’d like to try one next spring, as I’m not sure how winter hardy it is here.

      And thanks – I’m glad you enjoyed the tour!

      • Kate S. says:

        Actually am standing in front of some at Barton Springs Nursery, to my surprise!

        • Pam/Digging says:

          You made Cat’s day with this piece of information, Kate. I passed it along to her, and she promptly got herself a couple more. 🙂