Gardens on Tour 2010: Highway 45 South garden
The final garden I visited last Saturday on Gardens on Tour 2010 is a large rural property tucked at the end of a long, gravel drive off Highway 45 South, not too far from the Wildflower Center.
Wildflower meadows surround the home and nearby guest house/retreat center. But closer to the house you’re greeted by numerous colorful container plantings and walled, courtyard-style gardens. Pictured above is the entry to the kitchen garden.
A tiered water feature occupies one corner of this intimate space, which also includes a small sitting area. The stonework matches that of the house.
Fountain detail
The container plantings were very nice all through this garden.
In fact, there were so many that I wondered aloud to my friends how the homeowner maintained them. They told me they’d heard a docent say that hired gardening help comes to the garden two or three times a week. If true, it would explain how so many containers, as well as the extensive gardens, could be kept looking so beautiful.
More containers on the back steps
Around back of the house, meadow and oak savannah vistas opened up, and I saw these thistles in bloom.
A charming one-horned goat planter. I’m not sure what’s blooming inside. Is it a daylily?
Daisies and pink evening primrose
Having traveled around the perimeter of the house, I came upon an island planting in the drive at the front of the house. Magnificent sotols, damianita, and Texas mountain laurel combine for a drought-tolerant, evergreen, stunning focal point.
A closer look at the sotols and damianita.
A tall wall with lovely gates encloses the front entry, creating an intimate courtyard garden.
Looking back from the front door
In one corner, a Mexican style fountain adds the music of splashing water to the garden. Sedum was in bloom amid the stone paving.
A vignette by the door.
A closer look at the blue container
Stone birds perched on the windowsill.
Heading over to the guest house area, I passed another wildflower meadow, abloom with Mexican blanket and coreopsis.
Coreopsis and Mexican feathergrass
I noticed this bee on a coreopsis flower.
The guest house (if that’s what this is) is quite large. I think this building and another across the patio may serve as a retreat center, as I saw public-style restrooms at the back of the building. The space between the two buildings is largely open, with this stunning steel planter as a focal point in the patio.
Gorgeous! I love it.
A trio of carved birds nestles amid the container plants.
This variegated succulent caught my eye. I wish I had a cutting of it.
A bench and fragrant star jasmine on a trellis invite visitors to stop and rest.
One of two tall cisterns that collect rainwater from the roof. I’d love to have one of these babies too.
A sun-edging-into-shade planting of catmint, inland sea oats, and heartleaf skullcap.
Several coyote fences (cedar branches wired together), including this shorter one, provided screening around the property.
Another lovely planter, this one with a kangeroo paw in bloom.
For a look back at the Forest Trail garden, click here. My thanks to all the homeowners for generously sharing their gardens with the public, and especially to the homeowner-gardeners and designers who made themselves available for questions. Bravo!
All material © 2006-2010 by Pam Penick for Digging. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited.
This is my favorite garden yet! Love the steel planter, the cistern, the nesting birds, and of course all of the plants, too. Lovely!
My favorite of your tour, I think…this garden and designer really got the plant / hardscape combos, not to mention created structured yet relaxing oases.
But I am biased given sotol, damianita, rock walls & pots!
I might add: without a great client, one cannot have a great garden, at least for long. So, thanks to the property owners on this tour who “have a clue” and embrace their property’s potential through quality design.
Good point, David. The owner of this house was surely that. And she is most definitely a gardener; we met her while she was pulling a few weeds! —Pam
That is a stunning, thoughtful garden! I love the containers, the sense of being in a Texas garden and those knockout foliage combos. Fabuloso!
Every photo is just gorgeous of this spectacular place. I have the Stonecrop Sedum in the fourth photo (my girls call it scrambled egg sedum) and I also have the variegated Sedum that you wish you had a cutting of…I’d be more than happy to send you some. It grows relatively fast, mine is just starting to bloom. email me at rusdarathotmaildotcom with sedum in the subject line…..
Thanks, Darla! I’ll email you. —Pam
Spectacular, stunning and gorgeous! All words that have been used bu others in your comments, but I just can’t think of any better ones at the moment, at least until my eyes are back to normal from those A-MAZING pictures! Way to go once again Pam. 🙂
Positively inspirational!
Very inspirational container plantings. Also love the stone/cerved birds. That kangaroo paw is lovely.
Wow, that garden should take daily work huh? Lots of wonderful pictures. Texas never looked sunnier, nor better.~~Dee
Lovely post, Pam. I couldn’t make the tour, so it’s great to be able to see some of the gardens through your eyes. Did you happen to see a brand name on that tall rain collection tank? It probably cost more than I can afford, but I’d like to learn more about it.
No, I did not see a brand name on the tank, Renee. —Pam
Bravo indeed! I WANT that planter…and the cistern too. Plus so many beautiful containers and plantings!
Holy cow – what a garden! I’d give ANYTHING to have toured it with you! And that container at the end is truly stunning. Those are some lucky, lucky homeowners! Thanks for the tour!
I think it is wonderful that the designers would let you take photos of their work. When we were in Charleston for a garden tour they said no pictures. I thought that odd. The designers were so worried that someone would steal a look I guess.
Sometimes that’s the case on Austin tours too, but this time all the gardens were open to pictures. —Pam
Pam, What a wonderful week of tours you’ve offered up to us! I am catching up on your posts and want to thank you for several excellent ideas and a uniquely American feast for the eyes! I love Austin gardens! Gail
I have to say this was my favorite garden. The sheer size of the property with wonderful meadows of wildflowers. I chatted with one landscaper about the cost of that planter. Over $1000 was my guess. Very Big Red Sun, I thought. All the stone work was first class. I met the mason just as I was leaving. It was his first time over there at 4:30 pm! He did a great job. All the stone set the stage for the wonderful planters. I asked the designer about the soil in the planters. When she said Vortex I was speechless! Julie at the WFC has the same opinion as myself.
I jump in with the rest of the crowd and say this was my favorite as well. I too love that steel planter, it looks like a giant flower basket with handles ready to be carried home. I am also fond of the stone birds.
So many interesting features. I love how the Stipa softens the edges of the stonework.
Incredible use of drought tolerant natives, water conservation and stone with gravel.
Very nice.
This is some spectacular eye candy. I can’t get enough of the crushed granite gravel look. Very imaginative use of the different gravel colors in and around that steel planter. Jenny mentioned Vortex soil in the planters. What is it?
Pam, maybe next year I’ll make it to Austin for this tour. You make a great vicarious tour guide, though!
I think the plant you were trying to identify might be an Alstroemeria rather than a daylily.
Thanks for the possible ID, Cindy. —Pam
You’ve got a great eye, Pam!
That huge cistern makes such a strong statement–a really neat, different kind of thing to have in the garden. I wonder about the sun shining on it tho’, and making a glare. I mean, I would guess it really shines. I like the pedestal it’s on too.
I like the rugged plantings around the Mexican-style corner fountain. Does the fountain have a top, or something? I can’t quite figure it out. It looks like it’s set into the wall, but I can see from the pedestal that it’s not.
I like shiny, silver things in my garden, hence my stock-tank obsession, so I don’t worry about glare too much. I think galvanized metal just works in a southwestern garden; it has a rugged, ranch feel that goes with our rugged landscape and spiky plants.
As for the fountain, it looked like a freestanding fountain just tucked into the corner. I imagine the tubing runs up the back or inside the pedestal and bubbles over the lip and down into the bowl. —Pam
Thank you for sharing the garden tour. I was stuck at the nursery and could not get away. I so wanted to go and thanks to your great pictures I don’t feel so deprived. Your pictures got my juices flowing. I am now inspried to design a native landscape for a client.
Great photos and great posting, Pam! You make me want to move back to Texas soon. Love that house, too.
Hi, Pam – Thanks so much for all you kind words about the Yates garden; I’m the designer. The plant in the goat planter was actually a leftover snapdragon from earlier this year – I didn’t have the heart to tear it out while it was still abloom.
Hi, Jennifer. Thanks for your comment. It’s such a beautiful garden. You and the homeowner have done an amazing job. I hope to see it again one day. —Pam