Wildflower-palooza at Ruthie Burrus Garden, part 1
I first photographed Ruthie Burrus’s garden 8 years ago, when she emailed an invitation to come visit. I was wowed by her wildflower meadow, textural foliage garden at the front door, giant rainwater cisterns, charmingly rustic garden haus, and skyline view. Here’s her garden haus in spring 2018. And I photographed the whole garden again in fall 2019, a lusher, more mature garden. Last week Ruthie made me drop everything by emailing to say that the wildflowers were in full bloom — come see. My favorite words.
Driveway wildflower meadow
Ruthie wasn’t at home when I arrived but had left the driveway gate open for me. Her house sits at the end of a quiet cul-de-sac in West Austin and has almost a secret garden feel. The driveway curves steeply uphill, and passersby might not even notice all the color unless they looked up.
Along the slope, Ruthie layers native trees like Texas mountain laurel with dry-loving yuccas and agaves, underplanted with masses of flowering perennials and seed-sown wildflowers. A beaked yucca (Yucca rostrata) near the gate is sending up a flower spike. Salvia flowers in front.
This may be ‘Mystic Spires’ salvia. A whale’s tongue agave offers contrast with its muscular, toothy leaves. And it’ll still be there, looking good, when the spring flowers go to seed.
Ruthie grows native and adapted wildflowers, so there’s Englemann’s daisy and pink evening primrose cavorting with red corn poppies. Yuccas and hesperaloes add spiky foliage and evergreen structure and blooms of their own.
Standing winecup (Callirhoe digitata) may be my new favorite Texas wildflower. I’ve always loved the sprawling winecup (Callirhoe involucrata). But standing winecup holds its delicate magenta cups aloft on upright stems, more like a poppy. It’s beautiful mingling with other wildflowers or as a solitary specimen or even in a pot.
Standing winecup with red poppies and Englemann’s daisy
Ah, those vivid red corn poppies! (Has anyone been to the Red Poppy Festival in Georgetown, Texas? I’ve never been. Am I missing out?)
Rock Rose Jenny, who is from England, calls them Flanders poppies.
Softleaf yucca with Englemann’s daisy, pink evening primrose, and a few bluebonnets — natives all.
The last sighting of Texas bluebonnets this year, probably. Those early wildflowers have mostly gone to seed.
Gorgeousness along the driveway with red poppies, standing winecup, larkspur, and hesperaloes
Standing winecup
Softleaf yucca in flower amid pink evening primrose and winecups
Purple larkspur popping up amid standing winecup, Englemann’s daisy, and pink evening primrose. That stone retaining wall is pretty too.
A dark little hummingbird flitted into view, stopping to sip from the salvias.
I’m not familiar with this thorny but attractive small tree with bright-green leaves. Ruthie tells me it’s a bluewood condalia, also called Brazilian bluewood (Condalia hookeri) even though it’s native to Central Texas. She has several along the driveway, and I believe she told me they seeded themselves there.
More confetti-like wildflowers with giant hesperaloe poking up on the right
A closer view
California poppies and pink evening primrose
Poppies, tall verbena, Englemann’s daisy, and spiderwort
Ah, larkspur — so lovely, especially with standing winecup
A closer look
Texas sotol — a gorgeous plant when backlit by the setting sun. The spherical, strappy form is good too, especially contrasting with delicate wildflowers.
A frilly red poppy
Bumblebee on a salvia
Red poppies and whale’s tongue agave
And red poppies with ‘Green Goblet’ agave
Entry garden
At last I tore myself from the wildflower parade along the driveway to approach the house. Here Ruthie has made a textural, mostly green garden under live oaks. It’s lush with masses of perennials dotted with bold-foliage plants like agave and palms.
I especially love this vignette of matte, blue whale’s tongue agave backed by shiny, leathery giant leopard plant (Farfugium japonicum ‘Gigantea’), with soft green leaves on either side. This is SO GOOD.
Agave and leopard plant have different watering needs, so you have to be careful about irrigation and make sure the agave has sharp drainage (or put it in a big elevated pot). But this is a surprisingly popular combo in Austin for bright shade, and no wonder.
Summer annual Blue Daze makes the perfect front-of-border plant, its sky-blue flowers playing off the whale’s tongue agave’s powder-blue leaves. While Blue Daze prefers full sun, it was blooming well even in part shade.
Chinese indigo (Indigofera decora), a suckering groundcover, is here too and just starting to bloom.
Giant leopard plant with Mediterranean fan palm and Jerusalem sage, flowering yellow at the bend in the path
On the right side of the walk, a trough-style fountain makes a serene and rustic focal point.
River fern and spiderwort, both shade lovers, soften the trough’s rough stone frame.
Spiderwort flowers open in the morning and close in the afternoon.
Fern frond
Irises add a little more rich purple.
On the front porch, shapely pots contain annual torenia.
Side yard view
Ruthie’s house sits atop a high hill — what many Austinites would call a mountain. It commands a view of Lake Austin from the side yard, beyond the neighbor’s yard. That neighbor really loves red Knock Out roses, and Ruthie has tied in with them by sowing red corn poppies along the fence.
The poppies look charming against Ruthie’s big metal cistern too. This cistern, one of three, can store 10,000 gallons of rainwater, which Ruthie uses to irrigate her garden.
Up next: Part 2 of Ruthie’s spectacular garden, with her stone garden haus, flower borders, welcoming patios, and a killer view of the Austin skyline.
__________________________
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.
Just wow!! So much beauty and serenity You’ve done an outstanding job capturing her garden.
Thank you, Cat!
I just love Ruthie’s garden! The looseness of the plantings with just the right balance of hardness & formality is fantastic. It’s always so cool to watch a garden evolve. I think the last time I was there, the neighbor out back was still building below them, so I’m really curious to see how the back view has changed.
The back neighbors are largely invisible, being down a steep slope. I’ll have pics of the back garden in my next post!
Ooohhhh…. I know, as a photographer, my endorphins would have been off the chart in that meadow! And the hummingbird too! How lovely. So glad I got to see Ruthie’s garden. I have a beautiful ‘hesperaloe with swallowtail’ image as a souvenir
I’m so glad we were able to have Ruthie’s garden on the Austin Fling tour in 2018! It’s such a great garden to visit, especially when the wildflowers are in bloom.
That is a fabulous garden and I adore the meadow.
Me too, Gail!
What a beautiful garden! I love the shade plants in the front of her home, and I would love to know what the green plants are on either side of the agave. I see a green leafy plant on the left, the leopard plant behind the agave, and another bright green plant on the right.
I’m going to hazard a guess from the pics and say Mexican honeysuckle on the right and Salvia guaranitica on the left. Perhaps Ruthie will see this and offer a correction if I misidentified. Those will be blooming soon.
I love the combination of the agaves and wildflowers. I wish I could get the same look but only trailing Lantana and self-seeded Gazanias, Osteospermums and pink primrose seem to accommodate the dry conditions surrounding mine. I’m still more envious of the gigantic cisterns, especially as our drought becomes worse, further tightening water restrictions.
You’re much drier in L.A., Kris, and in such a devastating drought. I feel for you. I agree about the cisterns — they are a huge asset to any gardener, and I don’t understand why Californians don’t have better access to them. They are quite popular here.
I will point out, for any newbie gardeners reading this, that Ruthie does irrigate her wildflower meadow. In rainy years she might not need to, in order to get such a beautiful display. But we’re in drought conditions right now, and wildflowers growing naturally have been sparse this year. Judicious irrigation makes a difference when it’s super dry, and if you can irrigate from a rainwater cistern, so much the better!
Wow, oh wow, that wildflower meadow is amazing!! I’m leaving this post open on my computer for inspiration: I aspire to create something similar in a portion of our yard, but it’ll take a lot of work. It looked like those were all wildflowers – no weeds! I am beyond impressed. Thanks for sharing, and I look forward to part 2!
I was beyond impressed too, Maggie. I’m glad you enjoyed the post!
Wow! I loved touring this lush and fanciful garden with you!
Isn’t it great? Thanks for coming on the virtual tour, Cynthia!
Absolutely gorgeous! So envious. Every time I attempt wildflowers, some critter(s) comes along and eats the seedlings that I spent so much daily water on to get to germinate and grow a bit, gggrrr. So I just gave up and instead look to other’s successful attempts for enjoyment and beauty 🙂 Thanks for the lovely pictures!
I’m glad you enjoyed them, Carolyn! So frustrating when the critters keep us from having the plants we want, though.
I well remember this Garden from the Austin Fling, though not with these outrageous wildflowers blooming! What a beautiful job Ruthie has done growing them. Thanks so much for the encore visit!
I’m glad you enjoyed it, Jane. As I recall, the Austin Fling was held about 3 weeks later than my visit to Ruthie’s garden last week, after the spring wildflowers would have peaked. Luckily Ruthie has plenty of interest aside from wildflowers, as will be shown in Part 2.
Of course when I saw the title of your post I remembered the name from the Fling, but couldn’t remember which garden is was. How wonderful to see an updated version exploding with color.
And all those beautiful agaves to boot!
I’m in love! Her garden is one of my favorites. I could have spent the whole day there when we visited during the Austin Fling. And the views from her roof top were amazing!
I still remember that 360 degree view from the rooftop too, Karin. So glad to know how much you enjoyed seeing Ruthie’s garden!
The bright colors in this garden makes it one of the most delightful I’ve ever seen. And your shot of the hummer in the midst of all that color is *chef’s kiss*!
Thank you, Robin. Ruthie’s garden is a delight to photograph.
Loved this garden at the fling, and so good to see it again. Incredible sense of timing to achieve this profusion. She really has it dialed in! I love the standing winecup too and tried it in CA a while back. And imho, the wildflowers show up the Knockout roses in every possible way — I’ll take delicate and ephemeral any day over that slash of magenta!
Ruthie DOES have it dialed in, Denise. And I’m with you re: the neighboring Knock Outs. They’re powerful bloomers, but with a view like that, I prefer a lighter touch.
The best wildflower garden ever! I just love the photos with the hummingbirds: what a stunning explosion of color. By contrast, the green-on-green garden has a calming effect. A superior design, this garden is outstanding.
It is, truly. Thanks for your comment, Chavli!
Those wildflowers! Everything!! Just the vicarious tour I needed!!
All the beauty to enjoy and none of the work! Hah!