If you're looking to tour a totally "WOW" garden during the upcoming Inside Austin Garden Tour on October 17, 2015, look no further than this spectacular property overlooking Lake Austin.
At the front of the house, two pups and two lions stand guard. The pups remind me of my own sweet Aussies and the lions remind me of Patience and Fortitude, that stand guard over the NYC Public Library. During our sneak preview tour, Kirk, our host, told us that he and his wife like to dress their lions in seasonal costumes. That's a fun idea!
This home sits on a hill which creates opportunities for very functional and beautiful dry creeks for drainage.
The front of this property has plenty of plants to look at like this variegated lantana, but the million dollar view is in the back.
When you first come around the house into the back garden, the pops of bright color from plants like this salvia leucantha grab your attention right away.
While your oohing and aahing over the beautiful plants a magnificent view opens to a spectacular panorama.
The views of Lake Austin are enhanced, not blocked, by all the lush plantings. It's difficult to see, but if you look hard, you can see the property fencing which has been strategically placed to not obscure the views.
It takes a pretty awesome pool to compete with that scenery, but this pool is a master piece all on it's own.
Even though the owner has only been in residence since 2013, many of the planting look very mature.
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| Russian Sage |
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| Tecoma Stans Hybrid |
This plant surprised me. At first I thought it was some sort of blue berry, but Kirk said it was a Greek Myrtle shrub. As soon as he provided the ID, I recognized the foliage. I have this shrub, but mine has not bloomed yet. When it does, hopefully berries will follow.
As a special treat, Kirk led us to an upstairs studio where we were able to take in the view from the second floor. Gorgeous!
It's all good in Kirk's garden!
Stay tuned. There are two more garden previews to come.The Inside Austin Garden Tour is put on by the Travis County Master Gardeners. Don't miss it! Here's the info, so you can mark your calendar:Date: October 17, 2015
Time: 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Where: Check out the Map
Cost: $19 Online, $20 at the tour, Single tickets for individual gardens are $5There are seven gardens on the tour. Six of the gardens belong to individual homeowners and the 7th garden is the demonstration garden at the Travis County Agrilife Extension Office. As always, the demonstration garden can be visited free of charge.
On my Inside Austin Garden Tour sneak preview, garden number three belongs to fellow blogger and author Pam Penick. If you follow Pam's blog, Digging, you've seen photos of her garden, but now is your chance to see her garden in person!
Each garden on the tour will have knowledgeable master gardeners on site to answer your garden questions. I'll be one of the master gardeners strolling Pam's garden, so please stop by and say "hi". I'll introduce you to Moby, the whale's tongue agave that sits soaking up sun in the back garden.
Pam is a designer so her garden is well put together with a combination of great plants, cool art, and unique custom features.
This strappy, purple grass called vertigo pennisetum definitely falls under the category of great plants. This one is on my wish list for sure.
Pam's garden contains tough plants that work well in Austin like this grass called inland sea oats.
One of the things that I really like about Pam's garden is that she's always trying new stuff and has interesting varieties of some of my favorite plants. Instead of just the plain red turk's cap, Pam has pink.
Check out the gorgeous berries on this American beautyberry. The standard variety is a pretty purple, but this one has much more intense colored berries.
The purple plumbago I grow is a tough as nails summer staple in Austin, but if you already have that one, check out this white variety.
I have the orange mallow, but looky here. Desert mallow comes in yellow! Pam installed it next to her new blue wall to really make it pop.
If you like garden art, you'll find plenty in Pam's garden. This metal garden star is actually one of many embedded a path out front. I'm totally borrowing this idea!
I love how Pam works in little pieces of art here and there to accent her plantings. Pam says she loves spiky plants and I can vouch for the fact that dyckia are indeed spikey. The barbs on this plant will catch you coming and going, but I heart it too.
Bird accents are a perfect fit for any garden. So cute!
Pam's garden has an interesting mix of modern and cottage garden aesthestic. I like both styles, so I like to see how Pam makes all the elements blend together. In this photo, a modern succulent plant repeats the orange color of the shade loving hummingbird plant below.
Structurely, plants like this this Yucca rostrata 'Sapphire Showers' can be modern or more informal depending on how you use them. This one in Pam's garden sits comfortably, relaxed in a mostly woodland setting. Pam placed it in a sunny break in the trees. The results: it's like a plant prism making magic when the light hits it.
One of my favorite design elements in Pam's garden is a line of framed mirrors that hang on a long, brick wall. I love mirrors in the garden and this display is genius! Yet another idea that I want to borrow.
I hope to see you at Pam's garden on October 17th. You'll get lots of great ideas and maybe borrow a few ideas for yourself.
Stay tuned. There are 3 more garden previews to come.The Inside Austin Garden Tour is put on by the Travis County Master Gardeners. Don't miss it! Here's the info, so you can mark your calendar:Date: October 17, 2015
Time: 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Where: Check out the Map
Cost: $19 Online, $20 at the tour, Single tickets for individual gardens are $5There are seven gardens on the tour. Six of the gardens belong to individual homeowners and the 7th garden is the demonstration garden at the Travis County Agrilife Extension Office. As always, the demonstration garden can be visited free of charge.
The Inside Austin Garden Tour is coming up on October 17th. The theme for this year's tour is "For Gardeners, By Gardeners". On this tour you'll see primarily DIY gardens and get to meet the gardeners themselves. Most of the garden hosts like this garden belonging to Martha King will be happy to talk to you about the their garden. In addition, master gardeners will be on site to help answer your gardening questions.
All of the gardens will contain plant tags identifying plants throughout the garden.
Many of the gardens are designed with wildlife in mind. Martha has many water features to ensure that no bird or butterfly goes away thirsty.
Plants like this mature specimen Barbados cherry provide much needed food for wildlife. The fruits of the Barbados cherry are edible for people as well. They taste like lightly sweetened, moist cardboard, but it's good to know they are there if the need arises.
Martha's garden has a lot of fun art and vintage items. I love garden art as much as I love plants, so Martha's garden was right up my alley.
There were plenty of plants in Martha's garden. She has a huge double lot, so most of her garden is a mix of shade and sun that allows her to grow a variety of plants like the purple oxalis and the yellow flowered thyrallis pictured below.
There's a vegetable garden just past the garden gate below and don't miss the olive tree covered with tons of olives.
One of the many highlights of Martha's garden is her hell strip. She has the largest hell strip I've ever seen and it's full of colorful plants. Passersby must really appreciate all of her efforts.
Stay tuned. There are 4 more garden previews to come.The Inside Austin Garden Tour is put on by the Travis County Master Gardeners. Don't miss it! Here's the info, so you can mark your calendar:Date: October 17, 2015Time: 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.Where: Check out the MapCost: $19 Online, $20 at the tour, Single tickets for individual gardens are $5There are seven gardens on the tour. Six of the gardens belong to individual homeowners and the 7th garden is the demonstration garden at the Travis County Agrilife Extension Office. As always, the demonstration garden can be visited free of charge.
The Inside Austin Garden Tour is coming up on October 17th. I was invited to attend a sneak preview of the tour and I'd like to take you along for the ride. Let's start with a peak at garden number one.
We arrived at the Shady Natives garden hosted by Sue Nazar at 9 a.m. Many areas of the garden were still in deep shadow.
The tour started right at the curb with this gorgeous specimen of mullein (Verbascum thapsus). I love this plant! I've heard Native Americans used it as toilet paper. I bet it's soft velvety leaves, beat a dried oak leaf any day of the week.
The sun was filtering through the trees giving this shade loving root beer plant (Piper auritum) a little gentle light.
Many plants like this American beautyberry could be seen reaching for it's share of morning light.
This turk's cap didn't want to miss out either. Look how the entire plant seems to stretch for the morning rays.
Some plants like this datura are more inclined to party at night. Luckily, our tour was early enough to catch many of the blooms still wide open.
Sue has a lovely garden with a definite eye for color and contrast. Her adorable little shed pops right out of the shadows and cheerfully says, good morning.
The contrast between this ginger and the purple ball is definitely to my liking.
Brown and turquoise are excellent color companions. Every garden needs a gecko!
This deck feels just like a tree house and I loved Sue's collection of staghorn ferns hanging from the tree.
I bet this pigeonberry is a very popular with the wildllife. Look at all those berries!
Well, I think I'll finish up here. I don't want to give too much away. You should really see this garden in person!
Stay tuned more garden previews to come.
The Inside Austin Garden Tour is put on by the Travis County Master Gardeners. Don't miss it! Here's the info, so you can mark your calendar:
Date: October 17, 2015
Time: 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Where: Check out the Map
Cost: $19 Online, $20 at the tour, Single tickets for individual gardens are $5
There are seven gardens on the tour. Six of the gardens belong to individual homeowners and the 7th garden is the demonstration garden at the Travis County Agrilife Extension Office. As always, the demonstration garden can be visited free of charge.
