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Saturday, May 3rd, don’t miss the Inside Austin Gardens Tour 2014 for inspiration & ideas

As they do every year, the Travis County Master Gardeners, have put together a great garden tour — full of interesting and inspirational gardens for experienced and novice gardeners alike.

This year’s tour – next Saturday, May 3rd from 9-4 should be on your calendar.

I was invited to preview the gardens with fellow garden bloggers last week, so I have some inside scoop for you here. This is the first of two posts that will highlight the gardens.

The first garden was that of Dugie and David Graham, high on a hill in north Austin where they deal with a serious slope and hungry deer. Their garden was full of beautiful bones and hardscape that made the best of their landscape.

A beautiful pond cascades down the back hillside, providing a home for plants, wildlife and art.

Stone beds with dappled shade make a lovely home for native and xeric plants.

On a landing, this beautiful wooden table sits atop a creative stone floor.

Guarding the path down the hill, these columns with trellises provide beautiful and unique support for some stunning roses.

The second garden was Jerry Naiser’s, owner of Real Green Pest and Lawn Service, Naiser’s garden is controlled by a highly sophisticated 32-zone drip irrigation system. The system includes moisture sensors that enable him to provide just the right amount of water to each garden zone.

This focal point as you enter the garden from the side yard is this dramatic trio of fiery fountains.

With a very lush, tropical feel, the garden sports citrus trees, caladiums, cannas and grasses.

Vegetables and annuals fill beds and vertical spaces as well.

As you follow the bed around the back of the garden, this longhorn sculpture guards the entrance to the back patio area.

A secluded seating area in the back corner of the garden is a hideaway for relaxing in hanging chairs and a hammock.

The covered patio off of the back of the house was transformed into this trendy outdoor kitchen, complete with flat screen tv.

The next landscape was that of Robin Howard Moore. Her garden was a mix of traditional and eccelctic.

Alternately, tropical and cottage-style.

With a few interesting focal points.

Cobalt blue pots and a bottle brush tree added color and interest.

A step back revealed the towering trees covering her beds.

This charming combination against a wall evoked an old-world feel.

Tomorrow, the rest of the beautiful gardens you can see on next week’s tour.

By Diana C. Kirby|2017-11-29T23:27:07-06:00April 27th, 2014|Blog, cottage garden, fire feature, garden art, garden rooms, garden tour, garden tour 2014, Master Gardener tour, Sharing Nature's Garden, tour, tropical, water feature|0 Comments

Stunning San Francisco Fling garden tour of my dream garden…

The San Francisco Garden Bloggers Fling was an amazing adventure into a myriad of unique and beautiful gardens and micro climates. I expected the weather in San Francisco to be cool and comfortable. Not so. As is often the case when I’ve traveled to the annual garden flings, they were having an uncharacteristic heat wave. (The Texas bloggers have a theory that we bring the beat with us – a tradition we’d love to put an end to!)

San Francisco was tolerable, though as we ventured further out from the city, it was hotter (103 one day walking through the gardens) and drier. Of course the beauty of the micro climates is that it enabled us to tour a wonderful variety of gardens, all within driving distance.

On the last day, we visited the Ann Nichols Garden in Oakland. This was my favorite garden by far, filled with mysterious paths, babbling water features, unique artwork and an intricate garden of tropical plants and desert plants mixed with traditional plants. (I have a soft spot for tropicals and I garden in the scorching heat of the southwest in Austin, Texas.)

As you arrive, the garden rises from the street in a succulent-lovers hillside of hot with the tropical colors of agaves, yuccas, phormium and cannas.

Everyone ooohed and ahhhhed over this intricate spiral agave. It can’t take our arid heat, so I won’t be searching for one to plant in my garden.

I finally tore myself away from the hillside to follow a delicate, almost-hidden path up to the house. Lined with papyrus, aloes, ground cover and cannas, it led me to my ultimate destination — a stunning brugmansia, its bell-shaped blooms dripping over the path to envelop garden visitors in an apricot canopy.

Winding on the other side of the house is another path, filled with ground cover, succulents and grasses, that leads you up into the back garden.

Along the property line is a fence/trellis/jungle creation that hosts bromeliads, tillandsias ferns and other exotic

But unlike so many side gardens that are just an avenue for reaching another area, this was a mystical garden of its own. Flanked by layers upon layers of plants, the steps lead through a series of unique, artistic ponds that are part of a larger waterway system and all connected.

The water runs through channels from the upper lever water feature down to the other ponds.

Here’s a garden blogger capturing a photo in the garden…you’ll laugh at this one. I was trying to remember who this was and I remember that I was wearing a peach blouse that day, wondering who else did. Then I realize this is a mirror that was hanging on the fence and that’s ME in the picture! Working on a creative photo shot, I captured myself and then promptly forgot about it. In any case, the mirror, tucked behind a treasure trove of plants, was a delightful find for garden visitors.

Next to the gate at the top of the stone steps, a tile mural covers the wall as a backdrop for the pond. Notice the cat in the mural – you’ll see him again in more art in the back garden.

Now onto the back garden. There are 3 levels in the back garden. Through the gate and continuing up the stairs, you pass another water feature as you’re drawn to another gate.

But wait, that’s a door, or is it. No, it’s a gate… It’s a door to a building, painted to look like the gate, with our friend the cat perched on top and his friend waiting for him at the bottom. So clever and entertaining. (And there’s another brugmansia to the left…sigh…)

And then it’s off to the right and up another set of steps, flanked by glorious loropetalums in pots, and up onto the small patch of lawn. In this lush setting, the grass itself is a focal point.

It was also a perfect gathering spot for the garden bloggers to share their thoughts on this amazing garden. Ann Nichols even invited a few of us inside the house to view the back garden from upstairs, which is the perch from which I shot this photo.

Then it’s up the stairs once more, through this Dr. Seuss-like allee of weeping sequoia, tied together and leading you on to the last gate of the garden, a replica of the first gate and the painted gate.

There are several delightful seating areas in the upper garden, which is filled with fragrant roses, succulents and phormium.

And the look back down the hill, framed by the sequoias, to the back of the house and our friends enjoying refreshments and good company.

The back of the house is flanked by a lower-level patio area, filled with pots of suculents and a rock lined retaining wall filled with hot colors and wonderful textures.

You can see why I fell in love with this garden. I’m sure I could have spent the entire day there and still not seen everything it has to offer,

By Diana C. Kirby|2017-11-29T23:27:13-06:00September 1st, 2013|2013 fling, 2013 Garden Bloggers Fling, Agave, Blog, bromeliad, brugmansia, garden art, gate, loropetalum, mirror, paths, pathway, phormium, San Francisco fling, Sharing Nature's Garden, succulents, tropicals, water feature|2 Comments

Wildflower Center Gardens on Tour 2011 — A Hill Country Paradise

Armed with camera and my blogging buddies Pam of Digging and Robin of Getting Grounded, I ventured out Saturday to explore the gardens on the 2011 Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center Gardens on Tour.

Some as different as night and day, each garden offered a different perspective and radiated a unique feel to visitors who came to experience it.

This garden was off of Bee Cave Road and its owner, Tait Moring, is a landscape architect.

The property itself was stunning. 17 acres – mostly undeveloped, but on a Hill Country hillside with amazing views. Blooming just in time to put on a show for us, this Agave greeted us as we entered into this Texas-style paradise behind a very tall cedar fence.
You can see the scale of the fence and the entry as people come into the property.
There were several creative fences and gates leading into different areas of the garden – each with it’s own unique appeal.
Several large ceramic pots provided specimen plant focal points for the garden.

Rockwork throughout the landscape brought in a Hill Country rustic element. Behind the rock wall is a Pittosporum tree that fascinated us with its structural beauty.
Interesting artwork and statuary dotted the gardens with whimsy and focal points.
Just off the back deck, a tall cedar fence hides a great outdoor shower complete with local boulders to perch on as you cool of on a hot day.
Up the stairs you can see the back of the shower against the house.
The deck included a interesting array of xeric plants and attractive pots.

A collector, much of the rock work includes special items Tait has gathered over the years.
Wouldn’t you love to have a vegetable garden like this? These beautiful rock pottagers were new additions to the garden last winter.
Another lovely walkway combining native rock and rough cedar.
This simple little water feature was so beautiful and made a lovely little sound in the peace of the garden.

This was my favorite garden on the tour. I took dozens more photos, but can only post so many. It is a lovely hideaway that is a testament to an owner with an absolute love of gardening and an amazing talent.

By Diana C. Kirby|2017-11-29T23:27:24-06:00May 8th, 2011|arbor, Blog, cedar fence, fence, garden tour, Garden Tours 2011, pittosporum, pottager, Sharing Nature's Garden, shower, water feature|0 Comments

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