pool

Contemporary landscape creates comfort at Garden Bloggers Fling garden

Combining contemporary style with cool comfort, landscape designer, B. Jane, opened her garden up to the Garden Bloggers Fling held in Austin last summer.  Her straightforward lines and thoughtful plantings evoke a sense of calm and simplicity.

She uses a stone wall and steps to define the entrance.

Entertaining space is punctuated by brightly colored blooms and neon children’s balls floating in the pool.

Brisket, the official greeter, welcomed us to his backyard.  He didn’t seem to mind having company and sharing his oasis with us.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

When Pam and I scouted the garden in 2017 as we developed our itinerary for the Fling, we had the pleasure of meeting Brisket’s siblings as well.  Brisket clearly knows how to cool off on a hot summer day.

B. Jane designed a variety of seating vignettes throughout the garden.

Foregoing the formal seating options, a group of bloggers enjoyed the shady view from this wall running along one side of the garden.

With cooling concrete walls and a canopy of shade. this was a perfect spot for bloggers to take a rest and enjoy the garden view.

Chanticleer’s Ruin Garden filled with magic and mystery…

I expected that Chanticleer would be the highlight of the recent garden trip I took with Pam Penick of Digging. I’d heard of the amazing gardens and had done a little research, but I was in awe as each and every element of the garden unfolded before me. On its website, Chanticleer claims to have been called “the most romantic, imaginative and exciting public garden in America.” They aren’t kidding. It towers above all the other public gardens that I’ve visited — not having missed a fling in 8 years — I’ve toured a few!

The Chanticleer estate was originally built in the early 20th Century by Adolph and Christine Rosengarten as a country retreat. It later became their permanent home and they bought additional neighboring land to give homes to their two children as wedding presents. One of those homes now serves as the entrance and offices and the other is the site of the estate’s Ruin Garden. In 1990, Adolph, Jr. left the entire property as a public garden and museum under the guidance of The Chanticleer Foundation. Today, the garden employs 20 full-time staff, among them 14 gardeners and groundskeepers.

That said, I’ll bring you through what I thought was the most innovative part of the garden — the Ruin Garden — for my first Chanticleer post.

Chanticleer’s Ruin Garden was built on the site of the original Minder house, which was given to Adolph Rosengarten, Jr. as a wedding gift. Composed of three ‘rooms’ – the Great Hall, the Library and the Pool Room, it evokes an air of crumbling history with a macabre undercurrent. The ruin isn’t really a ruin at all, but cleverly created hardscape backdrops into which succulents and shade plants are creatively tucked. Perched on top of a hill, it’s barely visible until you come right up on it.

The Library is scattered with displays of slate books.

Stone acorns appear to be entombed in the pages of an open stone book.

Dominated by a 24-foot reflecting pool shaped like a sarcophagus, the Great Hall is mesmerizing.

Every element in the room is reflected in the vast, dark pool.

Succulents fill the mantle and provide little pops of color in the water’s mirrored image.

The stillness of the water is enticing. I didn’t trail my fingers in the fountain, but enjoyed watching these two little girls prepare to test the waters.

The giant black water feature rests on a stone mosaic carpet.

Through the next stone doorway lies the ‘Pool Room.’

Here, polished marble faces rise up from the black depths to make themselves known to visitors. Their garish, mottled faces are disturbing, to say the least.

Beaten down by the water sheers, the faces are trapped forever in the pool.

I’m not sure if the girls were intrigued or frightened, but they did approach with some caution. The prospect of touching the cool water on a hot day won out over trepidation.

Next to the pool, a column lined with succulents seems sweet by comparison.

Delicate coral-colored succulents stand out along the post against the green and gray rooms of the Ruin Garden.

Stone acorns seem to be sprouting in a bed inside the Ruin Garden.

The plants and vines intricately woven throughout the walls of the Ruin Garden appear to have been there for centuries, however, this garden was created and opened to the public in 2000.

As we left the garden, a stone face peeked out from a bed of sedge, appearing to watch us leave.

Inside Austin Gardens Tour – Breathtaking garden with Lake Austin backdrop

Last week I got a preview of the wonderful gardens that will be on the popular  Master Gardeners Inside Austin Gardens Tour 2015 on Saturday, October 17.  The tour provides a rare look inside six private gardens and a public experimental garden. With the theme of For Gardeners, By Gardenersthe tour showcases 7 gardens with distinctly different garden styles.  Tickets for all 7 gardens are $19 in advance or $20 at any garden location on the day of the tour. Single garden tickets for $5 can also be purchased at each garden.  Purchase advance tickets here.

Sunbathing Natives1012 N Weston Lane 78733

The relationship between stone and plants creates an intricately woven tapestry as you enter this garden.  Beautiful yet unassuming in its simplicity, this garden entry and driveway area is lined with deer resistant, drought tolerant and heat-loving natives.  And they are all doing much more than holding their own.

This imposing lion stands guard at the front of the house.

And behind the glass these two imposing figures make up the secondary security team!

Step through a shade-lined rock path and the rest of the garden comes at you with an intensity that is palpable.  First, there is color.  A lot of color.  And plants.  Bright,  hot, tropical colors and plants.

And then there is this.


And suddenly, your eye isn’t quite sure what to look at.  The explosion of plant colors, the water right here, the water wayyyyyy down there…there is just so much to see.

The hot tub was crafted to replicate the water feature just inside the entrance to the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center.

We had a special treat and were invited in to see the view from the owner’s wife’s painting studio upstairs.  I’m not sure I could ever take my eyes off of that view!

Not only was this a beautiful garden set on an amazing piece of property, but the garden design was wonderful, enhancing the space and adding to the wow factor with the composition of plants and stone.  You don’t want to miss this one!  Get your tickets now and get there early for some great photographs.

A little garden trip down the road…

Last week I went on a jaunt to visit some of our blogging friends in San Antonio. They’ve come to Austin periodically, so it was time to venture south to see them. Our first stop was Melody’s beautiful and spacious garden. After a treat of delicious mini muffins and ginger cookies baked by her lovely daughter, we stepped into her sanctuary. The first view is a wonderful pool, surrounded by pots and plants that gave it a rustic, more natural look.

To deal with foraging deer, this fence guards Melody’s vegetables, herbs and some perennial favorites.

Garden art like this gazing ball catches your eye as you meander through the perennial garden.

Depending on which way you walk, this beautiful arbor marks the beginning or the end of a delightful path.

A shroud of vibrant green vines clothe the wooden structure.

This long view emphasizes the beautiful, though tough-to-photograph day with its bright light and deep shadows.

And then there were the gorgeous plants, like this salvia madrensis, one of my faves.

And then there were the gorgeous plants, like this salvia madrensis, one of my faves.  Clever uses of ordinary things added such a nice touch, like this cracked cement birdbath repurposed as a planter with a small figurine in the center.

Carrying on with the wooden theme, this vignette beckons deep in the path and offers a place to sit and ponder the garden.

Pots like this one, overflowing with bougainvillea, are scattered throughout the garden landscape.

Another striking salvia, Wendy’s wish stands out among lower layers of perennials.

From the distance, the arbor is quaint, but standing underneath, it’s quite grand.

I almost passed this dragonfly by as he was well camouflaged by backdrop of the fence and the surrounding plants.

Another long view across the landscape.

Across the yard, this rustic trellis serves as a home to a vine and a birdhouse.

Coral vine adorns this rustic limestone wall to the tool shed…though it’s really more like a tool house.

Inside the safety of the high fence, a collection of tasty hibiscus grow with impunity.

Sunlight streams in to light up this seating area.

More friendly and welcoming plants in the garden.

My tools don’t look like this!

While not a blogger, we tried to convince Melody to blog so we can keep up with her garden, but we didn’t succeed – yet!   Pam Pennick, of Digging, and our hostess, Melody, as we’re saying our goodbyes.

Thanks to Melody for graciously opening her home and garden to us for a wonderful morning.

Old-world patina of New Orleans style captured in inviting Houston tour garden…

Last weekend,  my friend and fellow blogger, Pam Penick, traveled to Houston for the Garden Conservancy’s Open Day’s Tour.   This was probably my favorite house on the tour.

Located in the posh River Oaks, the New Orleans-style theme of the home was carried throughout the multi-layered gardens surrounding it.  The old brick, wrought iron and garden charm of plants typically found in old gardens really appealed to me.

 Not only was the wisteria cascading down the front balcony beautiful, its heady scent helped to set the mood for the tour visitors.

This garden incorporated many different garden elements of style.  There were several areas with cottage-style layering like this front bed.

Houston gets much more rain than we do here in Austin.  While tour volunteers told us that they’d had temperatures down to 20* this winter, the gardens sure didn’t show it.  Most of them were filled with stunning azaleas, one of the hallmarks of the tour, but we also saw gorgeous delphiniums in many of the gardens.  Tall and majestic, and blue — they stood tall and proud — like exclamation points.

As ubiquitous as the azaleas, the sweet smell of citrus greeted us in almost every garden.  Lush with blooms or fruit, they made me long for a more tropical climate — and an orange or a lime or a kumquat!

An amazing pool was the centerpiece of the back yard.  With its palms, negative edge and geometric shape, it provided a different aesthetic in this part of the garden.

Several interesting statues and works of art were nestled around the grounds, like this camel carrying an obelisk.

This rhino was tucked into a far corner of the garden, down a long, winding path.  He seemed oddly out of place to me, but perhaps he represents something special to the owners.  That’s one of the joys of gardening – creating a space that reflects your personality and style, but also creating a space that is intentional and has meaning.  So, I decided to embrace the rhino.

And then across the grounds, another area with that French quarter feel – the foliage covered brick wall and the dark iron fountain as a focal point from afar.

There weren’t as many people on the tour when we started – we’re always tour-eager early birds.  These two volunteers had finished their work at another tour site and sat down to chat when they arrived to see this garden.  It certainly was the kind of peaceful garden that invited you to sit and admire it.

On the side lawn, another vine-laden fence — this one serving as the backdrop for a piece of sculpture.  The garden was so inviting, even the sculpture felt welcome to lounge on the grass.

 Another view of the fountain – beautifully crafted space with layers of color, texture and contrast.

This is the view from the sculpture side of the garden across the pool – looking into an enclosed pavillion-like space for entertaining.

The garden was also filled with several lush, plant-lined paths, leading mysteriously to another garden nook.

 Behind the wall and fountain is another treat — a more elaborately-designed space.

This aged king of the jungle was guarding the area – his mossy patina as inviting and interesting as the walls he was protecting.

 A closer look at the fountain on the other side and its little orange occupants, who all seemed to be very happy with their home in this beautiful garden.

Back through another secret pathway, lined again with a mix of plants — including this striking and sculptural agave.  It seemed to lure visitors in, while at the same time warning them not to get too close.

 This bucking horse seemed to be ready to romp around the garden.

 I love the look for old New Orleans gardens, with their old, mossy brick courtyards, fountains and wrought iron.  Although this estate was huge, it was designed with inviting spaces and elements that gave it a more personal and intimate feel.

Timberrrrrrrr…

This photo was taken before we bought this house. See those two short palms on the left side of the cabana — they are just over half as tall as those posts. In August, that will have been 7 years ago. There were also two other palms on the other side of the pool – all 4 of them almost the same size when we moved in.

This was shot about 2 years ago – they have crested the cabana roof on the right of the photo.

And this is from Tuesday evening. They tower above the roof. They are too tall for my husband to prune any more, and they are completely out of scale with the rest of the landscape and property. Personally, I would not have planted trees that grow that tall. But, I didn’t plant them, and while I did enjoy them for the last 7 years, I decided it was time for them to go.
And so they did!

I was shocked at how easily they came down. It took two men just one hour to fell all 4 of those huge palms. First they roped them, using a plastic-coated wire rope with what looked like a giant fishing sinker on the end. After lassoing the tree, one guy pulled and one guy sawed.

Then, “Timeberrrrrr…”


They cut up the biggest pieces and left me with dead palm parts all over my yard.

The next day, a different crew of 2 guys who work for my landscape design installation foreman came to cut up more, load those massive pieces into a trailer and to cut the stumps down flush with the ground.
I never anticipated how bare it would look without the palms. Because they towered so high, I didn’t think of them as being that prominent. But they were!
The roots fascinated me. They were huge. The biggest base diameter was about 2.5 feet across.
Today they came back with the chainsaws and picks and shovels and cut and dug and whacked away at those fibrous and very short roots on the outside edges of the trunk. It really is amazing that those tall trees stand with such a small shallow root. And we have lots of strong winds up here on this hill.
They left some big holes, some pieces of wall that need remortaring and 1 broken pipe.
Not bad, when the original plan included a bobcat destroying the walls, my grass and sprinklers in multiple places. Didn’t need the bobcat, and the roots were much easier than any of us anticipated.

(Easy for me to say, right, since I wasn’t the one out there sweating like crazy doing about the hardest work I can imagine for several days.)

After the wall is fixed and the sprinkler repaired by the end of next week, one new Pindo palm will grace the back left corner of the pool bed. The oak tree shaded one of the previous palms and as a result, it never grew evenly with its mate. (Drove me crazy) So I won’t be planting two sister palms, just one further in the corner and then something different will go on the other end to anchor that bed.

I’m not sure what I will do behind the cabana — the pindos are too wide with their arching fronds and would be in the way of the shades between those posts.

So, now I have one hole, and one completely empty new bed! Those two cabana palms took up most of that bed and I let a Datura take over the rest, never bothering to put anything else in there.

But now…

By |2016-04-14T02:42:32-05:00April 29th, 2010|Blog, palms, pindo palm, pool, Sharing Nature's Garden, trees|0 Comments
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