Oh Deer! Finally Here!

With my friend Melody driving I was on the edge of my seat peering through the windshield for the familiar sight of a garden I know only from photos.  It was finally time after seven years of following Digging and four years of blogging:  I get to see Pam's garden!  We're previewing gardens for the upcoming Inside Austin Gardens Tour and, while seeing all the gardens was incentive enough to make the 70 mile drive, seeing Pam Penick's garden for the first time was a special highlight of the day.  Her garden theme for the tour is "Oh! Deer!" which those of us who contend with urban deer can appreciate.

There it is looking great with sedge filling in at the feet of the bright new insect hotel.

I liked her photos of  Wooly Stemodia draping over the limestone block wall and it looks even better in person.



Bright blues accent silver and green.

Around the side of the house we got a look at the recently installed plexi-mirror panels dressing up the brick wall.

Pam is all about ease and water-saving gardening so Inland Sea Oats, with seedheads turning tawny for fall, combine both of those criteria beautifully.

On through the gate to the back garden

The long view shows how all the elements align across the back garden which was a little different than I had pictured even with all the photos I've seen.

  

There's Moby!

He's a big boy now that he's 10.  I'm glad I left plenty of room around mine.

Of course I had to get that super cool Austin sign in here.....

...and the new blue wall decked out with a chartreuse planter.

Both together looks good too.

Bloggers getting the scoop from Pam (far left).

The concrete block succulent wall anchors the patio right next to Moby.

A nice way to mark the edge of a planter.  On the top tier I see the little concrete diamond Pam picked up on a recent trip to Los Angeles.

Plenty of places for family and friends to hang out.  The famous cattle tank pond in the background.

Definitely a circle theme going.

Back out front I admired this Pennisetum 'Vertigo', I've seen this plant in nurseries but haven't tried it.  I like the way it adds an accent to the front bed along with Mexican Oregano.

And what did I think of my first visit?

Pam's garden was the third we visited on our preview tour and the best news is you can see it too on October 17th during the Inside Austin Gardens Tour.  You can find all the tour details here.  It's a short drive from San Antonio to Austin so if you're looking for good ideas for your garden this fall it's well worth a day in Austin to enjoy the tour.  You can see my preview of Shady Natives and Cottage Natives in this post and I'll be posting on three more gardens soon.

To see more previews visit:

Rock Rose
Sharing Nature's Garden
Garden Ally
The Shovel Ready Garden
The Gardener of Good and Evil

Check out Central Texas Gardener for more on the tour.