Inside Austin Garden Tour: The Garden of Lori Daul

The Inside Austin Garden Tour is held each year by the Travis County Master Gardeners.  The chance to see Lori Daul's garden was a big draw for me to make the trip to Austin for this year's tour.

I've seen Lori's garden on her blog "The Gardener of Good and Evil" and Pam Penick featured it on "Digging" last spring.  Lori's garden was also recently featured on the local gardening program "Central Texas Gardener" so I knew we were in for a special treat when my friends Melody and Jeannette joined me on this adventure in garden touring.

San Antonio Watersaver Landscape Tour: Garden on Sun Oak

Each October the San Antonio Watersaver Landscape Tour showcases yards which have reduced the footprint of water-guzzling turf grass.  Some gardens stand out more than others, usually reflecting the distinct personality of the gardener.  I'll feature one garden which is definitely full of personality.

This colorful, cheerful garden  is on a corner lot and these steps ascend from the side street.  The gardens were listed by address and this one is aptly named by its Sun Oak location.  Plenty of sunny perennials lead the way up to the live oak shaded front yard.  The mostly blue and yellow garden matches the house trim colors.

The Antique Rose Emporium: One Last Time

An invitation in the form of a newsletter from The Antique Rose Emporium was upbeat and offered one last chance to walk through their San Antonio gardens and share a refreshment before they closed down this location.

I was still a bit unsure if I wanted to return.  My last visit had been just before the closing of the gardens was announced.  Going back now meant knowing it was my last visit.  How did I want to remember these gardens?

When Sunday arrived, I decided not to miss this opportunity and It turned out to be a good decision.  Mike Shoup, founder, owner and legendary rose rustler of The Antique Rose Emporium, was there to greet us and offer homemade tamales and sweets.

Even though I have attended his seminars over the years, I'd never had the chance to speak with Mike directly.  There I am in the blue shirt and hat with the surprised look.  We're not talking plant business.  It turns out we grew up in the same area of Houston and attended nearby rival high schools at the same time. 

Time to tour the gardens for one last look

Mike and Robbie, the manager of this location, walking in the courtyard.  I will always marvel at his vision in creating this beautiful garden.

One more look at the stunning yucca in the blue adobe courtyard.

A view of the many native plants between the adobe courtyards and Hacienda.  I don't think I've shown this view before.

The resident cats are now in adoptive homes and report that their new people have adjusted well. 

A long view of the sales area with the bottle tree and gift shop in the background.

The windmill and hacienda

The windmill, cactus, greenhouse from the other direction

The A. ovatifolia bloom I wrote about this spring was dropping dried petals but had not yet formed bulbils.  The lower leaves are beginning to die out.

After a tour of the gardens, I decided to pick up the plants I kept planning on adding "next time".  Now or never I decided and finally bought that native Texas Sotol (Sotol Texanum) I'd been looking at.  A dwarf pomegranate, dicliptera/wooly justicia, red rocket russelia, clerodendrum ugandense, weeping muhly, and salvia argentea are also added to my cart there in front of the check out.

Clyda, a member of the staff working the register, was glad we stopped by one more time.  She thought the Agave americana bloom by the adobe courtyard might just fall over from sadness on Sunday.  It is very tilted but was still there when we left.

The remaining inventory will be moved to the Brenham nursery, which will remain open, and this property will be sold.

Mike put it simply, "it's time".

Thank you Mike for sharing this beautiful and inspiring place with us.  We'll visit you in Brenham.

Swan Song at The Antique Rose Emporium

These two agaves somehow knew this was the last chance to show their stuff.

 

A few weeks ago I wrote about the blooming of this Agave Ovatifolia I had often admired at The Antique Rose Emporium here in San Antonio. 

On Friday 15 June, I returned as promised to follow up on the Agave Ovatifolia bloom and check out the enormous Agave Americana bloom going up just behind the adobe courtyard.  In response to questions from readers my plan was to follow these two agave plants as they reproduced and then died off.

 

That's not likely to happen now since the next day news arrived in the form of an email from The Antique Rose Emporium.   They will close the San Antonio location in July due to downsizing.   The store in Independence near Brenham will remain open along with the mail order business.

Here's another view of the Agave Americana, the base plant is over nine feet high and the bloom appears to be 30 feet high.

I will miss these gardens and the staff whom I have gotten to know over the years.

I'll also miss the resident cats, especially Spot (on the left) who has followed me around on many a visit.

About the time I turned my attention to the landscaping at our home here in San Antonio in 2009, I also discovered The Antique Rose Emporium nursery and demonstration gardens.  On that first trip to visit these gardens I knew I had found my inspiration.
 

Walking through the large center courtyard planted with drought tolerant natives and adapted perennials was an eye opening experience.  This beautiful display is San Antonio gardening at its best.

Standing there that day, I immediately realized that my expectations about what could be achieved in my own gardens needed to be revised upward.

Just a few of my favorite ideas in practice here

Native wildflowers are beautiful in the garden

Cactus, succulents and roses are a great combination for a Texas garden

 

Bottle trees are cool

 
Yard art too

Go Texan and go big

I never wanted a rose garden and, actually, I still don't.  At The Antique Rose Emporium there are no formal rose gardens.  The roses are combined with perennials, cactus, annuals, and succulents to spectacular effect.



I often marveled at the vision that went into creating these garden spaces.  There are so many special spots here.  The adobe courtyard is a place I could spend all day.

Except when I'm enjoying the blue adobe courtyard

I surely will miss this place

 
A look back at my previous posts on The Antique Rose Emporium

Fall 2011 Festival of Roses
                Happy Halloween

Spring 2012  Springtime Roses
                      More Than Roses
                     Agave Ovatifolia Blooms

Medina Lake, Native Plants, and One Big Agave

A visit to the Hill Country and Medina Lake just west of San Antonio wouldn't be complete without a look at the lake and native plants along the way.  One of my favorite things on a trip like this is to observe native plants in their habitat.  You've already seen the huge Texas Madrone tree and the thrift shops we visited.  To finish off the series, we'll visit the lake and plants we saw there.

Like many lakes in this part of Texas, Medina Lake is very low.  "Normal" level would cover this exposed white limestone almost to where I am standing.  Even the good winter rains have barely made the lake usable for recreation.  On this Friday there were a few water skiers and fishing boats on the lake.

The lake is a beautiful blue, almost turquoise with the exposed white limestone in sharp contrast.

These native Texas sotols were seen growing all along the road on the way up to the lake, I took these photos near the state park.

Several Dahlberg Daisy plants growing nearby

Verbena, opuntia, and ashe juniper just to the right of the sotols.

This might be Blackfoot Daisy, slightly different than the ones in my yard.

A huge swath of Prairie Verbena on the side of road headed down to the lake was beautiful.

This 9 ft tall Agave americana was next to a real estate office in Lakehills.

I've seen a lot of large agaves, but none this big that I remember. Most of them bloom before reaching this size.

It wasn't the only large agave around, these were just up the road and easily 6 ft tall.  More typical in size since there are a few this tall in my neighborhood, but I liked this because there were so many together.

It was fun to see the Hill Country and our native plants doing so well after such a tough two years.