Ten Favorite Photos of 2012

The challenge from Les at A Tidewater Gardener is to pick my favorite photos of 2012.  Favorites are a little different than best because sometimes the story helps a photo quite a bit.  That doesn't make it easier to narrow them down though.

Here are my choices for 2012 with the stories behind them.

Chihuly Nights at The Dallas Arboretum in May.  Since I had never been to the arboretum I studied the exhibit map in advance and guessed that the ponds might be the best place to watch the sunset.  A rare calm evening meant mirror-like reflections on the water.

Blogging Memories of 2012

At the beginning of 2012 this blog was just three months old and I mused about the future of my garden and where blogging would take me.  Now I have an entire year to review with 155 posts to choose from and it's time to look back on 2012 and share a few of my favorites.

My first garden blogger meet-up in Austin was fun as I met four fellow bloggers in early November and toured six great gardens on the Garden Conservancy's Open Days tour.  Pam Penick of  Digging corralled us for a group photo to mark the occasion. Our group included (L-R) Jean of Dig, Grow, Compost, me, Diana of Sharing Nature's Garden, Pam Penick of  Digging, and Catherine of The Whimsical Gardener.  I had so much fun meeting them for the first time and spending the day touring six special gardens in Austin.

Open Days Garden Tour Austin: Jeff Pavlat and Ray Clayton Garden

The final garden on the Garden Conservancy Open Days Tour is the garden of Jeff Pavlat and Ray Clayton. A very special finale it was.  Jeff is an avid collector of cactus and succulents and currently Vice President - Education for the Austin Cactus and Succulent Society where he has also served as president.

The impressive garden terraces designed and built by Jeff and Ray are the first feature to greet visitors, and lead down the hillside from the street to the house.

Open Days Garden Tour Austin: Mt. Bonnell Garden

After leaving the Ten Eyck-Deaver garden and a quick stop for lunch we headed up Mt. Bonnell to see the next garden.  The Mt. Bonnell Garden is a new professional installation designed by Curt Arnette of Sitio Design.  The large corner lot presented challenges and opportunities which were met with a great design and plants well suited to our climate.

Open Days Garden Tour: The Lake|Flato House

The Garden Conservancy's Open Days Tour in Austin showcased a diverse group of gardens.  Today's featured garden is an example of that range.  In fact, this stop on the tour wasn't as much about the gardens as it was about the house and the art in the garden.

Of the six gardens on the tour this was the one I most wanted to see.  I've been a huge fan of architects David Lake and Ted Flato's work since the moment I saw one of their homes on the cover of Metropolitan Home magazine more than 20 years ago.  The architecture was clearly Post Modern, yet I knew at a glance, without reading the article, that this house was in Texas.  Vernacular architecture at its best.  Lake|Flato is based in San Antonio so I have seen several of their local commercial projects, but have never visited one of their residences.  This house is listed on their site as the Lake Austin House.

This stop on the tour, listed in the brochure as "Austin Private Garden" was more about the site and art on display than garden design and plants.  We had access to a list which provided the names of the artists, but not the names of the pieces or the materials used.

Through the front gate set into a limestone wall along the road, very little is visible from the road.

Open Days Austin Garden Tour: Christine Ten Eyck and Gary Deaver Garden

The Christine Ten Eyck and Gary Deaver Garden was the third garden visited on The Garden Conservancy's Open Days tour in Austin and a convenient short walk from the previous garden.

Christy Ten Eyck is an award-winning landscape architect with offices in Austin and Phoenix.  This was a much-anticipated opportunity to tour her personal garden in Austin.  For more on the background of this garden check out Pam Penick's two posts on this same garden at her blog Digging.

Large agaves with native flowers are living sculptures along the street.

Open Days Garden Tour Austin: Yvonne Tocquigny and Tom Fornoff Garden

This past weekend I joined a group of garden bloggers in Austin for the Garden Conservancy's Open Days garden tour.  Our group included Pam of Digging, Jean of Dig, Grow, Compost, Diana of Sharing Nature's Garden, and Catherine of The Whimsical Gardener.  We had a great time touring six beautiful gardens around Austin.

The second garden on our list was the Yvonne Tocquigny and Tom Fornoff garden.  What a contrast to the first garden!  This garden was designed for relaxation with extensive use of horizontal lines, pleasingly limited color palette, and repetition of plant selections throughout.

Open Days Garden Tour Austin: Jennifer and Fred Meyers Garden

The Garden Conservancy's Open Days tour is among the most anticipated since they try to feature the best gardens in the area.  The tour comes to our region every other year and 2012 is the year for garden tours in Texas including Houston, Dallas, and Austin.  Since there were no San Antonio gardens on tour and the Austin tour looked quite promising, I headed to Austin this past Saturday to join a group of garden bloggers, including Pam of Digging, who generously offered to drive.  Our group included Jean of Dig, Grow, Compost, Diana of Sharing Nature's Garden, and Catherine of The Whimsical Gardener.  I had so much fun meeting them for the first time and spending the day touring six special gardens in Austin.

We began our tour in central Austin at the Jennifer and Fred Myers garden along the banks of Shoal Creek.  This garden had me at the curb.  Visitors and passers-by are greeted with this inviting view of the garden through these old wood church windows. 

Like most gardens, this one is a work in progress and the owners show it that way for the tour.  I found this to be a refreshing approach.  You can see bricks from the unfinished wall project through the windows here.

Watersaver Landscape Tour: Wildscape in Alamo Heights

Last Saturday I attended the Watersaver Landscape Tour sponsored by SAWS, our local water system.  Six San Antonio gardens were on the tour, including five residences and one community garden.

My favorite on the tour was the native plant garden in the Alamo Heights neighborhood northeast of downtown.  The house is located on a downslope away from the street which can provide unique challenges for gardeners. This homeowner created a very natural feel to the gardens along the street and driveway with a wide variety of plantings.  A garage was removed at street level and a circle drive added to allow plenty of room for plants at the top of the hill.