The San Antonio Herb Society Garden Tour: The "Wildscape" that wasn't

We had a great time on the San Antonio Herb Society Garden Tour last Saturday.  It was a tour of real gardens done by homeowners throughout our city and they, along with knowledgeable vounteers, were on hand to answer questions.  Many provided handouts describing the theme of their gardens complete with plant lists.  To see the first five gardens on the tour start here.

Although I prefer to show my city at its best, I must also call them as I see them.  We toured six gardens but this final one was not worthy of being on this tour.  Sorry to say that this one garden was a complete waste of time.

Garden Tour San Antonio Style: Cactus Marty's Collection

This past weekend I attended the first annual San Antonio Herb Society Garden Tour along with my friend Ragna.  The tour showcased a wide range of neighborhoods and gardening styles with enthusiastic owners and volunteers ready to answer questions from visitors.  I'll share gardens from the tour throughout the week.  The first garden is a colorful cactus garden in northeast San Antonio. 

Marty Ruona is known as "Cactus Marty", so when we saw his garden would be on the tour, we could hardly wait to visit.  It was even better than anticipated because there's a lot more to his garden than cacti, succulents, and palms.

From the street the garden is beautifully designed and, despite the prickly plants, invites you in. 

Traffic cones in front of the house meant the full effect of the street view was not blocked by cars.  The manicured lawn is a lush counterpoint for the all his spiky plants.

The side yard is just as uniquely impressive

One of several carved opuntias on display

 The front walk

Colorful containers painted by Marty are featured throughout the garden.  These are along the driveway.

 

  The front yard from the side manicured lawn with a colorful tire planter, the best I've seen.

Marty was there to greet visitors and answer detailed questions.  Here he is with Ragna.

Turn up the volume on Waylon, Willie, and the boys.   We're headed around back to the party zone where tequila tastings are a regular event.

When he's not working on client's projects for his landscape design business, he's using reclaimed wood to build colorful garden furniture and plant displays.  The vintage turqouise Weber grill is one of a collection on display.  The house is painted with 13 different colors.

A shade house converts to a greenhouse in winter.  Marty purchases plant collections from those who can no longer keep them.

The back of the greenhouse is landscaped like a botanical garden

At the end of the trail is a place to sit while admiring an enormous beaucarnea and the rest of the collection.

Desert garden humor

Agave Viloriniana is impressive

Hanging basket Marty style

My thanks to Ragna for sharing her photos of some of the details of the shadehouse, including this miniature "Cactus Marty sign below.

The San Antonio Herb Society tour benefits culinary scholarships to St. Philip's College here in San Antonio.  The San Antonio Herb Society also holds is one of the sponsors of the popular San Antonio Herb Market event held each year by the Herb Market Association.  This year the market is on October 20th at The Pearl.

We visited six gardens on this tour and tomorrow I'll share the "Texas Eclectic" garden.

San Antonio Herb Market

One of my favorite annual garden events is the San Antonio Herb Market held at the Pearl Brewery in mid-October.  It's an excellent opportunity to stock up on herbs and learn about growing and using herbs as well as other gardening subjects.  This year's market was held on Saturday, October 15th celebrating their 20th year.

The Pearl Brewery is near downtown and anchors the north end of the Riverwalk known as the Museum Reach.

The market is set up in the parking lot and is always well attended. 

San Antonio Water System was a sponsor and employees were on hand to answer questions about water conservation.  Other groups included the Bexar County Master Gardeners, The Gardening Volunteers of South Texas and the San Antonio Herb Society.

There were plenty of vendors and a large selection of herbs and related plants.  These containers are ready to go at the Nature's Herb Farm booth.

Long lines for the checkout at Nature's Herb Farm, a good thing to see

This booth  is showing succulents

Colorful succulent wreaths

This large succulent hanging basket display from Burns Nursery
attracted attention

The container display also at Burns was charming

The Antique Rose Emporium had a booth with roses for sale

This year's featured speaker was Susan Belsinger who gave an excellent presentation on using herbs in cooking.  After Susan's seminar I headed over to the adjacent parking lot for the Farmer's Market held each Saturday at the Pearl Brewery.

"Please play on the grass," no lawn here so...

here's the grass you're invited to play on

Pearl has created a park in the parking lot and a favorite place for gardening inspiration.  Ornamental grasses along with drought tolerant perennials are planted in islands within the parking lot and the perimeter.

A look at some of the rows of booths here and a group of Pumpkins on display.

 A very nice day to sit and enjoy the band

 

And a great grouping of ornamental grasses behind the band.  This is one awesome parking lot.  I'll be back on a quieter day for more photos of the Pearl parking lot park and the plantings along this section of the Riverwalk.