Artistic Stone Palms garden of Berthold Haas
On this rainy, chilly Bloom Day I’m just not going to venture into the garden to poke around for a tiny rosemary bloom or withered Knock Out rose petal. Instead I’m treating you to a reprise of images from the Stone Palms garden, located in the Clarksville neighborhood near downtown.
Driving by the house Thursday and snapping this pic of the namesake sago palms atop karst limestone pillars made me want to revisit the garden, which I saw in October 2008 on a Garden Conservancy Open Days tour. So put your wool-stockinged feet up on the ottoman and let’s go.
Stone Palms is an octopus’s garden encrusted with limestone sculpture—the pillars out front, accreted like a coral reef, are the work of owner Berthold Haas—and exquisite sea-shell mosaics created by his wife, artist Emily Tracy.
This Neptunian fantasy in white and green is sandwiched on a tight urban lot but feels private thanks to generous fencing and trellising and the division of space into inviting outdoor rooms…
…complete with bureaus…
…and even a bed!
Seashell decor
Much of the back garden seems to be built over a concrete driveway or patio, so potted plants are a clever solution. These gorgeous terracotta pots contain wisteria vines that twine over the dining arbor.
In the fenced and screened front garden, a delightful roofed seating area with brick flooring, complete with shell-studded fireplace, invites you to sit for a while. One of the tour docents said that in winter the owners wrap the structure in plastic to create a greenhouse for their tender plants.
Opposite the fireplace, a limestone bowl of shells is reflected in a shell-bejeweled mirror, doubling the beauty and adding light to the space.
I hope you enjoyed revisiting this lovely garden with me. Tomorrow, for Foliage Follow-Up (and I hope you’ll join me in posting your favorite foliage for January), I’ll revisit a stunning foliage-centric garden from the same Open Days tour. It’s a garden with an intriguing name, so you know it’ll be good! Stay tuned.
All material © 2006-2011 by Pam Penick for Digging. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited.
How did you know I had my wool socks on? The outdoor rooms look very inviting and peaceful. I love the limestone bowl of shells!
Yes, kicking back in the recliner next to the fire on a dreary, wet, winter day….just blogging away. Life is good. I love the look of those limestone pillars with the sago palms on top!
I giggled when I read “put up your wool stockinged feet” cause that is just what I am doing. Love the tour. It made me feel warmer just seeing all that shell art and sunshine. Thanks Pam.
What a delightful retreat from the stress of mainstream. I guess living in FL. all my life and seeing so much seashell artwork, I don’t care much for that part.
That fountain is exceptional. Now I know what all the rock reminds me of and they nailed it—grotto garden!
NOW you’ve gone and done it! That was my fave house on the tour that year, and I still think of it and add something to my “to do” based on some must-haves from that garden. Seeing it again here makes me want to pull out that list and actually get to work on it. Those shells! Those rooms! The art! Oh My!
oh yeah….and you didn’t even show the grotto and waterfall…
OMg…Pam this is beautiful, thank you for sharing them! Pamie G.
A friend just asked me for some ideas on how to use shells in the garden. I think you’ve provided the answer!
Thanks for the tour. The repetition of potted or in-ground dwarf trees, some of the furniture / relaxation spaces, and the various view corridors are so well-contrived. Outdoor fireplace – sign me up! But sea shell overkill to me; a minor point.
Another person I know in NM and I are already scheming alts to the sago palm for here – hmmm, Nolina texana or N. microcarpa, Smooth Sotol, Hesperaloe parviflora, etc…..
Morning Pam,
I posted my foliage follow up early, before Church. Not sure how you are linking us up. Feel free to link me however…
I am sitting on a pile of shells, so now where to start?
What a treat – loved re-doing the tour via your blog. It really is an amazing place, isn’t it?
what a dreamy space! i’ve never seen anything like those karst limestone pillars. coincidentally, i just posted a tour of a somewhat similar garden, with a nautical theme and all, called a mermaid’s garden. (http://lagunadirt.blogspot.com/2011/01/visit-mermaids-garden-backyard.html) the one you featured is more elaborate and formal, but it’s fun to compare what the owners did with all those shells, other ocean materials and outdoor mosaics! one question: what happens to that beautiful bed when it rains?
I can’t comment on your blog without an account, but I just wanted to let you know how much I enjoyed your post about the mermaid garden. So many creative touches, but the beach-stone fireplace and nautilus-shell planter were my favorites. Thanks for sharing your link! —Pam
What a fun garden…thanks for the re-tour…It’s gray and cold here so a bit of seashell and sunshine is greatly appreciated. gail