East Austin garden blogger party
Y’all know how the Austin garden bloggers (36 at last count) delight in abandoning the virtual page for real-life meet-ups, right? On Sunday thirteen of us had the pleasure of touring and socializing in the East Austin gardens of two men who are garden blogging in our fair city.
Lee of The Grackle, pictured at the top of this post, and his partner, John, graciously opened their home and garden to us as we kicked things off. Out front we admired two defined circles of buffalo grass, a tree-form dalea (so cool!), and a pleasing assortment of xeric plants, and then Lee led us into the Zen-like back garden, which wowed me right at the entry with a gorgeous cut-limestone pathway.
A peaceful, contemporary-styled garden unfolds in a U-shape of compact garden rooms defined by the walls of the house and garage and the horizontal fencing and screening Lee and John have installed.
Next to the main patio, rustling inland sea oats (Chasmanthium latifolium ) are peppered with the red flowers of Turk’s cap (Malvaviscus drummondii ), contained by crisp edging.
Simple shapes and materials, like this concrete trough of agaves, add a minimalist touch and contribute to the garden’s peaceful ambiance.
Lee and John have put plenty of sweat equity into their gorgeous garden, but they lucked out with this fanciful brick-and-gravel patio that they inherited from the previous owners. I love this idea and am plotting how I can adapt it to my new garden.
After plying us with refreshing hibiscus tea and cookies and letting us pet their sweet, old dog, Lee and John invited us to have a peek at the inside of their charming bungalow, which was filled with fun features like their recycled IBM countertops in the kitchen and this stenciled grackle (a tribute to Lee’s blog) above a doorway.
We caravaned next to Philip’s garden, the subject of his geographically named blog, East Side Patch. Philip, his wife, Leah, and his two delightful children welcomed us into their large back garden with a pitcher of sangria, chicken roasted on rosemary spears, and other tasty morsels.
Philip’s garden is long on drama with unusual plants like these donkey’s ears (Kalanchoe gastonis-bonnieri)…
…spiky plants like agaves and sotols…
…and plentiful vertical accents like bamboo poles, a long ladder leaning up into a big post oak, and even a 15-foot bald cypress growing out of 10-foot-diameter stock-tank pond.
While his garden relies on foliage, rather than flowers, for texture and color, he’s not afraid to splash a lot of color on garden accents like this shed.
At the back of his long garden, a striking metal gate from the set of Austin-filmed Spy Kids anchors the space.
After seeing these two creative and beautiful gardens, we noshed, we talked, and we plotted future garden-blogger excursions. I was delighted to meet three other garden bloggers for the first time, in addition to Philip: Sue of Cool as a Cucumber, Maggie of The Gardens of Casa Martin, and Renee of Renee’s Roots. All too soon it was time to go.
Along the path back to the street, Philip had one last surprise awaiting us. His famous agave bloom stalk—at least six feet long and still thick with pups (baby agaves)—lay on a bench with sections parceled out by name for each guest. Even more pups had been potted up and were ours for the taking.
I didn’t know whether to tremble in fear lest I really be obliged to take a hundred or so agave pups home with me, or laugh at Philip’s playful sense of humor, or leave the stalk but accept one of the potted pups. So I did all three.
Thanks again, Lee and Philip, for hosting our group and letting us see the remarkable gardens you’ve created. I had a wonderful time.
All material © 2006-2008 by Pam Penick for Digging. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited.
And thank you for taking us along on your tour Pam. These gardens are full of delights and inspiration.
They are, and yet the best part of the day was hanging out with fellow garden blogging friends. —Pam
Thank you for the beautiful virtual tour of the two gardens. I was so sad that I was not able to go–I was host to 30 middle schoolers instead! Hopefully next time it will work out that I can go, the gardens are so inspiring.
I’m sorry you couldn’t join us this time, Jenny, but it sounds like you had quite an adventure of your own. I’m glad you survived! 😉 —Pam
What a wonderful garden tour you had! I love that stone and brick patio AND the seating on it, with the firepit. And I ADORE the bright colors on the shed! All wonderful. Thanks for sharing your day with us.
Yes, the seating arrangement was welcoming, and I liked it too. I can just imagine sitting there around the firepit on a chilly evening, enjoying a glass of wine or mug of hot chocolate. —Pam
There’s no end to the fun you Austinites have, is there, Pam? What a delightful way to spend a day! Thanks for giving us a peek at these two fascinating gardens.
So far there’s no end in sight, Kerri! And people in the group keep coming up with fun ideas for future events. From a virtual garden club to a real one, it’s been a delight to be part of it. —Pam
Pam-
I love the brick and gravel patio! Was it set in cement or do you think the makers just laid out the bricks and then poured the gravel around??? I am curious how it was done. It looks fabulous! Thanks for the tour.
~ Theresa
Hi, Theresa. See below for co-owner John’s comment about its construction. —Pam
Thanks Pam. So sorry I missed the get together, but my birthday with the kids was a lot of fun. The gardens looked so cool and I am happy to add the new bloggers to my reading list.
Happy belated birthday, Bonnie! I’m glad to hear you had a fun day with your family. —Pam
Theresa-
The bricks are set in a mortar. I think that is necessary in order to keep them stable.
It was a fun Sunday, and I loved meeting y’all.
-John (of The Grackle garden).
John, thanks for answering Theresa’s question (above). And more thanks for hosting us on Sunday. It was wonderful to see the garden in person after admiring it for so long on Lee’s blog. —Pam
I love the metal gate and the brick and gravel patio is giving me some ideas! Thanks!
There were lots of good ideas to be found in these gardens. —Pam
Ya’ll are so lucky to have a strong blogging community so close. I feel like I am out here in Charleston alone. Thank goodness for the www!
We are lucky, though MSS of Zanthan Gardens can tell you how lonely she felt, blogging solo for several years before the rest of us followed her example. I bet you’ll inspire other gardeners to start blogging too, and before you know it you’ll be hobnobbing with them in person. —Pam
Thanks for posting yesterday’s visit. We all had a great time and there were so many marvelous things to see and ideas to take home. It always amazes me the variety of gardens that are out there and every one special. In all it was a wonderful day. Thanks for organizing the visit and thanks to the guys for allowing us to visit. I think we’ll be seeing more of those gardens very soon!
I do too, Jenny. They were special, creative places, and I had a wonderful day too. I’m so glad so many could come, and I’m grateful to the guys for hosting us! —Pam
Pam, What a wonderful tour and to have a fantastic garden blogging community so near is a dream all garden bloggers hold! Gail
As more and more gardeners set up blogs, that’s a dream many of us can realize with a little outreach and organization. I know you’ve enjoyed several meet-ups yourself lately, and though they may not have been with other Memphis bloggers, they weren’t too far away, right? And here’s to the Chicago Spring Fling in 2009! —Pam
It was such a lovely day! With perfect weather, strolls through two great gardens, delicious food and wonderful conversations with friends old and new…oh yes, Pam – we really are lucky to be Austin garden bloggers!
(Don’t tell Philip but I escaped without an agave.)
Annie at the Transplantable Rose
Yes, we are lucky! But I also think we make our own luck by encouraging others and throwing these little shin-digs every so often that attract new people.
I bet Philip will be looking for you, Annie, with a certain agave stalk in the back seat of his car. —Pam
Hi Pam, we are still trying to figure out how come there are so many garden bloggers in Austin, something in the water? ;-> How wonderful to see other’s gardens in real life and get those precious ideas. Did you see anything you could use at your new place?
Frances
Yes, I was collecting ideas right and left. I want to incorporate Lee’s swirling brick-patterned patio somehow, and I loved his combo of Turk’s cap and inland sea oats—perfect for the shade in my new garden. From Philip’s garden, I’m dreaming of Mexican weeping bamboo, a bigger stock tank pond, and bermed beds, perfect for my rocky landscape. —Pam
Before I started blogging, I knew Austin was cool and hip because of its music scene, but now I know that all that cool hipness must have begun in its gardens.
Hah, maybe so, Les. If a bunch of garden geeks can come off as cool and hip, then we must be onto something. 😉 —Pam
What a great day! Chatting with other gardeners was great fun, and it was a big thrill to see those beautiful gardens. Thanks so much for getting us together for a lovely afternoon, Pam.
Sue, it was great to meet you. Thanks for joining a bunch of strangers to talk plants and see some lovely gardens. —Pam
Just wanted to thank you all for coming over to the East-side-patch. And to you Pam for “involving me” (smiles)!
We really had a fun day meeting with, and chatting to you all and finally putting some faces to my subscribed feeds.
Oh and Annie, two words: Fed Ex.
Thanks for being a good sport about being “involved,” Philip. You and Leah are wonderful hosts to have a troop of inquisitive strangers over to your garden. It was so much fun! —Pam
Great post, Pam. It was so nice to visit with everyone, and what a wonderful tour. Thanks for organizing yet another great Austin outing. I loved seeing the pictures I missed because I was too busy gawking or babbling!
I did the easy part on this outing—just sent out an evite. Lee and Philip and their families did all the heavy lifting. Wasn’t it a delightful afternoon? I look forward to the next one. —Pam
Cool people, good food, free plants–It’s like heaven.
There’s a bumper sticker that I occasionally see around town, Chuck: “On earth as it is in Austin.” That’s how it felt Sunday afternoon. —Pam
It is always fun to go on a garden tour, I never stop being inspired by looking and meeting other gardeners. The patio and the red furnitures on the first garden was very nice.
Ken
Garden tours almost always provide inspiration for a new project, and it’s fun to meet the gardeners behind all the creativity. —Pam
Wow, this has to be my dream garden. Glorious!
Thanks for visiting, Mo. But which one is your dream garden? 🙂 —Pam
I love the metal gate and the limestone slabs–someone does the limestone tiles here, and they are $50 a square foot, but oh so beautiful. Glad you think the donkey’s ears are unusual–I got a little plantlet 4 months ago and it now has little plantlets I want to plant out. I like the dramatic shape and markings.
I’ve been following the agave saga on East-Side-Patch and always wondered what kind of agave plant it is. Oh, how i would love some pups-I have 14 kinds of agaves now but am lusting for more…
I’d like to try those donkey’s ears too. Philip isn’t sure if they’ll be hardy here, but he’s gardening in the warm, urban core of Austin, so maybe. As for the agave stalk, he doesn’t know what kind of agave it is, just that it was about 4 feet tall. —Pam
Oh, Pam, you guys have so much fun. I wish I could have been there to meet even more Austin bloggers. Austin will always hold a special place in my heart.~~Dee
I wish you could have been here too, Dee. You’d have had so much fun with this group. —Pam
Wow! Thanks for the tour, Pam. I already emailed my landscaping guy I may use that photo of the brick and gravel work of art. And that gold gazing ball is so pretty. I have various colors, but now definitely want gold!
Brenda
We may all be making a patio design like Lee’s—it was so charming. Philip has a fun color sense, and that gold gazing ball sets off his succulents beautifully. —Pam
Oh, I’m so glad that you got a picture of the brick and gravel patio! I was wishing I’d brought along my camera. I’d love to adapt that to my backyard as well, especially since the Death Star managed to kill a huge quantity of St. Augustine right off my back door. Perhaps it’s a sign. 😉
I had a fabulous time on Sunday, and it was great to meet up with people I haven’t seen in ages and people I haven’t met before. Heck, I even found out that I have a blogger in my own neighborhood (Hi, Maggie!)!
You have the Death Star (well, we all do in Austin), and Philip has the Lunar Surface. You guys keep cracking me up! I’m so glad you were able to join us, Lori. I didn’t realize that you and Maggie were neighbors. —Pam
Wow, I had lost count of how many Austin bloggers there are! You did an exceptional job taking photographs. I know how hard it can be to convey what you see.
Our number has grown since you last were here, Kathy. Thanks for the compliment on my photos. I wish I’d gotten more and better, of course. —Pam
What fun that was and Austin is producing some incredible gardens and bloggers. Do you think it is something in the water?
I don’t know, Layanee. Austin is a pretty creative city in many regards, and it’s being expressed in gardening and blogging too. Or maybe it’s something in the water of Barton Springs. —Pam
You sure have a large concentration of garden bloggers there in Austin! It sounds like so much fun to tour each others’ gardens. These gardens are just amazing. Can’t wait to see what you do with your new space.
Aiyana
Hi, Aiyana. Austin is the garden-blogging capital of the world. It makes for fun get-togethers when we meet in person. —Pam
What a fantastic painted shed!
It sure is. —Pam
What a fun time you all had! Your photographs are beautiful and give a great sense of what the gardens are like. I hope you have a wonderful time in your new home and garden. I’ll enjoy watching the evolution of your garden!
Thanks, Kate. I have an update on my new garden up today. —Pam
How fun! I would love to have Lee’s concrete troughs, and the brick-and-gravel patio… and Phillip’s gate and donkey ears planting… please. 🙂
Oooh, how very fun! That’s great to have so many garden bloggers and gardens to visit. That donkey’s ears is really unique. I like it!
What a wonderful day you had(-: The tours were so cool. I loved seeing them. Thanks for sharing the pictures(-:
I am so excited to find you guys. I am from Austin originally but currently live in Houston. I just bought a new home and needed some ideas…Austin style. I have a good sized backyard and it is completely a blank canvas. I am an artist and such the Austin child too so I need to have that space for my sanity.
Thanks for saying hi, Tawny. If you take a look at my sidebar you’ll see lots of Austin garden blogs listed, and they’re all chock full of good ideas. Happy reading, and happy digging too! —Pam