Agaves and exposed limestone anchor a sunny spot by the front door while orange lantana and purple winecup add splashes of hot, southwestern color.
Another tony West Austin address led us to this garden—a sculpture garden, really. Designed by Judy Walther (who also did the Stonecliff Circle garden) and her partner David Mahler, the landscaping for this expansive property features low-maintenance swaths of native plants and gorgeous, naturalistic stonework—not to mention a number of large-scale outdoor sculptures.
Lovely and immaculately maintained though it is, however, it just didn’t grab hold of me the way the Corum Cove garden had. It felt more like a resort garden than a gardener’s garden. Which is fine. Not everyone on a garden tour has to be a gardener. This tour was designed to show how native plants are being used to best effect in some of Austin’s gardens, and this garden accomplished that well enough.
The tour brochure described it thus:

As this residence was remodeled extensively in 2006, the existing gardens were also redesigned. Much of the mortared rockwork was replaced by a network of walkways, terraces and patios which connect four house structures, tennis court, pool and new front parking as well as solve a number of drainage problems. . . Many exotic plantings were removed to create a native garden. Fifty species were grouped into plant communities to fill various niches around the existing lawn and to feature an outdoor sculpture collection.

A vine-covered trellis with stone pillars led us toward the tennis court. If ever a spot begged for a piece of sculpture, the end of this path was it, but there was only a hedge.

The back yard. A series of stone patios step down from the house toward the pool, and a sweeping, green lawn sets off another large sculpture, visible just behind and to the left of the magnolia in the foreground.

In rather short order, Mom and I had strolled the grounds and were heading up these beautiful stone steps to the exit.

Winecup
Also today, tune in for a tour of the Stratus-owned green roof on top of Starbucks. Tune in tomorrow for a tour of the Bridle Path garden—the best of the bunch.