Gardens on Tour 2009: Buckeye Trail garden
A carpet of silver ponyfoot (Dichondra argentea) sparkles like a stream in the Buckeye Trail garden.
My pictures from this garden, our third stop on the Wildflower Center-sponsored Gardens on Tour, don’t do it justice. The Buckeye Trail garden, located in Rollingwood, was my favorite of the four private gardens on the tour, and I’m not just saying that because it was designed by our friend Jill Nokes, whose own garden the Austin bloggers had the pleasure of revisiting last month.
One thing I really admired is how the house and the garden connect. The house, which is beautifully constructed for its site and not overbuilt, reaches out to the garden with arbor-shaded porches and embraces a series of small courtyards. I feel sure that every room in the house looks out upon, and opens onto, a beautiful garden room.
Heartleaf hibiscus (Hibiscus martianus)
Jill was on hand to answer questions, but as she was swamped with eager visitors we only talked with her for a few moments. She told us that she’d been working with the homeowners for five years, and together they restored the five-acre lot with native plants that would attract wildlife—except deer, which they fenced out—and provided natural areas for their children to explore.
In this small courtyard garden, a wild olive or anacahuita (Cordia boissieri ) stood in flowery, white beauty near a casually rectangular pond filled with water lilies.
Like Jill’s own garden, this one surprised me with plants I’d never encountered before, like this wafer ash (Ptelea trifoliolata ), or hop tree, a member of the rue family. I absolutely love these seedpods. The Wildflower Center’s Native Plant Database says this about it : “Hop tree is an attractive tall shrub or small understory tree for both moist conditions and dry rocky sites. However, it prefers moist soil such as a watered garden or seep area. If grown in full sun and cut back, it will be quite bushy. All of the parts of this tree are aromatic.” Wafer ash is a larval host and/or nectar source for eastern tiger swallowtail and giant swallowtail butterflies.
At the edge of the silver ponyfoot carpet pictured at the top of this post, bright orange Mexican flame vine (Senecio confusus ), a vine I’ve been absolutely coveting, offers a hot contrast. This combo WILL appear in my garden one day.
I didn’t get a chance to ask anyone how many gallons this water cistern holds, but it’s truly massive, the biggest one I’ve ever seen except at the Wildflower Center. I wonder if they can do all their watering from reclaimed rainwater. (Jill, if you’re reading this, do you know?)
The cistern is located at the bottom of the hill behind the house. Looking back up the limestone stair you can appreciate the naturalistic areas of the garden, which are farther from the house than the more manicured garden rooms.
At the bottom of the hillside, a fenced vegetable garden with raised beds occupies a flat, sunny spot.
Grapes grow along one fence. We also saw corn and fruit trees.
Not pictured, although I admired how the spaces were designed, were a children’s play area, a small lawn, and a pool partially shaded by a pergola and tucked into a corner surrounded by native plants. The garden seemed designed to meet the needs of the whole family, while being ecologically sound thanks to native, wildlife-attracting plants, rainwater harvesting, and sensitivity to the site’s development.
Tune in soon for pictures from our last garden of the day at Kempson Drive. For a look at the Rockcliff Road garden in Westlake, click here.
All material © 2006-2009 by Pam Penick for Digging. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited.
A lovely garden. It strikes me how ‘cool’ all the gardens on this tour look.
Lovely tour photos Pam. Would love to visit there.
I love how that trail gets wilder looking as it moves from the house. And that wafer ash tree – I would like to have one of those although I’m not sure how well it would do here. I used to grow the Mexican flame vine and although it came back every year, I found that it only bloomed for me when we had winters that weren’t too cold.
Yes, I do believe it is cold-tender this far north. A protected location might be key, or treating it as an annual. —Pam
Certainly another garden to put on the list when I get back. Looks like I need to become a member of the Wildflower Center. I do love that place. Try to visit each time I am up in the Austin area……
I encourage you to become a member of the Wildflower Center. Membership gets you unlimited admission to the Wildflower Center as well as many other botanical gardens across the country. It does not, however, get you admission to the annual Gardens on Tour, which costs $25. And this garden, as well as the others I’ve shown pictures of, is a private garden, not open to the public. —Pam
Pam,
You get to visit so many gardens! One day I’m going to get in the local loop around here. Somehow… LOL–Randy
I would love to stroll around gardens like this.
Wonderful, and I am very envious of the cistern. Wish we had room for one just like it!
Amazing! Thanks for sharing…
I loved your perspective on the garden. I fell in love with the Mexican flame vine too. Did you see it at the house on Academy? That was where I got it identified and then saw it again at Buckeye. On my way home today I stopped in at BSN and picked up a 4″ pot for $1.49. It is sold as an annual so may not do well here but I will give it a try. I saw on a Florida blog the most wonderful specimen so that and the tours had me sold. I worked in this garden for 4 hours directing people from the pool down the natural stone staircase. One of the visitors was asking me about the Erigeron that was growing in the cracks there and it turns out he works at BSN, so I asked him about Whale’s tongue agave. “We have some” he said, so I picked up one of those too. It was a big splurge as these plants don’t come cheap. That’s it for the year.
I saw ‘Whale’s Tongue’ agaves at BSN in early April and even blogged about it. I’m glad you got one, Jenny. It’ll look great in your courtyard garden. —Pam
Pam, My inner Austinite wants to to be on these tours, to dream about the possibility of having one or two elements from the gardens…this garden has several that I admire! The natives that are creature friendly, a garden that is human friendly and that cistern! Love it! I have thoroughly enjoyed this tour! Thank you~~ Gail
Thanks for sharing Pam! I love exploring new gardens! The only thing I found the least bit objectionable was the large agave next to a walk! That’s not a user-friendly plant that you want to brush up against on your way up the garden path!
Your photos are absolutely and stunningly beautiful as are the gardens.
One question: does the silver ponyfoot (Dichondra argentea) survive the rainy season?
We don’t have a rainy season per se. But silver ponyfoot does goes dormant in winter due to the cold. I cut mine back, and it returns in the spring. —Pam
I don’t know what I”m lusting over more – that huge cistern or the fenced-in, raised-bed garden. And this garden also had a large planting of silver ponyfoot. I really am underutilizing that plant in my own garden! Thanks for sharing Buckeye Trail.
Wow that’s a big cistern. I think half my garden could fit in there. The hop tree is very nice. Rarely seen here too, but very desirable.
Oh, I’m so glad you got so many good pictures of this garden. It was my hands-down favorite as well. My pictures didn’t really turn out that well, and I didn’t photograph so many of my favorite areas since there were so many people trying to move through such a small space that I didn’t want to hold up the traffic flow. Most of my pictures were of hardscaping construction details, which probably won’t interest anyone but me. I did get a nice picture of the faraway Austin skyline from the top of the driveway, though, so I’m definitely going to have to post about this garden just so I can share it. 🙂
The hardscaping details would interest me, Lori. I hope you’ll post them. And I missed the skyline vista, so I’ll look for that on your post too. —Pam
I’d like to see a map of this one. I can see why you loved it.
Oh my, look at the beautiful vegetable garden! And the seed pods on the Hop Tree are very interesting. I’m guessing you’ve added that tree to your list of plants for your own garden?
Yes, and it sounds very adaptable, which should make it easy to place after I find one. —Pam
Pam, how sad I am that I had to miss this awesome garden. Thanks for letting me vicariously visit it through your post. That ponyfoot carpet is absolutely gorgeous. Do you think you can walk on that (she asks as the wheel turn inside)?
I don’t think the Dichondra would handle foot traffic, Robin. I think it’s too fragile for that, alas. We were sorry you were too ill to join us for the tour. Hope you’re feeling better now. —Pam
Wow, such wonderful pictures. I contemplated going on the garden tour this year, but couldn’t find anyone to go with me. Now I regret not going anyway. I’m intrigued by the idea of growing my own grapes – Pam, have you ever tried it or know anyone who has?
No, I never have grown grapes, Ann. The only gardener I know who has blogged about growing grapes is Yolanda Elizabet at Bliss, in The Netherlands. —Pam
What a beautiful garden, I’m wondering if the hop tree is where hop’s in IPA beer come from? I know you use the flower, but I’ve never seen it.
I love that ponyfoot carpet! Great photos, thank you.
Mexican Flame Vine!! Ohmigosh! One of my neighbors has this in her front yard, I admire it whenever I pass it while walking my dog, but no one was ever outside for me to ask about it (and I’m not outgoing enough to knock on the door and ask!). I am so happy I saw it here on your blog! It is so beautiful and now that I know what it is, I can get some. Yay! You made my day!
I’m happy to have ID’d a plant you wanted, Lady J. This one is on my must-have list too. But first I need the fence to grow it on. —Pam
Do you know a nursery source in/near Austin for Wafer Ash? I thought perhaps the Madrone Nursery but its not listed on their web site. Thank you.
John
I don’t know where to find it offhand, John. You might check with Natural Gardener and Barton Springs Nursery in Austin. Both carry a great selection of native trees. —Pam