Flower power out front; in back a serene, green garden
Last year I featured this Houston Heights garden in a Drive-By Gardens post. But last Saturday, while in Houston to visit family, I had the pleasure of meeting the owner, David Morello, who kindly gave me a full tour.
David owns the design and build company David Morello Garden Enterprises, and he’s an avid gardener who makes time for his own glorious garden as well. In the sunny front yard of his khaki bungalow, he’s created an elegantly structured space with clipped boxwood and geometric lines, colored in with a riotous but disciplined color scheme of flowering annuals. Every spring he experiments with new colors. This year he’s playing with yellow and gold.
Pops of purple and white give depth to the yellows.
Near the porch, a stand of ‘World’s Favorite’ tulips — orange-red edged in yellow (see top photo) — brightens the entry. The front garden will be at peak spring bloom in about three weeks, David said. The earliest Texas bluebonnets were starting to flower along the street, probably thanks to the reflected heat.
In back, the garden tells a different story. Gone are the colorful annuals. Instead a serene, ferny bower encloses a circular flagstone patio. A low boxwood parterre outlines the perimeter, and a hedge of evergreen Spartan juniper (Juniperus chinensis ‘Spartan’) makes a pleasing backdrop to a tall, rusty-red pot fountain. The color of the pot picks up the coppery-orange of the garage door, seat cushions, and even the terracotta pots.
The small patio is a work of art, with meticulously pieced flagstone “mortared” with Mexican beach pebbles.
Another view, from the garage door, which is accessed via a gray gravel path running alongside the garage. Looking directly across the patio, a pop of yellow catches your eye.
It’s leopard plant (Farfugium japonicum, formerly Ligularia) in bloom, with variegated shell ginger (Alpinia zerumbet) behind. Asparagus fern (Asparagus densiflorus ‘Sprengeri’) adds cloud-like softness in the pots.
i was charmed by this scalloped-leaf rambler with dainty, white flowers atop tall stems — a white spiderwort, David told me — which he allows to spread at will along the boxwood parterre.
The view back toward the house. David said that Houston has not experienced a freeze this winter, so there’s been no die-back, although it’s been unseasonably cool.
This focal-point pot set on a plinth of stacked ledgestone grabs your eye as you enter the back garden from the driveway. Pink cyclamen mingles with a chartreuse-leaved plant (I didn’t get the ID) under a graceful tuteur that adds height. A bracelet of gray river rock rings the base of the pot, and vining plants are encouraged to twine an embrace as well. Unfussy, expertly crafted details like these give David’s garden a timeless appeal.
My thanks to David for sharing his lovely garden with me! If you’d like to see more, check out my pictures of his front garden from last spring.
Stay tuned for a visit to the plant-packed nursery and garden-art fantasia of Joshua’s Native Plants & Garden Antiques.
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What a splendid garden. I could move right in. 🙂 I love the idea of a plinth with rocks around a pot. My head is full of ideas. Just waiting for the snow to melt.
I’m awaiting a weather warm-up too, Lisa. No snow here, but drizzly cold. Brr! —Pam
Just what I needed on another cold and damp day. An infusion of spring. Hard to believe that their spring is so far ahead of ours. All looks lush in his landscape and how nice of Mr Morello to give you a personal tour of his garden.
No freezing temps makes a big difference, Jenny. That plus about 17 more inches of rain than we get. —Pam
Love the curved stone patios and gardens surrounding them. Thank you for sharing these beautifully designed gardens.
My pleasure, Lee. —Pam
OK. Voted and good luck to you! Maybe I’m more stupid than the average bear, but people need to not be sidetracked by the colored photos slide show. I was stumped for a minute ’til I caught on that these are photos for 2014, not this year. I’m probably the only one who did this. :/
Thanks for lovely Houston garden tour. So uplifting on a grey day.
Thanks for soldiering through, Sandy! I appreciate your support. I don’t see the slide show, but maybe you get different views depending on your browser? —Pam
Maybe it was an Ides of March thing. Anyway, voted again and piece of cake the 2nd time.
Yippee! Thanks for taking the time, Sandy. —Pam
Love seeing the new plants in the front. The back is so lush and green — I’m envious. How nice that you got the personal tour. I remember years when we didn’t get a freeze here in Austin. (sigh)
I do too, Diana. I don’t actually mind a few freezes to kill some mosquitoes, but I sure don’t love having two cold winters in a row. —Pam
What a zippy front garden ! For some reason it doesn’t seem dated at all, as some of the annual bedding schemes I’ve seen do. I’d love to see what he does in summer after the Pansies, Snaps and Nemesias bite the dust.. you’ll just have to go back in June Pam..!
David has a way with annuals. I actually think annuals are having a moment again. I keep reading articles about them and seeing designers use them in fresh ways. For me they’re too much maintenance to ever use a lot of them, but I always plant a few each year — grasses and vines, mostly — for long-season color. —Pam
Those are lush looking cypress. They look really hefty for Italian and more uniform in shape than Leyland. Could you tell what kind they were?
Pam, believe it or not I actually asked David what kind they are, but I promptly forgot. They are not Leyland. If I find out I’ll be sure to add it. —Pam
Pam, David tells me they are Spartan junipers (Juniperus chinensis ‘Spartan’). —Pam
I like this year’s front garden even better than last year’s (but then I have a great fondness for yellow). Did you get a look at the red house across the street you featured last year as well? It was more idiosyncratic but I still remember how much I liked it.
Best wishes on the BHG award! I voted again.
I did, but my pictures didn’t turn out as I’d hoped, partly because I was in a hurry and didn’t take the time to frame them up well. The garden looked as colorful as ever. I’ll try to get new pics the next time I’m in town. Thanks for voting again, Kris! —Pam
What a fabulous garden! I’ve been looking for some ideas for a rock patio and walkway. I love the one in his backyard. That really is gorgeous and has given me a wonderful idea for my front courtyard project. Do you think it would have the same effect with a lighter flagstone combined with Arizona river rock? I’d like to stick with materials that are similar to what we already have in place.
I think it would be fun to see your interpretation with different materials, Ally. Go for it! —Pam
What a fabulous garden! Love it all & especially the flagstone paving with pebbles between! While the gardens change from front to back, there is a cohesiveness about the whole that is very calming.
I think so too, Peter. I’m glad you enjoyed the tour. —Pam
I am rarely smitten by hardscape, but that patio is a work of art.
It really is, Les. —Pam