San Antonio was calling my name last week, so I hopped in the car with my friend Cat of The Whimsical Gardener, and we road-tripped south to see the new gardens at San Antonio Botanical Garden. Wow, was I impressed with the changes!

Zachry Foundation Culinary Garden

SABG opened 8 acres of new gardens to the public in October 2017. This was my first time to see them, and our timing was fortuitous. Recent weeks of rain have helped the garden fill in beautifully, and the monarchs were migrating through on their way to Mexico.

Just inside the garden’s new entrance is the Zachry Foundation Culinary Garden, designed (along with the other new sections) by Austin’s own Christine Ten Eyck. Her signature design moves — rainwater harvesting in a visible way, airy patios with plenty of seating to enjoy the garden, limestone and rusty steel, and strong lines to define spaces — are on display, making this garden as ornamental as it is productive.

Spirals and ripple-like rings give the garden beds and seating areas a contemporary style.

I particularly like the council-ring effect of this small, spiraling amphitheater at the lower end of the garden, which will one day enjoy the shade of two cedar elms.

Pomegranates laden with fruit and tropical-looking banana trees edge the perimeter.

Nearer the chef’s kitchen, a Mediterranean garden of olives and rosemary grows in a raised bed of Corten steel.

Basil soaking up the sun

The CHEF teaching kitchen was shuttered on the day we visited, but the space is welcoming and roomy. I’m sure their culinary classes are popular.

On the far side of the garden, a covered patio overlooks a small lawn with terracing for extra seating.

Cat and I admired this unusual use of aggressive spreader purple heart, cascading from a gabion wall planter for a waterfall effect.

A rain chain guides water off the eave into a collection basin that feeds a wet-weather channel running through the garden. Giant papyrus enjoys the extra water in the channel’s rain garden. (See also the top two photos. The sunken channel is edged with Corten steel.)

Visually breaking up an expanse of wall, a gabion wall filled with limestone boulders adds interest.

Enclosing the garden from the street, a steel mesh fence is pretty in its own right and also supports leaning and vining plants while letting in light.

Virginia creeper cloaks a concrete block wall in fall color.

Mays Family Display Garden

Exiting the culinary garden, you are greeted by a terraced display garden. Check out those gorgeous, silver-blue agaves amid a pillowy, chartreuse groundcover of what looks like Mexican sedum.

Shazam! “The Mays Family Display Garden focuses on long-blooming plants with hot and energetic color schemes that celebrate the heritage of San Antonio,” the website explains.

Hot and energetic indeed. I love red in a garden, and SABG doesn’t shy away from it, planting Bells of Fire tecoma alongside…

…firecracker fern, as well as hibiscus, ‘Strawberry Fields’ gomphrena, and pentas in a fiery profusion.

Orange pumpkins on this day-before-Halloween visit fit right in.

Another view, with ‘Brakelights’ hesperaloe in front.

A cascading water feature offers a moment of serenity amid the blazing color.

As does a tree-shaded patio with succulent pots on every table.

Succulent troughs stair-step their way up a stone retaining wall, embraced by the spilling greenery of firecracker fern.

I’m always touting sedge as a low-water, rarely-mow alternative to lawn, and SABG displays two kinds: Berkeley sedge (Carex divulsa)…

…and ‘Scott’s Turf’ sedge (Carex retroflexa var. texensis). I grow both and find ‘Scott’s Turf’, readily available at Barton Springs Nursery, to be more dependable for shade or part shade. Berkeley is a little fussier for me, possibly preferring more sun than I have. Cat grows it well in her sunny front garden.

Parked alongside those marvelous chartreuse-framed agaves was a gigantic sculpture of a monarch butterfly and flower made entirely of LEGOs. The agaves can certainly stand alone, but LEGO sculptures are fun (and kind of mesmerizing) and will entertain young families especially. The LEGO sculpture exhibit is on display through December 31, so go see it soon:

“The San Antonio Botanical Garden is thrilled to bring Nature Connects: Art with LEGO® Bricks to the Garden September 1 through December 31, 2018 with a whole new set of LEGO sculptures that will amaze and inspire. Nature Connects is an award-winning sculpture exhibition by Brooklyn-based artist Sean Kenney. Created with nearly half a million LEGO® bricks, the thirteen nature-inspired displays at the San Antonio Botanical Garden include a larger-than-life Monarch butterfly and a 6-foot hummingbird on a trumpet flower!”

The real thing is infinitely better though, and this red garden was attracting monarchs by the hundreds. Pentas proved to be a favorite nectaring plant for the orange-and-black beauties.

Monarch butterfly and pentas flower

This swath of pentas was alive with monarchs nectaring.

Purple porterweed — a plant neither of us was familiar with, but which Cat bought in the small nursery attached to the gift shop — is a magnet for both monarchs…

…and queen butterflies. It’s an interesting plant, with rat-tail stems holding a smattering of ultraviolet flowers.

Red porterweed was also popular with the butterflies, but maybe not as much as the purple.

Queen butterfly enjoying porterweed

Fuel up for your flight to Mexico, monarch!

Gaura and firecracker fern soften a limestone block wall.

And look at this gorgeous blue yucca — Yucca pallida, I think — paired with sandpaper verbena (Glandularia rigida), another new-to-me plant.

What a stunning combo for a sunny spot.

Coming up next: The spectacular and fun Family Adventure Garden at SABG!

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