Continuing with my recent visit to the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center, let’s explore the Family Garden and see how it looks in late winter. Again, possumhaw holly (Ilex decidua) berries blaze bright red, alongside early blossoms of coral honeysuckle (Lonicera sempervirens). The galvanized steel cylinder is a rainwater cistern.

Coral honeysuckle clambering up a wood-slat trellis.

A barn-like structure in the Family Garden offers shade and a performance or learning space.

Cradled in the branches of a small tree, a bird’s nest from last season will probably serve as Home Depot for this year’s constructions.

Bronze animal sculptures by David C. Iles are half-hidden among the plants and stonework.

This stately buck is one of my favorites.

A mass of American agave, like blue-green flames

A stream meanders through the heart of the Family Garden, with “headwaters” marked by holey limestone boulders representing the aquifer. A hand pump invites kids to fill pails with water and pour it over the rocks and into the stream.

At the end of the stream, a thundering waterfall screens an opening in a kid-sized cave.

On busier days, you’ll see kids standing inside with hands outstretched in the water.

Tile cave art decorates the inner walls.

In a tunnel-cave, the art takes a decidedly Keith Haring turn.

Prickly pear grows in rocky crevices.

A bandy-legged grasshopper finds refuge amid the spineless pads.

Trunking yucca and giant hesperaloe thrive atop the cave’s rocky roof.

There’s an entire xeric garden up here.

The stumpery is my favorite space in the Family Garden. Inverted “walking” tree stumps and ghostly bundled branches stand tall amid long balance beams of fallen trunks.

It looks like a fun place to play.

A spiral wall adorned with colorful tile art invites visitors to find nature’s own Fibonacci spirals in nearby plants.

Behind a cedar bird blind, a small pond and feeding stations attract birds, as well as two bronze egret sculptures.

Heading back to the main gardens, I spotted more bright-red berries — not possumhaw this time but its evergreen cousin, yaupon holly (Ilex vomitoria).

A few purple coneflowers (Echinacea purpurea) were in bloom, braving the risk of a late freeze.

But around the main courtyard and the landmark tower, it’s all about the possumhaw in early February.

Berries, berries, berries!

In my own garden, all day I hear the piercing cries of cedar waxwings flocking to yaupon, possumhaw, and nonnative (and invasive) ligustrum. I wouldn’t be surprised if by now many of these possumhaws are stripped bare by hungry birds.

I’m glad I caught them at peak color. Soon the berries will be nurturing the birds, and fresh green leaves will be unfurling on branches.

Live oaks too will soon be dropping their leathery green leaves to push out new foliage. That spells a big mess in my live oak-shaded garden, but it’s all part of the seasonal cycle.

I hope you enjoyed these late-winter scenes at the Wildflower Center. If you missed part 1 about the Center’s meadows — and more possumhaws — you can find it here.

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Digging Deeper

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All material © 2024 by Pam Penick for Digging. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited.