Given 3-1/2 acres of cow pasture in North Texas, it turns out you can do quite a lot with it. Continuing with my mid-October visit to Weatherford’s Chandor Gardens (click for part 1 of my visit), here’s more of the romantic English-Chinese garden that portraitist Douglas Chandor created in the 1930s through early 1950s in his cow pasture.

The grandest portion of the garden is a sunken oval pool on axis with a wing of the house. A double staircase cascades down to the pool, ringed by emerald cubes of boxwood. In the center, two Chi Lin dragons flank a tiled fountain that sprays water high into the air.

Despite the grandeur of the design, nothing is too precious. Douglas mortared green 7 Up and Coke bottles, marbles, and glass blocks into the base of the fountain. When it was restored earlier this year, these elements were faithfully reproduced by sourcing hundreds of vintage bottles and old marbles.

Dragon fountain close-up. Set in the curved wall between the staircases…

…a marble-tiled niche displays a Buddha, framed by a temple-like encrustation of old brick and stone. Water spills from stone diamonds on the wall, and hanging spider plants brighten the scene with its minty striped foliage.

With ivy tendrils spilling down the wall, it has a lost-temple vibe.

Pictures taken before the fountain was restored show a solid boxwood hedge ringing the pond. I prefer the current design, with a dotted line of boxwood cubes that allow you to see through to the pool. Looking lengthwise across it, you see focal-point structures in both directions. Let’s follow this line of sight…

…through a crepe myrtle allée and fringe of liriope…

…to a bamboo shelter with an oval window looking in on a grotto scene.

Looking back down the path, you see a pair of foo dogs emphasizing the symmetry of the crepe myrtle allée.

Now let’s head down the opposite path…

…through a tunnel of yaupon hollies to a stone moon gate framing a red Chippendale bench.

The moon gate with its round doorway and tiled roof decorated with Chinese ceramic figures is charming.

The opposite view equally so.

A side path, sheltered by a pergola and looking out on a lush shade garden, leads you along a red-brick wall.

Surprises await discovery along the way, like a dragon peeking out of liriope…

…and a pink-and-purple flowering bromeliad.

A pretty scene with nice foliage contrasts, a red chinoiserie trellis against the brick wall, a nubbly boulder, and a Lincoln Log bench.

Circling back around, we’re now above the sunken garden with the dragon fountain pool. A broken-brick path leads to a tiered fountain.

It’s on axis with an arbor in the distance…

…which shelters a bench overlooking the dragon fountain. Mexican grass tree (Dasylirion longissimum), I believe, grows in a pot set in the ivy.

Detail of the broken-brick path

One last look at a green, serene scene.

Near the house, a cherub lounges alongside a pot of colorful succulents.

And a curving white pergola frames one side of a grassy courtyard. This was originally a silver garden featuring leaves of gray or silver-green.

Hung on a painted-brick wall, silver galvanized pots filled with succulents nod to the original color scheme.

Cobra-shaped glass ornaments rise from a mass of purple foliage, seeming to peer through a rustic cedar fence next to the pergola.

Under the white pergola, classical beauty reigns, with white caladiums planted in nooks in the stone paving. I like the hanging lanterns too.

A cast-stone ram, one of a pair, sits atop a pillar at the garden’s entrance.

Exiting the garden near the parking lot, I admired this red-stemmed vine with heart-shaped leaves, pink flowers, and black berries: red Malabar spinach vine (Basella rubra ‘Red Stem’). (Thanks for the ID, Kate S.!)

Chandor Gardens was a lovely surprise, well maintained and looking beautiful at the end of a hot and dry summer. My thanks to Stephen Haydon, head horticulturist, for giving me and my family a tour and sharing the garden’s history with me.

For a look back at part 1 of my visit to Chandor Gardens, click here.

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Digging Deeper

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