Austin Open Days Tour 2010: Jones garden
Continuing my westward route across Austin on Saturday’s Open Days tour, I headed to the Westlake garden at the Jones residence multimillion-dollar, 11,000 square foot mansion (as per Trulia). This is the view from their elevated front terrace. What? Those buildings? Downtown Austin, of course.
I was welcomed at the gate by designer Scott Thurmon of Yardworks. He maintains this acre-and-a-half showplace. To view Scott’s recent appearance on Central Texas Gardener to talk about this garden, click here.
Elegant stairs on either side of the porte-cochère lead to a terrace with a view of downtown (top picture).
Another look at that million-dollar view
Descending the stairs, you get a good view of a striking boxwood and loropetalum parterre enclosing a palm.
A fun Halloween display was all set to spook trick-or-treaters.
Downtown views are all very nice, but they don’t make a memorable garden. Details like this classical hidden-garden staircase do. It calls out to be explored.
You ascend past evergreen shrubs, which create a restful mood and reduce the need for maintenance.
At the top, this shady seating area overlooks the back of the house. I didn’t get pictures, but a children’s play area is nearby, including a playhouse, swingset, putting green, and fairy garden.
As you traverse the hill behind the house, you are treated to views of Lake Austin. In fact, a swimming pool built along the side of the house looks over Lake Austin on one side and downtown Austin on the other. (See Vert’s Open Days post for pictures.) Impressive, but I find I am drawn to enclosures, not open space, so I spent more time admiring the fig-ivy-covered walls and numerous wall fountains.
Here’s my favorite space in the garden: a curving wall of fig ivy, trained up a structural retaining wall (Scott talks about it in the video I linked to), with an antique French wall fountain and a formal fish pond in the center of the space. What a beautiful, serene space.
A detail of the wall fountain
Another antique French fountain anchors a wall near the doors to a conservatory.
A narrow passage leads from the sheltered fish pond garden, past this tuteur, to the parking court.
A statue of a dapper little boy watches you pass.
Leaning against an ivy-covered retaining wall by the parking court, the white stone frame of an old door or window peeks through the fig ivy, imparting a feeling of age to the garden.
Tune in tomorrow for the final garden I visited, the splendid David-Peese garden. Click here for a look back at Deborah Hornickel’s formal, intimate garden.
All material © 2006-2010 by Pam Penick for Digging. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited.
Another great tour. A bit too formal for my tastes. But, it’s fun to see ALL kinds of gardens.
And, that view is fabulous!
We had house guests last weekend, so I had to miss this garden tour. I’m enjoying seeing it through your camera lens. Thanks.
I agree with Linda – a lovely garden but more formal than I’d want to live with. I love seeing other people’s gardens (and maybe next year I won’t be out of town when the tour happens). It gives me ideas for my own (at this point largely imaginary) garden.
Pam, I’m putting in a stock tank pond – THIS IS YOUR FAULT! The water’s been dechlorinating all week and tomorrow I’m off to buy plants and fish. My husband, who helped me install my Very First Garden Bed (that I mentioned a few posts ago) said, “Wait, I thought we were done?” Done? With a GARDEN? On that note – I planted some salvia leucantha (4) and saliva greggii (5) in the new bed one of the bush sages and 2 of the greggiis look fine but the others seem droopy – too much water? not enough water? dogs running them over too often? Any ideas? I’ve tried giving the droopy ones extra water, but it doesn’t seem to be helping (they’re in a raised bed with Natural Gardener Hill Country soil and granite mulch and the soil beneath is Blackland clay).
I’m hoping to get a camera and post some pictures within the next couple of weeks – if I haven’t managed to kill everything by then!
You’ve done it now—gone and gotten yourself hooked on creating a garden! Have fun. I know you’ll love that stock-tank pond.
As for the wilted Salvia greggii, you’re right that it could be any of those things. Did you look at the base of the plant to see if the main stem has been broken (might be an issue since you mentioned dogs running over them)? Watering is site-specific, so I really couldn’t say about that. If a few plants die along the way, though, don’t let that stop you. It happens. Just keep on planting! —Pam
Whoa… they must spend their entire LIFE with pruning sheers in hand. Or hire someone else to do it, I suppose. I love all the ivy covered walls, but a bit formal and dull to my taste.
Great post. So does fig ivy have figs? I took a couple close-ups of ivy on front because i thought i saw a fig growing. then i thought it looked like a camellia bud. will have to go research fig ivy.
Good question, Vertie. I’ve never seen any fruit on fig ivy before, so I suspect there’s a different explanation for the name. Let me know what you find out. —Pam
I really wish I had visited this “garden” in the evening rather than the morning because the morning sun obscures the views and the contrast of light and dark made it difficult for me to take photographs. You got an excellent shot of my favorite spot, the curved wall garden.
I assume that this space was designed for hosting large receptions. Despite the expensive European garden ornamentation, it has no more personality than an upscale hotel or spa resort. The whole place was reminiscent of the kind of conspicuous consumption I had hoped I’d escaped when I left my hometown, Las Vegas.
It’s not just the excess that makes it feel soulless; the David-Peese garden is full of excess but it’s an alive, exuberant, celebratory excess. Nor is it the insult to the siting: a wannabe Italian villa in the Texas Hill Country. I think what really put me off is that the plants used are so unimaginative–they are just a filler, the “plant material” in the design. The result is oppressive.
It’s always interesting to hear a person’s gut reaction to a place. Thanks for your comment, MSS. I loved your post about what you found compelling about the David-Peese garden versus this one: inward-looking, not outward-looking; a plantsman’s garden, not a non-gardener’s garden. I can see how the excesses of this home could be off-putting to some. And yes, I agree that the garden lacks the soulfulness of a garden tended and beloved by the owners. I also happen to prefer the David-Peese garden to this one.
But I can’t bring myself to criticize the plant choices as unimaginative or workmanlike. My design business has taught me that most people want easy-care plants that look good (i.e., green) all year, and they don’t relish trying out new plants for fun, as gardeners do (and damn the expense). Just because the owners of the Jones residence are wealthy doesn’t mean that cost is not a concern, especially as they must spend a fortune on maintenance already. For instance, Scott Thurmon, the talented designer who has had a hand in the creation and maintenance of this garden, mentions in the KLRU clip I linked to that they substituted lorepetalum for annuals in the palm parterre at the base of the front terrace for cost control.
The owners seem to prefer a classical aesthetic of clipped boxwood, fig ivy, and other evergreens rather than the perennial and naturalistic gardens now in vogue. That doesn’t make it wrong, to my mind. It’s just not a gardener’s garden.
I would love to know whether the majority of people who go on the Open Days tours identify themselves as gardeners or not. Gardeners obviously hope to see the creations of fellow gardeners (and are often disappointed by gardens designed and maintained by pros), whereas maybe the non-gardeners don’t care and simply want to see a beautiful garden. I’d love to hear others’ thoughts on this. —Pam
Ah, you know my thoughts – always a gardener’s garden for me. But having seen and appreciated many of the more formal gardens throughout Europe, I can always appreciate the intricate work and design that goes into planning such a garden. I’m just glad they usually have a bit of both on the tours — so everyone can get a glimpse of each style. And, after all, sometimes it’s the comparison that makes us appreciate what we have and love.
Hi Pam, I saw your tweet that M’s comment was retrieved and up so arrived to kibbitz and give my very personal opinion ;-]
Last week’s allergy made me cough going up stairs so Philo and I didn’t see the 3 large, formal gardens. Thank you both for such great posts about the ones we missed.
Your photos didn’t make me either like or dislike this one- I can enjoy formality & clipped hedges if someone else does the work! But after I went to the CTG site and watched the video I had another reaction… this entire large estate seemed to have nothing but masses of RED flowers & RED foliage everywhere. That made it seem not only boring but oppressive and aggressive to me, and somehow commercial, like a restaurant or court or banquet hall. Guess I mainly put up with red for hummingbirds!
Annie at the Transplantable Rose
Holy cow! Now I know what’s been keeping Scott busy! (Scott’s my former Austin neighbor and also a former resident of my current town.) It does look a bit like a hotel. But that shady nook looks very inviting. I think I’ll check out the links you provided to see more.
While I was gape-mouthed the entire time I was at this unbelievable estate, I agree that it’s too immaculately tailored to be fun and interesting. And, I was told the flowered vine in the trellis box is a Mandavilla. I killed one of those this summer. 😉 My favorite of the day was also the David-Peese garden. It allows for lolly-gagging and meandering; sittin-for-a-spell and going for a stroll. I also loved how veggies are integrated into some of the planting beds. And no matter where you are, you’re near a pond or fountain. I felt more at home in this ‘gardener’s garden.’
Any one of these elements would make any garden feel like a million dollar space. I love the fig ivy covered walls. I saw a lot of that in Charleston. It gives the place a real southern feel.
An elegant estate with a bit of whimsy. Must go through pruners at a fast pace.
This whole tour is magnificent. There are so many things to admire and learn from. It is hard to choose a favorite, but I love the metal clad shed which adds such a different note to the garden. Beautiful photographs of all the gardens.