Cynthia’s home and garden with heart

November 14, 2024

Last month I visited my friend Cynthia Deegan’s home and garden, this time with Jennifer Jewell of Cultivating Place, who was in town to give a Garden Spark talk. I wanted Jennifer to meet Cynthia and see the soulful, joyful retreat she’s created at her Tarrytown bungalow with husband Bobby. Sandwiched in an unlikely way between MoPac/Loop 1 and its feeder road, the house defies its location through the couple’s creative screening, planting, and decorating, which focuses the gaze on the garden rather than what lies beyond. Cheekily, Cynthia and Bobby call their home Via Libre, aka Freeway.

You enter the front garden through rustic, yellow-green doors, under the orange blossoms of crossvine. Hands, sacred hearts, and angel wings — Cynthia’s milagros, Mexican charms for protection and good luck — are tacked up on the doors.

Inside the courtyard, a lushly planted pond with a dripping fountain offers the sound of trickling water and a beautiful, expansive view from inside the small house.

A friendly face brought to life with fig ivy and sticks-on-fire greets you from a window box.

Inside, Cynthia indulges her collector’s heart with curated displays of books, art, and found treasures.

Antlers, hearts, and bones are repeating motifs — expressions of Cynthia’s love for nature and the divine.

Milagros, stone eggs, and small skulls are gathered into this tabletop nest.

On another shelf, religious votives flicker amid collected heart stones and silvered glass.

Cynthia has a talent for turning thrifted items into a story about her life and loves. She does the same thing at Artful Eclectic, her booth at the monthly Wimberley Market Day. Her booth is currently on hiatus while Cynthia and Bobby undergo “his and hers joint surgeries.” But she’ll be back at it soon, selling her beautiful, upcycled art and decor in the new year.

On a buffet I admired a display of fall snacks laid out for visiting grandchildren…

…and a pretty tray of wines and glasses for more mature visitors.

Cynthia surprised me with a poem she’d written out in longhand, a meditation on aging and the joy still to be found in nature.

A treasured gift! I can still hear her low, calm voice reading it to us. Thank you, Cynthia, for all the heart and soul you share with everyone privileged to know you.

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Digging Deeper

Come learn about gardening and design at Garden Spark! I organize in-person talks by inspiring designers, landscape architects, authors, and gardeners a few times a year in Austin. These are limited-attendance events that sell out quickly, so join the Garden Spark email list to be notified in advance; simply click this link and ask to be added. Read all about the Season 8 lineup here!

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

9 responses to “Cynthia’s home and garden with heart”

  1. Debbie Hollister says:

    Thank you for the lovely article and glorious photos of Cynthia’s home and garden. The addition of the handwritten poem caught my eye, also. It’s rare that one sees anything handwritten these days, so to see her words from her own hand made the eperience even more poignant. A beautiifully executed poem, meaningful to me, especially, because of the imagery and movement leading “into the fading light.” Her collections are also metaphorical, no doubt, and her home and garden must have embraced you with ambiance and the mystery of miracles. The garden appears to be the result of heartfelt hard work that only the enduring love of gardeneing fosters in our souls. Thanks for this. It has come at a time when I need inspiration. I have had to leave my beloved garden, move to raw undeveloped land, and start a new homestead “from scratch,” as they say here in the Big Thicket of Texas. My husband and I are 69, so starting over in this manner has been rough, and we are only in the early stages of building our new gardens, a challenge if the weather is perfect, but something of an ongoing but much revisited nightmare in a climate with more mutabilty than anything else. As always I am a collecor of ideas. Thanks for supplying me with new ideas and thoughtful inspiration.
    Best,
    Debbie Hollister

    • Pam/Digging says:

      I appreciate your sharing this, Debbie. Moving is so hard. I wish you good fortune and plenty of inspiration as you start your new gardens!

    • Nancy says:

      Debbie, we could talk-bout starting over from scratch. At 76, I am a year into it, and my garden, still raw, is my happy place.

  2. Nancy says:

    Pam, kudos to you! You have captured the essence of this special couple, who radiate love, joy and gratitude for lives lived well and fully. Their artful home and gardens, filled with eclectic treasures and bits of nature imagined into art, are visual reflections of the depths of their beautiful souls that invite the observer to look beyond pain and sorrow to embrace the peace and love within. They remain strong and serene despite their difficulties, and knowing them inspires me to be a better version of myself.

    • Pam/Digging says:

      You have such a way with words, Nancy. Beautifully said about Cynthia and Bobby: “knowing them inspires me to be a better version of myself.”

  3. Lisa at Greenbow says:

    I am in complete rhythm with your friend. I can totally identify with the feeling of raking leaves and finding that the wind deposited as many or more where I just raked.
    Love seeing indoor as well as outdoor spaces so loved and cared for.

  4. Jerry says:

    The green doors… What an enchanting place. I have a feeling you could stare for hours and still see something new.

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