Hopping over to Ruthie’s hilltop garden
Last week, I hopped over to Ruthie Burrus’s garden in the Rollingwood neighborhood for a spring visit. Ruthie kindly opened her garden to me and my out-of-town guest Lisa Negri of SummerHome Garden. As always, the gardens surrounding Ruthie’s hilltop home enchant with a textural mix of spiky plants, like beaked yucca…
…and softly colored native perennials, like Gulf penstemon.
A rabbit sculpture seems particularly appropriate for a near-Easter visit. Its ears echo a forked tree trunk behind it.
Peace
Along the street, a big whale’s tongue agave is sending up a girthy bloom spike. It’ll likely double in height before the candelabra flowers open, signaling the plant’s imminent demise. (Agaves die after flowering.)
Sweet peas climb a mesh fence surrounding a tennis court. Of course I stopped to smell their delicious, sweet fragrance.
A seldom used side path has been taken over by pink evening primrose and standing winecup, two assertive native wildflowers. What a good spot for them to duke it out.
Walking the primrose path…
Ruthie’s backyard enjoys a spectacular view of downtown Austin. Native Anacacho orchid tree flowers in the foreground.
Queen Victoria agave looking spiffy in pinstripes on the porch
Japanese aralia in a handsome tabletop urn in the shade
A row of low-growing distylium caught my eye. Ruthie has given up on similar-looking but cold-sensitive ‘Little Ollie’ dwarf olives. But she says distylium makes an excellent alternative. (Southern Living agrees.)
Along the driveway, a magnificently large whale’s tongue agave extends its flukes. We peeked at the center leaves to make sure a bloom spike isn’t popping up, spelling the plant’s doom, but saw no sign. Phew. It’s got to be close though.
All along the sunny driveway, Ruthie grows wildflowers like pink evening primrose and bluebonnets.
These ramble along a stone retaining wall, offering eye-level beauty and nose-level fragrance.
Corn poppies held aloft on hairy stems
Lisa posed here for her first-ever bluebonnet photo — a rite of passage for every Texan, as we know. The next day we’d go on a wildflower safari to hunt for more.
But the cultivated bluebonnet is pretty sweet too. Thanks to Ruthie for the beautiful garden visit!
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You must have posted about this garden before: that rabbit sculpture (or maybe a hare?) has been stuck in my head for years! Any time I visit a garden center I’m always looking for a long eared hansom fellow, similar to this. Alas, it’s one of a kind. I love it!
Yes, quite a few times before — and I’ll be featuring Ruthie’s garden in my new book! The rabbit/hare sculpture is by Jim Budish.
That hare makes a statement! The pink evening primrose are budding up to take off here too – I’m always split between celebrating their arrival and fearing their takeover 😉
That’s exactly right — it’s too beautiful not to love but also a little scary.
What a fun garden this is. I seem to remember that rabbit/hare, too. Handsome fellow! Pink evening primrose doesn’t take over in my garden, but it certainly moves around. I’ll have to consider adding some winecup to the mix, it’s delightful. This garden is lush and free flowing, I love it! Thanks for sharing, Pam.
Ruthie’s garden is always especially delightful in spring, with the wildflowers blooming!
Ruthie’s garden is looking as gorgeous as ever. The rabbit ears and the tree fork, so clever. I wonder if this was just an accident. All those pretty Texas blooms including the pink evening primrose. I keeping wishing it would show up over here. I would enjoy its rampant growth. Thanks for the return visit.
You probably just need to scatter a few seeds to have more of that primrose than you’d ever want, haha. It is a beauty though.