Spring is when I get invited — or invite myself — into gardens all around Austin. It’s a rush to see as many as I can before summer and the Death Star arrive. Right now though, it’s sweetness and light! Especially in the charming cottage garden of artist Tom Ellison and his wife, Pat, in Austin’s Tarrytown neighborhood.

I’m sharing the front garden with you today. A neighbor-friendly, see-through fence with a simple arbor creates enclosure, keeps out stray deer, and offers vertical space for vines. A purple clematis rambles along one side. One of Tom’s found-object sculptures makes an out-of-this-world welcome.

Clematis ‘Jackmanii’, I think

It’s a beauty.

Inside the gate, Tom adds pops of red among the greens, echoing his home’s red front door…

…seen here with a potted kangaroo paws, an Australian plant with fabulous, fuzzy flowers. I’ve heard these melt away in our sauna-like summers. Tom is trying it as an experiment. Has anyone in Central Texas had summer-long success? Inquiring minds want to know!

More red comes from a scarlet-leaved Japanese maple, growing under an enormous, white-trunked sycamore — a stately tree with a twin in the yard next door.

Showy clumps of spuria iris are blooming throughout the garden, including these lovely purple ones. The powder-blue plant behind it is a gigantic Wheeler’s sotol (Dasylirion wheeleri) — so big I thought at first it was a blue nolina (Nolina nelsonii).

That big Wheeler’s makes a nice backdrop to all kinds of plants and garden art, like these golden birds…

…which themselves echo golden spuria irises.

Tom cleverly tops painted garden posts with ceramic tiles, like this peace-sign one. I’m going to store this idea away for the future.

Two ceramic frogs in a concrete urn represent Tom (pondering) and Pat (holding back a laugh). They always make me smile.

Byzantine gladiolus was in full bloom with sword-shaped leaves and pennants of hot pink.

Glad to see you, gladiolus.

A low iron fence swagged with sweet peas marks the transition into a pond garden. Drifts of spuria iris and water-loving pickerel weed soften the edges and add color.

Those sweet peas add springtime fragrance and cottage charm.

A little ceramic face adorns a gate post.

And a frog pot holds a purple oxalis — part of a froggy theme in the garden.

Native pickerel weed — stunning and massive

Burnt-gold-and-burgundy spuria irises look marvelous against a grassy plant with slightly bronze coloring. A metal heron’s wings pick up more of that deep red, as does a fish in his beak.

Those spurias!

Let’s just admire them for a moment.

It’s like they’re illuminated from the inside.

The heron sculpture watches over the large raised pond. I’m sure it’s given Tom and Pat many hours of enjoyment, especially when their grandchildren visit.

Pat and Tom reflected in the water

Another big clump of purple spuria iris

A few corn poppies

The elegant spires of pickerel weed…

…which bees were enjoying.

A few early daylilies were open.

Golden California poppies were still going.

And those sweet peas — deliciously fragrant

A covered arbor alongside the pond provides a shady spot to enjoy it, and the rest of the front garden.

Up next: Tom’s back garden, where his creativity with found-art sculpture and grandchild-pleasing gnome houses is really set loose.

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Digging Deeper

My new book, Gardens of Texas: Visions of Resilience from the Lone Star State, is available for pre-order at Amazon and other online book sellers. It’ll be released on October 14th, and while that’s several months away, pre-orders are tremendously helpful in getting my book noticed by readers and reviewers. Please consider pre-ordering if you’d like to read it this fall; more info here. Thank you for your support!

Tour 5 unique Houston gardens on Saturday, April 26, from 10 am to 4 pm, during the Garden Conservancy’s Open Day Tour for Houston. Tickets must be purchased online in advance through the Garden Conservancy.

Shop the Spring Native Plant Sale at the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center each weekend through April 27, 9 am to 1 pm (last entry at 12:30 pm). Plant sale admission is free. Bring your own wagon or cart to transport your treasures.

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!

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