Scenes from the Wildflower Center's Garden Tour

 

This garden's standing cypress was stunning.

While we were on the Great Nursery Tour of 2013 (last week), I commented to my friend that we should definitely go on the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center’s next Garden Tour. It was sure to have many interesting gardens, and would feature lots of native plants. 

Later that day, I popped open Facebook, and a notification jumped out at me:  the Wildflower  Center’s tour was the coming weekend (May 11). Mind you, my entire family was coming to celebrate my dad’s 75^th birthday on this day.

I love this combination!

Did that deter me? Oh no.

Bright and early Saturday morning, we (Lona, my dad and I) jumped in the car and headed to Austin on a schedule. We were determined to see two, maybe three of the gardens and be home by lunchtime.

Detail of the fern wall (on the left under the porch
overhang in the large photo above). A/C condensate
provides water for this feature, according to the handout.

After a lengthy discussion, not only about which gardens to visit and in what order, but also about how much trouble we have making decisions, we made a plan and then executed it. We managed to visit three gardens, and had a lovely morning communing with plants and other gardeners.

And yes, we made it home by lunch and before the other guests arrived. I even had time to spiff up the bathroom!

Hope you enjoy a few pictures of what we saw. I really would like to visit more of the gardens on next year’s tour.

 

This area is beyond the pool in the photo above.

More detail from the same garden.
Because the lot was steeply sloped,
the garden required extensive terracing (left).
I really liked this bird watering station (above).

My dad, enjoying the deck. Behind him is a view of the Austin skyline.
We also liked the succulent garden centerpieces.

This succulent garden literally stopped me in my tracks. It greeted visitors at the last house we visited, which also was sited on a steeply sloped lot, with a wildflower meadow, orchard, vegetable garden, pond, buffalo grass lawn, etc.