An English Garden with a Texas Twist

Bluebonnets and whale tongue agave in the entry courtyard

Ah Austin, how I miss you so. Last weekend I finally made it back to Austin for a too-short visit. It had been a whole year since my last trip, I confess. Austin didn't seem to be experiencing any financial meltdown - the energy there is palpable. But I digress. Besides seeing my friends (not all of them unfortunately!), I had a blast doing "gardeny" things around town. And one of those highlights was a visit with Jenny of Rock Rose blog. Wow, was I floored by her garden and all the work she and her husband have done! Jenny is from England but has mastered the Texas Hill Country completely. Faced with inhospitable to nonexistent soil in the west of Austin, she has designed a showcase garden full of self-seeding flowers and other plants, both native and non, that are thriving.

Another view of the entry courtyard

Her garden is within a number of courtyards. The entry courtyard bursts with low-growing wildflowers - Texas bluebonnets, Blackfoot daisy and four-nerve daisy, to name a few. There's also a giant Lady Banks' rose, assorted cacti and succulents, and a subtle little fountain (seen in the first photo). Each courtyard has at least one gathering area.


A peek over the far wall reveals the vegetable garden

Each courtyard showcases another jumble of flowers. Unfortunately, I didn't get any good photos of the English courtyard, again full of flowers.

The pool courtyard

Poppies and yellow (Hinckley's?) columbine were everywhere.

Pool courtyard

It would be difficult to pick a favorite courtyard for they all have very special attributes. I think what I liked most about the pool courtyard was the design. The different levels really added that extra something. Jenny was able to envision all this in her mind as she supervised the placement of all the rocks (dug from the lot, of course). And the pool was very inviting although not obvious at all. You can see part of it as water spills from the jar at top.

My friend Marcia talking with Jenny on a patio

A place to contemplate the beauty

What I like most about Jenny's garden is how well it captures that sense of place. You know this garden belongs in the Hill Country. Also, believe it or not, Jenny designed the entire garden and did almost all of the work on it herself. Her husband apparently became very proficient at pouring concrete (there are many beautiful concrete steps), and he built steps with native limestone in many places. What that says to me is that this garden is not a "trophy garden." It is well loved and a piece of Jenny's heart.


Jenny - the Lancashire Rose

You really should visit Jenny's blog as she's much more talented than me at photography. Jenny - thank you so much for the tour and I'll see you in Seattle at the Bloggers Fling!
This post was written by Jean McWeeney for my blog Dig, Grow, Compost, Blog. Copyright 2010. Please contact me for permission to copy, reproduce, scrape, etc.