Favorite Austin Vignettes

And now, for the last Austin post! In addition to all the lessons i learned, great gardens i saw, plants i wanted, and awesome people i met, there were some vignettes, of both gardens and other places, that i wanted to remember and look back at. So without further ado or comments, there are some of the many (many) things that caught my attention in May 2018:

A huge thank you to the 2018 Fling organizers, gardeners, and sponsors. My first fling was outstanding, and i can't wait until Denver!

Austin Fling Induced Plant Lust

While i think i would happily take entire gardens out of Austin and bring them home, there were several plants that we saw that might be more realistic to get at home. As i'm planning out what i want to in the garden in 2019, i went back and looked at what caught my attention in Austin. Below is a list of the things i now really really want... degrees of practicality aside.

First of - smoke bush. I saw this (both the green and purple form) in a large number of gardens.

those smoke puffs!

They should do fine here, but i've already killed one. Maybe it's time to try again?

Next hesperaloe funifera - also seen in multiple gardens, and most of them in bloom!

at Lady Bird Johnson center

I actually already have one of these, but now i want more... they look so great, especially the bloom stalks against the sky.

This next one (also from Lady Bird Johnson) I have no idea what it is. I may have asked on Instagram, so maybe someone answered already?

those green bloom stalks are cool!

this next one i have also, although it does not look like this... Dicondra argentea (Silver Ponyfoot).

ground cover at the library

We saw this everywhere in Austin, and it looked so good. It must like Austin much more than the desert. I wonder if there's a good alternative. I would also take all the other plants in that picture, please and thank you.

This next plant was actually for sale - Muhlenbergia dumosa at The Natural Gardener

Unfortunately, gallon pots don't fit in my carry on.

Why can't i find bamboo muhly locally?

Not a plant, but also at The Natural Gardener - these beautiful glass chimes.

so pretty...

And they would last approximately 10 seconds in our wind. Sigh. This is why we can't have nice things. Maybe if i hung them against a wall?

Back to plants - several gardens had these pineapple guave (acca sellowiana) - gorgeous flowers and leaves, and it even makes fruit!

Given how wet these are - this must be from Mirador!

it looks good dry too!

I'm pretty sure they could survive in the desert, even if they didn't fruit... Now, I just have to track one down...

This next one, several bloggers asked about. It was a salvia (gigantica?) but with the most amazing azure-y colored blooms.

Close up

This one is in Pam's garden.

When asked, all Austin gardeners claimed not to know what it was, and just said it was "passed along".  Perhaps a conspiracy to keep it for themselves!

Lucinda's garden had the same pretty salvia, along with a non-plant resident that i wouldn't mind -

cute Sancho - waiting to be admired

While my neighbors cats will sometimes come into my garden, they are not nearly as friendly or calm as Sancho!

This plant is one I've written about before - piper auritum. I actually got my own little cutting.

From Margi McClurgs garden

I'm trying to figure out where mine should go - it sounds like it could take over, and i recall Julie Clark from Stronger than Dirt saying it comes up everywhere. The lack of water (and shade) here should help, but i probably don't just want to let it loose willy nilly...

There was one rose at Kirk Moring's garden that for some reason really wanted to come home with me - Rosa 'Livin Easy":

the foliage and color and scent was amazing!

This one i was actually able to track down, and now gets to live in the front garden. Let's hope its happy!

There were so many more plants and ideas and things i learned during the Austin Fling that I'm sure i could make this post even longer, but I'll stop now. But if i find all these, maybe i'll go back and look through all the pictures I look for some more unique plants to find. This may have been my first fling, but if they are all this inspiring, hopefully there will be many more to go to!

Restraint is something to be considered...

Now that it's been almost 9 months since Austin, looking back at the pictures, even more things jump out at me. One of them is how many of my pictures captured simple/restrained garden views. Maybe because my own collection tendencies usually make my garden look like a hodge-podge of stuff? Here are some (erm, many?) views that caught my attention...

I love the way that the gravel, stone and planters all work together here, plus large plants that have space to each be admired..

Same goes for the next two vignettes - also several copies of the same plant, plus a common ground cover...

This look out of Pam's garden has a similar there - multiples of the same plant, plus clean gravel & one focal point.

This vignette has more of the same gravel, with each plant highlighted in a way that allows it to really shine...

Some more examples of multiples of the same plant making a restrained, calm, and gorgeous view:

yuccas & bamboo muhly

ground cover, grasses and opuntias

succulents in a planter, repeating..

I loved this combination of planters, rocks and plants

even exuberant gardens have order to them - like all these matching decorations

so many good agaves!

This area doubled as a water harvesting area, i think? I like the subdued colors and plants

I like this vignette, even as i realize i would plant 4 different yuccas instead of 4 of the same...

same here! although this view in Jenny's garden is so gorgeous!

Loved this combination of similar pots and plants against a green wall

I'm sensing a theme in some of these pictures...

Thoughts on how to apply this lesson to my garden:

• Maybe i should consider that sometimes, more of the same plant is ok? Or at least focus on plants with similar forms, so that from far away it looks more restrained
• Many of those pictures have pots lined up with walls - that's something i can do. I can also be more intentional at picking pots that "match" each other. Most of mine are already some kind of blue. 
• Especially in the front garden, some areas of restraint (leaving room around the agaves, more of the same plants, etc) could be good. 
• Keeping the plants well groomed (like cleaning off all the agave pups, cutting back the grasses, etc) will probably go a long way to creating some order in the chaos
• Since i don't have grass, some areas to create "simple green" as a background could be with the ground cover plants, and the DG areas
• Maybe 2019 is the year to trying growing vines on the block wall? I should look into what plants might work!