The Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center, on a dry day...

The Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center (aka the Botanic Garden of Texas) was a much anticipated stop during the 2018 Garden Blogger's Fling in Austin. I think I got in about 45 minutes or so of walking the garden (see that post here) before the sky opened and a big Texas-style rain fell. So when Pam asked me about places I wanted to see during my Austin visit last October, the Wildflower Center was high on the list.

That's Mahonia trifoliolata above and below, a mahonia native to Arizona, New Mexico and Texas. Read more about it in the excellent LBJ Wildflower Center Plant Database: here.

Unfortunately the always cantankerous Blogger software chose this post to, once again, load my photos backwards. So we begin at the end of my visit and work our way back to the beginning.

I enjoyed strolling the Theme Gardens looking at plants, but also structure. There was a wealth of stock tanks used in wonderful ways.

An overall photo of the Theme Garden area, with the Home Inspiration Gardens to the right and greenhouses to the left. 

There was a plant sale going on near the greenhouses and naturally Pam and walked through. I would have liked to grab a plant, or two, but flying kept me from indulging.

We stood and watched this monarch butterfly flit around for quite awhile. I hadn't seen a monarch for ages.

Here's where going backwards through my photos gets a little complicated. This is the view...

Looking through this slit in...

This wall...

Which was next to these large "birds nests" made from native grape vines...

Which have me thinking back the nest I saw at Flicker Farm on Sauvie Island in Oregon, here—the Oregon version was based ones the owners/gardeners saw at Brooklyn Botanic Garden.

There were also stumps for climbing, this being part of the "Luci and Ian Family Garden"—an area I wasn't able to explore on my previous visit.

This is a back-side of the marvelous stone structures you'll see in the next few photos.

Inside the "caves"...

Looking out under the waterfall...

And the waterfall proper view...

Magnificent Yucca rostrata.

What a fun place to explore if you're a kid! (or a kid-at-heart)

If I remember correctly this is a representation of the Colorado River watershed? Or maybe I just made that up? 

Agaves! Large Agave americana. The cold of February 2021 had devastated so many agaves around Austin that was extra excited whenever I saw large plants.

Visiting in October had me appreciating the many structure plants in the garden (like these conifers I can't ID), as the "wildflower" part wasn't really represented that time of the year (nor is it really my jam).

Palms and pink muhly get me every time though!

The observation tower was closed on my previous visit so I was extra excited to climb to the top and see the view.

Bonus, there were plants up there! Yucca pallida...

And happy-n-healthy opuntia.

I imagine at the right time of the year that meadow would be alive with wildflower color.

I loved that there were so many opuntia on the top of the tower.

Beginning my decent back down to ground level...

And looking up from the ground towards where I'd been (or rather was about to go, when I took this photo).

We're back at the entrance to the garden now, and I'm admiring the corner spot where a great horned owl has been known to nest (see Pam's photos here). No owl this time though...

This post wraps up my October visit to Austin, thanks for being a wonderful hostess Pam! I hope to come back soon...

All material © 2009-2022 by Loree Bohl for danger garden. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited and just plain rude.

A visit to Cat's Austin garden

I first met Cat Jones at the 2017 DC area Garden Bloggers Fling, and got to know her even better during the Austin Fling in 2018. However, since you never really know a gardener until you visit their garden (am I right?), I jumped at the chance to visit Cat's garden while I was in Austin last October...

It was early when Pam and I pulled up at Cat's, the time stamp on my photos says 6:30am, but of course Austin is two hours ahead of Portland and my camera's Pacific Time. I blame the early hour on my inability to focus on much of anything in my photos; plus the light was really contrasty on a sunny October morning. Neither of these issues should take away from the garden or Cat's hospitality! Both were top-notch...

I have no memory of this vignette, but that doesn't stop me from loving this photo.

There were many pools of water in Cat's garden. This was the smallest I photographed, but isn't it spectacular?

The private side-garden features a strategic—and gorgeous—dry creek bed designed to deal with Austin's fast and furious downpours.

Embedded with in it is a large stock tank pond...

While I love stock tanks (and have 12 of them) there's something so perfect about seeing them in Austin, even in a fancy garden.

A look back at the entrance to the private side garden...

And the dry creek bed...

Orange fishes! How does she do it? In my garden the raccoon asshats would have these gone in no time and make a mess of the plants while they were at it.

Loquat! Aka Eriobotrya japonica against the fence.

I do love a little hardscape perfection.

Live-oak loveliness...

The dry-creek bed running off into the distance, down the slope...

How many hours could you spend here, just swinging the day away?

And there's Cat, showing how it's done.

Another pool of water.

Some spikes tucked in here and there...

The view from that swing up in the previous photos, out across a canyon.

There's an inviting patio down the slope a bit, and since it was October when I visited there's a friendly (?) pumpkin face visitor too...

The view back towards Cat's home...

And towards the large stock tank pond...

I am jealous of this great patio spot off the back of the house, oh how I wish we had a door off the back of our house into the garden (our second door leads off from the kitchen to the driveway).

This big chunky table was custom made from a deck that Cat and her family had removed from the back of their house. On-site reuse!

I imagine many a meal is enjoyed here...

Walking back around to the front of the garden...

And I'll end with a photo of Chrysanthemum pacificum/aka Ajania pacifica. I've wanted to grow this one in my garden, but have held off on doing so because of the annoying yellow blooms. It looked so wonderful here, about to burst into flower. I am reconsidering my stance. Thanks for sharing your fantastic garden Cat!

All material © 2009-2022 by Loree Bohl for danger garden. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited and just plain rude.