The Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center at The University of Texas at Austin is proud to present Gardens on Tour 2008 on Saturday, May 10. Our gardens this year are particularly interesting and selected to inspire serious plant lovers and offer ideas to students of landscape design and backyard gardeners alike.

Some of these exquisite gardens were designed by homeowners, some by teams of professionals. Some are formal, others wild, but they all showcase the beauty and versatility of Texas native wildflowers and plants. These gardens were also selected because they demonstrate sustainable landscaping practices—particularly important on our crowded planet.

This Mother's Day weekend, we invite you to put on your comfortable walking shoes, use this map and join us for a day in the gardens. Bring your mother or a friend with you. Our knowledgeable staff and volunteers, as well as the garden designers, will be on hand to answer your questions at each garden.

Your contribution supports the Wildflower Center and our mission to increase the sustainable use and conservation of native wildflowers, plants and landscapes.

Susan K. Rieff
Executive Director
Lady Bird Johnson,
Wildflower Center

Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center
4801 La Crosse Ave., 78739

About the Site The Wildflower Center's gardens display the nation's premiere collection of Texas native plants. In addition, the center is one of only three public gardens nationally that exclusively feature native wildflowers, trees, grasses and shrubs. The gardens demonstrate that well-designed, compellingly beautiful gardens can make a positive contribution to our environment.

Our richly diverse gardens allow visitors to experience the unique beauty of more than 600 species of Texas native plants. You will see contrasting examples of naturalistic and formal design as you enjoy the courtyard garden, the homeowner inspiration gardens, the cafe garden and demonstration gardens. The woodland garden is being transformed into a model shade garden with a more complete collection of Central Texas woody plants. The cut flower garden and the butterfly garden also have been enhanced. On display for spring is the Sculpture in the Wild exhibit featuring works by Texas artists.

Lady Bird Johnson and actress Helen Hayes founded the center in 1982 as a place to preserve vanishing species and to demonstrate native plant horticulture and design.
PHOTO BY PHILIP HAWKINS.

10608 Londonshire Lane

Directions from MOPAC From MOPAC (Loop 1), turn west on Slaughter Lane. Turn left on Escarpment Boulevard. At Needham Lane, make a U-turn and drive north on Escarpment Boulevard. Turn right on Roxbury Lane. Turn right on Londonshire Lane. The garden is on the right.

Designers Annie Gillespie of Botanical Concerns (www.botanicalconcerns.com).

About the Garden Although native plants grew here in abundance, the use of this backyard was limited by some species that had run wild. In fact, the homeowners had lost the battle against aggressive vines and unruly vegetation. The design objectives were to re-invite homeowners David and Pat Northington into the outdoor space, to make the landscape more visually interesting from inside the home and from the existing deck, and to provide a homeowner-maintained and dog-proof yard.

Beautiful, mature oaks set the stage for a dramatic, dry creek bed constructed with native limestone boulders. Generous patio slabs were laid to create a path extending from the deck across the creek, ending at an informal sitting area surrounded by garden. Across a lush lawn, a second decomposed granite area, nestled under an elm, created another destination and allows the family to experience the garden from a different perspective. Garden beds extend around these elements. The backyard was completed in 2006.
PHOTO BY ANDREA DELONG-AMAYA.
Click here for a native species list

6505 Lost Cove

Directions from MOPAC From MOPAC (Loop 1), exit at Capital of Texas Highway (Loop 360). Drive north on Loop 360 about 2.8 miles. Turn left on Lost Creek Boulevard. Turn right on Lost Cove. The garden is on the left at the end of the cul-de-sac.

Designer Homeowner Mark Hansen, in collaboration with David Mahler of Environmental Survey Consulting (www.envirosurvey.com).

About the Garden As the second homeowner of a 1978 house on a pieshaped lot, this professional designer spent eight years with the existing suburban lawn before choosing a style for the garden. However, that afforded him time to slowly observe microclimate patterns and to plant a few native trees that gave the landscape a head start. Lessons from the Wildflower Center docent program inspired him to create an edible wildscape.

One design challenge was a 12-foot drop across the back of the lot. This was solved by gently terracing the lot, which also collects rainwater to replenish ground moisture. Weathered limestone slabs were fitted like a jigsaw puzzle without the use of mortar, creating a timeless appearance. On one side of the house, the soil was removed to expose bedrock to correct drainage and create puddling opportunities for butterflies. After the rockwork was finished last spring, herbaceous and underlayer plants were installed. Stock from the Wildflower Center plant sale and generous rains put the growth on a fast track.
PHOTO BY ANDREA DELONG-AMAYA.
Click here for a native species list

4722 Bunny Run

Directions from MOPAC From MOPAC (Loop 1), exit at Capital of Texas Highway (Loop 360). Drive north on Loop 360 about 7.3 miles. Turn left on Cedar Street. Turn right on Bunny Run. The garden is near the end of the narrow road. There is no parking on Bunny Run. Please turn left and park along Charles Avenue.

Designer Inga Marie Carmel, Landscape Architect. Construction and installation by John Wilder of Texas Gardens and Landscaping. Plant selection by Nancy Webber of Ground Xero. The garden is maintained by Julie Clark of Stronger than Dirt. Tree Care is by Guy LeBlanc of Arbor Vitae Tree Care. Lawn care by The Roving Gardener.

About the Gardens When the owners purchased the house on Lake Austin in 1994, 99 steep concrete steps led down to lake level. There were many varieties of wonderful native plants, but thick woods blocked the view of the lake and some of the majestic oak trees. The homeowners selectively removed other trees for a better view.

They grew to love the hillside's special features—a rock outcropping with a Mexican buckeye, an anaqua tree with an interesting shape, a rattan-vine in a perfect spot that needed only a trellis on which to climb. In 1999, they hired a landscape architect and emphasized their desire to improve access to the lake, to protect native trees and plants and to use native plants as much as possible in the new beds. It required many truckloads of rock and plants to create this beautiful hillside.
PHOTO BY ANDREA DELONG-AMAYA
Click here for a native species list

6808 Jester Wild Drive

Directions from MOPACFrom MOPAC (Loop 1), exit at Capital of Texas Highway (Loop 360). Go north on Loop 360. Drive about 9.8 miles and turn left at Lakewood Drive. Drive about 1.1 miles and turn right on Jester Wild Drive. The garden is on the right.

The majority of parking is available on Lakewood Drive. Parking on Jester Wild Drive is limited. Please try not to block driveways or the street entrance.

Designer Russell Womack of Capitol Landscaping(www.capitollandscaping.com), homeowners Jim and Lynne Weber and Texas Master Naturalists.

About the Garden Designed to showcase the concept of wildscaping, this garden complements the recently-built 4-star rated green residence and the philosophy of the homeowners to live lightly on the land and restore the original habitat. Working with the natural slope of the lot, a 3-tiered waterfall was built of local limestone along with several stone terraces that provide a backbone for more than 100 species of native plants. A mulched footpath leads you through the backyard, where care was taken to protect existing ashe junipers, red oaks and little walnut trees, and takes you to the private 8-acre preserve called "Woody Hollow."

On this property, which borders the Balcones Canyonlands Preserve, invasive exotics were removed to lessen competition for existing native plants such as elbowbush, escarpment black cherry, Carolina buckthorn and Lindheimer's silktassel, while protecting uncommon native plants such as green dragon, scarlet clematis, marbleseed and canyon mock orange. The homeowners, both master naturalists, have observed more than 66 species of butterflies and 68 species of birds here.
PHOTO BY CITY OF AUSTIN
Click here for a native species list

4913 Finley Drive

Directions from MOPAC From MOPAC (Loop 1), exit at 45th Street. Go east on 45th Street. Turn left onto Finley Drive. The garden is on the right.

Designer Homeowner Tom Spencer and Mac Design Build, Inc. (www.macdesign-build.com)

About the Garden Possumhaw Hollow is the garden of the host of KLRU-TV's Central Texas Gardener, Tom Spencer, and his partner, Victor Martinez. Designed in 2000, the space revolves around a series of interconnected garden rooms defined largely by trees and shrubs.

"Our garden was inspired by the metaphor of the garden as a journey," says Spencer. "To that end, we have created a very strong sense of movement coupled with multiple destinations— or places to be."

Possumhaw Hollow is organized around a series of long view corridors that lead the visitor's eye to different focal points and sitting areas. Spencer likes to joke that he was trying to "connect the dots" with his design; straight lines connect a series of circular spaces in this very geometric garden.

The central features of the garden include an allee of bald cypress trees, a circle of the garden's namesake— possumhaw hollies, a mini-labyrinth, and intimate "conversation rooms."
PHOTO BY TOM SPENCER
Click here for a native species list