Last weekend I had the pleasure of taking a walk around my neighborhood courtesy of the 2011 Mueller Garden Walking Tour. Gardeners are working miracles in spaces that range from tiny New Urbanist strips of land to generous common areas. Here are a few highlights.
My down-the-street neighbors at 2049 Antone have done a community service by planting their street-facing fence with beautiful coral vines.
Because they have a corner, lot, they have more space inside the yard than many: a long, narrow area that they have transformed into an inviting living space with several landing areas,
flowerbeds and an herb garden,
and, complementing the professional design, some nice DIY touches:
Next door at 2045 Antone, the much smaller yard features built planters that create an attractive circular form for the yard space:
These neighbors made the most of their small yard by planting a thriving vegetable bed on the back alley:
At 4109 Camacho, neighbor Janelle is a master gardener and leader of the Mueller Landscaping Committee. It shows! In addition to spectacular front yard views,
Janelle's husband introduced us to "Hell Alley," the strip of land on the side of their property where summer temperatures get above 100 degrees for many days at a time, and the sunshine never stops baking the plants. The gardeners helpfully posted a list of plants that were working for this challenging setting, including full-sun favorites like salvia gregii:
A very special feature of this garden is the Peggy Martin climbing rose:
This spectacular bloomer attracts bees and has thrived in my neighbors' garden. This rose is also notable because it was one of the few plants to survive the flood of a Mississippi plantation during Hurricane Katrina; the plantation owner began propogating it and sells cuttings to raise money for hurricane relief.
One of my favorite gardens was one of the smallest, neighbor Kim's "art project" as she calls her alley experiments at 4116 Camacho.
Kim had some real challenges to overcome aside from square footage, such as the unsightly air conditioning units blocking her space, which she masked with beautiful morning glories.
Kim has some great collectible plants like this unusual cactus:
But my favorite original touch had to be the shoe holder Kim converted into a vertical bed for herbs:
Although she admits to having been an art major, Kim is modest about her gardening knowledge, saying she learned everything she knows from her neighbor Andy. Needless to say, I was curious to see Andy's garden, which is at 4109 Camacho, a corner lot facing into the courtyard of the garden homes between Camacho and Scales.
That's Andy standing with his arms clasped behind his back on the porch. What you see above is the part of Andy's yard that faces the garden courtyard, so Andy says that against his lawn-hating instincts, he does need to leave some of the original landscaping in place for the benefit of his neighbors who share the common space. In his side yard, though, he goes wild, and he enjoyed showing us his wide variety of plants:
From DIY artisan to master gardener, Mueller neighbors are keeping Austin weird by keeping it green. Kudos to the Landscape Committee for organizing this wonderful tour, and to all the gardeners for providing us with such beauty, pleasure and inspiration.
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