Day 2 of GWA Dallas Garden Tours, Minimal Garden and Park Garden

I loved the house at this garden. So simple and understated with well-built details. I would have almost preferred a house tour rather than the garden tour. Don't get me wrong, the garden had some nice hardscape details, the fountain was really cool and I was really taken with the way the steps were created. And the sunroom was so nice! (But I guess that is the architecture again.) I did like some of the plantings, especially up close to the house - the turf bench, the grassy cor-ten planters. But further out in the garden things got a little weird. I'm sure the edgy grass switcheroo lawn sounded cool on paper but it didn't really translate well in actuality. I did like the grassy steps which looked like a waterfall from the bottom. It just felt like a lot of grass everywhere... I don't know, maybe I was just hot and tired and couldn't see past the people to enjoy the space.

The next garden is hard to call a garden. It was like being in a large forested park. It felt more like an anti-garden - very minimal planting beds, spare hardscape, lots of trees and brushy undergrowth. Which in turn meant that the structures that one came upon took on an important magnitude in the loose growth. Stone steps, a tree house, a path with bridges. They seemed surprising to find and became more meaningful in their isolation. Kind of a zen stroll garden but with a casual Texas attitude to it.