Tuesday, September 28, 2010

Thank you!

I'd like to thank the humans and non-humans for sharing their turf with hundreds of people on the GWA garden tours. Thank you so much!

welcome wagonbeware of dogscuriouspatiently waitingwho are you people?

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.

front doornice step detail

fountain detail

screened in porch

nice indoor outdoor transitionlovely screened porch

turf seat

cor-ten plantersgrassy stepschairs and grassy waterfallstrange lawn

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.

drivewaycreek bridge

lots of rectangles

i like the lack of foundation shrubsfirepitback porchi love chunky steps

bridges

NOT thornless honeylocustthems some thornscool treehousebridge and treehouse



Day 2 of GWA Dallas Garden Tours, Tudor Garden and Eclectic Garden

Man it was hard to photograph this garden! I think 3 busloads of folks were crammed into this garden at once. Hard to see, yet its charms were unmistakable. A lovely collection of little rooms, very well-detailed and well-planted with a good eye for unusual plants. I would have loved to have spent the afternoon with the gardener, enjoying tea and biscuits outside.

rounded stepssweet benchrhus cultivar, forget the namegreat fencing

datura bench

zinnias, coleus, bachelors buttons

beautifully detailed driveway and garage doorsfun brick pathway

charming plantings

The next garden was probably my favorite on the whole tour. Although, I'm realizing the garden itself wasn't that interesting, but the things that were in it were. The gates, furniture, buildings, all were strange and handmade and infinitely detailed pieces of artwork. I'm so glad I went inside the house which had the feel of being abandoned for several years (or else had just become one with the outside.) I love exploring environments in which the creator has used recycled objects in fascinating ways - intricate stonework, oddly remade furniture, weird collections. Obviously the owner is an obsessive "maker" and I could have explored the details of this garden for hours. I bet they would be hecka fun to go scour junkyards with!

lovely gate

doggie shadow

so much work everywheretexas outdoor livingwright lookingloma

the ballflower bowlpizza ovenoutdoor shower

great hangout spot

insidelaundry roomnicheducks

relaxing under the willowpoolfencecontainer plants

tweet tweetbirdbathfence scenefire pit

ecclectic assortment

hunks of icedouble walled stock tank