Garden designer Sarah Yant shared these images of a garden that her company worked on in Austin, Texas.
When the young owners undertook a complete remodel of their home in Barton Creek, they called on Eden Garden Design to update the exterior spaces. After the exterior brick received a coat of white paint and a new front door and windows, it was time to address the entry to the home with a makeover of the existing courtyard.
We created entry and courtyard areas with nods to both the Mediterranean and the Hill Country in its whimsical plant palette: fragrant rosemary, lavender, and lush roses intermingle with drought-tolerant beaked yucca (Yucca rostrata, Zones 6–10) and Wheeler’s sotol (Dasylirion wheeleri, Zones 6–10).
‘Pink Parade’ red yucca (Hesperaloe ‘Pink Parade’, Zones 6–10).
Closely sheared creeping fig vine (Ficus pumila, Zones 7–10) covers the courtyard columns and one wall of the home. Water-saving drip irrigation is utilized throughout.
A grove of Texas redbud (Cercis canadensis var. texensis, Zones 6–9) trees define the entry and frame the home. LED landscape lighting highlights the grove, providing nighttime drama and navigation.
We designed a custom-cut lueders (a kind of limestone) pathway to provide a modern entry experience to the home. Elegant pea gravel surrounds the stepping-stones and serves as mulch throughout the garden.
A custom steel arbor, covered with fragrant star jasmine vines (Trachelospermum jasminoides, Zones 8–10), provides an easy and casual dining area.
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Comments
Spectacular! I love how the creeping fig vine covering brick surfaces replaces tautly clipped evergreen hedges of more conventional garden schemes.
And you can't make the allusion to a classic french gravel dining patio more complete than adding a bottle of red wine and breadsticks to the carefully staged tablescape, LOL.
Thank you! We love the feeling that the creeping fig vine brings to this gravel courtyard.
How very lovely!
Thank you!
Every part of this is beautiful! How they must enjoy living in the house and that wonderful garden. The gates, fencing and trellises are all so artistic. Your company did a spectacular job!
Thank you! The gravel courtyard has so many purposes and is a great flex space for dining, entertaining, play area for kids, etc.
Have you mixed any smaller fines with the pea gravel to prevent the displacement of foot falls and loud crunching sounds when walking over it? My understanding is the French use a limestone gravel that is not rounded like pea gravel and which compacts for a tighter surface.
This garden is located in western Travis County (Texas), part of the Edwards Plateau, where shallow caliche soils are underlain by limestone bedrock. This provides a stable base for well-compacted pea gravel, which is the only material we used here. These conditions also necessitated heavily improving the soil in planting areas.
Magnificent!!!!!
Thank you!
Perfection! You guys do nice garden design! I really like that the Jasmine planted around the seating area where the fragrance can be enjoyed. Oh I wish I could grow Creeping Fig in zone 6b, and use it as nicely as you have.
The jasmine close to the entry of the home does make for a magical experience when it's in bloom!
Very stylish! Thanks for sharing. Also appreciate the superior photo quality. Brava!
Thank you LauraJaneS! Our photographer is Greg Thomas with Opt Photography in Austin. http://optphotography.com/
It´s beautiful. But I have to ask: how do you keep the creeping fig from going everywhere? I planted it here in the south about 6 years ago and it has gotten out of hand! Climbed 20-40 foot trees and going through all my plantings. And is dropping figs! I keep pulling it out and it just continues to gooooo. Lol
The creeping fig vine does need regular maintenance, several times a year, to keep it in check. We think of shearing it as a labor of love!
I should have watched it more closely, but just moved to the south and had no idea! Lol
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