Garden Photo of the Day

READER PHOTO! Touchable texture and contrast from two great plants

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Photo/Illustration: Courtesy of Philip Leveridge

Today’s photo is from Philip Leveridge in Austin, Texas. Philip is a garden designer, and his home garden is called East Side Patch. Of this picture, he says, “I like combining contrasting textures in my garden, and Mexican feather grass (Stipa tenuissima, USDA Hardiness Zones 7-11) paired with soft leaf yucca (Yucca recurvifolia, Zones 7-9) really hits the spot. My pathways are lined with feather grass which, as the name implies, moves on the slightest of breezes, a welcome attribute here in central Texas. Here is a link to it in motion.” Thanks, Philip, for sharing! LOVE the video. We’ll be featuring a couple more photos from East Side Patch in the next couple of days. In the meantime, check out Philip’s blog here.

Welcome to the Fine Gardening GARDEN PHOTO OF THE DAY blog! Every weekday we post a new photo of a great garden, a spectacular plant, a stunning plant combination, or any number of other subjects. Think of it as your morning jolt of green.

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READER PHOTOS: We love featuring your photos, too. If you think you have a photo that we should share on the Garden Photo of the day, email us. Send hi-res images if possible. We’ll only respond if we plan to use your photo.

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Comments

  1. bamboomary 01/10/2011

    That motion link was sensational. There was a fortune in feather grass but what an effect! I guess the gardener on a budget could always utilize the seedlings to eventually duplicate this look. Loved it!

  2. sheilaschultz 01/10/2011

    Philip, I love what you have done along your pathways. Mexican Feather Grass is awesome when you need soft texture with lots of movement. Bamboomary, in Denver this grass is grown as an annual but it reseeds like crazy. It's quite the delight.

  3. wGardens 01/10/2011

    Fabulous photo as well as an outstanding display. Thank you for sharing!

  4. ESPatch 01/11/2011

    Thank you wGardens, glad you liked the picture.

    Hi sheilaschultz and thanks on the pathway front. I love feather grass (obviously) and I have been experimenting over the course of the past year with a few "combing" and "teasing" techniques to see if I can pull them over into another growth season...will see if I am successful in the spring! It does readily reseed but I have never found this a problem in my zone 8b garden, even with the amount I have.

    Hi bamboomary, happy you liked the video link, that day was the perfect breezy day to shoot these plants...and the grasses were totally in their prime. I bought all these feather grasses as tiny little plants, about 20 of them, then filled in the gaps with some existing seedlings. The grasses were not even visible for quite some time, but they do fill-in very fast once they get going. I am definitely a gardener on a budget :-)

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