Garden Blogger's Fling, Austin: Mirador Garden

Continuing with Austin-area gardens and the 2018 Garden Blogger's Fling, we see our first private garden. In the hills above Austin, we visited the Mirador garden, a showpiece of landscape architecture married with exceptional low-water plants. I felt as if I'd walked into the pages of Garden Design magazine. 

Designed by Curt Arnette of Sitio Design and installed in 2013, the garden is primarily low-water plants appropriate for this part of the world. The owner has lived in Austin for 35 years where her interest in gardening has gradually grown. Her travels to Australia, Europe and Rwanda influence her design choices and make for an eclectic and functional garden space.

Oh yes, this was that day . . . the rain day. As we got off of the bus, still wet from our earlier adventures, we realized this, too, would be a gray and sopping experience but we were up for it. How often do you get to see amazing private gardens in Austin, Texas? We buckled up, got those cameras out and did our best to stay dry.

The walk up to the house is an open landscape surrounded by hills and punctuated by heat-loving Yucca rostrata, wildflowers, shrubs and Agave salmiana. It is quite impressive with a massive corten steel retaining wall hinting at the architecture and garden design to come while still maintaining a wild feel. The curve of that wall, however, will soon make way for straight, contemporary lines in the gardens closer to the house.

As you approach the house, the wild morphs into formality. This simple treatment of grasses and trees is an interesting way to landscape a large area. Repeating elements has a pleasing, calming effect and this particular choice of plants keeps the feel natural.

Yucca rostrata in a group portrait.

Straight lines throughout the garden reign in simple plantings.

More straight lines and formal clipped hedges in a rain garden area. The corten planters, as they are so tall, I am sure lend to good drainage for the very heat-loving choice of plant material in them while the hedge is sited in an area that receives rain runoff. The owner cites runoff as being a challenge, so they installed some French drains as well as diverting water in creative ways.

More drainage solutions.

There are some massive Agave ovativolia or whale's tongue agave in this garden. I had some serious agave envy going on.

The vegetable bed is extraordinary. Another use for corten steel is raised beds. The owner commissioned these tomato cages, made with steel. No floppy tomatoes here, my friends. She enjoys picking fresh veggies with her grandchildren from these beds. Who wouldn't? There are also beds with flowers for cutting, although most of my photos of them are quite sopping.

A sunken vegetable garden, complete with a cistern for collecting rain water. Many gardens in Austin have these, and for good reason. I'm sure it's scorching there even as I write this. Precious water is so worthy of collecting. Facilities Manager and I are looking for some kind of cistern for our garden, but cisterns can be quite expensive. This is impressive.

Water features also made repeat appearances in Austin. The sound of moving water is pleasing and cooling both audibly and visually. It is a great device to use in gardens if possible. Plus, wildlife appreciates regular, fresh water.

Moving around from the side of the house to the back garden, the contemporary theme continues. Straight lines paired with loose plantings of wildflowers native to Texas, shrubs, groundcovers and agaves are visually stunning.  

More corten steel edging and lots of warm-colored gravel kept it all upbeat for this rain-soaked visitor. Massive amounts of incredible hardscape materials around every corner, but then softened with choice plant material, is kind of the Mirador equivalent of formal walls in old English gardens paired with loose, blowsy flowers spilling over that wall. The softness of plants tames the hard edges, while the hard edges contain the wildness of the plants.

Yucca rostrata, silver ponyfoot or Dichondra argentea (a Texas native plant), steps and a lawn. The way the garden is divided into different levels makes each area seem somewhat formal. If it were all on a slope, it would not retain the designed, contemporary feel in my opinion.

Here is her fig arbor, inspired by travels to New Zealand. 

Textures. These three were repeated throughout.

Fantastic rain chain, another nod to managing storm water in an elegant fashion. And that house. Wow. The corten edge you see on the left is a swimming pool.

This is the hot tub. Not a bad view.

The surrounding hills are an extension of this garden.

Charming little moments throughout.

Out back there is a very wild feel, which was quite appealing to me.

Up around the other side of the home, you discover another water diversion system in the form of a creek bed, which you can see in action.

One last little nook to explore, this also on the side of the house. Lovely place to enjoy a glass of wine in the evening.

This garden blew my socks off. It was perfectly designed with lust-worthy plantings of so many of my favorites. Even though it is amazing, you can tell it was definitely designed. Is that a good thing? Does it matter? It depends on whom you ask. To me, a D.I.Y.'er, I was overwhelmed at the amazing landscape architecture that I could never achieve in my own garden, primarily due to cost. But even if I had the money, would I build corten steel raised beds? I don't know. I'll likely never know. I have what I have and I garden as I garden. It can be a dangerous thing comparing one's own garden and talents to another, especially when professional vs. amateur is at play. I will conclude by saying that while I completely appreciate the sexy nature of this unbelievable garden, I am happy to come home to the land I have. At the end of the day it's all relative. I completely enjoy what I have and appreciate the partnership and collaboration my Facilities Manager and I share. I also wish to thank the owners for opening this amazing garden for us all to enjoy. Thank you very much.

Stay tuned for next week's look at the garden of an English gardener transplanted to Austin as we continue our Austin Garden Blogger's Fling posts.

That's it for this week at Chickadee Gardens. As always, thank you so much for reading and commenting. We love hearing from you! Happy gardening!