Water Wise Garden Tour

I took my Mother on another garden tour this morning. This is the annual Water Wise Garden Tour sponsored by the water utilities company. Gardeners apply to have their gardens rated as drought tolerant as well as have a way to retain rain water. This is always my favorite garden tour. The tour has many gardens on it, but the temperature is getting high up in the 90's now, so I decided Mother and I would only go to 4 houses. This is the first one..not far from Mother's house. If you like cactus-this was the place to be!
The agave were unbelie-
vable! We were so impressed with the front. But the back was even better!
This is the first thing I saw when I walked in the backyard. It is a bog full of lotus. If you know anything about ponding, you know lotus are not easy to grow. And these gardeners have a water garden FULL of them! Wow!
They had a very nice sitting area in the middle of the yard. Behind it was a vegetable garden and 2 bee hives. Loved this yard!
Up close to the house was another water feature. Really cute isn't it? And, in that ground cover are box turtle. They were shy, so I couldn't get a picture.
There were succulents in all kinds of containers. This one is on the back porch. This was a fantastic garden!






The next house was one we visit every year. They are past winners of the Water Wise Award. Their garden changes some every year. They replaced their lawn several years ago with buffalo grass. They have lots of salvias, lavender, black-foot daisies..oh I could go on and on.
But what was so beautiful today was all the blooms on their cactus.
The next house was the garden of the sweet little lady that gave me my ground ivy. She acted so happy to see us, and we talked as we walked through her pretty little shady garden..and I forgot to take any pictures except for this one. Her little lady scare crow still stands tall against the massive trees in her yard.
This last house was really something. It is in an old neighbor-
hood, but the home
owners completely remodeled it. The lady is a Master Gardener and just finished the gardens. She uses so many rustic touches in this garden..which is exactly what I love.
They were so many nooks and crannies in this yard, and the homeowners used every opportunity to create a sitting area.
Their bottle tree was really cool..












..as was their patio.












This is a rudbeckia that I am seeing in so many gardens. I love the colors, but one gardener told me he could not get this one to survive in his yard. I bought something similar to this at Home Depot a few weeks ago. I will be anxious to see if it can survive our Texas heat.

They had a great collection of bird houses. I love whimsical touches like this in a garden!
This was the garden shed (I am soooo jealous!)
There were plants in ALL kinds of containers!

This was the last garden we went to, and I really would like to have sat a while and enjoyed the porch!

It is so much fun to go on these garden tours. You get so many ideas and it's great to see what other gardeners enjoy in their yard. But it is hot, so this gardener is going inside to drink her lemonade today!

Wordless Wednesday - A Garden Tour

A Saturday Garden Tour

Early Saturday morning Mother and I started out on a wonderful garden tour. This one was sponsored by Dallas Water Utilities and called the Water-Wise Garden Tour. There were lots of houses on the tour including winners from years past. This year the entries must be gardens that save rain water in some way.

Most of the houses we went to had something similar to this one. One house had 3 tanks-very interesting, but there were so many people around it I couldn't get a picture.

The first garden we went to was close to Mother. Really nice gardeners (of course, what gardener is not nice!) This is their backyard which now contains no grass, just drought tolerant plants.

There were lots of pretty wildflowers-and you know how I love wildflowers!

Clasping

Cone-

flowers were every where!
There was even a little picnic table all set up for tea at this house. I commented on all the rock rose they had..and they sent one home with me! Love the generosity of gardeners!

The next garden was one I have been to many times. This is where the sweet little lady that gave me my ground ivy lives. Her shady garden is always a special treat to visit.

The new addition this year---her chicken coop. Look at the basket sitting by the door and you will see the eggs she collected.
I have visited this garden many times over the years. The first time was about 8 years ago on a pond tour. It remains my favorite house ever! It is in the Greenland Hills area of Dallas. The owners have won awards for their xeriscape ideas. A few years ago, they took out the traditional Bermuda/St Augustine grass in front and planted buffalo grass. In addition, they have all drought tolerant plants.

They are proud owners of lots of cactus and wildflowers.
They are on a corner lot, so they have lots of oppor-

tunities for several beds.
This is their "court-

yard" backyard.

This was once a garage-now an office. Wouldn't you like to go to work walking through this door every morning!
This is this kitchen window..
..and the patio below the window.
This is the door and patio off the master bedroom.
And this is the little pond just a few feet away.

There are so many little places to sit around the courtyard.

Can you tell I LOVE this house and garden!

The gate at the next house beckons you to come in..
The owner really loves cactus and succulents and had so many clever ways to display them.
She told me she covers this area every winter and keeps it covered until spring.
There was another little neighbor-

hood garden tour going on in addition to the Water-Wise tour. It was in a quiet little neighbor-

hood in the Casa View/Casa Linda area of Dallas.
There is a median as you enter the area that has been maintained by some of the residents for some time. We always take time to visit a few of these houses during this tour.
There are so many pretty gardens..
...some really pretty sitting areas..












..great looking agave..
..and new experi-

mental cactus/

succulent gardens.
But our favorite on this little tour was this last house.
As you can see, it is a front garden totally full of flowers and plants.
I just couldn't take a picture of everything, but I can tell you the flowers were amazing. There was something here for everyone, and they were all so healthy and happy.
The homeowner is the gardener, a very knowledgeable person..who was also in a wheelchair. He told us he had been in the nursery business "before" and didn't want to give it up. We thanked him for opening up his yard to this tour and he told us to stop by anytime and visit his flowers. Talk about passionate about gardening!

What a joy it was to see all these wonderful gardens..some big, others small; some with shade, others with sun; but they all had one thing in common--gardeners who loved nature and were doing their part to add beauty to the space they were given. Sometimes I come home from these garden tours a little envious of the gardens I see, but this Saturday I came home happy and appreciative of what I have been able to create in my small space.

I hope you all had a wonderful weekend..and found something beautiful in your garden.

"All gardeners live in beautiful places because they make them so.."

Joseph Joubert