What could be more refreshing on a hot summer’s day than Lori Daul’s garden dripping with fountains, water bowls, and stock-tank ponds? … Read More
The post Diving back into Lori’s stock-tank pond garden appeared first on Digging.
A month ago I took visiting friends to see Lori Daul‘s South Austin garden dripping with fountains, water bowls, and stock-tank ponds. What could be more refreshing on a hot summer’s day?
Tropical Giant spider lily and orange canna were juicing up the narrow side garden. Opposite the dining room window, a long, skinny stock-tank pond offers a watery view.
Waterlily and a trickling fountain in the side-yard stock-tank pond
A bowl-planted prickly pear greets you at the gate. Looking closer, I noticed colorful toy cars poking up out of the gravel.
It’s a mini Cadillac Ranch! The tongue-in-cheek recreation of an icon of Americana made me laugh out loud.
Entering the back garden, I passed the familiar white whale of an agave.
This is Lori’s biggest whale’s tongue agave (Agave ovatifolia), a beauty.
Her biggest stock-tank pond beckoned, and I walked over to admire it. Massive green and bronze colocasias, their feet in the cool water, give a tropical feel.
I love how Lori’s plants pop against the mural-painted blue steel fence in the background.
Colocasia’s heart-shaped leaves glow when backlit.
One more
Another watery vignette is composed of a limestone bowl that Lori carved herself, plus a birdbath next to a round-leaved prickly pear.
In the center of the garden, a bubbling fountain is surrounded by datura, purple coneflower, prickly pear, artemisia, smoke bush, and beaked yucca.
Side view
Against the house, a cactus-planted head planter — Dickhead, Lori irreverently dubs it — draws the eye.
Face pots are a thing here, along with stock-tank ponds. Mirrors too.
Back to the big stock-tank pond
Another view
Tucked in the shade of a crape myrtle, another birdbath holds a dark mirror that reflects the sword-shaped leaves of cast-iron plant.
A blue-painted fence along the side yard sets off spiky plants elevated in stock tanks.
My favorite of her face planters — a soft-meets-spiky combo of ‘Quadricolor’ agaves, foxtail fern, and ‘Evergold’ sedge.
It was fun to introduce friends from Australia and Arizona to Lori’s garden. Thanks, Lori, for sharing your beautiful garden with me again!
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My new book, Gardens of Texas: Visions of Resilience from the Lone Star State, comes out October 14! It’s available for pre-order now on Amazon and other online book sellers. If you think you’d like to read it or give it as a holiday gift, please consider pre-ordering. (I’m happy to sign pre-ordered copies at my book events!) Early orders make a big difference in helping new books get noticed. More info about Gardens of Texas here — and thank you for your support!
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The post Diving back into Lori’s stock-tank pond garden appeared first on Digging.
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