Bob and Lana Beyer
A Central Texas Garden
Austin

Deep in the heart of Texas, in northwest Austin, the Beyer's have developed a residential yard into a garden fit for the unique environment of the Hill Country in central Texas. Plantings are xeriphytic, tolerant of 30 or less inches of rain per year, alkaline limestone based sub soil, temperatures into the 100's in summer and just below freezing in winter, low humidity, and plenty of very bright sunshine.

Primary plants in such a garden include succulents such as Agave, Yucca, and related plants, native and adaptive perennials, trees and shrubs, and seasonal tropicals that are overwintered in a greehouse between December and March. The focal point of interest in this garden is the limestone wall and raised beds bordered by limestone. Garden relics such as an old wagon wheel, adorn and add an old western touch to the garden. Beautiful shaped and colored limestone rock is abundant in central Texas and is used as a hardscape garnish to the garden.
These are demonstrated in the pictures above which focus on the cacti and succulent garden area.

The city of Austin is a proactive in promoting "Green Gardens", which by definition means those that can grow well in native environmental conditions with little additional water, no pesticides, and with recycling natural and organic materials to the extent possible. Use of native and well adaptive plants is encouraged and this garden demonstrates these eco-friendly techniques while still providing much color, textural diversity, and seasonal interest.

The back yard gardens consist of several defined sections for tropicals, hardy palms and cycads, native perennial plants, unusual ornamental shrubs, earth-kind roses, all of which are surrounding the featured garden area of cacti, succulents, and related plants.

The use of many variegated plants add color year round when flowering plants aren’t in bloom, plus the use of dwarf cultivars and varieties of plants allows for more plants to be used within a given space. The backyard mini-botanical garden concept has “one of each plant” which is contrary to good landscaping design but provides a serious plant collector the opportunity to display a large variety of ornamental plants and to show them off effectively. Each bed has a unifying theme. The plants change from year to year, but the display themes remains the same.

Bob and Lana are active in promoting knowledge about ornamental gardening in the central and coastal Texas area through their website "Southeast Texas Gardening" at www.southeasttexasgardening.info. The greenhouse is packed during winter months with tropical and tender plants that are pruned, dug, and potted for over-wintering. During summer, rare specimen plants that can’t be specifically used in the outdoor landscape are displayed in the greenhouse. A complete plant list and data base which exceeds 400 different plants grown in their garden areas can be seen at www.southeasttexasgardening.info/plantlist.htm .

Links:
Southeast Texas Gardening
Bob and Lana Beyer Garden Plant List