FINALLY THE TOUR HAPPENS

Let's face it I'm a bit of a fretter. It can't be helped. I will always be this way. This last week I spent many anxious days watching the weather.

On Thursday we were supposed to have a garden tour. It was the Westlake Hills Garden Club; the same group that I had to cancel last year because of the devastating hail event 4 days before their visit. We reset the date for Thursday this year and although we left the decision until the last minute we had to cancel again: thunder, lightening and heavy rain. The last time I offered them a tour of the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center, this time I offered them to come the next day. Friday was to be a glorious day and we were not disappointed.

Westlake Hills Garden Group with the Undergardener.

We always meet on the driveway where I can introduce myself and David to the group and give them a little history of the garden as well as share a few anecdotes. I began by showing them one of the branches from my Felica rose, bearing the enormous damage from that hailstorm. A storm that resulted in us removing many woody plants. The 6' rose had tried admirably to mend itself, even putting out a nice display this spring, but the time has come to cut back down to the ground and see if we can build up new, undamaged growth.
It is always wonderful to give a tour to garden groups because everyone is so interested to hear every detail of the garden and the plants. Our garden has small spaces so it isn't easy to show it to a large group and share things with them at the same time. So with warnings to watch their feet, because of uneven surfaces, they entered the garden.
I had taken a walk around the garden just before they arrived because I knew that even though I had my camera with me it would be dormant, and so it was. An hour later the visitors were following this same route.

Side entry to the garden

Side entry water garden

Into the front courtyard

A favorite place to eat lunch

Tiptoe through the bluebonnets

Looking back towards the gate.

Out through the main gate

Yesterday a wren began building a nest in the Huernia

Down the side of the house

Into the Spanish Oak garden

Lots of stories to tell here about the making of the pavers, the head on the wall and the hypertufa trough.

Out into the gulag

Into the English garden with more stone building stories

Through the sun and moon archway into the sunken garden

Sunken garden

Sunken garden

Succulents and cactus on the hearth

The group gathered here for a photograph before visiting the herb and vegetable garden.

The herb garden

The stock tank

And finally the tour came to an end. But wait! There is no harm in asking is there? One of the ladies asked me if I did private tours. Her reason; several of the ladies could not come on the Friday and were so disappointed. "How about tomorrow morning?" And so on Saturday, another glorious Texas day, bright and early, the second group arrived.

What a lovely tour we had and I was able to point out to them the lovely gift of a willow garden ornament. I haven't quite decided on its permanent home yet but you can be sure it will be in the English garden.

 
Thank you ladies for all your kind words about the garden. David and I really enjoyed your visit.