NxNA Garden Tour - Baker Garden

The next stop on the tour was the Baker Garden.

Mr. Baker and his kids were welcoming folks to the garden when I arrived.  I like Mr. Baker - he was very forthright and so I asked him how it was that they decided to do a garden tour - like how were the houses selected?  He told me that there was a little snippet in the neighborhood letter asking people who had yards that used natives and either water collection systems, or low water requirements, and if they were willing to be on the tour to email a specific person with photos of their yard.  The rest, as they say, is history.

The front yard from the driveway

A close up of yucca, oxalis, fern and speckled plants that I don't recognize.

Mr. Baker was telling me that he thought the main reason for the garden tour was to showcase north Austin, as some parts of north Austin are considered unsavory (i.e. what's the first thing you think of when you hear Rundberg at IH35?).  Obviously, despite the reputation of certain areas, there is plenty of good things in the area.

A large water traditional water fountain dominates the front of the house, but instead of water, it has different drought tolerant plants spilling over the edges.  

Mr. Baker is one of those people who also does vegetable gardening and his veggie plants were interspersed with the ornamentals - you can make out the tomato cage and tomato plant on the right side of the photo above.  And a slightly different angle of the same area showing more of the squash and tomato plant below.  He had a great stand of tomatoes closer to the front door which you can see in the orange/purple photo a few photos down.

Pride of Barbados and Yellow Bells make for nice fiery combo (on the upper right of the photo).  While Ice Plant and a Fern plant replace water in the fountain.

As I continued around the bend, I looked back toward the house and took a photo:

On the edge of the property, there was a Rose of Sharon plant that was blooming:

Rose of Sharon

Back at the front of the walkway by the house, I noticed a flower combination that I would totally do - orange canna with purple Mexican petunia.  What can I say, we apparently have similar tastes in bright color combinations.

The photo below was taken from the street - that "Powis Castle" artemisia sure does pop.