Skip to content

Top Navigation

Southern Living Southern Living
  • Food
  • Holidays & Entertaining
  • Home & Garden
  • Style & Culture
  • News
  • Video

Profile Menu

Your Account

Account

  • Join Now
  • Email Preferences
  • Newsletters
  • Manage Your Subscription this link opens in a new tab
  • Logout

More

  • Give a Gift Subscription this link opens in a new tab
Login
Subscribe
Pin FB

Explore Southern Living

Southern Living Southern Living
  • Explore

    Explore

    • These Haircuts Are Going To Be Huge in 2021

      The trendy haircuts you’ll be seeing everywhere next year. Read More Next
    • How To Season A Cast-Iron Skillet

      Learn how to season this Southern kitchen staple in five easy steps. Read More Next
    • The Right Way to Heat a Pre-Cooked Ham

      It's so easy, trust us. Read More Next
  • Food

    Food

    See All Food

    Lost Cakes of the South

    These simple and spectacular Southern cakes deserve a comeback
    • All Food
    • All Recipes
    • Holidays & Occasions
    • Quick Fix Suppers
    • Slow Cooker Recipes
    • Desserts
    • Casseroles
    • Healthy Recipes
  • Holidays & Entertaining

    Holidays & Entertaining

    See All Holidays & Entertaining

    70 Wedding Vow Examples That Will Melt Your Heart

    Fight writer's block and find ways to express your love with these romantic, funny, and short wedding vow examples.
    • Christmas
    • Entertaining
    • Thanksgiving
    • Southern Weddings
    • Easter
    • Kentucky Derby
    • Valentine's Day
    • 4th of July
    • Mother's Day
  • Home & Garden

    Home & Garden

    See All Home & Garden

    7 Paint Colors We’re Loving for Kitchen Cabinets in 2020

    ‘Tis the season to ditch your all-white palette in favor of something a little bolder and brighter.
    • Home Decor Ideas
    • Idea Houses
    • Before & After
    • Inspired Communities
    • Curb Appeal
    • House Plans & Builders
    • The Grumpy Gardener
    • Plant Names A-Z
  • Style & Culture

    Style & Culture

    See All Style & Culture

    50 Books Everyone Should Read in Their Lifetime

    Curl up with a classic!
    • Southern Culture
    • Hair
    • Travel
    • Beauty
    • Pets
    • Southern Fashion
    • Healthy Living
  • News
  • Video

Profile Menu

Subscribe this link opens in a new tab
Your Account

Account

  • Join Now
  • Email Preferences
  • Newsletters
  • Manage Your Subscription this link opens in a new tab
  • Logout

More

  • Give a Gift Subscription this link opens in a new tab
Login
Sweepstakes

Follow Us

  1. Southern Living
  2. Gardening Ideas
  3. Landscaping Ideas
  4. A Dreamy, Year-Round Garden in Austin

A Dreamy, Year-Round Garden in Austin

By Caroline Rogers
July 11, 2017
Skip gallery slides
Save FB Tweet
Credit: Wynn Myers; Styling: Sara Oswalt/Sisterbrother MGMT
In the midst of notoriously arid Austin grows an evergreen escape perfect for wandering. A Texas persimmon towers over the garden, casting shimmering shadows on shade-loving plants below. The heady fragrance of sweet olives drifts down pathways, as does the scent of a 30-foot-tall sweet almond verbena, which has tiny, milky white blooms in spring, each one a perfumer's dream.The garden belongs to Margie McClurg and her husband, Al, who enjoy this verdant outdoor hideaway year-round. "When you walk into the garden, you are almost transported," Margie says, "but you do have to work around the climate in Austin, because we have very hot summers here." The result of that work, though, feels effortless. Paths wind through inspired plantings, and around every corner, there are surprises for the senses. The lush designs, which are interspersed with pops of blooming color, play with texture and scale to bring interest to the landscape throughout the changing seasons.
Start Slideshow

1 of 6

Save FB Tweet
Pinterest Mail Email iphone Send Text Message Print

Do Your Research

Credit: Photo: Wynn Myers; Styling: Sara Oswalt/Sisterbrother MGMT

The garden underwent a redesign in 2012, which reinvigorated the space with a stunning hardscape filled with thoughtful details. The McClurgs worked with landscape designer Jackson Broussard and the team at Austin-based Sprout, who are well acquainted with nurturing gardens in challenging climates. In this garden Broussard was careful to use only climate-appropriate plants that can withstand Austin's heat. He chose plantings with different leaf shapes, sizes, and textures to ensure the garden is eye-catching all year long. "This garden needed to have a heart, better plant organization, and purposeful movement to give it structure and a sense of place. I wanted to provide a space that was both beautiful to walk though and a functional extension of the McClurgs' home," Broussard explains.

1 of 6

Advertisement
Advertisement

2 of 6

Save FB Tweet
Pinterest Mail Email iphone Send Text Message Print

Give Your Garden a Central Hub

Credit: Photo: Wynn Myers; Styling: Sara Oswalt/Sisterbrother MGMT

Broussard and his team designed the hardscape and installed it in sections, carefully developing the structures and textures that make this garden one of a kind. It's a space for meandering, and all paths lead to the leafy arbor. Broussard explains, "We needed a place for the paths to meet in an organized way. They start and end at the dining area, so it's a perfect jumping-off point to explore the landscape." The canopy is composed of four "Bradford" pear trees trained into an arch and woven together; they cast shade over the teak table below. "Coming up with the arbor was pure genius on Jackson's part, and we enjoy it throughout the seasons," Margie says."During the hot Texas summers, deciduous pears provide the benefit of a cool, shady canopy," Broussard adds. The arbor also provides some of the few seasonal color changes in the garden, as the trees' snowy white spring blooms give way to bright green leaves in summer and fiery red ones in autumn.

2 of 6

3 of 6

Save FB Tweet
Pinterest Mail Email iphone Send Text Message Print

Set the Scene

Credit: Wynn Myers; Styling: Sara Oswalt/Sisterbrother MGMT

Evergreens thrive here, with different shades, shapes, sizes, and scales forming intricate plant combinations as the garden matures. Over time, the landscape has become a gorgeous patchwork of plantings. "We brought in color with interesting foliage like nolina, prickly pear cactus, and purple smoke trees so the garden doesn't rely solely on blooms," Broussard explains. The occasional flowers are juxtaposed with evergreens, which provide both structure and texture. "We added Italian cypress, bluebeard yucca, boxwood, and plum yew as well as man-made elements at strategic viewpoints. Even in winter, the evergreens and architectural elements form a structural backbone for the space," Broussard says.

The mingling of various elements, both evergreen and otherwise, ensures that the eye is always being drawn somewhere new. Regardless of the time of year—and even in the heat of summer—whether sitting under the leafy arbor, winding along the paths, or glimpsing a vibrant bloom among the layers of evergreen plantings, visitors are transported. As Margie explains, "That's the delight of this garden; it doesn't have a bad season."

3 of 6

Advertisement

4 of 6

Save FB Tweet
Pinterest Mail Email iphone Send Text Message Print

Beautiful Blooms

Credit: Photo: Wynn Myers; Styling: Sara Oswalt/Sisterbrother MGMT

The winding paths meander through the landscape and highlight all the colorful blooms. "We create new movement in the garden each season by varying the flowering plants that border the curved pathways," Broussard explains. He also recommends planting in masses. “It's easier to appreciate a grouping of the same type of bloom and foliage than to search for a single flower in a crowd," Broussard explains.

4 of 6

5 of 6

Save FB Tweet
Pinterest Mail Email iphone Send Text Message Print

Place Objects in Nature

Credit: Photo: Wynn Myers; Styling: Sara Oswlat/Sisterbrother MGMT

"Man-made items thoughtfully mixed with natural plantings can be very powerful. We incorporated pieces with sentimental value at the end of a sight line or as a surprise when rounding a corner," Broussard says. These additions lend sufficient structure and plenty of personality to the evergreen space.

5 of 6

6 of 6

Save FB Tweet
Pinterest Mail Email iphone Send Text Message Print

Add Handcrafted Elements

Credit: Photo: Wynn Myers; Styling: Sara Oswalt/Sisterbrother MGMT

Adding architectural elements, like this mixed-media gate, lends permanent structure to the ever-changing natural designs of the garden. "We welded the gates, hand-chiseled the faces of the limestone walls, poured the concrete gate columns, and used handmade terra-cotta vessels throughout the garden," Broussard says. The overall effect is carefully considered, yet gorgeously unruly. Around every corner, there are beauitful, evergreen vignettes and thoughtful, man-made touches. These layers of garden design form the McClurg's oasis in Austin, a lush garden escape no matter the season.

6 of 6

Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
Replay gallery

Share the Gallery

Pinterest Facebook

Up Next

By Caroline Rogers

Share the Gallery

Pinterest Facebook
Trending Videos
Advertisement
Skip slide summaries

Everything in This Slideshow

Advertisement

View All

1 of 6 Do Your Research
2 of 6 Give Your Garden a Central Hub
3 of 6 Set the Scene
4 of 6 Beautiful Blooms
5 of 6 Place Objects in Nature
6 of 6 Add Handcrafted Elements

Share options

Pinterest Mail Email iphone Send Text Message Print

Login

Southern Living

Magazines & More

Learn More

  • About Us
  • Subscribe this link opens in a new tab
  • Books from Southern Living
  • Contact Us
  • Advertise
  • Content Licensing this link opens in a new tab
  • Sitemap

Connect

Follow Us
Subscribe to Our Newsletter
Other Meredith Sites

Other Meredith Sites

  • 4 Your Health this link opens in a new tab
  • Allrecipes this link opens in a new tab
  • All People Quilt this link opens in a new tab
  • Better Homes & Gardens this link opens in a new tab
  • Bizrate Insights this link opens in a new tab
  • Bizrate Surveys this link opens in a new tab
  • Cooking Light this link opens in a new tab
  • Daily Paws this link opens in a new tab
  • EatingWell this link opens in a new tab
  • Eat This, Not That this link opens in a new tab
  • Entertainment Weekly this link opens in a new tab
  • Food & Wine this link opens in a new tab
  • Health this link opens in a new tab
  • Hello Giggles this link opens in a new tab
  • Instyle this link opens in a new tab
  • Martha Stewart this link opens in a new tab
  • Midwest Living this link opens in a new tab
  • More this link opens in a new tab
  • MyRecipes this link opens in a new tab
  • MyWedding this link opens in a new tab
  • My Food and Family this link opens in a new tab
  • MyLife this link opens in a new tab
  • Parenting this link opens in a new tab
  • Parents this link opens in a new tab
  • People this link opens in a new tab
  • People en EspaƱol this link opens in a new tab
  • Rachael Ray Magazine this link opens in a new tab
  • Real Simple this link opens in a new tab
  • Ser Padres this link opens in a new tab
  • Shape this link opens in a new tab
  • Siempre Mujer this link opens in a new tab
  • SwearBy this link opens in a new tab
  • Travel & Leisure this link opens in a new tab
Southern Living is part of the Meredith Home Group. © Copyright 2021 Meredith Corporation. Southern Living is a registered trademark of Meredith Corporationthis link opens in a new tab All Rights Reserved. Southern Living may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website. Offers may be subject to change without notice. Privacy Policythis link opens in a new tab Terms of Servicethis link opens in a new tab Ad Choicesthis link opens in a new tab California Do Not Sellthis link opens a modal window Web Accessibilitythis link opens in a new tab
© Copyright . All rights reserved. Printed from https://www.southernliving.com

View image

A Dreamy, Year-Round Garden in Austin
this link is to an external site that may or may not meet accessibility guidelines.