member's gardens
Garden of Suzanne & Gary Adair
Gary and Suzanne have been working on their yard for the past 35 years. As original owners of the house, the backyard was first a playground to the left and a vegetable garden to the right. But the kids grew up and fighting squash bugs and trying to grow tomatoes became too frustrating. So they now have flower beds around the perimeter of the yard. Since deer frequent the neighborhood, they have all the tasty daylilies in the backyard. They continue to work on plant selection, composting, mulching, and design. After 35 years, they still consider it a work-in-progress. They love to share their garden and Gary will tell you about his many staghorn ferns, too, while you’re there.
Garden of Mike Peppers
After moving to Texas 18 years ago, Mike was introduced to daylilies by a co-worker -- the son of award-winning hybridizer Inez Tarrant. He went to a flower show, then visited the garden and selling field of Leon and Paula Payne. His initial purchase of 10 cultivars from the Paynes eventually grew to a collection of more than 400 and became an AHS Display Garden. Relocating from Houston to Austin in 2013, Mike downsized both house and garden. He designed and completely reconstructed the yard and garden of his quarter-acre suburban lot. He now has "only" 200+ different cultivars. The garden also features a 600-gallon pond.
Garden of VELIA SANCHEZ
This special garden is situated on a picturesque corner lot in South Austin. The entire front yard has been converted into a flower garden with daylilies growing alongside herbs, roses, iris, tomatoes, verbenas, carnations, and many other perennials and annuals. It has been featured on the Central Texas Gardener television show and its wide variety of plant types makes it a popular destination for other garden clubs. Velia welcomes all to stop by and check out her little piece of heaven!
Garden of Agata La Rue
Agata gardens in Austin since 1992. First her interest was captured by succulents and desert plants. Then came roses. She owned Stella d'Oro not even knowing that it is a daylily. Her friend and co-worker 'into daylilies' since 1980's talked her into joining Austin Daylily Club. She did so in November of 2014. Since then she took part in every major Club event as well as Region 6 convention in Pearland in 2015. Very recently she reached 40 as a number of roses and 100 as a number of daylily cultivars. Most roses are from Antique Rose Emporium. Daylilies are from various web based sales, plant swaps, auctions, and gifts from friends and family. All plants in Agata's little, centrally located garden are clearly marked and named. She has couple cultivars as recent as 2015 and 2014 and many older varieties. She considers she still has plenty of space even for her hybridizing program she started in 2015. Come and see what is possible on a small lot!
Garden of Skottie O’Mahony & Jeff Breitenstein
Prior to moving to Austin in 2011, Skottie and Jeff spent 22 years in Seattle where they packed a collector’s garden into a 50x100-foot city lot. Their daylily addiction, which started with a dozen unnamed Munson seedlings and a few passed down from family (including a red daylily from Skottie’s grandmother’s garden in Poland), has grown to a collection of over 800 cultivars and 200+ seedlings. In 2013, they found a 1.7-acre property in north Austin and their dream of starting a daylily hybridizing nursery grew into the larger goal of establishing a botanical garden - Tanglewild Gardens. In addition to daylilies, Tanglewild is home to many varieties of palms, brugmansia, arisaema, and coleus. The nursery and garden is their retirement plan from the tech world (someday) - in the meantime, it’s a place to recharge, relax, and share good times with friends and family.
Garden of Don and Janice Heiskell
Don and Janice retired to Austin after gardening for 30 years in California, building their gardens here over the last seven years. They have grown daylilies for a long time and now have a collection of 180. Their previously all-Bermuda lawn is now home to five garden rooms with very little Bermuda remaining. The rooms vary from full sun to full shade, hosting collections of iris, roses, salvias, and many different native and adapted perennials and flowering trees. Their objective is to have color nearly year-round, trying new plants to see how well they can handle the Texas climate. One garden features a number of trellises with climbing roses, espalier Rose of Sharon, and various tropical vines. Several rooms have water features.
Garden of Pat and Tom Ellison
The Ellison’s is a cottage garden where fern, nandina, canna, and Lily of the Nile are among the many plants that accompany daylilies in creating the beautiful scenes of plant interplay. In the southern-exposed front yard, the sun-loving annual and perennial beds encircle a grass core. The shady backyard hosts the shade-loving plants and found object sculptures Tom makes, all located under a giant American Elm tree. One side yard is a dry garden where zeric plants like kidney wood thrive without irrigation. The other has two ponds connected by a babbling brook to enhance garden enjoyment. The first daylilies were planted years ago for the simple love of lilies. Then after attending an Austin Daylily Society show and being smitten by H. ‘Sweet Patootie’ and a room full of other beauties, daylilies (now totaling 80 cultivars) began taking center stage in the garden.
Garden of Bruce and Jerre Threatte
Bruce and Jerre's backyard garden is an eclectic mixture of typically Texas native plants, plants attracting hummingbirds and butterflies, hostas, calla lilies, ginger, and of course lots of daylilies – including Bruce’s seedlings. Their love affair with daylilies began in Virginia Beach, VA when they happened upon the local club’s fundraising sale at a nursery. Daylilies quickly supplanted azaleas which had been their backyard mania. Moving to Texas nine years ago, they packed their cars with a few favorites, but sadly left behind hundreds of beauties. Deer in their neighborhood resulted in a decision to fence the backyard. Now, they can sit on the back porch and enjoy the fruits of their handiwork, especially when the daylily blooms make their annual appearance.
garden of Doris Green (HONORARY MEMBER)
When I walk out from my home, I am overwhelmed with the beautiful blessings that surround me. I have always loved to garden and I have a passion for plants of all kinds. About 11 years ago, my husband and I decided to move from Austin to the small community of Jerrell. The acre that we bought was truly a blank canvas, just a large lot of land with a dried up tank in the back. After having a well dug so we could keep the tank at a constant level, we began to landscape around it. There are trees and plants overflowing the banks, as well as water lilies and other aquatic plants scattered throughout the pond. We strategically placed swings and benches so that we could sit and take in the beautiful views.
After the pond and its landscaping were set, we began work on the many other features that we have on our property. Coming toward the house, there is both a rose garden and an iron gazebo that showcase my beautiful rose collection. Against the house, you will find an outdoor dining area that is surrounded by a Mexican herb garden. On the back porch, there are rockers and a porch swing with many flowers and potted plants that welcome both hummingbirds and butterflies. As you cross the back porch, you enter my oriental-themed garden, with beautiful honeycomb rocks and hand-painted stepping stones.
The front yard is an assortment of island beds. These mini gardens create a cottage garden feel; draped with statuaries and a wide array of garden art. Throughout these gardens you find many daylilies—these hidden jewels sparkle in the sun, each with its own unique characteristics. My family and I are looking forward to your visit. There is a lot to discover in our yard; not only do we showcase roses, herbs, and daylilies, we have many collections of beautiful heirloom plants.
As you visit and are enjoying our property, I challenge you to discover our surprise “Oz” themed garden. You will not be disappointed. As I said, I am truly blessed with a husband that does more than his share in keeping our gardens tip top, and generous friends and family that contribute to the assortment of plants and garden art. We can’t wait to share our treasures with you. Until then, I will leave you with a quote from Jane Austen, “The beauties of nature must for me be one of the joys of heaven.”
garden of Art Petley (FORMER PRESIDENT)
Seeing plants as they are in a wild setting inspired me to take a different approach to designing this garden. After a plant collection trip to Mexico my plan was set. On the last day of collecting, we were in a small mountain town called Jame. It was high up at 6,500 feet. In mid-August it was a pleasant 62 degrees and the plants were in full bloom. A myriad of colors dotted the mountainside: red pink, orange, coral, and yellow, which was very unusual for this species of Salvia. Then Carl Schoenfeld of Yucca Do Nursery yelled out, “You all have to see this!” It was the first ever two-tone Salvia greggii, a very compact plant with a yellow and pink two-tone flower. Wow, what a specimen in the most amazing place I had seen ever seen. Cuttings were taken and rooted, and it is now known as Salvia greggii Sierra San Antonio After that, I was hooked (most know that feeling, huh?). I would have to start hybridizing.
I began collectingSalvia greggii, S.microphylla, S.darcyi, and S.lyciodes. My garden has other Salvia species as well, and lots of hybrids. I have released several cultivars to the local Austin market but my best to date is a special cultivar called Silkes Dream that is not in Australia or England. Because there is no registration authority, it is not registered. It, too, is a first of its kind, S.microphylla and darcyi cross. Hybrids like this can only happen in the garden.
Some of our collection is of rare plants or in one case, a species that is on the brink of extinction. I have turned my interest in other directions as well. In our garden you will find plants from Africa, Greece, India, South America, Central America, the Middle East, China, and other far-flung places. But, I knew our garden was still missing something…I went to my first daylily meeting and was impressed with how much diversity was being bred in the genus Hemerocallis. So I began our collection (okay, obsession) of daylilies several years ago.
To date, we have 250 cultivars and growing. We really like plants that are different or unusual. The spiders, UF’s, applique and small flowers with good bud counts fit right in. To us, the most important thing is that they are disease resistant, vigorous, and easy to grow. In our garden, you will see daylilies from Begnaud, Crochet, Gsage, Goudeau, Herrington, Joiner, Maryott, Payne, Trimmer, and more.