Boerne Beautiful
Daniel Anzak posted several photos of his very attractive Hill Country backyard on my Facebook page last week. They were so compelling I asked if he would be willing to send more and even let me do a special little feature showing them here in e-gardens.
Variegated privet, Japanese yew shrubs as well as ajuga and Silver Falls dichondra groundcovers. Click photo for larger view.
A day or so later we had a lengthy phone visit. I’ll outline some of the things that he told me. But I’m going to let his photographs do most of the “talking.” By day, Daniel is a CPA, and his wife Kathleen is a teacher. Daniel says that Kathleen is the creative member of this landscaping team, picking out most of the plants and laying out the plans for the stone work and fire pit area. Daniel says that he and their three sons helped with the grunt work of laying stones and putting plants in the ground.
What an inviting piece of nature to call home. Click photo for larger view.
Daniel and his wife Kathleen live outside of Boerne, which for those few of you who still don’t know about this treasure of a Texas town, is just north of San Antonio in the Texas Hill Country.
Daniel and Kathleen are able to entertain fairly large groups and still provide conversational settings in this well-planned backyard design. Click photo for larger view.
Their soil is quite rocky. Their house was built in 2010, and the backyard was initially bermudagrass turf.
Live oaks are native to their area, and that added to the problem of keeping sun-loving bermuda alive and growing.
Native trees frame the vistas of Daniel’s backyard. Click photo for larger view.
Daniel told me that the bulk of his landscaping makeover happened in Spring 2017, so it’s into its second season currently.
As construction sites up and down the block were finished, waste stone was left to be picked up. Daniel says he was able to find most of the stone that he’s used in this landscaping re-do from those discard piles.
Stone plays a big part in Daniel’s garden design. Most of the white stone was salvaged from scrap piles in construction sites nearby. Click photo for larger view.
Some of the plants that Daniel specifically called out as doing well in his gardens have been dwarf yaupon holly, pittosporum, Japanese yew, Silver Falls dichondra and ornamental sweet potato vines for annual color. Crape myrtles have done well, and with corrective training, his Texas mountain laurel is prospering.
Ajuga fills all the voids in the stone work and provides floral color in spring. It requires shade. Silver Falls dichondra is much finer-textured and of a more subdued color. Click photo for larger view.
That’s Confederate star jasmine growing up and over their arch – the perfect plant for such a structure in that part of the state. Click photo for larger view.
But the garden takes on its best charm of all just about sundown. The lights come on and it all becomes so inviting. And that’s when we say goodbye to Daniel and Kathleen Anzak and extend a big Texas “Thankya” for inviting us by. Click photo for larger view.