Open Days in San Antonio was held on October 18th a wonderful Saturday. It ran from 10am to 5pm and there were 6 gardens to tour. Entering the gardens cost $5 each or $25 if you bought all 6 tickets at a local nursery. This was the first time San Antonio has been in Open Days. Proceeds benefited Gardening Volunteers of South Texas, the Alamo Heights Homeowners Association and the national non-profit Garden Conservancy. I took as many photos as I could of each garden before my memory card ran out. Just as a note these Open Days blog posts will be photo heavy. Sorry but I just could not leave anything out. If you want to see bigger photos just click on the images.
The first garden on I went to was The Fox Garden. (Following Description from Garden Conservancy Website) Construction of the Fox Garden began in 2003 and was completed in 2005. The pre-existing groundcover, plants, and deck were removed, and boulders and fertile soil were brought in to create this tropical paradise. More than 100 majestic palms are the main feature of the garden. The owners have also added a cabana with an outdoor kitchen, a tented pavilion, and a greenhouse. An area was preserved for a large vegetable garden. Visitors will have the opportunity to see a tropical oasis of palms and flowers juxtaposed against a vegetable garden, and a greenhouse featuring a variety of orchids. (End Description)
The front of the House had nice beds with lots of great plants. The House it's self was beautiful of course. Sorry I did not get an overview, I was just not thinking at that moment. There was such nice placement of plants textures and color. There is a philodendron in that photo along with pentas, oxalis, sago, ruellia and probably more.
There were wonderful trees in the front surrounded by these wonderful beds filled with calladiums, liropes, sagos and much more.
The first thing I noticed were the wonderful container combinations. I was jealous of course. Well acutally the first thing I noticed was the nice car but I didn't take a picture of that sorry it was blue, my favorite color. Sherlie my friend and class mate who I coincidentally met her loved this planter with Mona Lisa Lavender, Petunias, Diamond Frost Euphorbia, and Silver Dragon Liriope.
There were tons of great containers all lining the driveway and the path to the garden. I'm estimating about 15 containers with crazy combinations. These two were great of course. One was simple and the other more complex but with pink as the main tying color.
This was my favorite container. I'm really liking that Bromeliad or whatever type of Bromeliad it is.
The Fox Garden did really well at using a handful of plants and combining them in different ways. The vine that was used everywhere were mandevillas in pink and white.
Another common plant seen everywhere was the Diamond Frost Euphorbia. This combination was great and lined the walkway leading to the garden. Silver Dragon Liriope, Diamond Frost Euphorbia, and Foxtail Ferns.
This was the entrance walkway but looking the otherway (I was just leaving and forgot I hadn't taken a picture of it). There were also caladiums and some other plants in those side beds besides the diamond frost euphorbia, liriope and foxtail ferns.
When walking in this is what you first see. What a beautiful site! I felt like I was on a movie set or something. The pool was stunning and all the decor went together. It was all so very clean and pristine. There was a downside to this garden, it looked too perfect. It looked like there was some hired help or something because not a stray leaf was found or a sad looking plant. Like Sherlie said, "There is not a space not filled. I wonder if they planted most of this a few days ago?" It did not seem like a 'real' garden at all.
By the pool and home there was a bed that was filled with Holly Ferns, Aspidistra, Palms, Caladiums, Dahlias, yellow shrimp plants, hibiscus, and more.
The most common plant seen in every garden, besides palms were Aspidistra. I have never seen so many large clumps of Aspidistra ever. This is an expensive plant and I couldn't believe every garden had them in such large amounts.
Here is a look back at the entrance with the greenhouse hidden to the right. I'll get to that next post as I have many pictures of the inside of it.
Here is the tented pavilion. It is gorgeous of course, sitting in on the couch facing the fountain.
On the way to the pavilion there was this great surprise. Bromeliads in the palms! I loved this idea. I'm sure everyone who can does this but I never would have thought about it.
The inside of the Pavilion. Isn't it garden magazine center spread looking?!?! I would die to have this in my future yard, what a nice place to relax and read or take a nap.
I loved this little container on the table in the pavilion.
This was the little path leading down to the veggie garden. There were the usual plants that were elsewhere in the garden lining the way. There were some orchids hanging from trees and portulaca and ferns in the rocks.
Here is the vegetable garden. I'm not sure what was on this side. But there was another side that had lots of large tomato plants and pepper plants. This area had a huge lawn area and a shed to the left of this bed. I don't know what happened but I did not take photos of all that. I guess I got distracted about what I saw next....
I saw these Ghost Plants....
HOUNDREDS of them all along the wall. It was a site to see. They mixed so well with the firecracker plant cascading over them. I was in awe at the use of these succulents. It was such a nice shocker to an area that didn't have much interest.
The Fox Garden was a great way to start the Open Days Tour. Of course I haven't shown you the Orchid Greenhouse yet. It would be too many photos in one post. So I'll let you all take a break and be back next post with the Fox Gardens Orchid Greenhouse. Prepare for eye candy!
