I’m going to take a week off from describing appropriate small trees for our area to tell you about a landscape design project that I’ve been working on, and that is just a few days from completion.  It is an old-fashioned garden associated with the new Texas Quilt Museum opening at 140 West Colorado in LaGrange.

The concept for the garden was to create a period appropriate garden for a rather fancy town-dwelling Central Texas woman in the timeframe of 1893, when the museum buildings were constructed, to about 1930, when the Great Depression ended many gardening endeavors.  The garden is on a lot about 65 feet wide and 125 feet deep.  It was once the Cozy Theatre, which burned down about 10 years ago.  There was nothing on the site to relate the garden to except the large mural of quilts on the museum (next door) wall.

As you can imagine, a lot in Central Texas without any trees or existing plant material is a hot and barren place indeed.  We had to do quite a bit of excavation to get out some of the old foundation for the theatre, and haul it off the site.  I felt I must first figure out at way to get some cover from the sun, knowing that not many people would want to visit if there was absolutely no shade in site.

You enter the garden from a centered gate on West Colorado Street.  The garden is enclosed by a 4’ high cedar picket fence, with curve-top pickets cut to mimic a fixed semi-circular window above the main entrance to the museum.  The garden is divided into four garden beds around a center rectangular bed.  Within the center bed, an antique cemetery fence surrounds a sundial, and the area is planted with daylilies and iris, including the old white “cemetery iris” Iris albicans.

The surrounding beds are L shaped and all pathways in the garden are 6 feet wide to accommodate visitors strolling side by side. The beds are edged in chopped block stone, and the pathways are of decomposed granite.  These surrounding beds are planted with a variety of old fashioned shrubs and perennials, with a Redbud tree centered in each of the 4 areas.  Plants include a variety of Old Roses, flowering Almond bushes, Crinum lilies, and smaller perennials such as garden Pinks, Purple Coneflower, and native fall Asters.

At the back of the garden is a 50 foot long rustic cedar pergola, 9 feet deep and 9 feet high.
The structure is covered with 3-4” diameter posts as crosspieces.  Once the white and yellow Lady Banksia roses are well grown, they will cover the structure with evergreen shade.  More restrained climbing roses will be trained up the front posts, along with a couple of Japanese Wisteria vines.  There will be 3 six foot benches located under the pergola, and another two benches along the side of the garden opposite the building wall.

The garden is just newly planted, so you must use your imagination to some extent.  The museum, with buildings restored to the period as well, is already lovely and hung with a collection of beautiful quilts for your viewing.  If you are interested in visiting, the garden and museum Grand Opening will take place this coming Sunday, November 13th, from 1-5 PM. Entry to both are free.