We traveled to Texas last week to help a friend sort out her landscape design for her new home. While there, we took in the sites including the Dallas Arboretum. It gave us a chance to see what’s growin’ on in Texas between thunderstorms.
North Texas is still suffering from drought, I am told, but the Dallas area was lush and green from plentiful spring rains. I was curious to see what plants grow well in Texas. The Arboretum helped answer that question.
We didn’t know what to expect, but this sign started off the fun. At the ticket booth was another sign indicating that “horseplay” is not allowed. Gotta love Texas!
We wandered without a map and found ourselves immediately where we needed to be: a low-water demonstration garden with native and drought-tolerant plants for Texas gardeners.
The Arboretum was abundant with color. Impatiens, salvias, and purslanes like this one:
We also saw more Japanese maples that we ever thought possible. I would never have expected that in Texas. The other prominent focus of the Arboretum was the water feature. So many fountains and waterfalls throughout the gardens, representing much of Dallas itself, I suppose. Most corporate buildings downtown had fountains in front of them.
We took refuge in this grotto to get away from the humid 90° heat. It wasn’t until we sat down that we noticed the artistry overhead.
Back out in the sun, we found colorful patches like these:
We saw fish, birds, insects and even a turtle on our way:
Perhaps my favorite place had almost no foliage at all. A Woman’s Garden gave us a chance to peak out onto open water and enjoy a moment of contemplation.
We shun water features here in Los Angeles, so it was refreshing to see an abundance of them somewhere that has received more than 15 inches of rain this month so far (so I was told by a local).
On our way out, we spotted what we think is a Red Leaf Indian Peach tree. It bore no sign, but it did have fruit:
Gorgeous! While the Arboretum lacked a vegetable garden for our Gardenerd ilk, and wasn’t divided into regional gardens as we’re accustomed to here in LA (like the Japanese, Australian and Cactus gardens of the Huntington), it was still a wonderful cultural experience. We saw at least three quinceañera photography shoots happening while we were there, along with families playing together on wide swaths of open space. If there’s one thing Texas has plenty of, it’s space.
Visit the Dallas Arboretum website for more details and the individual gardens.
WOW!! Great information about drought tolerant plants!! I will definitely use this for my landscaping!