Where the Road Ends the Wild Begins

One of the great joys of growing up in the suburbs in the 70s and 80s was the adventure that awaited us where the roads ended - where the new neighborhoods paused before oozing forth again under another round of growth.

Sometimes these spaces had already been cleared. Sometimes they had roads but no houses. Sometimes they were just pockets of forests that had no idea they were being eyed by the beady eyes of neighborhood developers.

For us kids, they were where we ran free, where we played kick the can, road dirt bikes, sculpted ramps, build forts, found old ruins, played make believe and generally explored life and community. Sometimes, I'm sure it was a very Lord of the Flies.

Since then, I've always held a soft spot for brownfields and strange properties that haven't yet developed. Those places that stand forgotten or undeveloped among our cities. These are different than wild spaces, because they bear the mark of humanity but they are places where nature shows us that she still holds the keys to the car. Long after us, nature will be there (unless we really f&%$ it up bad).

These brownfields are Mad Max in their weird combination of old asphalt and plants. They hold fascinating surprises and mixes of plants and animals.

One such place for me now is right around the corner - a huge playground that is the old Mueller Airport. The old airport, as any Austinite knows, is being redeveloped into an urban neighborhood oasis. But the process is slow going, and there's a ton of fascinating and awesome urban ecology happening in the Mueller Hinterlands.

Here is a beautiful stand of gayfeather (Liatris) going to seed.

And among the rose-colored stalks, I spied this amazingly concealed caterpillar. Can you see it?

It's pretty phenomenal that this species - whatever it is - is able to match the exact color of this liatris, and that the parent was able to find this liatris plant upon which to lay its eggs in this urban maze so devoid of other liatris plants.

A gourd, some asters, goldenrods and milkweeds, all making their home in the hinterlands.

And, in my opinion, this may be one of the most bad ass abodes in town. I bet they have an amazing view of the sunsets and the swallowtail flycatchers dipping across the hinterlands. They may even see a fox or two.

Shhhh. Don't tell anyone. Austin really is like the wild wild West sometimes, even in the middle of the city...

Carnival in the Streets

"Just as an individual person dreams fantastic happenings to release the inner forces which cannot be encompassed by ordinary events, so too a city needs its dreams."

In other words, every city needs a place for people to be freaky.

That's one of the many simple messages from "A Pattern Language," a classic, influential book about towns, communities, homes and landscapes by Christopher Alexander et. al.

Compared to a lots of the more staid cities in this country, Austin has a pretty good amount of freakiness, and more importantly, we have public spaces and events where we allow people to let their freak flags fly.

We have our trannies and thong-wearers, drum circles, and jugglers. We have Barton Springs, where people gather to hula hoop and walk on tightropes throughout the summer. We have Eeyore's birthday party. We have bike zoos and community street bands. Even Sixth Street could be considered a "carnival space," with the Esther's Follies stage spilling out on the street and all the crazy people out and about.

Do we need more? Of course we do! And frankly, the police ought to be more accomodating to street performances and general community disruption, as long as its healthy. They are getting better, but its not like Brasil or New Orleans. Just sayin'.

And now, thank the baby jeebus, we have HONK!TX, which just completed its inaugural year. A fantastic example of Alexander's "Carnival Pattern," where costumed musicians and dancers bring their performances to the street, disrupting the normal flow of the city. Healthy cities need surprises like that.

The two videos posted here are from one night of this 3-day festival and feature the What Cheer? Brigade from Providence, RI. Man, oh man. Just amazing. Local groups, like the Minor Mishap Marching Band and Austin Samba School, also brought their sounds to the streets. Highly recommended event for next year!

And just to bring this all back 'round to the garden, since this is a garden blog after all, I'll just say that I think it's important for gardens to have secret spaces for people to get freaky, and you can take that however you want. But I guess what I really mean is that you need a protected space where you can sing to the birds if you want, you can laze around nekkid if you want, or you can just turn on the music and just plain dance dance dance. Everyone needs it.

Pavement to Parks

In Austin, as in many cities apparently, there's a ton of asphalted, concreted space just sitting around in a "land bank." It happens when people buy up land, destroy what was there before, and it sits there waiting for a better time in real estate. For an example in Austin, just go look at the very sad concrete pad that used to be the vibrant and much-loved Las Manitas.

Allison Arieff has a great article on this today in the New York Times.

She also opened my eyes to this amazing movement in San Francisco and elsewhere to convert Pavement to Parks.

This is so incredibly cool. Check out this crazy little park in the Castro District in San Fran that was made just by throwing down a few planters and chairs, right in the middle of a dangerous street.


Now the space is full of people sitting around, playing music, and generally engaging in urban cultural activities.

With a little more creativity, these places can also become temporary home to pretty serious gardens that can be grown in old trash bins and air conditioning vents that have been made to look really colorful and interesting.

WE NEED THIS IN AUSTIN. My newest inspiration.

Prairies at the Mueller

Pop quiz. The above image is from:

a) a Central Texas prairie
b) an urban park
c) all of the above

Well, the answer of course, is (c). This is a photo of the new prairie growing at the Mueller neighborhood, which for the uninitiated used to be our local airport. It was dismantled and is being converted into a residential neighborhood with a hospital, retail and oodles of parks. It also happens to be just around the corner from my house, and I am super excited about the one of the parks called the Southwest Greenway.


In my opinion, this is the big star of their park system. There, they are re-establishing the native Blackland Prairie ecosystems in collaboration with the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center. It's less than a year old, but some of the plants are already blooming (aided, no doubt, by a hefty watering regime this winter). So I decided to head up there with a camera and have a look.

A wide path cruises alternating between crushed granite and cement meanders through the greenbelt and will eventually loop around the entire development. There were a ton of people out walking and running when I was there.

The path takes you through large swaths of future short-grass prairie, tallgrass prairie and mixed grass prairie. A number of trees - like Texas persimmon, oaks, Eastern red cedars, huisaches, and pecans - were both moved here (as mature trees), planted here and left here from the old airport. These line the path and dot the prairies.

Along the path they have even signs for Learning, which is pretty cool in my opinion.


This sign better says what I was jabbering about in my previous post, regarding all of our yards being knit together into one big ecosystem.


There are some pretty nice formal gardens planted with natives as well, much like the Wildflower Center.


Signs in the more formal gardens show what plants are growing there, which is a great way to learn about natives that will work in the area and see what they look like (and free! and not way down Mopac!).


A crazy bank of native wildflowers, such as Indian blanket and evening primrose, growing along the path:


Check out these cool sculptures:



An allee of desert willows will be really sweet to sit under some day, full of blooms and hummingbirds.


I think this is three-awn grass mixed with bluebonnets:



This prairie scene will one day be extraordinary, with the skyline in the background (squint and you can see Austin past the prairie and over the pond).


Standing here, I was reminded of a large green sign posted on a prairie outside of Chicago we used to drive by that said "Imagine the Possibilities." They were referring to future strip malls and office parks, of course, but here, the possibilities I imagine are this young prairie in 10, 20 and 30 years. Tall prairie grasses growing deep, wildflowers swaying in the breeze, and the birds and the bees, oh yes, oh my.

Actually, another cool side note: I read somewhere that the Wildflower Center found some original little bluestem grass growing on this property. They harvested its seeds and have been propagating it for reintroduction there at Mueller. Truly native.

Now, they certainly aren't doing everything right at Mueller. On the other side of the development, near the strip malls and Interstate (where you'd expect) someone has planted vast plots of land with "wildflower mix." Inevitably, this crazy mix looks to be of California and European origin; I see this kind of mix sold all over town and people scatter it everywhere.

Here it is:



It's really fine and pretty, I suppose, but when you have such beauty native to the area, and it's planted a mere few blocks away, why not be consistent? Why NOT plant the natives?

At any rate, I'm very happy that the prairie ecosystem is growing not too far away. It's another place that animals and plants in my yard can connect with, weaving their way across our urban fabric to survive. Another bonus is that it smells really good up there right now.

***

If you're interested in visiting the Southwest Greenway, you can find it off Airport Blvd and Anchor Ln. The best way to access it is probably to park at the Mueller visitor center on Airport and follow the trail around south.

Narcs Love Here

I found two more cool painted Crime Stoppers signs in my hood.

The other three are here.

Dalea Deluxe

Hey Austin Garden Bloggers! It was great to see you all this past Sunday. Thanks for your kind comments on our Grackle garden, and for the seeds, citrus, candles, wine, transplants and pups. What an amazing, kind group of people, eh?!

So, some of you were asking about the "dalea tree" in the front yard. My best guess is that this is a Silver dalea, Dalea bicolor var. argyraea, but I'm not sure it even totally matches what I have, which is now about 7 feet tall. If anyone has any better guesses, let me know! (I'll see if I can post some better pix of it soon.)

Austin Blogger Eve

A native fall aster - not sure which one

Here's the great thing about 2008: I'm garden blogging from the garden itself. Ain't wireless grand? It's 6:00 p.m. on Saturday, and the autumn light couldn't be better. As the sun sets to the west, the long shadows and light shine like spotlights changing across a stage. Tonight, the Texas Longhorns play Missouri, and the game starts in one hour. Small planes fly overhead carrying banners, telling us to go to the "Yellow Rose" and etcetera.

Petunia

The grackles are grackling. They've begun to congregate en masse and call their crazy caw. I wish I had my field recorder here to share the sounds. The new fountain (I'll show you that someday soon) is gurgling the afternoon away. Perfect.

Mexican oregano

Tomorrow, the Austin garden bloggers come to tour the Grackle garden. And yes, I'm kind of nervous...I've never had so many people come over just to see the garden. I've tried to follow Pam and Digging's advice not to worry too much. Seriously, I only primped and fluffed a little bit. But it's fall and time to do some of that anyway.

Cutleaf daisy

The temperature here in Austin is perfect. For many people, it's why they live here. 75 degrees. Blue skies. Grackles. What's better than that?

Texas betony


Turk's Cap and Mountain sage (below) await the migrating hummingbirds

If you have an agave, you know that they produce pups like a poor old dog stuck in a puppy mill. For some reason, nurseries around here can still get away with selling agaves for way too much money. I've got a ton that I've dug up to offer to the Garden Bloggers when they visit the garden tomorrow.

Trippy Signs

These absolutely amazing graffiti art signs have appeared in our neighborhood over the last 6 months or so. I just think they are the coolest, and someone has put some serious time into them. Sure, it clouds the Crime Watch message, but creativity and surprise overrules any objections in my opinion.

Their trippy, blacklight-poster sensibility is just wonderful, and I love the strange natural elements that appear in them, from fish to owls (hoot, hoot!). Even cooler on the owl front is the skeleton, as if the lights of a passing car have suddenly gone x-ray and shown us the inside of this predator flapping quietly across the street.

So cool!

Guerrilla Primrose

I've been biking by this piece of guerrilla art for a few weeks and think it's so cool. When I got closer to snap a photo, I saw that it says "Forever ladybird," a reference to the passed queen of wildflowers. Not every day I see a pink evening primrose painted by urban artists on the side of a derelict building. Awesome.

Shout Out + Blooms

First of all to all the garden bloggers that I met at the Spring Fling this past weekend: you rock! It was great to meet all of you. One million thanks to Pam and the organizers for putting such a seamless, perfect weekend together. I learned a lot; things like:

• Tom Spencer is more than just a radio/TV program host. He's warm, intelligent and spiritual. I certainly never thought I'd get teary-eyed at the Circle C Nuevo Leon with a bunch o' gardeners, but Tom worked his magic!
• Mary Oliver is a poet worth reading.
• James David and his partner are fabulous and have an amazing garden + house.
• Garden bloggers are friendly, smart, funny and fun to be around.
• Related to above: I should do better reading all of their wonderful blogs.
  

Anyway, this is about this garden, so here are some photos from today and some from last week of the goings-on around my garden. Lots of purples and yellows at the moment.

A freshly planted wine cup decided to make a go of it with a bloom.


Spiderwort (Tradescantia spp.)

Random irises left by the POs. I transplanted them without a care (no attention to depth or timing whatsoever). They decided I wasn't such a bastard after all and bloomed!


Native yellow columbine, Aquilegia chrysantha.


Gulf coast penstemon (Penstemon tenuis) starting to bloom.


Fennel muncher = future swallowtail (the fennel and dill are hosting a handful of these critters).