The Garden Conservancy's Open Day - Dallas

Gardens

1. Blue Lotus Gardens     10:00 am - 4:00 pm
   9347 Angora Street
   Dallas, TX 75218

   Blue Lotus Gardens offers landscape concepts and unique plant material. The garden offers a rare approach to drought tolerant gardening which includes a rain water catchment system. The front garden is consumed with large five-foot specimen agaves and various sizes of cactus and yuccas. The garden emanates a great west Texas feel. The front landscape also includes a disappearing fountain that attracts many Texas native wild birds. As you approach the back garden the atmosphere becomes eclectic with vintage and modern touches. Nestled within is a quaint iron bed and a long modern hedge of the Holy Fire lotus flowers. The garden also includes honey bee hives and stucco turtle sanctuary.

    

   Directions: This garden is in the East Dallas Arboretum/Casa Linda neighborhood. From downtown Dallas, take I-30 East to East Grand North. East Grand will turn into Garland Road. Turn right onto Forest Hill Boulevard and then right again onto Angora Street in 4 miles.

   

2. Ken Row & Sergio Ramirez     10:00 am - 4:00 pm
   1704 West Colorado Boulevard
   Dallas, TX 75208

   Carved into the north-facing incline in the historic Kessler Park area of Dallas, this 1920s terraced garden was clearly the original vision of a family who loved gardens and outdoor entertaining. In that spirit, it has been an eleven-year restorative, work-in-progress, hands-on, learn-as-you-go process for the current owners. The owners have worked to faithfully add elements such as walls, ponds and fountains that might have been evident eighty-five years earlier, and worked hard to restore stone terraces, staircases, and pathways that lead visitors to room after room of outdoor living. The plant palette is focused on materials that contribute to the design aesthetic, but is sensitive to the sometimes brutal summers of the north Texas locale. A literal mile of clipped hedges of Texas-tough dwarf yaupon provide the structure expected within a garden of this vernacular, and the plants within are allowed to “do their own thing.” Numerous variety of salvia, Texas Earth Kind® roses, cold-tolerant olives, and palms live in concert with the one non-Texas weather-friendly feature—the hydrangea. A small collection gathered from numerus trips to places where they thrive, the owners have tucked them into areas where the micro-climate helps them survive and planted them en masse. The early spring show can stop traffic and often does.

   Directions: This garden is in the Kessler Park/Oak Cliff neighborhood. West of downtown Dallas, take I-30 West to the Sylvan Avenue exit, turn left. Turn right onto Kessler Parkway and follow along the golf course to where it meets Colorado Boulevard. Number 1704 is where Kessler Parkway meets Colorado Boulevard. Parking is best around the island across the street, along Kessler Parkway or Kensington Avenue, the small street east of garden.

   

3. Munsterman Garden     10:00 am - 4:00 pm
   726 Tenna Loma Court
   Dallas, TX 75208

   This garden, owned by horticulturist and garden contractor Mike Munsterman, features a variety of plants. The organized chaos of the plantings is anchored by the structure of boxwood hedges. The front garden has both shade and sun areas and is planted to accommodate these different exposures while trying to maintain balance. The backyard is designed for outdoor living. The back garden appears much larger through the implementation of the “garden rooms” concept. There are rooms for entertaining and outdoor dining, relaxing, quiet areas to read or sit by the fountain, enjoy time by the fire, grow vegetables, and even a space for a flock of backyard chickens.

   Directions: This garden is in the Kessler Park/Oak Cliff neighborhood. From downtown Dallas go west on I-30, 5.7 miles. Take Exit 42/Hampton Road. Keep left at the fork, follow signs for Hampton Road South and merge into North Hampton Road. Go 1.1 miles and turn left onto North Plymouth Road. Take the first right onto North Oak Cliff Boulevard. Go 0.3 miles and take first right onto Frouts Lane. Take first left onto Tenna Loma Court. Garden is on left.

   

4. Rister-Armstrong Garden     10:00 am - 4:00 pm
   5226 Homer Street
   Dallas, TX 75206

   Hidden away in the middle of the city, the garden of Alan Rister and partner Greg Armstrong feels like it is almost anywhere but Dallas. After completing an addition to the original 1926 Tudor-style cottage, the passionate gardeners were able to purchase the lot next door. Landscape architect Susi Thompson worked closely with them to expand the garden and add two decorative and very useful buildings, the carriage house, which contains a garage, storage, and a work space; and the garden pavilion, a conservatory which houses their gardening library, a small kitchen, and a space for entertaining. The styles of the English-inspired garden and of the garden architecture, in particular the Arts-and-Crafts-style pavilion, are intended to complement each other as a unified whole. The three separate structures ensconce the garden into an intimate enclosure. The framework of the garden is very formal, with strong axial relationships between the architectural elements and a series of distinct garden rooms. However, exuberant planting softens the lines and adds texture, color, and interest at every turn, for this is a plant-lover’s garden. The hardscape elements are a rich mix of brick, cast stone, and natural stone both roughly squared and intricately cut to create formal medallions. In less than one third of an acre, you will find a sunken lawn, a pergola garden, an Italianate folly, outdoor fireplace, dining terrace, a perennial border, and four water features. Although the garden is English in style, Texas native and adapted plants play a large role in this small landscape. The owners do all the planting and organic maintenance themselves.

   Directions: This garden is in the Knox/Henderson neighborhood. From downtown Dallas, take Highway 75/Central Expressway North. Take Exit 2/Knox-Henderson. Turn east onto North Henderson Avenue. Go four blocks to Homer Street and turn right. The garden’s entrance is at #5226, 75 feet from the intersection of Henderson and Homer. Parking is available on both sides of Homer Street. MAPSCO number 35V.

   Photo: Charles Davis Smith AIA.

   

5. Sharolyn & Stan Herndon     10:00 am - 4:00 pm
   6522 Tulip Lane
   Dallas, TX 75230

   An unused backyard pool was filled in and replaced by a koi pond with multiple rills and streams. An intimate fireplace patio and tumbling waterways along changes in elevation create separate rooms with hidden walkways awaiting discovery. Beautiful gates add substance and mystery to the lushly planted entries. Successive waves of perennials enliven the seasons and feed the bees who live in two hives near the rear fence.

   Directions: This garden is in the North Preston Hollow neighborhood. From North Central Expressway and Royal Lane: Go west on Royal Lane past Hillcrest Road. Turn left onto Thackery Road. Turn right onto Tulip Lane.
   From Dallas North Tollway and Royal Lane, go east on Royal Lane. Turn right onto Edgemere Road. Turn left onto Tulip Lane