A magnificent tour! Thank you for taking us along :-)

thanks for the tour

We continue with our walk along the woodland trails which open to beautiful spaces like this ...

There are many interesting individual plants like this variegated agave that Eric has collected, but my focus today was mainly on the overall landscape ...

If I'm not mistaken Eric told me on my first visit that he had a load of holey rocks dumped in this spot which created a raised and well drained area and then planted some of his plant collection among them.

Have you ever wondered why they call a boxwood a BOXwood? Maybe because it grows naturally in a box like form. Eric has never pruned these two boxwoods. They look like boxes from every angle ...

We approach the back patio ...

... with a magnificent palm; just one among many varieties of palms that flourish in Eric's garden ...

Eric laid the patio with what is called 'ripple stone' which is quarried from a site near Boerne as well as other areas, and is essentially fossilized beach sand from the time when shallow seas covered much of Texas a 100 to a 150 million years ago. He cut and fit each piece by hand ...
A closer look at the stone. Maybe we'd find tiny dinosaur tracks or bones of little fishes in there somewhere if we just looked hard enough ...
A glimpse of a small part of the plant lined running 'creek' built by Eric. It runs into a large pond which I somehow managed to miss taking photos of ...

We end with this treasure of a huge and very ancient live oak. Wouldn't you love to camp under this tree and/or climb it? ...

There are many, many more photos just waiting to be taken. Maybe you can take them yourself as Eric plans to have an open garden after the SPRING San Antonio swap. We had planned for it this fall, but unfortunately there is a conflict of dates. He says it will be better in the spring anyway. We'll take it anytime we can get it ... :-)

Thank you Eric and Dave for a wonderful tour of your garden on this relatively cool morning. How lovely, lovely, lovely it is -- in every way.

I SO enjoyed my trip through his garden. It os a wonder of so many unusual plants.

COOL ! Would definitely want to see all this in person, Eric and Ragna ! I'm sorry we won't be able to see it this fall, but will look forward to a spring visit! I want to see everything up close and personal. Eric, looks like you've worked really hard on this paradise. Wish I had your energy!

patty

Very interesting. That concrete bench is awesome. I wonder how Eric deals with weeding and watering such a big space.

Omar

Ragna, excellent job but you got 2 points off for not taking a picture of the pond. :p

Omar

What a beautiful oasis! I love the rock/cactus garden and this gives me an idea for my yard but on a much smaller scale. I can't wait till the spring Swap!