Creativity, art, outdoor living and inventive solutions unite gardeners on the Travis County Master Gardener 2024 Inside Austin Gardens tour. Master Gardener JoAnna Benko previews the four gardens and what you can learn in each one.
Find resources, watch episodes, and read CTG’s blog:
Follow CTG:
https://www.facebook.com/CentralTexasGardener
https://www.instagram.com/ctglinda/
We encourage conversation and dialog around all topics but do not tolerate hate speech. Any comments that violate this will be deleted and users may be banned. More information on our comment guidelines can be found here: http://bit.ly/2iHas1E
and you can meet Julie and Kay in person on this year’s Master Gardener tour to give us a preview of the whole shebang I’m joined by Travis County Master Gardener Joanna Benco how are you doing today I’m fine John thank you so much for having me well let’s just start off right at the bat what is a Master Gardener and what is this Master Gardener tour that we’re going to be talking about well the tour itself originated in 2005 and was held for 18 every 18 months you know until we had a pause in the tour uh but it is put on by the Travis County uh Master Gardeners Association in conjunction with the Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service of Travis County uh the tour this year is a one-day event that provides it provides a rare behind the-scenes look at four private Gardens in Central Texas we have realistic sustainable gardening practices for the central Texas area Okay the theme for this year’s tour is for gardeners by gardeners which focuses on the vast variety and practical beauty of native and well- adapted plants okay what about the admissions well the event going to be on as I said the event’s going to be on Saturday May the 11th just in time for Mother’s Day okay uh the tour itself is a it’s $20 in advance through May the 5th and $25 on the day of the tour it’s going to be held rain or shine from 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. and children under 12 are free let’s take a look at the first Garden so that’s our own Daphne Richards uh Garden so this should be spectacular it is it is and we call it a work in progress Garden okay uh because when you have to do all the work yourself just as dafty Richards who is our Travis County Extension horiculture agent knows it’s always a work in progress there is a severe slope in the backyard that required adequate drainage and digging in Limestone soil is something we all know about uh there are bricks and stones that Define the garden beds there is additional garden soil that has been added to allow the roots to grow the last um snow apocalypse that we had presented another opportunity to experiment with new varieties of plantings which is why so many of the plants in her garden are not that old okay uh you can never be sure of what you’re going to find in Daphne’s Garden but you’ll be sure that she’s the one that put it there well that’s wonderful well what I again what is for you know the viewers who don’t know what is a Master Gardener and and what is the extension well the Master Gardener program uh there’s one in almost every County in Texas and every certified Master Gardener receives special uh training in horiculture which includes continuing education as well as an additional 50 hours of training our mission as Master Gardeners is to offer sound research-based Horticultural advice to the public through through Educational Service and volunteer work in conjunction with the Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service it’s a really unique unique agency it has a Statewide network of professional educators trained volunteers and county offices and it’s been around for over a hundred years wow it’s delivered innovative science-based solutions in education which intersect uh the areas of health agriculture and the environment and communities across the state that’s wonderful so what are some just example projects that you all have done uh uh in terms through the extension or or through the master gardening hours that they they’re required to to uh procure well this is our busiest time of the year in the community as Texas as Master Gardeners uh we’re at most of the plant sales and swaps and we’re at almost all of the farmers markets we have plant clinics that are staffed by Master Gardeners let’s look at this next garden here you know we call this the elevated garden Master Gardener Teresa Garcia and her husband Donnie bought the place in 2012 MH the property sits directly on top of a stone quarry wow yes so to garden they rose to the occasion uhuh so every bed is elevated there are large mulch berms that are linked by gravel pathways there’s pots of all shapes and sizes that dot the 1acre property there are beehives bird houses and bird baths that entertain the cats wow they have dogs that play in the grass grassy areas and chickens that squawk in their cops it could also be designated as a wildlife habitat but for now it’s just a Master Gardener’s home I love that what about this next garden we’re going to look at well John have you ever thought about gardening in a forest uh not necessarily well we call this the Woodland Escape Garden Master Gardener Sandy Stone’s 2 Acres includes 65 mature Live Oaks wow plus numerous Cedar Elms and Ashe junipers since moving to the property in 207 she has some dense underbrush that has been cleared not by her but mostly by deer and drought the clay soil’s been covered with a foot of good top soil and amended with compost and mulch while much of the land remains natural it’s dotted with a series of gardens G well Garden rooms throughout sy’s Place uh it is a place of natural beauty she has a plaque that states all gardeners live in beautiful places because they make them so that’s beautiful well uh you had mentioned that these have been going on for about uh almost what 20 years I think you said 18 how do y’all go about selecting who’s going to have a a garden that during that year I mean what’s that sort of process well we’re very very lucky because we have over a hundred Travis County Master Gardeners and we all stress the use of native and adaptive plants and for the location of the garden tour we actually consider drivability you know that’s important in Austin sure we’re thrilled that all of these Gardens all four of these Gardens are with an easy driving distance in South Austin and they have all featured uh Native and adaptive plantings that’s wonderful we provide to the public once again uh sound research based Horticultural Publications and advice because gardening in Central Texas is an ongoing seasonal challenge absolutely and Master Gardeners are out in the community to help the public with that challenge that’s great and so they the public needs to contact the extension they can do so by phone is that correct yes we have a Master Gardener uh phone desk it offers assistance with requests for information on various horiculture topics and advice on publications uh on a variety of topics we also have a Master Gardener email um where the public can just send digital photos and along with detailed descriptions of their questions to a Master Gardener expert all of these Gardens that we’ve we’ve looked at are really spectacular what are some of the main advantages about going on this tour it’s not that you’re just going to go and see stuff there’s some really wonderful knowledge that you can sort of glean from the gardeners who will be present correct oh yes exactly you know as I said before the theme for this G Garden Tour is for gardeners by gardeners right so when you go to these particular homes you’ll be able to talk with Master Gardeners they’ll be staffed with Master Garder dosens as well as the homeowners then you’ll be able to ask them questions about the plants or the plantings or any type of the bed structures that they have in addition as we said before there are so many gardening issues in Austin that have been addressed by these particular Gardens and I think it’ll be very helpful for folks in addition we will have uh plant labels for most of the plants so we’ll have the common names as well as the Botanical names so that you’ll be able to say I like this plant right and this is what it is and I can go now purchase it very important with the gardeners who are there too though like you mentioned they they’ve been through a lot of the challenges that you really only get through uh you know experience so to speak uh and gardening in here in Austin and Central Texas but also you know everybody doesn’t see the same on design so you’ll really get to to look at different examples of of design characteristics of some of these Gardens correct oh oh exactly exactly I know and this is something that most people do in their Gardens is they get a plant and they put someplace and it it it doesn’t grow sure and so these gardeners have done that themselves and they have moved plants around and they can talk to the public about their challenges and the difficulties that they may have had in their particular soil structures and it’s just it just makes it almost like a DIY type of situation where you can really learn from someone else’s mistakes and successes like I always say you have to get your brown thumb first before you get your green thumb exactly which can be a little disheartening for folks but that’s hey that’s gardening okay and let’s talk about the the last Gardens we’re going to be looking at what about the well these you’ve already seen the video of these Gardens but we call this the Suburban Farm uh Master Gardener Kay Angerman and Julie Nelson bought this undeveloped 3 Acre property in 2011 and after clearing 450 cedar trees they created an oasis of 35 Gardens for five chickens two miniature donkeys a rescue pump named Sarge and a rescue Tabby named Jax. Kay and Julie truly love gardening for them gardening is an experience and a lifestyle that’s wonderful well uh you said it’s on the 11th but uh what about the admissions as I said the event’s going to be on Saturday May the 11th just in time for Mother’s Day okay uh the tour itself is a it’s $20 in advance through May the 5th and $25 on the day of the tour it’s going to be held rain or shine from 9:00 am to 3 pm and children under 12 are free oh that’s wonderful well join I want to thank you so much for coming in today I’m really excited about uh this tour and and the the just brought a broad range of of gardens that will be uh on show for everybody that everybody can learn from uh thank you for coming in today we really appreciate it oh thank you so much John