Garden 25 Jump

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P U B D A T E 05-21-05

SAN ANTONIO EXPRESS-NEWS

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SATURDAY, MAY 21, 2005

Digging up delights In a garden, any day can be a surprise party. Look closely among the leaves, along the paths and little quirks reveal themselves. In honor of the 25th anniversary of the San Antonio Botanical Garden, we poked around the 33 acres and harvested a delight for each year. Horticulturist Paul Cox, who’s been at the garden from the construction phase and is now the top guy there, and Candace Andrews, managing director of the San Antonio Botanical Society, shared insights in the search. Here’s what we found, starting at the entrance and circling through the grounds counterclockwise.

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There’s a trick to finding the best placement for art collections, as Geri Davis (left) and Jennifer Campbell of Columbus, Ga., know.

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Tips keep collections from looking cluttered BY MARY BETH BRECKENRIDGE

Pot man The terra cotta guy’s ready for summer in his flip-flops, but don’t be surprised to see him decked out for football season or showing Spurs spirit. Wisteria arbor Perfect for ‘I do’s,’ especially when it’s dripping with fragrant purple blooms in spring.

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Hoja santa Amid the many textures and scents of the Garden for the Blind is the hoja santa. Tear off a bit of a large heart-shaped leaf and take a whiff of the root beer fragrance. Free pass The San Antonio Garden Center picks up the admission tab for blind guests. Turtle rock The stone turtle, really a cluster of stones, looks as if he’s climbing out of the pond in Kumamoto En. Ants in the plants Tucked among the exotic plants in the Exhibition Room of the conservatory are plants that play host to ants, some of them quite aggressive defenders of the flora. Don’t worry. Only the plants are on display.

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The Lucile Halsell Conservatory soars above the Botanical Garden.

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Ducky The fowl at the East Texas Lake appreciate handouts. Birders appreciate the variety of waterfowl and other birds throughout the gardens. Sit a spell The inviting porch on the East Texas Log Cabin overlooks the lake. Madrone A lone madrone survived floods in 1987 that claimed others. The hardy native specimen is starting to bloom. Schumacher House The recently refurbished cottage, originally built in Fredericksburg in 1849, shows the evolution of German building styles. Mini ’scapes A stroll down Watersaver Lane gives a glimpse at a half-dozen landscape styles that illustrate the diverse possibilities with plants suited to the area. Take a close look at the recycled glass walkway in the cottage garden. What sparkle.

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Bubbling over The symbol-stuffed fountain in the Sacred Garden is carved from the same Oaxacan granite as the head of the plaza fountain and the large planters lining the plaza. Bubba From a sapling rescued from the Sunken Gardens grew ‘Bubba,’ a maroon-flowering desert willow. The variety is now the top-selling desert willow.

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there will be cake for the silver anniversary. The celebration runs from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. today and Sunday at the garden, 555 Funston Place. Admission costs $8 for adults,

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Making magic Toiling behind the scenes in greenhouses and trial gardens is Ying Doon Moy, the brilliant research horticulturist behind a number of papayas, gingers, roses and hibiscuses bred for South Texas.

$4 for children ages 3 to 13. Gardeners will find a variety of plants for sale, including herbs, orchids, day lilies, cactuses, bonsai and drought-tolerant varieties. Bands will offer a variety of

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Texas touch When a stonemason was laying the walkway around the OldFashioned Garden, he planted a surprise of his own: a piece of limestone chipped into the shape of the Lone Star State.

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Cake, music to mark Botanical Garden’s birthday A birthday bash spread over two days and more than 30 acres is quite a party. And Viva Botanica is quite a party. The festival this year marks the 25th anniversary of the San Antonio Botanical Garden. Yes,

Displaying a collection of family photographs on your walls honors your heritage while adding warmth to your home. However, what’s intended as an infusion of personality can end up a mess if it’s not arranged artfully, said Karen Thompson, a design expert with Home Depot. The first step to an effective arrangement is choosing a spot where the photos won’t be subjected to damage. Avoid direct sunlight, heat sources and areas with high humidity, such as bathrooms, Thompson said. Next, choose frames and mats that will enhance the photos and make the collection cohesive. Thompson recommended sticking with a limited selection of similar frames, especially if you’re displaying both color and black-and-white photos. If you can’t afford new frames, paint old ones to make them coordinate. She also recommended using wide mats in a neutral cream color. Now comes the creative part: arranging. Thompson suggested

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Going batty Formerly on top of the hill, the gazebo is patterned after a bat house because the city used to be an epicenter of the bat population.

making a trial grouping on the wall using photocopies of the pictures in their frames and attaching them with low-tack painter’s tape. It’s helpful to mark off a perimeter as a guide and to treat the entire arrangement as one large piece of art, she said. Aim for overall symmetry, she advised, but remember that a little asymmetry adds interest. Try to keep the distance between frames relatively consistent and the pictures no more than a few inches apart. Make sure the arrangement is at or near the eye level from which it will be viewed most of the time. Artwork should be hung lower in an area such as a dining room where people usually are seated, and higher in an area such as a hallway where they’re usually standing. When you’re satisfied with the arrangement, mark the wall at the middle of the top edge of the photocopies while they’re still on the wall. Measure the distance between the top of the frame and the hanging mechanism, either a hook or taut wire. Hang the pictures securely using appropriate hardware.

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Alien flora With its long straplike leaves, the Welwitschia in the Helen Kleberg Desert Pavilion looks like something from another planet. The plant, native to the Namib Desert, baffles even the botanists who try to classify it. Giant seed It doesn’t take an adolescent to see the monkey butt in the giant seed in the Palm and Cycad House, but kids do love the spectacle. From the 25-pound seed sprouts a coco de mer. Bird’s eye view Follow the winding path through the palm house to a catwalk that gives a peek at the treetops. The idea for the walkway came from the botanic garden conservatory in Paris. King of the jungle The 8-foot-long fronds on the angiopteris — or king fern — make it hard to miss. And it’s still growing. This Australia native is primitive among primitive ferns. Right stuffing The spiny trunk on the kapok tree in the conservatory courtyard conceals the plant’s softer side. Kapok seeds yield cottonlike fiber that is used to stuff everything from pillows to life vests. High point The overlook, the highest point inside Loop 410, offers beautiful panoramas of the city. Water works Remnants of George Brackenridge’s water supply system from the late 1800s remain on the hill. The wall of the former holding tank now borders the amphitheater. Little sprouts Youngsters spend Saturday mornings tending vegetable plots under the tutelage of experienced gardeners. A bonus: They eat their veggies.

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Clockwise from top right: Turtle rock in Kumamoto En Garden; cupola on the Sullivan Carriage House; kapok tree in the Lucile Halsell Conservatory; a mallow hibiscus; the seed of the coco de mer, aka monkey butt; a jasmine-shrouded arbor shades the entrance to a cottage on Watersaver Lane; fence bordering the Japanese garden.

Sullivan Carriage House Designed by architect Alfred Giles and built in 1896, the carriage house was moved stone by stone to the gardens in 1987. Now, visitors enter through the former coach house and stables. Guests can dine in the former horse stalls of the Carriage House Kitchen.

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