Photos of a Famed Texas Garden

To read more about John G. Fairey and Peckerweood, read The Plant Man.

Fountain heads by Otis Huband. 

A gravel path edged with Satsuki azalea, Rohdea japonica (sacred lily), and S. repens leads to a pergola and a gallery space.  

A reflection pool with ancient Dioon edule in the foreground (one of the most cold-hardy of all the cycads) and, in the background, Serenoa repens (saw palmetto palm), Nolina nelsonii (Nelson’s blue beargrass), and Yucca rostrata (beaked yucca). The bench is designed and smithed by Lars Stanley.

A pergola next to the art gallery, surrounded with Buxus ‘Graham Blandy,’ clipped Viburnum obovatum (East Coast native), and, in foreground, variegated Yucca ‘Golden Sword.’

On the south side of John Fairey’s home is a fenced courtyard filled with Brazos River pea gravel and flagstones and a walkway constructed of quarter-inch steel plate frames paved with “iron ore,” a local gravel-and-clay mix. The two-part steel sculpture, Positive and Negative, is by Texas artist John Walker. The small tree to the left of the sculpture is Fraxinus greggii (little leaf ash). Behind the sculpture stands a small colony of Yucca rostrata.

Dioon edule A cycad native to Mexico with leaf coloration from light green to sage to blue-gray. A slow-growing plant that can live to 2,000 years old, it is great for the climate at Peckerwood, as it can withstand the occasional hard freeze. 

Cephalotaxus harringtonia ‘Prostrata’ Commonly known as Japanese plum yew, this coniferous low-spreading shrub native to Japan, Korea, and eastern China is slow-growing and reaches 3 feet.

Yucca rostrata Also called beaked yucca or Big Bend yucca, this treelike plant has upright stems and beautiful gray-blue narrow  foliage. Native to the Chihuahuan Desert of west Texas and northern Mexico, it can reach up to 12 to 15 feet. In late spring it produces a spike of white flowers that can be quite impressive.