Revisiting A Favorite Haunt

We have seen several fledgling birds in our garden in the past few weeks. I was surprised by this fearless young Carolina Wren as he investigated my plant shelf just outside my backdoor. With the help of his doting mother he seemed to give my fertilizer container and gardening clogs the Better Wren and Garden Seal of Approval.

We had the pleasure of a visit from family last week. It was fun to show them around some of the beautiful places we've discovered in the last year here in Austin. One of the first places we took them to was the Umlauf Sculpture Garden and Museum where I found some plants I hadn't seen on our last visit.


The red of the Turk's Cap (drummondii) popped under the shade of the tall live oaks. I've read that this is an excellent plant to attract hummingbirds, so it's on my list to add to my garden.

There were numerous butterflies on what looked like Texas Wisteria, also called Wisteria frutescens (W. macrostachya).

There were dozens of Silver-spotted Skippers (Epargyreus clarus) flitting from flower to flower like ballerinas across a stage.

Charles Umlauf's sculptures are beautiful, especially when surrounded by all the lush plant-life of the garden. This reclining lady is call the Poetess and is one of my favorites.

And this meditation area in front of the panel Come Unto Me brings to mind a peaceful, ancient monastery. It's no wonder the full-sized original stands just over the entrance to a real church in San Antonio.

I was drawn to the wildlife and plants as always. This Neon Skimmer was flying loops around the pond. No doubt he has plenty of mosquitoes to eat with all the rain we've had here in Austin.

There were several turtles in the pond as well. This Red-Eared Slider, (Trachemys scripta elegans) took a moment to bask in the sunlight that peeked through the trees.

We even watched a fat Cottonmouth Water Moccasin (Agkistrodon piscivorous). We watched him slide between the rocks into the water. I was happy to give him a wide berth since Cottonmouths are poisonous.

After a nice tour we walked past the manmade waterfall...


...and said "Goodbye" to the Umlauf Sculpture Garden once again.

In days to come I'll share the other lovely places we included while giving our guests the Austin Grand Tour.

Cheers!

"All great art ... creates in the beholder not self-satisfaction but wonder and awe. Its great liberation is to lift us out of ourselves." ~Dorothy Thompson

A Visit to Umlauf Sculpture Garden

Part of the fun of having out-of-town guests is introducing them to my new discoveries here in Austin. Last week I took my visiting parents to several of my favorite haunts including the Umlauf Sculpture Garden.

The Gardens combine the best of both worlds; art and beautiful landscaping. They even have some bronze plants like this lily.

The colors of this yellow columbine, (Ranunculaceae Aquilegia hinckleyana) popped under the shade of the tall oaks.

Some of the sculptures touched my heart, such as Mother and Child in bronze; 1972.

As you can see, much of the landscape is greenscape with few flowers. I found it a little like listening to instrumental music without the lyrics. The greens are soothing and frame the sculptures well.

And when the flowers finally make an appearance they are appreciated that much more. I think this might be a red osier dogwood, (cornus sericea).

My favorite sculpture was a bronze called Ballerina I.

As beautiful as the sculptures are I must admit the water gardens, plants and animals were what I kept finding myself drawn to. The manmade stream and ponds are especially peaceful.

If you have a chance, please visit Umlauf Sculpture Garden. It's a treat for your senses.