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John G. Fairey ’s eyes widen when he is asked to name a favorite plant , as if he ’s been asked to take his favorite child . “ Why , all of them , ” he replies softly in a sandpapery Southern lilt . And given his surround — some 3,000 species of rare and endangered plants at Peckerwood , his 40 - year - old , illustrious private garden near the Texas townsfolk of Hempstead — you’re rather inclined to believe him .
A reflection puddle with ancientDioon edulein the foreground ( one of the most inhuman - hardy of all the cycad ) and , in the background , Serenoa repens(saw palmetto palm),Nolina nelsonii(Nelson ’s blue beargrass ) , andYucca rostrata(beaked yucca ) . The bench is design and smithed by Lars Stanley . pic by : Marion Brenner . SEE MORE picture OF THIS GARDEN
Named for the Georgia grove in Auntie Mame , Peckerwood has gain acclaim for its astounding collection of plant — largely from Mexico and Texas but also Asia — and for the horticultural skill with which Fairey grows them . It also deserves attention for the artistic design of its landscape — unusual for the garden of a collector , in which acquisition often supersedes figure retainer .
Fairey ’s visual sensation for Peckerwood , which include a light - dappled woodland , several shimmer juiceless garden , and a parklike botanical garden , developed not bit by bit but in a transformative waking up during a trip to Mexico . An artist and prof of plan at Texas A&M , Fairey had bought 7 acres near Hempstead , an time of day ’s drive northwest of Houston , in 1971 as a state retirement . He embed azalea , camellia , and other specie conversant to him from his South Carolina puerility , but his interest in pile up plant life was n’t trip until he conform to Texas plantsman Lynn Lowrey , who often trek into Mexico to look for out little - known mintage to bring back for propagation .
Fountain head by Otis Huband . pic by : Marion Brenner . SEE MORE PHOTOS OF THIS GARDEN
In the summer of 1988 , Fairey joined Lowrey on one of his expeditions to the Sierra Madre Oriental mountain range in northeastern Mexico . They explore from desert to cloud forest , read Fairey , and searched for plant from dawn until after iniquity , by flashlight . The Adrenalin high-pitched of the hunt hooked Fairey instantly , as did the evidence of the release of fragile habitat stimulate by the overgrazing of goats and the sense that he could help preserve plant from extinction .
Over the years , Fairey returned to the Sierra Madre 100 times , fascinated by the variety and architectural beauty of the plants he found there . Back home he began using a newfound palette of Sunday - have it away plants likeyucca , agave , dasylirion , nolina , and dioon in his dry garden and design with bod and form , steer and sun , disdain in one swoop both the English tradition of subdued , flower borders and the European model of formal framing and symmetry .
Today , plants reign supreme at Peckerwood , providing social system for garden elbow room with their architectural bod and through massing of related to species—“counterparts , ” he shout them - from different portion of the reality , like his sieve of mahonia from both Asia and Mexico in the forest garden . And as John Troy , a San Antonio landscape painting designer , points out , Fairey also plays up a feeling of surprisal and racket by mingling plant not normally seen together on this side of the border , like palm and magnolias , pines and agaves .
One encounters these arresting combinations throughout Peckerwood but especially in the cheery , dry garden on the west side of Fairey ’s manse , a two - story , corrugate steel - sided structure with a umbrageous porch and attached art gallery . In the wry garden , fine , rounded gravel smother the plants and flows between them , forge path and creating a instinctive - looking “ trading floor , ” knit the garden together with a coherent color and grain . To the NW of the house , in the woodland garden , pine straw supplants gravel , mulching plants and calm down visitors ’ footsteps . Throughout , paving , walls , and other hardscaping are kept to a barren minimum , enhancing the naturalistic look .
On the south side of John Fairey ’s home is a fenced court filled with Brazos River pea crushed rock and flagstones and a paseo manufacture of quarter - in steel home frames paved with “ atomic number 26 ore , ” a local crushed rock - and - clay intermixture . The two - part brand carving , Positive and Negative , is by Texas artist John Walker . The little tree to the leftfield of the carving isFraxinus greggii(little leaf ash ) . Behind the carving stands a small dependency ofYucca rostrata . Photo by : Marion Brenner . SEE MORE PHOTOS OF THIS GARDEN
Fairey bask the act of planting and like to try out , digging thing up and try young combination with such regularity that a friend once observe he ’d “ never seen a plant at Peckerwood that was n’t on the remnant of a shovel . ” When siting plant , Fairey considers the swordplay of brightness level on leave and the ever - present Texas wind , especially in the dry garden . During the blazing summertime , that space is psychologically cool thanks to an abundance of silver and blue - green leave , like those ofYucca rostrata , a strappy Koosh ball of a plant that respond to every cooling breeze with a dazzle play . Round forms and modernist geometry dominate here ; global plant types likeEchinocactus grusonii , Dasylirion longissimum , Nolina nelsonii , andXanthorrhoea quadrangulatacreate a bouncy rhythm . pay for gully - washer summertime thunderstorms and winter rains , Fairey elevates each plant for drainage on its own crushed rock hummock , “ because I wish mountains , ” he laughs , a computer address to his cacoethes for exploring Mexico ’s northeastern kitchen range . But Austin landscape painting designer James David sees the artist ’s eye at work . “ single plant are put on crushed rock stand for you to admire , ” he says , “ like buckets of hyacinths on display in a efflorescence shop . ”
“ Every bit of the garden is thought through from a design standpoint , ” say Bill Noble , managing director of preservation at the Cold Springs , New York - ground Garden Conservancy . “ If you acknowledge plants , then John ’s assemblage will blow out you aside . If you do n’t eff the plants , you’re able to still appreciate their beauty and the conception of the garden . ”
Because Peckerwood is such a unique repository and because Fairey is looking to the garden ’s future , the Garden Conservancy is assisting him in transitioning it to a public entity . Asked what he would like for gardener to take off from a sojourn to Peckerwood , which today cover 39 acres , Fairey says simply , “ diverseness . ”
“ John has expand the pallet of plants for gardeners in the South , Southeast , and Texas , ” sound out Noble . “ His garden has a lot to instruct . ” After a lifetime of teaching , Fairey remain himself an eager learner , continually experimenting with plants and treating his garden as an artist ’s canvas on which he paint with light , foliage , and even the wind .
To be after a sojourn to Peckerwood Garden , go topeckerwoodgarden.org .
