A new estate garden is in the making, near Mineral Wells, TX. The grounds are extension of a private garden, now open to the public for tours and events. Their site is on our Links page.

I visited last July and will dig out some pics from then. Caro went yesterday and has some Oct scenes to share, so we can have a mini forum VS.

I hope to do a proper VS this coming spring after visiting during the iris, rose, then day lily seasons to portray its wide collections.
Yes please, let's see your pics from yesterday Caro.

I did not really know what to expect of Clark Gardens. It was truly amazing! I think the guide said there were 80 acres total, with 30 something acres under cultivation. There must have been at least 50 separate gardens within the garden. The weather was overcast during our visit, so my pics didn't turn out quite as well as I had hoped, but here are a couple just to give an idea of the place. I would definitely recommend a visit. It was simply incredible.

Nothing wrong with those pics, they are good ones. We shall have to reserve time on here if it gets any busier..

Looks like that could be your next project, Carolyn....poor Neal. J

Some of the areas have formal classical lines and others wander around a lot of stone contained water ways with loose native plantings. There really is a lot of grounds to explore. Karen is presently working on a childrens learning center pavilion that is going to be marvelous.

You would love the water lily collection Terry. The choicest live in the pond above. I took a few close ups this summer that I hope to post tonight.

Terry, there were these huge water plants...I've no idea what they are....but the leaves were round and about 2' in diameter. The edges turned up like a pie crust. We didn't get to see any of the blossoms, but were told they were huge. Maggie, do you know which one I'm referring to?

There was also a canna garden, rose garden, herb garden, the White Garden which was on a hill with beds terraced all around as well as water features. Then, there were just lots of mixed gardens with assorted perennials.

There were also 2 pair of swans: one pair of white swans, and one pair of black swans with bright red beaks.

It was really interesting.

The only problem I could find with Clark Gardens is that their website is completely screwed up. I've only been able to pull it up once, and that was after several attempts. Nicola couldn't view it at all. Several of the people in my garden club couldn't view it either.
Clark Gardens

The site was just down temp for maintenance.
The huge water lilies are Victoria amazonica, so its a bit redundant to say they are from So Amer, and were first cultivated in 19th century England. They are extremely frost tender and will require over-wintering under cover (somehow!). The leaves can grow up to 6-8 ft diameter - the deeper the water, the bigger the leaf. The Victorians were fond of having their picture taken while standing in the middle of a leaf. The guy who designed the Crystal Palace based his engineering on the inner structuring of its leaves. He was also an estate gardener and the first to bring it to bloom in England. The nocturnal bloom is pink. I also saw the Longwood Gardens hybrid while there this year. It has a huge white bloom. I'm rather partial to these, can you tell? and was ecstatic to see them being grown here in TX.
Here's some smaller ones in the same pond - the purple one was actually pure blue.


Don't have pics yet of the grotto behind a huge water fall. Sitting inside was heaven in the middle of July.
This is Billie Clark on the butterfly island, stirring up the monarchs on Eupatorium.

There are beautiful water falls and channels for a huge population of feathered beasts.



Most of the perennials were only planted this time last year and many areas are still under construction or in the planning. Its going to be wonderful to watch it develop through the years.

Oops, found some more.
The roses were just finishing a big flush from the June rains, but still a joy to wander in. Part of the day lily collection grows under the arbor in raised beds flanking the walkway.

And here's another shot of the main entrance. Its quite an Easter parade when the iris collection is blooming in these beds around the lily pool.

Thank you Maggie and Carolyn, they don't need a website, they've got one now on Maggies forum. It looks as though quite a bit of time and money has gone into this one, and it already looks so established and I love all the water, and especially the stone built waterfall.

The web site was only down temporarily and is now up and about once again. I will be giving a program there in May. Check their site regularly for upcoming bookings and events thru the year.
Clark Gardens

Karen tells me Clark has booked a room at Ft. Worth Botanic Gardens to host garden designer Bernadetta Doran, Dec.12
Ms. Doran lives and works in Ireland and will speaking on Irish Garden Designs. More details would be available thru the Clark site or the Botanic Gardens desk at 817-871-7686

Thanks for letting us know it's working now Maggie, I will go have a look.
Do you know anything about the Moody Gardens Galveston?

Most of the complex looks to be very family-vacationing oriented, but would love to visit the Rainforest Pyramid. Their site describes it as "with thousands of tropical plants, exotic fish, birds and butterflies." Doesn't that sound a treat?! Here's their site Moody Gardens
I'm curious about how you know of it Nicola.
Planning a trip to Texas ? :-)

Sir Geoffrey Jellicoe was asked to do a design for the Moody Gardens by Peter Atkins the botanist back in 1983. He was born in 1900 and took on the project knowing that he would probably never see it built. I suppose that the overall budget of 30 million dollars may have been a slight temptation. The gardens originally conceived by the Moody Foundation would never generate enough income from admissions to be financially feasible and many adjustments and compromises had to be made. Somehow I don’t think that the IMAX theatre was in the original plan! However I would really love to visit the gardens.....and you never know maybe next year :-)

There is so little mention of the gardens and no pics of it that I can find on the site, that perhaps there is very little left of it. What a travesty. I do hope the above Clark Gardens foundation is better protected from future commercialism robbing the original intent.
Thank you for that wonderful piece of Moody history Nicola, otherwise, I would have never known.

Here's a follow up to my nov 9 posting, above.
Ms. Doran's website

Spoke to Karen, Clark Gardens Head Gardener today, about the Amazon water lilies. Asked about how they protect them for winter. A wooden form has been made to fit across the pool (slightly peaked), covered in plastic and insulated on the north side with styrofoam. Brilliant!