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In my last garden, I had 16 years invested in the soil
and working a particular space
and when I came here I knew I wouldn't garden in Austin again unless I could start with
a clean slate.
>>Narrator: After years of hard work, Tom
and Victor Martinez turned the blank slate they selected into a garden.
Though his blog, soulofthegarden.com,
Tom documents the journey they've shared.
We started off with this big bare space
and I knew that I really wanted to break it down into a whole series of more intimate
rooms
and that's what our trees and shrubs do especially with the boxwood,
they create a series of rooms here in the garden that are designed for either small
groups of people
or even just an individual to be in a place where they really feel alone
and to themselves so even though it's a big garden, there's lots of small spaces in it.
I grew up on a hillside in the Hudson River Valley of New York
and we had these beautiful long views from our front yard we could look out across the
Hudson River with the woods
and mountains in view.
So some of the long views that we have here were influenced by how much I just loved looking
out during the day
and you know scanning over things.
That's something I inherited I think from where I grew up.
The opposite of that were kind of some of my favorite places were like little hiding
places in the woods
where you're completely screened from view and you're kind of cozied in somewhere
and so there are a number of those kinds of spaces in the garden.
>>Narrator: The first was a cove of possumhaw hollies that inspired the garden's name,
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affirmed by his dad's craftsmanship.
Austin inspired another significant anchor, an allee of bald cypress trees.
I'll never forget my first weekend here in Austin I was a student at University of Texas
and a friend of mine tool me out to Hamilton pool
and I fell in love with Austin that very day, you know,
the tall cypress trees lining the streams, the beautiful grotto.
The allee is kind of a representation of Hill Country stream courses,
which are all lined with a double line of bald cypress trees,
so it's a symbolic reference to the place where I fell in love with Austin.
>>Narrator: Influenced by places, as well as people,
Tom arrived at his structure, after scratching out design after design.
>>Tom: I grew to love European gardens with their classicism,
but I also love oriental gardens
and so there's a little touch of each I think in our garden here.
You'll see some Eastern layering on top of classical western garden design.
A lot of people when they think of classical gardens in geometry they think that's serious
and formal,
but I think there's also a kind of playful edge I try to it
and I try to incorporate that in this garden.
There's kind of a fun metaphor that I used in the garden with the geometry we have here
it's a combination of circles
and squares.
The circles tend to be the destination places
and the straight lines take you there.
So I call this garden about connecting the dots.
One of the features that I really like most we created after coming back from Japan, I
call it my Tex Zen garden.
It was inspired by classical Japanese rock gardens, which typically have three mountain-like
spaces in them.
But I went to the rock yard and was trying to pick out mountains
and I found these long flat stones that look like mesas
and I thought that looks kind of like the Hill Country so that became my Tex Zen garden.
>>Narrator: Japan also inspired a screen to hide the tool shed, a project that he and
Victor shared in design and execution.
The screen was prompted by their collaboration in re-creating the old patio near the house.
When we moved in, we had a real standard kind of American Jacuzzi slash deck arrangement
out here,
I like to call it the Charlie's Angels arrangement uh
and we've turned that into kind of a raised platform where we can see the geometry of
the garden.
>>Narration: With designer Robert McKay, they added another dimension to the close-up and
wide shot views.
>>Tom: I wanted to have a little bit of an elevated space
because in a geometric garden you appreciate it more when you're looking down a little
bit at it.
I really like the element of surprise in the garden.
I think it's a fun thing and most of this garden is very clear you stand up here on
the patio
and you look out over the garden and you think you're seeing it all.
>>Narrator: But from the long view, Tom cozied in surprises to entice wandering for intimate
discoveries.
>>Tom: The surprise I have in the garden right now is a sculpture
that's on loan from an Austin sculptor named Hank Waddell, and it's a really fun piece.
>>Narrator: Color arrives in progressive waves throughout the year.
Many are sentimental favorites for Tom or Victor.
But, the connective blue accents were serendipity.
>>Tom: All the blue pots and the use of the blue in the garden really happened by accident;
it was happy accident.
We went to a discount store one day
and came back with some cheap blue pots
and we set them down on our crushed granite and it just looked so terrific,
the orange of the granite playing against the blue
and we decided then and there we wanted to use more and more of that color in the garden.
In the end, the garden really should bring you a sense of peace
it's a lot of work and a lot of time you come out here
and all you see is the work; all the elm seedlings and the chickweed and the problems.
But I try to work in a little bit of time every day to be out here
and just have what I call a little Sabbath time, a little time just to be with nature
and to be with the space and to be quiet.
And most often it's in the morning, I'll come out here with a cup of coffee
and I'll go to my little circle of possumhaws
and sit in there and just spend a little time with the mockingbirds
and that's the real gift of the garden.