September 30, 2025
A few weeks ago, in San Angelo, I visited the town’s unlikely Water Lily Garden. San Angelo is unlikely as it is located west of the dry line in the dry half of Texas. Far from the frowning humidity on the coast, San Angelo is baked in the summer with dry heat. Still, the river passes through it – concho – and near that river, you will find a lily covered pond in the international Water Lee Lee collection.
Few flowers can rival the beauty of the water species, and this garden is flooded with them in the summer.
The wide view I recognize is not impressed. The practical raised pond is zipped with iron fencing that protects not only children but plants. You need to stand on the railing – and you will see.
Translucent violet petals containing electric yellow stamens
Harmonious pointy holy grail held on a green and rusty red platter
Yellow moonlight flowers and sparkling satin lily pads
One pond thrilled me with dozens of amethyst water rileys on stilt-like stems.
ddragonflies also appreciated them.
Closer view
Each flower looked even more beautiful than the last one. This pink matches the red spots on the lily pad.
Purple tilted linen white petals
Silk lavender jewelry box
The shining star of flowers
Annuals and flowering perennials surround the pond and add summer colours, including burgundy leaves from caster beans.
But it’s the watermelon that you’ll fall into this amazing West Texas oasis.
To see more of San Angelo’s international water lily collection, read my posts from my 2014 visit.
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Join the Garden Spark Talk at Gilnoony on October 9th
Austin area readers, I will invite you to my next Garden Spark event on October 9th. Artist, gardener and author Jill Noony of Bedrock Gardens talks about her acclaimed New Hampshire Garden. I can’t wait to see her photos and be inspired by the magic of her gardening. You might think that New England gardens must teach us here in Texas. Like other gardens made of passion and creativity, it teaches us to try and experiment with failure, try to fail at risk, and please the resulting beauty, humor and life stories. Please come and participate!
There’s a ticket here
Garden Spark is open to the public. Tickets must be purchased in advance.
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Dig deeper
My new book, Gardens in Texas: A vision of resilience from Lone Star State, is coming on October 14th! You can now pre-order on Amazon and other online book sellers. If you read it or want to give it as a holiday gift, consider pre-ordering. (I’m glad I signed a pre-order copy at my book event!) Early ordering makes a huge difference in helping new books get attention. For more information about Texas Gardens, click here – Thank you for your support.
Come and see me on the tour! I’m talking to a city in Texas to celebrate the release of Texas Gardens. The October talks include Planta Nativa in McAllen on 16th October. Austin’s natural gardener on 10/18. SFA State University Fall Factory Fair was held at Naco Doches on October 23rd. Houston Botanical Gardens on 10/25. Tomball Arbor Gate on 10/26. Join me, learn, inspire and touch on signed copies of books!
Tour 5 Austin Garden on Saturday, November 8th, on an open day tour of the Garden Conservancy in Travis County. Tickets must be purchased online in advance, and some gardens will restrict attendance, so book spots early. For more information, please click here.
Learn about gardening and design at Garden Sparks! I organize face-to-face talks in Austin several times a year, inspire designers, landscape architects, authors and gardeners to inspire and inspire designers, landscape architects. These are limited attendance events, so join the Garden Spark Meailas list for notifications when tickets are sold. Click this link to ask you to subscribe. Click here to see the lineup for Season 9!
All Materials ©2025 by Pam Penick for Digging. Unauthorized reproduction is prohibited.
