Austin - 6-July

Today's adventure was the Austin Botanical Garden, located off Barton Springs Road on the other side of Town Lake from Austin's downtown. This is a beautiful garden, located on the side of a hill, covered by live oaks.

There are a series of outbuildings here, brought here to exemplify Texas History. Strange to me was the idea that a lot of Swedish people came here. This is an example of a log cabin built by early settlers.


















For a relatively dry place (not much seems drier than limestone hills), there are a lot of water features in this garden. There are falls, lily ponds, a Japanese garden, running streams, and more.

 Since this is limestone country, most of the garden displays pathways, walls, and structures built of limestone. Strangely, the limestone has this sort of quartzy looking inclusions. They display strange crystal structures. I'll have to ask my geologist sister to comment. (Apparently, this is calcite. The little diamonds in the lower left are indicative of the cubic crystal structure.The other shapes; who knows why they are there?)

Part of the garden is designated for a dinosaur exhibit. This one is early, I guess. 

 

Close to the dinosaur part is this little pool with a tiny gazebo, inhabited by mud daubers.

  

 

There are some animals and insects about, too. We saw a coyote skulking through the brush, along with hearing birds, and seeing a bunch of dragonflies and damselflies.

My favorites are always the water lilies, though. They are really elegant.