Off a highway outside of downtown Austin, James David
stands in his sunbaked garden, which is surprisingly green for the end of
summer. In front of his weathered stucco house, there's a dense bed of plants and trees -- a free-form composition with boulders, pots, and raked pea gravel.
David bends over his favorite perennials, pointing
out a flowering shrub called Barbados pride and a 'Grace' smoke
tree with bronzy foliage.
He knows all the plants' scientific names,
origins, and habits. "I kill more than I grow," he smiles.
"But I'm a gardener. This is normal to me. You just keep
trying."
Austin's premier landscape architect, David is
a keen plantsman. But he is also a brilliant garden maker and connoisseur
of design, regardless of whether it comes from 17th-century France or
21st-century America.
He may have staked his claim in Austin, but when
it comes to collecting the best in garden furniture, ornaments, pots, and
oddments, his ear is to the ground of the world.
He selects such things for
his own house and garden -- and he sells them at Gardens, his combination
nursery, retail shop, and landscape architecture firm that's been
part of Austin's creative scene for 24 years.
The garden has been a project ever since David and Gary Peese built their house 27 years ago.
