Hitting all the notes at Piano Rock garden

Let’s tour an Austin garden on a bluff overlooking green hills, with shade and sun gardens and a stone overlook.… Read More

The post Hitting all the notes at Piano Rock garden appeared first on Digging.

February 02, 2026

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Last fall I visited a west Austin garden on a bluff overlooking green hills and a winding, rocky creek. Designed by landscape architect Curt Arnette of Sitio Design, the garden subtly echoes the view with a bermed zoysia lawn studded with limestone boulders. “The mounding captures the hills and draws them in,” Curt says.

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Curt united clusters of live oaks in the center of the yard into one large shade garden. A wide stepping-stone path meanders through, offering access and a garden stroll. For the understory, tufts of sedge and masses of cast-iron plant add easy-care greenery, punctuated by dwarf palmetto and yaupon holly.

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A side view reveals grassy ribbons running through the garden: giant liriope, Berkeley sedge, and variegated ‘Feather Falls’. Lyre-leaf sage and spiderwort are here too for seasonal color.

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At the path entrance, a graceful, scroll-like chunk of limestone stands on end as a natural sculptural element. “That curvy stone was already on the property, lying down, and we stood it up,” says Curt.

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A rolling section of the lawn flows toward the view of the hills. Large limestone boulders also draw the eye in that direction.

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I bet they’d be fun for kids to climb on.

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My favorite of the boulders — a moon-like rock. At the bluff’s edge, a slim metal fence provides safety without obscuring the view.

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Native rock rose (Pavonia lasiopetala) adds hot-pink flower color. Flowers open in the morning and close in the afternoon.

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A stone platform and bench give the owners a spot to sit and admire the view…

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…which is spectacular.

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Behind the stone platform, small natives thrive in its reflected heat: paleleaf yucca, four-nerve daisy, rock rose…

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…prickly pear, Agave lophantha, silver ponyfoot, and zexmenia.

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Agave lophantha, four-nerve daisy, and purple skullcap make a great combo for hot sun and gravelly soil.

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Turning around, here’s the view back to the house. I imagine with all those big windows, the owners feel they’re living in the garden.

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On the shade garden path

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‘Feather Falls’ sedge brightens the shade with its white variegation.

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Yaupon holly, dwarf palmetto, cast-iron plant, and ‘Feather Falls’ sedge — a quartet of hardy, easy-to-maintain plants for dry shade in central Texas.