From shady spots to open spaces gardens inspire a sense of security, comfort and well being.
Native Gardens
Crucial to a thriving ecosystem, native plants reduce the need for valuable resources: time, water, fertilizer and pesticides nurturing native animals and insects and discouraging non-native and often invasive plants & pests.
Meditation Garden
coming soon
Onsite Texas Natives
Cool Mint Gardens is home to 5 large old growth Live Oak trees, together with three similar Oaks bordering on adjacent properties. All are believed to be Escarpment Live Oak trees. Escarpment Live Oak is the hardiest evergreen oak being drought tolerant and able to withstand very cold winters with minimal leaf burn. It is thicket-forming by spreading from root sprouts to form a small stand of identical trees.
Texas Natives at home in Blanco
Native Plants Thriving in our Gardens
Grasses, Vines & Annuals
American Smoke
Anachaco Orchid
Brown Fig
Cedar Deodora
Dessert Willow
Escarpment Oak
Flameleaf Sumac
Hackberry
Kidneywood
Mexican Plum
Peach
Persimmon
Pomegranate
Texas Mountain Laurel
Almond Verbena
Am Beautyberry
Autumn Sage
Barbados Cherry
Flame Acanthus
Rough Leaf Dogwood
Salvia Greggi
Texas Lantana
Violet Silverleaf Cenizo
Viburnum
White Honeysuckle
Cedar Sage
Four O’Clocks
Turks Cap
Hinckley’s Columbine
Horsemint Monarda
Heartleaf Hibiscus
Indian Blanket
Lemon Mint
Mealy Blue Sage
Pavonia Rockrose
Pink Primrose
Prarie Paint Brush
Rocket Larkspur
Scarlet Flax
Spring Obedient Plant
Texas Bluebonnet
Texas Lantana
Turks Cap
Violet Ruella
Grasses
Little Bluestem
Lindheimer Muhly
Vines
Coral Honeysuckle
Maypop Passionflower
Mexican Flame
Mustang Grape
Perennial Morning Glory
Trumpet Vine
Virginia Creeper
Reseeding Annuals
Giant Red Amaranthus
Rocket Larkspur
California Poppy
Cool Mint Gardening Made Simple
We Make Dirt!
A productive and thriving garden can only be as good as the dirt in which it is planted. Cool Mint Gardens have been growing without pesticides and synthetic fertilizers for more than twenty years. The gardens are maintained by testing the soils annually then amending as necessary with compost from food scraps and green and brown organic matter from the trees and plants. This is natural, an on-going process as provided by the kitchen and gardens themselves.
We Make Fertilizer!
The 500+ gal fish tank in the Meditation garden provides rich nutrients for most of the gardening needs. Supplemented with organic seaweed, molasses, mycorrhizal fungi and kitchen scrap compost is all that is needed for beautiful, delicious plants and food.
Pesticides & Herbicides!
The array of pesticides used in Cool Mint Gardens include diatomatious earth, a variety of sprays made with peppers, garlic, dish soap, orange and neem oils, BT and BTI (Bacillus thuringiensis subspecies israelensis, a naturally occurring bacterium found in soils that contains spores that produce toxins specifically targeted and only affect the larvae of the mosquito, blackfly and fungus gnat.), Occasionally a nest of squash bugs or aphids make home to a plant but they are easily vacuumed off and the plant is sprayed with a homemade pesticide for future protection.
Vinegar 20% – 30% provides ample and quick acting herbicide for naughty invasive species desirous of creeping in walkways, gardens and driveways. Bamboo leaves stacked 3”-6” are a protective layer ensuring that weeds do not pop up where they are unwanted.
We Use Mulch!
Evergreen oaks, such as live oak (Q. virginiana), retain their living leaves year-round but do shed their leaves in spring just before young leaves appear. With 5 of these 250+ year old beauties on the property, there are ample leaves to provide mulch throughout the gardens. Gardens mulched in late spring, after plants have ample time to emerge and grow tall enough to peek over a 2”-3” layer of oak leaf mulch, are safely ensconced for the hot summer to provide shade that keeps the roots cool and the ground moist.