Posted: Sun, 22 Aug 2010 08:20 AM - 12,484 Readers

By: Becca Hensley

Trisha Shirey is Lake Austin Spa Resort's constant gardener.

After all, she's cultivated the lakeside property's 19 acres for more than 26 years — since long before the popular destination spa earned its current accolades.

"When I began, the landscape was a blank slate. I called it 'Zero-scape,'" she jokes. She began with an organic vegetable garden—then let the grounds evolve. Her efforts have yielded organic herb and vegetable gardens, an organic orchard, copious flowers, numerous pockets of evocative plantings, water features and serpentine pathways alight with color. For her labors, Garden Design Magazine recognized the grounds this year as one of the "Top 10 Spa Gardens in The World."

But Shirey, whose favorite book growing up was "Secret Garden," doesn't rest on her laurels. She insists that any garden is in a regular state of flux.

"Gardens grow and change," she says. And, as a plant collector Shirey loves to experiment, trying out different couplings and always surveying each view and angle, intent to improve the vista. While Shirey tweaks the process, she also creates masterpiece settings, little bits of aromatic heaven, resplendent with texture and color. Still, this director of flora and fauna doesn't subscribe to the overly vigilant manicure philosophy. "That sounds overly meticulous to me. If a plant can't grow and thrive without a lot of care and pruning once established, it doesn't stay here long." Instead, her approach is to enhance the resort's restorative ambiance by thinking of the beds and planted expanses as outdoor rooms. Since Lake Austin Spa Resort is a certified wildlife habitat (by the state and the National Wildlife Federation), a third of the acreage is left undeveloped to provide space for wildlife. This also allows for a buffer from the growing Steiner Ranch neighborhood that has crept closer to the once isolated resort over the years. Aesthetically, this natural zone is the rough-hewn backdrop that sets the stage for Shirey's deliberate, poetic plantings. Shirey starts with the natural tranquility born from the outdoors—and bumps it up a notch.





Take the formal garden. This well-tended plot oozes with utilitarian yet sightly plants. In summer, find sunflowers, vegetables, herbs and edible flowers. In winter, gorgeous bursts of color come from Swiss chard, kale, gourds, lettuces and more. Herbs and produce grown here are used as ingredients for spa treatments as well as for the nutritious spa meals prepared by noted chef, Terry Colan. And Shirey loves to experiment. "This year," she says, "I've been nuts about basil."

She notes she has planted more than 35 varieties and is still seeking more. (Shirey can wax lyrical about all those basils, but that's a whole other garden story.)

Throughout the property, Shirey pursues an English garden motif, which means informal plantings crop up in various formal settings. Pathways throughout are means of transportation rather than contemplative spots. So Shirey turns them into green corridors, awash with scents and blooms, angles and texture. Insect and disease problems are managed organically. The spa composts plant wastes on-site. It also purchases locally made compost, mulch, potting soil and fertilizer.

Set into the garden, Shirey has some rows she calls "butterfly alley," portions of the ground so lined with butterfly-friendly plants that clusters of butterflies linger. Shirey uses flowers and foliage colors to encourage relaxation, peace of mind, and visual satisfaction. Along the luxurious arbor that surrounds the outdoor pool, trumpet creeper climbs, providing shade and inciting energetic hummingbirds to cluster. Turk's cap in the spa's enclosed garden also attracts hummingbirds that can be seen through the panoramic windows — truly a source of entertainment for those receiving pedicures. Against the navy blue pool barn, Shirey places blooming, salmon-colored ginger, both a feast for the eyes and a perfumed treat for lap swimmers who draw energy from the scent.

If enthusiasm were fertilizer, that alone would explain Shirey's success with the property. But it's more than that: With a subtle diligence and an intuitive hand, she's let the land speak — and people like what they hear.