Drift Out West is eleven acres on Onion Creek in Driftwood, southwest of Austin, on rolling limestone where the city gives way to the Hill Country. ADLA Studio designed and built the landscape so that every deck, patio, and path is made for gathering, and our own crews tend it year-round. The land holds groves of oak and cedar elm, an open prairie, and the riparian corridor of the creek. Long supper club tables sit beneath string lights in the oak grove, and stone and brick patios and outdoor decks make room for live music. A vine-covered pergola porch opens to the sunset, with stairs down into the gardens, and our crew built the temperature-controlled plunge pool.
A nature trail follows the creek through the trees to a quiet bend in Onion Creek. Gravel paths cross gardens of Texas sotol, beaked yucca, Mexican bush sage, and native grasses. Pollinator beds draw hummingbirds and butterflies, wildflower fields and rain lilies fill the prairie, and a wildlife pond brings birds to the deck. Planting and habitat restoration continue every season, and the grounds are our living test garden, where plants prove themselves before they go into a client’s project. Drift Out West hosts events and seasonal pop-up suppers for neighbors. The cut flower farm, now in progress, will bring people out for harvest days and put Driftwood-grown flowers on local tables. Drift Out West is ecological garden design, made to be shared.
