April 22, 2025
Last week I invited myself to Kay Angermann and Julie Nelson’s utterly charming Katie Bird Farm, their home garden on 3 acres in southwest Austin. I love everything about their country garden, starting with this eye-catching vignette along the driveway: an upturned stock tank displaying a succulent bowl, accented with a sculptural cedar tree root, softleaf yucca, and young Texas mountain laurel. A beautiful old live oak in the background, bright green with new leaves, frames the scene along with leaning cedars in the foreground.
Katie Bird roadrunner
Katie Bird, if you’re wondering, is a roadrunner and the hobby farm’s spirit animal. As Kay tells it, she was chain-sawing cedar trees alone at the property — dangerous work — and noticed a roadrunner following her around. She felt it was watching out for her, and she named it after her beloved grandmother Katie from South Texas.
Roadrunner garden art throughout the property represents that good-luck bird and her grandmother’s spirit.
Julie is a real estate agent and author. Kay is a retired teacher and a picker — that is, someone who buys and sells (and collects) antiques. Under her business name Hipbilly, Kay specializes in vintage signs but also old farm equipment, some of which she repurposes into garden planters for Katie Bird Farm. I admired this old chicken feeder (I think?), one of a pair that she and Julie turned into planters along the driveway.
In one, an Easter lily cactus (Echinopsis) had opened that morning and was in full, eye-popping bloom.
Entry garden
At the house — a clean-lined modern farmhouse that Kay and Julie built — a poured-paver path through gravel leads to a low deck with aqua chairs. Dark-gray gravel matches the dark wall of siding. A yellow ceramic globe, yellow pots, and yellow front door lead the eye — bop, bop, bop — right to the entrance.
A beautifully pruned up cedar tree shows why you should never be too eager to whack down every cedar on your property. Central Texans tend to hate on cedars, but they really are beautiful in the right place and right numbers.
On the front porch, a painted concrete cowgirl provides a howdy moment. Her name? Cornbread Susie. Here’s her backstory, as told to me by Kay:
“I went to Las Vegas, New Mexico, to do some antiquing. Just outside of town was a small antique mall. I went in and immediately saw the cowgirl statue. There was a guy working in the booth next to it. I asked if it was his, and he said yes. I said, ‘I definitely want this. Can you help me load it?’
He said, ‘Yes, it weighs about 200 pounds.’ He had a friend working with him. It took a dolly and all of us to get her in my truck.
The guy said to his friend, ‘Doesn’t she look like Susie?’ The friend said, ‘Susie from the flea market? You mean cornbread Susie?’ They both started laughing.
I said, ‘Who is cornbread Susie?’ One of them said, ‘She sells cornbread at the flea market!’
I said, ‘Well, that will forever be her name. Cornbread Susie.’”
It’s a funny story, and Cornbread Susie enjoys a great view from the porch, with live oaks and Kay’s sign shed in the distance.
Sit a spell
A fringy black pine thrives under the cedar tree — surprising considering how alkaline our soil is for acid-loving pines.
And check out this gorgeous potted combo of flapjack kalanchoe, sedum, and purple oxalis.
l love this and may have to copy it. I already have a pot just like it.
Side paths edged with stone lead to inviting seating areas here and there. Kay says they use them all. A tuteur of cedar branches makes a trellis for a vine along the path.
Barn garden
In the back garden, a sea of yellow Engelmann’s daisy glows against a dark-gray barn.
Engelmann’s blooms all summer, Kay says. I grew it in my former garden, and I remember it being a little thuggish for my tiny front yard. Here it has room to roam and is perfectly in scale.
In the center of this sunny patch, Kay parked a wheelbarrow planted with sedum, where a tiny green dino rampages.
Alongside a greenhouse, potted succulents, a pump fountain, and a few of Kay’s old signs make a fun vignette.
Beyond the Engelmann’s, a veggie garden and seating area beckon. Shade sails and a limbed-up cedar tree offer sun protection. At night the 10-foot-diameter windmill blades on the barn are lit up.
Repurposed farm bins are planted up under the cedar tree.
This area is so charming with all the wildflowers. Kay says she didn’t plant any of these Engelmann’s daisies — they just appeared.
Poppies have seeded here too.
Engelmann’s daisy and larkspur, with one of Kay’s vintage signs in the background
Closeup of the larkspur
The windmill makes a perfect focal point for a farm garden. Kay acquired it before Katie Bird Farm even existed. She stored it in pieces at her last house. When she and Julie moved here, they built their barn with the windmill in mind, making sure the wall was tall and sturdy enough to support its weight.
This is our happy place, a sign reads.
Cistern cups, separated from their chain, hang on a post with little succulents tucked inside.
Wonderful attention to detail
For Easter, a little bunny pot was added to a collection of succulent planters on an upturned stock-tank table.
Old toy trucks tote succulents, with an orange chicken riding shotgun. Notice her color-coordinated Easter egg. The little lizard basking on the table — he’s real.
Fun details everywhere you look
Barnyard
A metal chicken (OK, a rooster) with its own clutch of Easter eggs marks the gate into the barnyard.
A chicken coop decorated with Kay’s signs offers prime lodging to a flock of hens.
A mural of Our Lady of Guadalupe by Austin muralist El Federico brightens the side wall.
Turquoise patio seating and a chandelier invite you to sit and visit with the animals.
Kay has two pet donkeys, Pearl Snap…
…and Pascua. They are elderly and high maintenance but absolutely doted on by Kay.
And no wonder — they are awfully cute.
At a stock-tank duck pond, more vintage signs add humor.
Backyard garden
In the sunny, open lawn, a swimming pool with modern lines offers escape from the summer heat.
The country-modern house is accented with a metal roof and full-length porch, where a farm table with colorful stools offers a spot for outdoor dining.
Larkspur blooms now. Soon it will be standing cypress.
A fenced side yard features Grandma Katie’s old gate, complete with painted sign reading Katie Bird Farm.
Succulents spill from a metal bin marked Eggs.
When Kay spotted this sign — Kay’s, it reads — she had to have it, she told me. Well, of course!
Under a big tree, another seating area takes advantage of the shade. A swing proves irresistible too.
Happy visitors
Kay and Julie’s beloved rescue dog, Sarge, gets some loving.
A huge wind chime tolls gently in the breeze. Below, a steel circle with chunks of translucent blue glass makes a meditative focal point.
At the farthest edge of the property, a donkey run, wildflower meadow, and this majestic 200-year-old live oak reward a longer stroll.
Hipbilly Signs
Kay has a shed dedicated to her vintage sign business, and a Hip Shed sign points the way.
Kay loves to pick up women’s restroom signs. When I asked why, she laughed and said that in the male-dominated field of picking, the mens’ signs were already taken, but ladies signs could be found.
And hey, it’s two talented ladies who created all this, after all. Kay and Julie are generous with their garden and said to come on over when I invited myself and a few friends…
…including two new friends I’d not yet met until this day: Ruth Goudy, aka @theflowerwriter, and her daughter, Isobel. They’d recently arrived from England, on a whirlwind wildflower-hunting trip for a new book project of Ruth’s. I’d been introduced via email by a mutual friend and was delighted they could join us to see Katie Bird Farm. What better place to enjoy an Austin spring wildflower season?
Thank you, Kay and Julie, for sharing the joy of Katie Bird Farm!
Want more Katie Bird Farm? Click here for a post I wrote about it last year.
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My new book, Gardens of Texas: Visions of Resilience from the Lone Star State, is available for pre-order at Amazon and other online book sellers. It’ll be released on October 14th, and while that’s several months away, pre-orders are tremendously helpful in getting my book noticed by readers and reviewers. Please consider pre-ordering if you’d like to read it this fall; more info here. Thank you for your support!
Tour 5 unique Houston gardens on Saturday, April 26, from 10 am to 4 pm, during the Garden Conservancy’s Open Day Tour for Houston. Tickets must be purchased online in advance through the Garden Conservancy.
Shop the Spring Native Plant Sale at the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center each weekend through April 27, 9 am to 1 pm (last entry at 12:30 pm). Plant sale admission is free. Bring your own wagon or cart to transport your treasures.
Come learn about gardening and design at Garden Spark! I organize in-person talks by inspiring designers, landscape architects, authors, and gardeners a few times a year in Austin. These are limited-attendance events that sell out quickly, so join the Garden Spark email list to be notified in advance; simply click this link and ask to be added. Read all about the Season 8 lineup here!
All material © 2025 by Pam Penick for Digging. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited.
All material © 2025 by Pam Penick for Digging. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited.
