June 25, 2025
In early June my family met up in Wimberley, Texas, to celebrate Mom’s birthday. One morning we got up early and drove to Old Baldy Park to climb that rocky peak and see what we could see.
Much like Blue Hole, which is another beloved natural area in Wimberley, Old Baldy was saved from potential development by citizen action. Back in 2015, Old Baldy was put up for sale. Fearing public access would be stopped, people in Wimberley banded together with the city to purchase the property and turn it into a city park. Well done, Wimberley folks!
The park is located in a residential neighborhood 2-1/2 miles from downtown Wimberley. Limestone steps — 218 of them — lead you up a half-mile trail to the top. That’s double the number of steps at Austin’s Mount Bonnell, as a frame of reference for my fellow Austinites.
I stopped frequently along the way to admire early-summer wildflowers. Deep-blue widow’s tears, aka dayflower (Commelina erecta), was growing in rubbly limestone, and I couldn’t resist the deep blue of these tenacious flowers.
Stunning color! The weedy patch of widow’s tears growing in my garden, which I can never defeat though I try, is a paler blue and not as beautiful.
The usual suspects — native twistleaf yucca, prickly pear, and cedar (juniper, actually) — thrive on thin limestone soil too.
Natural texture
At the top, I admired a 360-degree view of Wimberley from Old Baldy’s limestone pate. Despite humidity haze, I could see for miles. I’m glad I finally made it to this high point of Central Texas.
I welcome your comments. Please scroll to the end of this post to leave one. If you’re reading in an email, click here to visit Digging and find the comment box at the end of each post. And hey, did someone forward this email to you, and you want to subscribe? Click here to get Digging delivered directly to your inbox!
__________________________
Digging Deeper
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!
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.
