Garden Galleries
Ready to get inspired? Start here!
Learning from La Cantera
Retail landscaping has historically depended upon heavy watering. The Shops at La Cantera has created a showplace that’s green, but not wet. Landscape changes are saving over 6 million gallons per year. And the cooling water features use recycled water.
A gallery of watersaver textures
Watersaver plants provide a colorful resiliency to the design. Here, a lively palette of mountain laurel, esperanza, yucca, and sotol greet customers approaching the retail village.
Century Agave Colonade
Century agave crowns the entrance colonnade, both in flesh and in steel sculpture. Like palm and papyrus motifs in Egyptian columns, agave serves as an appropriate symbol for this retail location -- as the mall draws core clientele from both southwest Texas and from northern Mexico.
Falls at La Cantera
Innovative conservation efforts recapture 1.2 million gallons a year for La Cantera's fountains.
Parked cars are shaded by fast-growing acacias
Plant selection is carefully matched to available water, making it possible to provide shade and visual interest in far corners of the parking lot -- without the need for sprinklers.
Recaptured condensate
La Cantera's outdoor promenade is everywhere enlivened by flowing water, supplied by reclaimed condensate from the retail HVAC systems.
Sage and other xeric accents define the perimeter roadways
San Antonio's rugged natural landscape influenced the approach to individual garden spaces. More of the outlying areas were converted to watersaver landscaping in 2013, reducing the impact on the Edwards Aquifer.
The Shops at La Cantera
A juniper tree is evergreen, drought-tolerant and native.
