Hijo in Austin: A Garden Shop in a Shed at Jardineros Nursery

The new version of "Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon" might as well be the "Six Degrees of Liz Lambert," at least if you're living in the Southwest. Good things happen when the Texas hotelier's friends meet.

Lambert also owns a community artist compound where other creative Texans—including Jon Davidson and Michelle Teague of JM Dry Goods and landscape designer Mark Word—happened to meet and start a conversation that went like this:

Word, whose work can be seen on the grounds of Lambert's St. Cecilia, Hotel San Jose and El Cosmico properties, mentioned that he wanted to open a retail nursery to sell the many desert plants he had in holding lots. That's when Teague and Davidson asked, "Hey, do you need a garden shop for your nursery?"

And so JM Dry Goods expanded outdoors in Austin with the addition of Hijo, a tiny, satellite version of their shop that sells gardening accessories and tools. As with the interior of JM, Davidson (whose other company is Doefabco) built the Hijo shed himself, with sliding glass doors, welded iron windows, and shelving: "Originally we were going to buy a shipping container and blast it out, but then the idea evolved into these fabricated sheds, all under 200 square feet, that anyone can buy."

Hijo is located on Word's Jardineros Nursery, where "tough natives and exciting exotics" are cultivated and sold—all with desert climate and dry gardening in mind. Visit the nursery and Hijo Shed on East Caesar Chavez Street in Austin, Texas—and for the indoor version of the shop, see our post on  JM Dry Goods.

Photography by Michael A. Muller for Gardenista.

Above: Hijo is tucked away within Jardineros Nursery.

Above: The fabricated garden shed has an extended roof for extra shade from the Texan heat.

Above: Davidson and Teague lean against the garden shed's door frame. In front are two San Jose Chairs from Joey Benton of Silla Marfa.

Above: As she does at JM Dry Goods, Teague sources most everything from her frequent trips to Oacaxa, Mexico: baskets, watering cans, and textiles.

Above: The colored plastic gasoline containers are from Mexico. "They're an everyday item that you see people carrying mescal in—I use them as watering cans," says Teague. "That's our entire approach, like, 'how would our friends in Oaxaca do it?' Because they don't have a Home Depot they run to just down the street—we find ways to repurpose things."

Above: Among the accessories for sale are ceramic ornaments and hanging objects by artist Michele Quan. The shop also sells pieces by Oaxacan ceramicist Omar Hernandez, a friend of Teague who also makes handmade copal incense sold at JM.

Above: A selection of sturdy tools by Burgon & Ball hang on the back wall.

Above: Classic leather sandals for men and women come from the mercado in Mexico.

Above: Bright colored rope for use in the garden.

Above: The perfect gardening shirt: Wrangler button-ups that Teague has washed and aged.

Above: Burgon & Ball herb snips.

Above: A detail of Davidson's iron work on the shed's windows.

Above: Teague moved to the Southwest from New York City and resides in a home without a proper garden space, so she's become accustomed to container gardening. At Hijo, Teague sells potted succulents and will prepare custom pots of container plants that work well together.

Above: A colorful woven hammock and blue ceramic bird bath are for sale at the entrance of the shop.

For a look at Mark Word's landscape work at one of Lambert's hotels, see our previous post Hotel San José. And for more of our favorite gardening-related shops, visit our other Shopper's Diary posts on Gardenista. Traveling to Texas? Take a look at our Austin City Guide on Remodelista for more.

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