Watersaver Landscape Tour 2017 Preview

The San Antonio Watersaver Landscape Tour will be held Saturday April 8th and is free and open to the public.  Six yards in the northwest area of the city have been selected for this year's tour.  For those who live in hill country areas this tour is full of ideas and inspiration for gardening on limestone rock.  Last week I was invited to preview the tour and in this post I'll show a few views of each yard to encourage you to go out on the tour and be inspired to save water in your own gardens.  I'll have future posts after the tour with a more detailed look at each garden for those who can't attend.  For more information check the tour website.

Yard #1 is at 8615 Turning Leaf in Fair Oaks Ranch.  An excellent example of how native plants can be used to create a nicely integrated landscape.  This is a gardener's garden so follow the trail around the yard to see a well designed native plant landscape.  This home is in deer country and the homeowner has decided not to fence in her yard though a few plants are caged to help them get established.  It's possible to coexist with deer when you have mostly native plants.  This is where you'll find me helping out as a docent in the afternoon on tour day.

I'd love to find these grasses growing in the rock in my yard.

 
Yard #2 at 8346 Settler's Peak in the Village Green neighborhood shows how to manage a front slope down toward the house.

The home is also in deer country and the homeowner has planted different types of lavender among native shrubs and plenty of drought and deer resistant plants.

Yard #3 at 8339 Wine Cup Hill at literally the high point of the tour features a formal front garden enclosed by a stone wall and roses.

This is the front yard only as the back yard goes straight down the hill.  The front courtyard seating takes advantage of the view.



Yard #4 at 7303 Clear Rock has not a blade of turfgrass front or back but plenty of native and adapted plants to explore along the stone trails in the front.

A backyard entertainment area with pool, gazebo, tropical plants, and seating areas to enjoy.

Yard #5 at 310 Santa Domingo in Sonoma Ranch is a steeply sloping yard.  The homeowners designed it and did all the stone work and planting themselves.

It's a front yard only since there's not much of a backyard here.  Massed plantings demonstrate how to make an impact in a large yard.

Yard #6 Just up the hill at 711 Vegas Rio is beautiful all around with a well designed front yard.

In the back yard you'll see an infinity edge pool, outdoor kitchen, putting green, and outdoor living with big screen TV.  This home backs up to a nature preserve so they enjoy a hill country view from the back terrace.



The Watersaver Landscape Tour is sponsored by San Antonio Water System, San Antonio River Authority and Gardening Volunteers of South Texas to encourage you to conserve water in your landscape.

For more information check the website.  Some of the yards are in gated communities and information on access will be available online before the tour or you can start your tour at Yard #1 at 8613 Turning Leaf to receive a handout with details.