The issue on my mind today is planting diversity vs single variety plantings. This post showing changes we have been making to the front yard beds is prompted by inputs from David at The Desert Edge.
Six red flowering yuccas (hesperaloe parviflora) were planted near the garage nearly 20 years ago. They were definitely pretty when in bloom as shown here in Spring 2010
But the deer often snapped off the blooms and I thought they looked boring much of the year
Somewhat like the H-E-B parking lot
Not a bad choice for the local shopping center, but not so good for a color loving gardener like me. One of my favorite things about San Antonio is how colorful everything is and I enjoy bringing that home. Definitely time for some changes.
The south facing spot gets maximum sun exposure and plenty of reflected heat so anything here needs to be tough. In the spring of 2010 we planted gold lantana in front. Last fall we added Mexican Bird of Paradise (caeselpinia mexicana), Pride of Barbados (caeselpinia pulcherima) and a lantana camara found growing wild nearby
Inspired by the photos of Agave ovatifolia in Pam Penick's blog Digging, we removed the two large hesperaloe in front and installed the agave
A gardening friend shared a native Velvet pod mimosa (Mimosa dyscarpa) which will eventually grow up about six feet against the stone wall.
One of the large red yuccas has been transplanted to the back yard and the others will be divided and planted along side the driveway in the near future.
The early plan was to replace them all until David featured hesperaloe in some of his posts and, combined with the really hot, dry summer of 2011, I began to rethink the plan. Instead of removing the rest of them this fall, we have divided and relocated them around the bed to fill in the space. Three of the larger original ones remain in place. The tree form vitex remains and the Texas Mountain Laurel is kept full and shrub-like in front of the garage window.
As always around here there's more work to do. Two more gold lantanas will be added in front of the agave. The old landscaper's border will be pulled out.
The red yucca should bloom again next spring and the agave is growing well and looks good all year while adding interest that was lacking before. The Mexican Bird of Paradise should take off next year and really bloom. A more disciplined gardener might have left all the red yucca, but I enjoy seeing the new mix with the agave there whenever I pull into the driveway....and isn't that the purpose of a garden?
