Guest Posting at Garden Style San Antonio

When my friend Heather at San Antonio Water System (SAWS) contacted me about writing a guest post for their website Garden Style San Antonio I didn't hesitate to say yes.  Garden Style San Antonio has been an an excellent resource for watersaving garden ideas and I'm excited to have my first guest post published on the site today.  If you garden in San Antonio or Central Texas, you will enjoy browsing their extensive plant lists with photos, design ideas, seasonal reminders for tasks in the garden and the latest on SAWS watersaver coupons.

Another reason I was happy to guest post for SAWS is my article highlights the stars of my winter garden--agaves, cacti, and succulents.  Lawn is not the only welcoming option for a front yard, these plants have led to many compliments from passersby and opportunities to chat with neighbors over the years.  Planned about six years ago with the idea that our front landscape would look much the same year round with minimal maintenance, we've achieved our goal.  Mid-January is an excellent time to check out our plan.  With a silvery foundation of drought-tough agaves, grasses, and evergreens like Texas Mountain Laurel, all anchored by native Live Oaks, the front garden needs only a few tweaks each year to keep it looking great.



Any post highlighting agaves in my garden must begin with Agave Ovatifolia, the focal point of the front drive.  Heather knew I wouldn't turn down a chance to write about this beauty!  Damianita at its feet have just finished blooming.

Upright and comparatively small Agave neomexicana provides a focal point in the narrow island.  There are two offsets emerging and I can't wait to plant those out in the garden when they're ready.

Tough agaves and yucca add form and structure while echoing the silvery color theme throughout the front garden.  The narrow leaves in the middle belong to a small Yucca rostrata.

A special variety of native Yucca rupicola features gold-edged silvery leaves.  Color Guard Yucca in the right foreground picks up the the gold and green theme against a background of native Salvia greggii.

Golden Barrel cactus (foreground) needs little care to look its best in this tough spot along the driveway.

And here they are close up.



Fishhook barrel cactus continues to produce bright magenta blooms during our mild winter.

Another welcoming garden near the front walk is in the works.  Deer resistant Wooly Stemodia will eventually make a silvery carpet for small agaves placed here.

Agave Victoria-reginae grows slowly so it's a great choice for small spaces.

Opuntia Santa-Rita and Color Guard Yucca add winter color on the north side of the driveway.

Around back the crevice garden holds a sunny slope where little would grow previously.  

It's a perfect spot for more small agaves, grass-like nolina, yucca, and cacti nestled into pea gravel.  By the way, those low-growing green plants in the gravel are wildflowers, not weeds.

My favorite here is Agave 'Blue Glow' in the left hand corner (above).  Below it's shown with a backdrop of Texas Blubonnets from last spring.

Agave angustifolia picks up the silvery theme in the narrow side yard.

Agaves, cacti, and succulents keep my garden looking its best year round.  I'll have an opportunity to write more posts for Garden Style San Antonio this year and I'm looking forward to sharing my San Antonio garden adventures with you.  Be sure enter your email on the front page of the Garden Style San Antonio site to keep up with the best of San Antonio gardening.

End of Month View June 2014

June has been great for growing here in San Antonio, with cloudy days, relatively cool temperatures, and almost daily predictions of rain that ensure new plants and transplants have a fighting chance.  That's unusual for here, and has allowed continued planting and transplanting later than normal.  It's been good to have plenty of rain for a change after almost none all winter.  In this post I'm joining Helen at The Patient Gardener for the End of Month View of my garden for June 2014 to look at the progress.

Summer begins in the front garden with most of the blooms taking a rest while the silvery agaves and yuccas take center stage.  The Bismarck Palm which took a big hit this past winter is recovering and producing new fronds again.

Crevice Garden Update for Foliage Follow Up June 2014

It's Foliage Follow-Up day and time for garden bloggers to join Pam at Digging to show off foliage in our gardens.   The best way to celebrate foliage in my garden for June is to show off the crevice garden progress update.

Before and After: Replacing a weedy patch with a new garden

It's getting hot out there now and with work in the garden slowing down it's time for an update on recent projects.  The first is in the back yard near the circle garden.  Last year this sloped area next to the fence sported a patch of weedy groundcover surrounded by wildflowers.  Not the best, but we had other fish to fry back then.