Now that's better! Changing out the stock tank garden

Remember that mesmerizing spring display of Mexican Feather Grass from a few weeks ago?

By early June the grasses in the stock tank garden were a matted, unsightly mess.

Spring rains and good soil grew them into the biggest specimens I've seen.  But those same rains and "too good" soil led to an early demise plus they were smothering the rest of the plants anyway.  Not a good look.

Mexican Feather Grass (Nasella tenuissima) can usually be rejuvenated by grooming out the brown strands allowing the green to sprout again.  I gave it a try to no avail since all the plants were toasty brown through and through.  It was time to yank them all out and start over.

Much better already without the dead grasses

I could have left it like this for the summer but Mexican Feather Grass reseeds freely and I needed to thin them out from the front garden.  With a ready supply of new plants why not just put a few back to fill in the spaces.

The grasses won't grow nearly as fast the rest of the summer.

There, now that's so much better!  

End of Month View April 2014

I look forward to looking back.  What?  I mean looking back at changes in the garden over the past month which why I'm joining Helen at The Patient Gardener for the End of Month View for April.

We haven't had much rain yet this year but spring has brought a nice green-up and most plants have recovered from the exceptionally cold winter by now.

Gardens on Tour in Austin: Highland Terrace West Part 2 and Foliage Follow-up

This is the "Four and a half" post in my five-part series on the Gardens on Tour for the Ladybird Johnson Wildflower Center in Austin this past Saturday.  I joined Austin bloggers Pam Penick of Digging, Catherine Jones of The Whimsical Gardener, and David Cristiani of The Desert Edge from Albuquerque for a fun day of touring.  Because the garden on Highland Terrace West had so much to show I'm posting the median strip which was included in the tour in a second part.  You can see the Highland Terrace West garden in my previous post.  Since the median mostly foliage I can also multi-task this as Foliage Follow-Up.  Foliage Follow-up is sponsored by Pam at Digging the day after Garden Blogger's Bloom Day.

From the tour brochure:

After the 2008 drought, the homeowner felt compelled to see if she could create a pleasing garden with many challenges: deer, no irrigation, poor soil, and rampant weeds. The median in front of the house demonstrates this and has become a community project for the neighborhood.

This was a good idea to turn what is often an overlooked space into a garden the community can enjoy.  The challenges are outlined above and below you see the results.

Lawn Gone! A Review!

Have you recently been looking at your lawn as more of a chore than an asset?

Want to do something about it but don’t know where to start?

You can start with Pam Penick’s new book Lawn Gone! which provides not only the philosophy and rationale for partially or completely replacing your lawn but also follows it up with clear options and steps you can take to get there.  So it provides both food for thought as well as planning and execution tips.

Today I’m joining Holley at Roses and other Gardening Joys for her garden book review meme.  Of course, you knew my first garden book review would be for Pam Penick’s Lawn Gone!

Plant ABCs: N is for Nasella Tenuissima

The ABCs of plants in my garden series highlights the letter N for Nasella Tenuissima or Mexican Feather Grass.

Walking the Walk: The River Walk from the Museum to Locks

The San Antonio River Walk is one of my favorite places in San Antonio.  Not the famous part with all the bars and restaurants, but this River Walk  which extends north and south into our neighborhoods.  Most tourists see a very small part of the River Walk, but it has been more than doubled in recent years and runs about 15 miles long now.  These far reaches of the river are enjoyed mainly by San Antonio residents.  Office workers enjoying a break or headed to a meeting.  Dog walkers and bicyclists from nearby residences.  I walk here to check out the landscaping ideas and to enjoy my city without battling the crowds for parking.  Last fall I shared photos of the Museum Reach of the San Antonio River Walk.  At that time I ended at the Newell Avenue bridge near the San Antonio Museum of Art.

Driveway Landscaping Completed

Cross another big project off the list -- the driveway landscaping is done!

More Progress on the Driveway Project

It was a beautiful weekend here in San Antonio so we took the opportunity to work on the driveway project.  You can read about the beginning of the project here.

We added a row of Mexican Feather Grass (Nasella tenuissima) along the driveway and Gulf Muhly (Muhlenbergia capillaris)  near the front.

Yes, that sure is a lot of concrete and these plants should help soften it.

In addition to the low maintenance requirement, we have chosen plants that can be easily and inexpensively replaced should they be lost in the inevitable encounters with skateboards, soccer balls, or car tires.

The next step is to remove the grass over to the neighbor's driveway near the street and plant more grasses.

Sometimes it helps to look back at the before photos.

Okay, that does look so much better already and it should improve quickly from here.

A New Project for the New Year

In south central Texas ringing in the New Year means we have about six weeks to get going on big spring projects.  We don't have to wait for Groundhog Day to know that by mid-February the weather will be consistently warmer.  Even though we can have a rare freeze into March, we need to get our projects well underway early in the year or it will be too hot all too quickly.  Here in San Antonio, the record high for February is a toasty 100F set in 1997.

Relatively mild winters mean that we have better weather for major gardening projects in the winter than summer.  It's also important to get plants established before the heat sets in.  With that in mind I'm ready to start work on the gardening project list.  Since the list is long we'll focus on projects with maximum impact.

Our first project this year is the driveway hellstrip -- 100' of neglected, rocky clay soil and fill along the concrete driveway.

 

To preserve the existing trees our house was set on an angle to the street.  Anyone approaching from the south looks straight at the double garage door from several blocks away.  Definitely not the best first impression of the house.  We can't move the house so we'll improve the view.

Low maintenance is the priority for this spot.   The original plan for a row of my favorite Texas Mountain Laurel (Sophora secundiflora) was revised when we found the shallow water lines run back about half way along the driveway.  Limited digging depth means no trees.  With all day sun and no irrigation I've chosen Silverado sage (Leucophyllum frutescens), Mexican feather grass (nasella tenuissima), and Red yucca (hesperaloe parviflora).

 

These plants are existing in the front yard and repeating them will visually unite the sections across the driveway.

We coordinated with the neighbors so the planting bed will go over to their driveway at the street to hide the water access ports.  Plants will be kept low within 15' of the street for safety.  A neighborly path through the bed will be included at a convenient spot.

There is a significant chance of rain Sunday or Monday and no freeze for the next 10 days so we planted the Silverado sage plants on Saturday.

These may look small now, but they will grow fast here and top out around six feet.  We use one gallon plants most of the time since they are easier to plant.  The hesperaloe parviflora will be installed soon and more plants in late February.  The biggest challenge will be fighting the bermuda grass that has taken hold here.

Our neighbors drove up just as we finished and were very pleased to see progress since they've been looking at our boring garage door for 20 years.

There's a lot of work left, but it's so good to see a needed project get started.

October 9th, Before and After

When landscaping you hope your "after" photos look better than the "before" photos.  It did not work out that way this year.

Last year on October 9, 2010,  I took a photo to document progress.