End of Month View July 2014

A big surprise during this summer of 2014 has been the weather.  In my End of Month View for June I wrote about our relatively cooler temperatures along with rain, and that weather pattern continued into July allowing plenty of time to finish up a few projects.  It's time for a walk through the gardens to see how things are going, so in this post I'm joining Helen at The Patient Gardener for the End of Month View to look at the progress.

Most days still begin with a cloudy sky that burns off through the morning as the sun casts shadows on the east facing front of the house.

Gardening on the Rocks: The Driveway Landscaping one year update

In my last post I highlighted the stunning sage blooms along the driveway and today I'm taking a look back at the progress in the driveway landscaping project done during 2012.

Summer Showers bring Sage Flowers

The Silverado Sage along the driveway are in bloom again and even more gorgeous than last year now they have matured.  The Silverados have a deeper color than standard sages and are less leggy.

Opening up the front

The Texas sage near the street was one of the few plants remaining from the landscape installed by the builder and original owner of our house.

Since the yard was quite a mess when we returned to San Antonio in 2008 we were happy to have a large plant that needed little or no attention right out front.  Over time we have improved the landscape to the point where we now want to show off what was behind this sage, no longer needing to hide it from the neighbors.  So the sage you see here in the front began to look a bit out of place.

Celebrating Texas Native Plant Week in the garden

This week (October 14-20) is Texas Native Plant Week and I'm celebrating by highlighting native plants in my garden.

We learn over and over that "you can't fight Mother Nature".  Two years of drought and record heat here in San Antonio underscored the need to emphasize native plants in my gardens.  As you might expect, the Texas natives came through with flying colors while even many adapted plants gave up over the past couple years. 

Plants like Gregg's mistflower (Conoclinium greggii) have kept bees and butterflies busy all summer.

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.