October 9, 2015: Before and After

Shortly after I began this blog in October 2011, I also began a series documenting my front garden with Before and After photos.  I chose that date as the best "Before" shots I had taken from the prior year before I began blogging.

Each year these photos provide a documentation of just how my plants have changed or held up during the previous year.  Although 2015 has been a tough year for San Antonio plants due to drought, from the driveway view things don't appear to have changed much so we need to compare with 2014.

October 9, 2015

Autumn Garden Roundup: Front Garden

The weather is saying it's Fall as colder temperatures head our way.  As always, we are grateful to the folks farther north for blunting the impact and accepting the worst of the cold front's effects.  Anyway, it's time for my annual Autumn Garden Roundup before the garden fades for a few months.  I've taken quite a few photos of the garden at its peak over the last week or so for your viewing pleasure.

We'll begin in the front where there haven't been many changes this year.  A little different view than I typically show is this approach from the front of the house out to the street.  Yes, that's a lot of concrete. Concretious Americanus is very cold-hardy and was installed by the original owner who is also a contractor.

Before and After: October 9th 2013

During the first week of this blog two years ago I posted "before and after" photos of my front yard to show changes over the past year.  There's nothing magic about October 9th except it is a date for which I could find a "before" photo from my pre-blogging days.  As I begin my third year of blogging I continue the tradition to take stock of the yard during what is typically a peak bloom season.

The front landscaping today, October 9th, early this morning.

Hot Lantana for Summer Color

Throughout the summer New Gold lantanas and autumn sages (salvia greggii) brighten yards and commercial landscapes around the city of San Antonio.  It's no different here in my front yard.

Most of these lantanas were planted when the house was built about 18 years ago.  Even though they didn't come with tags I'm pretty sure they are New Gold Lantana as they bloom profusely and do not produce berries.  They take all the heat the south facing driveway throws at them and then some.

These lantana are also huge. The largest two at opposite ends of the island bed are 68" and 72" diameter which is about twice the mature size listed on the label.

Over in the hellstrip by the mailbox, red autumn sages (Salvia greggii) were planted here back in 1996.  About three years ago I added this red lantana.  It's a color match for both the red salvia greggii and the gold lantana.  The ladder you see is for my husband who was on the roof installing sun shades on the clerestory windows.  I always stay outside when he's on a ladder or the roof.  I spent the time enjoying all this color.

Existing Salvia greggii was divided and planted in the new bed along the street. The gold here is Four-nerve daisy because it blooms through the winter while lantana dies back. We still need to mulch here and that will be completed soon.

It's all tied together with Color Guard yucca and Golden Barrel cactus (Echinocactus grunsonii) like these by the power pole and street sign on the opposite side of the yard. Extra credit if you notice the similarities in my neighbor's landscape.   Love it when that happens!

We're ready for summer here as these hot colors will hold their own throughout the hot summer.

Plant ABCs - I is for Ilex Vomitoria

My series the ABCs of plants in my garden continues with the letter I.  I is for Ilex Vomitoria or Yaupon Holly.

What a name!  Vomitoria?  Apparently early European settlers thought the native populations used the leaves as a tea to induce vomiting.  That turned out to be a misunderstanding since the active ingredient in the leaves is caffeine.  I found a few secondary references to the tea still being available in St. Augustine, Florida, but could not find the tea for sale.

While the yaupon holly is native to Texas, it is not native to San Antonio or the Texas Hill Country.  It is one of the few varieties of holly that will reliably grow in our hot, dry environment here.  There were other holly varieties planted years ago in the neighborhood, but many bit the dust in the recent drought.  Those varieties also prefer acidic soil, so they do not do as well as yaupons in our limestone soil. 

The dwarf yaupon (Ilex vomitoria 'nana') is in my yard as a hedge, and this row along the front was planted by the original owners' landscaper.

Yaupon holly is evergreen and very drought tolerant, we only watered this hedge a few times during the recent drought and never water the native ones.  These have reached their mature size at around 3' high and we keep them naturally shaped by only trimming a few rangy branches now and then.
This one dwarf yaupon in the driveway island intrigues me since it was not part of the original landscaping and must have been planted by renters.

I kept it when we reworked this bed because it adds a green counterpoint to the mostly silvery plants here.  Just for fun, I keep it trimmed in a softly rounded shape to fit better with the style of this section of the garden.

The yaupon holly is also available in a very attractive weeping form (Ilex vomitoria 'pendula') and I have just the place for two of those which I plan to add in the fall.  The Ilex vomitoria has been a great plant for my garden.

The Nicest Thing

"Oh, you live in that house with the beautiful landscaping."

Wow, that's what a neighbor several blocks down the street said when we introduced ourselves and described where we lived.  Could he have said anything that would brighten my day more?  I can't think of anything just now.

After three years of hard work it was wonderful to hear a spontaneous compliment like that.  Nearby neighbors have made positive and much appreciated comments about the improvements, but this was the first time I realized that other neighbors who walk or drive by each day have noticed.

I could have politely answered "Thank you" and left it at that, but instead I told him that he had just made my day and we discussed some of the work we've done.

Okay, just had to share.  Thanks for listening out there, enjoy the rest of your weekend!

Oh my, Muhly, how you've grown!

Another tale of ungardening and regardening.  Earlier this month I wrote about my regardening efforts by replacing the mystery grasses in the front island bed with Pink Muhly (Muhlenbergia Capillaris).  This was how the garden looked after putting the new Pink Muhly in place

This is how that same garden looks a couple weeks later

Notice the difference?

The Pink Muhly has "grown" pretty fast.  Well, not exactly.  It was actually Regardening #2, as I replaced the still new 6" Pink Muhly with even newer, larger ones.  I had looked all over town for the large size Pink Muhly before settling on the 6" plants thinking I needed to get them in the ground.  Of course, as soon as I did I spotted the larger 10" plants and decided to make another switch.  Sooo...  Regardening strikes again in the same spot.  And of course DH has been so very pleased to help...ha ha ha.

A bit obsessive? Perhaps. But this is the most visible spot in the front yard, the area we see first every time we leave or return.   My concern was the smaller plants might not bloom well this year and after eighteen months of sad looking grasses there I'm ready to see a nice display this fall.  Sometimes obsessive makes good gardening sense.

I'm really, really, done replacing these now.  Unless of course I find the five gallon size ready to bloom....

Bluest blue - Russian Sage

This year the Russian sage (Perovskia atriplicifolia) seems more intensely blue than previous years.  Could it be the weather we've had brought out the color more?  
  

 

Or perhaps so many other things didn't bloom their best this year and that just makes it seem so much prettier right now.
 

Russian sage is a great garden plant for many climates.  I've seen it blooming in Colorado even after the first snow of the season.  It's common in Provence to supplement lavender's earlier bloom time.  It does look similar to lavender doesn't it?
 

Russian sage is less picky than lavender, these plants replaced lavender that didn't do well here.  It works great in this hot island between the sidewalk and the circle drive.

Russian sage loves our full Texas sun.  When planted in morning shade it will flop over and reach for more sun.

It's such a beautiful plant I plan to add as many as I can fit in.