Saturday, September 29, 2012

Landscaping.

Sometime at the end of my last semester, I came home and my yard looked like this:
I had been bugging Husband for awhile, wanting to redo the landscaping; take out some of the grass and replace with something more drought tolerant. Husband was resistant to my suggestions until our neighbor the landscaper said he was planning on doing exactly what I've been wanting, and then suddenly Husband was more than eager to rip everything out.

You can see in this photo I borrowed from Google Street View that the landscaping that was there wasn't bad, it just wasn't what I envisioned in my yard. If you've ever raised St. Augustine grass in a drought zone, you know it's finicky and impractical. Alas, it's what we inherited when we bought the house. I have dreams of a grass-less yard one day, or at the least replacing the St. Augustine with buffalo grass that won't wither in the Texas sun.
Original Landscaping
We expanded the plant beds and bought a ton of native/drought-resistant species, like bulbine, salvia, lantana, agastache, and ponytail grass. A fire ant colony built its nest in the agastache roots and killed it, unfortunately, but I plan on getting another one. It's been about four months now, so what's still alive is pretty much established.
Currently
Overall I'm pretty pleased with it. We finally hit our second planting season, and I have a few more plants I'd like to add in. I also want to sow a bunch of wildflower seeds for next year. Technically we are still in a drought, but we had a decent amount of rain last night and as I'm typing this, it sounds like more is coming. I still desperately want to paint the exterior trim and siding, but that's a whole different project.