I’m enjoying what’s thriving this summer as much of my native stuff is even having a bit of trouble and getting kind of crispy.

The Pride of Barbados I planted last year has finally started blooming, and I’m loving the color right outside my front door.

The second picture is of a yucca that’s reminding me that drought tolerant doesn’t mean it’s going to live forever. The cripsy yucca was under a tree I hadn’t pruned back enough and I think it’s suffering from lack of sunlight. It’s struggling even after I pruned the tree. But I see it’s surprised me with two pups. So even if it doesn’t come back I’ve got a replacement plant and one plant to put somewhere else in the yard.

Probably going to put it where I’ve got problems with erosion of the decomposed granite. A yucca seems like it might make for good erosion control.

Figured I should provide some updates. I’ve been fighting weeds under the granite. Finally resorted to Roundup for two species that have runners and are pretty much impossible to get up from under landscape fabric. Been fighting those same two species in small segments of the flowerbeds which has involved a lot of digging out of runner roots.
But otherwise, it’s just amazing out there. The Gregg’s Mistflower has had four butterflies dancing over it pretty much constantly for a month now, and the grasses are really coming in.
Still some patches where I plan to have modern cactus-ey look and the cactus are still very small. 

So my yard thanks to a lot of rain and the fact it’s now summer has started blooming like crazy. There are still some holes and I’m still fighting to knock out the last of the weeds that have survived from the yard (DAMN SPIDER GRASS!), but ultimately it’s starting to look nice.
The plant in the second picture has been showing up all over my front yard lately. Anyone know what it is? I’m finding it really attractive. I’m hoping I won’t regret letting it live.

Why Mow?

Why Mow?

I really enjoyed this article, and I had forgotten that Nick in the Great Gatsby was one of the first anti-lawn protagonists.

There were a lot of things that stood out. One was this:

Lawns are nature purged of sex and death. No wonder Americans like them so much.

And this:

With our open-faced front lawns we declare our like-mindedness to our neighbors”"and our distance from the English, who surround their yards with “inhospitable brick wall, topped with broken bottles,” to thwart the envious gaze of the lower orders. The American lawn is an egalitarian conceit, implying that there is no reason to hide behind fence or hedge since we all occupy the same middle class.

Which cuts a little close to home, since my remaining lovely lawn is now hidden behind a fence where my children play. Feeling a little anti-American.

Finally moved the cone flowers out of the front bed. I have no idea what species theywere, but they’re like 5 feet tall and were out-competing everything else in the bed. I put them where I lost some boxwoods last year. Hopefully they’ll transplant and look nice hovering behind the hedgerow.

I also moved an ice plant and some bulbine sprouts from out front into the hellscape area in the back. This gets run over by Rhett the dog, and gets very little water or sunlight. We’ll see how they fare.

Oh and I got a wasp sting to the temple while I was testing out my soaker hoses. HULK SMASH!!!