It has been too long since I’ve been in the yard to do more than admire it. And we’ve gotten a lot of rain. So today was a big day of weeding.

Renee of Renee’s new blog, while plying me with savory cocktails, convinced me that using Oxalis as a ground cover was a really good idea. And that cocktail was super-good. Mango and onion?

Man.

So I’m going to try it. These Agave Perry’s were supposed to be modernist and spaced apart, but they end up just disappearing into the mulch. So I’m going to let the Oxalis grow and see if they show up better.

I’m not just being lazy. Shut up.

Question 1: What is this?

I really like them. But I’ve been pulling them, worried I’ll have 1,000,000 of them. But I don’t want to pull it. So tell me. What is it? That thing in the middle there.

I’m already loving the Ruby Crystal’s from Pam Penick. It looks so architectural. Can’t wait for it to start spreading. 

Julie also got me a copy of Pam’s book - Lawn Gone for my birthday. We took a picture of it. But it’s not online yet. So pretend I didn’t say anything and act surprised when I post the picture later. ‘Kay?

I’m going to try to get a picture of this at the right time of day. It’s soap agave trying to burst through the landscape fabric. Around sunset it gets side lit and you can see the tentacles pushing up from underneath Alien style. 

Red Gomphrena! 

The purple didn’t make it. But red! Still very, cool!

And my baby is about to surpass me in height. I brought one paddle of this cactus from our old house. It sat neglected on my parents porch for 4 months, then wintered inside our shed, before being planted. Now it’s almost as tall as me. She’s beautiful.

And I’m having the problem Jenny at Rock Rose is always lamenting. I mean, I know I should pull this prairie verbeena. It’s covering the path. But just look at it!

I got the cactus’ pokey bits out of the way. What more do you want from me? Clear traffic patterns are overrated.

• xeric

It’s the mowing time of year. So that’s what I did on my lunch break. I actually saw my lizard friend today. I’m aware she’s there most of the time. Lots of rustling in the bushes, but she doesn’t usually come out. I guess the lawn mower freaked her out.

Big lizard. Hopefully living in the flower bed with Spanish daggers will keep her safe from cats. Damn cats eating my lizards. Although I can’t be too down on them. Because I’m pretty sure they’re the vector for getting this sedge into my backyard.

It’s really starting to spread back there. I have some out of focus pictures of my octillo. 

Admit it. Part of the reason you come here is to find out how badly the pictures I take today are going to be. How about this fantastic picture of the ground with out-of-focus Shrimp plant?

This would kind of be an impressive photo if I was trying to get a nice picture of the bedstraw.

But finally a decent picture of my nicely mowed lawn and the giant oak tree that is the main reason we bought this house.

Here’s hoping for a deluge tonight!

• xeric

Man, I’ve been meaning to do a blog post for so long. I have a backlog on my camera. One thing that’s happened since the recent rain is *KA POW*

I have never seen a feather grass this tall. It’s huge!I expect it start shambling around the yard ala Uncle Fester. 

Perhaps I should buy it a pair of glasses and a nice brown derby.

And on a similar day I found this fantastic little guy. I love moths. The hummingbird moths have been all over the dianthus, but I can’t get a picture of them. Too hummingbird like. And as you know by now, my photography skills are substandard. It’s genetic. Just be glad the thing I’m describing is in the picture.

Isn’t this lady cool though? She looks almost Plasticine.

I think my favorite part of having a xeric yard is suddenly becoming aware of all these super-cool bugs, animals, and birds I had no clue existed.

So I was dividing some Liripoe the other day. Also because of the rain. It had suddenly become like 52 plants in a 4” square area. I think it looks pretty nice.

Anyway I pulled out some feather grass that was in this side of the bed and transporting it to the middle of the bed where nothing was growing and *clink*. What the? *scraaaaape *. My trowel hit brick. So apparently part of the reason the tree doesn’t grow so well in the flowerbed is this:

I haven’t fully unearthed it. Had to get the monkeys to bed. I guess this was a plant stand?

It’s now a plant stand. At least until I pull those bricks out. Always something interesting to dig out of this garden.

Most of it brick.

And finally a not so great picture of the pomegranate tree in my neighbors yard. It may be in their yard, but most of the beauty comes arching over the fence into my lovely sunshine. I could definitely see adding another one of these. The fruit and blooms are spectacular.

Back to the weeding today. And trying to figure out what to do about my Lantana… man my Lantanta is ugly right now. I’ll snap a picture as long as you don’t judge me.

• xeric

Thanks! Glad you think it looks cool. Here was my yard when we bought the house.

The previous owner had obviously fought a really valiant fight to keep that St. Augustine going, and some of it was insanely healthy.  After a few summers of draught it was suffering. You can read the whole process starting here.

I went about removing the grass the most difficult way. Mainly digging out clumps with a shovel. Removing excess dirt. Throwing it into my green waste can. 

With about ¼ of the yard left to go I rented a sod cutter and did the rest in about 2 hours.

Long story short. I highly recommend a sod cutter and then going back behind it in the loose dirt and pulling out roots. The other thing that has saved me is using the contractor grade landscape fabric. The gray stuff, not the black. It is still working as a weed barrier in most places.

• xeric

The reason I’ve been letting my yard go a bit. I decided to build a ramp into the shed to store the girl’s new birthday bikes. It’s the cover for our old attic stairs covered with old cedar edging.

And some sedge growing in the back yard! I’m pretty sure a neighborhood cat was behind this.

• xeric

Oh man. That first picture. Anticipation. That is going to be a riot of flowers in a couple days.

The second is a butterfly I haven’t seen before. It looks a lot like a red admiral in the picture, but in real life was orange and not red.

And the third picture are apricots. This tree was a gift from my grandmother. When my I took my mother over to look at how well it was doing she questioned how I was going to retrieve the fruit (the tree is within a ring of boxwood hedges)? Therein lies a distinct difference in our gardening style. I might try an apricot or two if they get big enough, but mostly the raccoon and opossums can have ‘em. I’m very much a xeric guy and not really into fruits or vegetables. My mom and my taste pretty much only intersects on rose bushes.

Speaking of vegetables. I tried to plant a garden again for Stella and Etta. I got in some snap peas. Okra. Melon. Basil. 2nd day I couldn’t find most of the seedlings. I thought the dogs had trampled them. Then I came back to the basil chomped to the ground. Then I moved my seedlings right outside the house and all my ‘Silver Falls’ (Dichondra argentea) had been chomped. * sigh * Guess I need cages or something.

Oh well, it’s weeding season and everything’s starting to come in. I love this time of year. I always get a bit despondent in the winter, assured that nothing is coming back. Do you have that problem?

• xeric

I finally pruned my rose-bushes today. Mainly because one completely fell over. I’m worried I’ve damaged it, but chances are it was just figuring it could claim more garden space if it fell over. Those rose bushes are scary.

The one above is the less scary one. It’s a tad excessive on the thorns and I couldn’t help thinking about Conan O’Brian. 

Picture #2 is me in my work glasses. Jenny over at Rock Rose admonished all of us in blogger world to wear protective glasses. Apparently the glare can be cause eye problems. These are 3M work glasses that filter light, but don’t do much tinting. I can’t really garden with a lot of tint.

Picture #3 is attempt #2 at getting some veggies and plants for the front yard. This one looks like it’s going to go. We’ve got broccoli  peas, and okra going gangbusters. I’ve got a lot of Dichondra ‘silver falls’ started in there. I want to cover my front yard with it. Also some santa barbara daisy and gayfeather. We’ll see how this turns out. I’m not horribly optimistic, but if it works it’ll save me a lot of money. I don’t really have enough money to buy the amount of ground cover I need.

• xeric

Julie left town to help my sister and her new baby while my brother-in-law is in Norway. So Stella and I went to harbor freight and picked up this greenhouse for $29.99. We’ve got melons, carrots, brocolli, peas, okra, grass, cone flowers, and swiss chard. This is a first for me, but Stella grows veggies at school all the time and so she took charge of the process.

• cross-fingers
• veggies
• xeric

Got some pruning shears yesterday so I went to town at lunch today. Finally started getting that lovely little pine tree back under control. It needs to fill back in after much neglect, but it’s on its way. And it’s going to have a lush bed of salvia under it come spring.

• xeric

I like this article a lot. When I first started gardening I struggled with what authentic or natural really meant. I bristled a bit at “invasive” rhetoric as it so closely parallels anti-immigration rhetoric, but at the same time invasive plants can be a serious problem. And the more I’ve learned about the Texas landscape historically the more I’ve realized what most Texans think of as “nature” is really not historically authentic (and who’s to say if that’s even desirable).

Much of our juniper “forests” are actually just second growth after the cattle stopped grazing. I’m not one of the “mow down the mountain cedar” people, but our highway medians often have more native species than our nature preserves.

As such I think it’s amazing what cultivating native species can do. You start seeing them reseeding everywhere. People can’t help but have an influence on the nature around us, but we can introduce diversity and recognize beauty rather than mowing it over.

• xeric