Tuesday, June 14, 2011

Rethinking the Land Scape--

So I showed you pictures yesterday of what the road looks like near my house ...
IN ALL DIRECTIONS!  
Yes! I'm surrounded by dirt. 
Can't get away from it. 

Can't hang out the laundry, 
Can't keep the flat surfaces dusted. 
Can't keep the car clean... 
it's impossible. 

We're so dry right now. We've not had rain in the area since on or about May 24th! 
There is a Burn-Ban in Effect due to the extreme temperatures and dryness of the climate. 
Just this week we received a letter from M.U.D (water company)  saying watering is limited to early mornings and late evenings.  We're to adhere to the strict watering in Drought- policy... 
Even - Odd days; according to Even - Odd house numbers. 

I got to thinking about certain parts of the yard---the grass is burned up, and died off... the elements have taken it's tole on the front lawn for sure.  Well... there is no lawn. 
I officially have a sand pit. 

No flowers blooming right now in our yard.  

It got me thinking. I should just start gradual of course-- and begin changing our landscape to something a little more drought tolerant and limit all my hard work and water on keeping a 'lawn'.  

I've been reading up on Xeriscapes. 
I don't necessarily want something like this... 
a smaller specimen would be alright,maybe. 
This is a picture of a Cactus in town where I live. It sits right near the highway... It's HUGE! 

But, I wouldn't mind having more of  something like this... 
This is a picture of Black-eyed Susan... it grows pretty hardily here in Texas. 
I took this picture in my yard a few years ago...

I have also grown four o'clocks...
source
They do well too.

I've been reading up on cultivating the soil, building a berm, and creating drought tolerant gardens instead of lawns.
Now mind you, we hardly ever have a LAWN in our yard... mostly it is , you guessed it...
DIRT!
But it would be a nice change to go outside and not look at the dirt and what little grass there is and think about it all being burned up. At least with a beautifully Xeriscaped yard... you would have the feeling of creating an oasis and accomplishing something with your little plot of land!

 Inspiration pictures to follow~~
source

source

source

This Shovel Ready- Gardener, Caroline has done a complete blog on gardens and visited the Austin Botanical Gardens and took great photos for inspiration!  I loved reading all about her trip there.

I so want to be outside working in the dirt getting it ready for a Land Scape Change... weird, huh?
To be so sick of the dirt; wanting so badly to  get into it?

I'm hoping by changing up the scenery in the front yard--- maybe adding rocks eventually. It will help to hold some of the dirt down!

We'll see.

God Bless you and Thanks for reading!

5 comments:

Granny said...

I understand your frustration. We lived in Arizona for 27 years and never once had a yard with grass that we mowed. I love cactus and grew lots of them. They don't appeal to most people though.

I gathered rocks and outlined beds and would plant drought tolerant plants. You just have to work with what you have.

I pray that you get rain soon. We haven't had rain for a while now but it's not to the point where it's affecting our grass.

Unknown said...

I think you live in a beautiful place! I understand the dirt issues from your previous post! That's a tough problem to live with. But in this post, your thoughts on xeriscaping are great. There's a whole lot of good that comes from gardening that way. And you DON'T have to look at dirt, which is a wonderful reason to do something, anything! I find your first inspiration photo inspiring for myself! I think gazanias are worth a try along with the verbena and the century plant! Go for it! Take some lessons from the Austin botanical garden (been there once and it was gorgeous!) and I don't think you can go wrong at all.

Cindy said...

Hi~
Your tentative plans make a lot of sense. The kind of yard you are wanting would probably be something that you could enjoy all year round, wouldn't that be wonderful?
I think it would be beautiful as well.
Hugs, Cindy

Manuela@A Cultivated Nest said...

I think that's a great idea and love your inspiration photos. We haven't had a drop of rain in over two weeks and it's been incredibly hot on top of that!

Prior said...

I have a dirt drive, we want to put asphalt in, maybe someday, But in the meantime it really brings the dirt into my house. We do have nice Saint Augustine grass in most of the yard, though, it does take watering...but we also have a lot of shade, so that helps. I think you are on to something with your yard thoughts. I love Black Eyed Susans and all of our wild flowers here in Texas. Hope to see you soon/ Lezlee