Ryan and Kim are faced with a very common problem. When they bought their house the yard really needed a lot of work. The grass was in poor condition and the landscaping needed lots of help. They've done a bunch but they've have a long way to go. They decided they needed a plan before they went too much further, so we got together and talked about it. Here are some of the plants that might be added to their yard=
-Let's start in a shady spot by planting a Sago Palm.
-Then add some Purple Heart Wandering Jew.
-Then a few Giant Leopard Plant. This crazy plant blooms in December.
-Variegate Liriope adds color to a mostly green landscape.
-As does Gold Dust Aucuba.
-And as the season cools down, Gulf Stream Nandina's leaves take on some fall color.
Some colorful annuals include Coral Bells. There are lots of different leaf colors to choose from. Here are three nice ones.
-Crested Leopard Plant always gets peoples attention.
-If you have shade, there's nothing nicer than ferns. Here we have the two evergreen ferns that work in Texas. Southern Wood Fern first, and Holly Fern is next.
More plants for shade:
-Variegated Flax Lily will get about 3' tall in about 5 years.
-Persian Shield's striking purple leaves is a great annual. It can get as tall as 2'.
-Black and Blue Salvia is a great plant for shade.
-Chocolate Chip Ajuga is really compact. And it blooms just like it's big sister.
-Pink Skullcap is a great low growing perennial that pops those little hop pink blooms all summer.
-Majestic Sage is another shade loving bloomer. It will get 4' tall if you let it.
-For continuous color plant Pentas. You have a lot of choices when it comes to flower color.
-Want to cover the ground. Sweet Potato Vine will do it faster than you think. There are also many leaf colors, from pale green to dark purple.
-Plant some Dusty Miller to add some gray to your landscape.
And if you need a ground cover, here are three good ones.
-Asiatic Jasmine can handle the sun or the shade. And you can get creative when you shear it if you want.
-Silver Ponyfoot- this might freeze back but it's pretty root hardy.
-Wooly Stemodia is another gray plant. And deer don't eat it either.
Chocolate Chip Ajuga stays very compact and has blue flower spikes in the spring and summer.
-St. Bernard's Lily looks like a grass but it's not. It has white flower on long spikes all summer.
-Whirling Butterflies or Guara is a short perennial that sends up long flower spikes above the plant. You can find those that bloom with pink or white flowers.
For evergreen shrubs
-Ballarina Indian Hawthorne will be covered with pink blooms in the spring.
-Bicolor Iris produces cream colored blooms all summer.
-As does Butterfly Iris, but the blooms are white.
-To add color to the bed plant Loropetalum. There are many varieties today. Here we have
-Crimson Fire which stays about 4' tall.
-Cherry Blast which might get 5'-6' tallf.
-and Purple Diamond which should stay about 5' tall.
All of them bloom in early spring with fringe-like flowers that are hot pink or red.
Here are some great plants for a sunny spot.
-Purple Fountain Grass-usually an annual in San Antonio
-Bat Face Cuphea- another annual
-Compact or Mexican Firebush-perennial
-Shower of Gold Thryallis-another perennial that blooms all summer.
-Purple Trailing Lantana-perennial that also blooms until Christmas.
-Stella de Oro is one of the best blooming Day Lilies you can find.
-Blue Daze loves the hot sun.
-Firecracker Plant can take the sun, or a little shade too.
More sun lovers
-Red Drift Roses-only gets about 15" tall and 2' wide. They are disease and pest free. Shear them to shape before spring.
-Peach Drift Rose-same as the red.
-Zexmenia-summer bloomer that gets about 15"x2'.
-Zinnia linearis will get about 12"x12" and blooms all summer. Flower colors are yellow, white and gold.
-Texas Betony will bloom most of the summer and will get about 15"x15".
-Orange Bulbine blooms from spring through fall. It won't get much taller than 15".
-Blue Butterfly Flower will get about 4'x3' and will bloom most of the summer. The flowers look just like butterflies.
-Variegated Japanese Sedge will do good in sun or shade in the afternoon.
-Frances Purple Oxalis does best in a little shade. It will have little white flowers in the spring. If it gets too hot or dry it might go dormant then return when it cools down or starts raining.
-Oakleaf Hydrangea is the only Hydrangea I know of that likes our alkaline soil. It can get 6' tall and wide, and will go dormant in the winter. It likes the shade.
-Back in a shady spot plant Acanthus mollis. It will bloom in the summer. It goes by a number of common names like Grecian Pattern Plant or Summer Beauty Acanthus. It may drop leaves in July or August but bounces back in the fall.
-Goldsturm Daisy starts blooming in June and goes into September or October. It gets bigger every year.
-Red Shrimp Plant likes the shade and hummer like it.
-August Beauty Gardenia blooms in late summer. They prefer a rich soil and in Texas they do better in afternoon shade.
-Pavonia or Rock Rose is a Texas native that blooms in the summer.
One common problem in suburbia when houses are built close to each other, is keeping the grass healthy with reduced sunlight and sloping yards. Sometimes the only solution is to give up on the grass and put in either a ground cover or flower bed. The ground cover can be done with plants (vines, or other plants) or a material such as gravel, mulch, or decomposed granite.
Below are several examples.
-The first photo involves too much shade and too much run off for grass to grow. A gravel channel helped direct the water where to go.
-In the second photo, the water formed a channel where it always drained. The solution was forming a rock pathway that looked much nicer.
-The third also also formed a channel when it rained. They created what looked like a natural creek bed.
Below are more of the same.
-The first shows a big drop. After heavy rainfall, too much waster washed the smaller rocks away, so larger rocks were added to control the erosion.
-In the second picture, larger stones were added down the middle so it was easier to walk on.
-In the third, run off down a steep driveway eroded part of the bed, so larger gravel was used to control it.
Below you'll see how some people dealt with hard pan. That's what's left when the grass is gone all that's left is the bare dirt. That's when it's time to replace it with a flagstone walkway. It can be simple going through the yard or used as a border for a bed. Here are three different ones.
That's it for today. Thanks for dropping by.
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