Yard Update

The project has grown since I last posted. We decided to put in a cactus/succulent garden. This area gets the hot sun from noon until sunset. Ann loves them and we believed it will be good a good addition to the front yard. I was also able to cap-off three sprinkler heads to this area.




There are 23 different plants in this cactus/succulent bed and 11 different species.

The corner bed over the drain is turning out nicely; the rosemary is beginning to cascade over the wall. I believe they will help soften the area as they grow larger. The shrimp plants are from cuttings from our daughter Rebecca's yard in Houston.



The large bed toward the street is shown below. It now has 90 plants of 27 different species. Only 4 plants were purchased this year, the rest are transplants from other parts of the yard, gifts or starts from cuttings.





Almost all the plants in the yard are native and adaptive plants that need little water once established. I have redone the sprinkler system in all the beds. If I need I can water these young and/or transplanted plants.

The bed closest to the house has 81 plants of 23 different species. There is still a large palet for planting in this bed.





I believe that I want to build and arbor that would have a swing under it in the upper right of the above picture. It would be up close to the property line. Muscadine grapes could be used to cover the arbor and would make for a wonderful place to sit and meditate.

Below are a couple of pictures from the back yard. I planted a one square foot raised kitchen garden. It is 4X8 feet and has 32 plants for the kitchen. Also a picutre of my almost ripe tomatoes.

Black Swallowtail Butterfly Chrysalis

Found that the caterpillar moves off the dill when it is time to form the chrysalis. Here are pictures of a chrysalis on a holly plant about eight feet from the dill plant.

Dill Plant Community

The front yard continues to develop and there is a new area added to the South of the driveway. Pictures will be posted soon on the progress. Today I wish to share the community that has developed in the dill plants that I have been growing as host plants for the Black Swallowtail Butterfly. (Click on images to enlarge)

Dill Plant

This plant was started in early January and since mid-February has been a home for aphids, Ladybugs, caterpillars and other folks. It has been amazing to watch the development of the different creatures living there. First the aphids showed up, soon followed by the Ladybugs. At the same time the Black Swallowtail was laying eggs on the plant. Below are photos of some of the activity observed.

Ladybug

Ladybug Eggs and Aphids

Ladybug Larva with Caterpillar

Ladybug Pupa

The Black Swallowtail caterpillars have been growing nicely in community with everyone else. Here are a couple of pictures of their development. I'll post more about them as they become butterflies.

Newly Hatched

More Mature

If you want to save some money plant a dill plant and cancel your cable tv. Dill has much better programing than cable.

Front Yard 20090307

Well, the 12 yards of mulch was still a bit short for covering the entire area. So I'll need more mulch, but that's a good thing, gave me some time to evaluate a walk-way system for the areas. Did spend time the last two days planting plants as a beginning to the planting process. Used grasses from the back yard that needed to be thinned and shrubs from the front of the house where I want to de-emphasize the more formal landscape structure. I have used Yaupon Holly, Mexican Honeysuckle, Zebra grass, silver blue stem grass and boxwood.


This has been a great process, I have interacted more with my neighbors in the last week than in the last year.

Limestone Edging in Place

The edging for two separate planting areas has been installed. I have used most of the mulch that was received last week. Twelve yards of hardwood mulch will be delivered tomorrow. That should be enough to finish covering the two large bedding areas.

Beginning of Front Yard Redo

Two pallets of stone and six yards of mulch were delivered on February 25. The first project is to enhance the area around the drain that runs under the driveway in front of the house. Below is a picture of the drain prior to the retaining wall.



The intent of the design decided upon was to develop a retaining wall that would allow for the corner area to be used as planting area and to use prostate rosemary to cascade over the wall to soften the area.

I have planted rosemary, shrimp plant and bulbine in this area.  As these plants mature I'll post more photos of the area.

Landscaping the Front Yard

Our front yard is about 10,000 sq. ft. in size and is planted in St. Augustine grass.  Since we are having such a drought now and water has become such a scarce resource I plan to replace much of the grass with beds of native and adapted plants.  Many of the plants show in the cold frame pictures will be used to plant out the garden areas. There are 32 trees in the front, two live oaks and the remainder are elm.  The first picture is of the front yard as you walk out the front door and look to the west toward the street.

This next view shows the front yard as you look from the street back to the east toward the house.  As you can see there are patchy green areas and very dry dead areas.  The leech field for our septic system is in the front yard.  That is going to mean I will need to be very careful as I dig and add plants in the yard.  The field is only about 1 foot deep.

This final view is from the southwest corner of the yard and show the drainage and slope of the front yard.

Master Gardener Course

I've recently completed the Travis County Master Gardener course work and am now completing the required volunteer hours for certification as a Master Gardener.  This has been a wonderful experience.  Our class received great information from very qualified lecturers and guest speakers.  Since doing the course I have built a cold frame on the south side of the house and have filled it with many cuttings from friends, neighbors and others.  The goal is to use these new plants to develop gardens in my front yard.  To view the cold frame visit this Picasa site.