Gardening Penance in Suburbia
My neighborhood is connected to the Balcones Canyonlands Preserve; a 24,000 acre wildlife refuge.
Photo by Mark Sanders
While I feel a bit guilty living in a subdivision that may impact negatively on this wilderness, I also view my garden as an opportunity to grow more native plants in a lot that was -- and still is -- fairly desolate by wildlife's standards.
My goal is to choose native and adapted plants for my garden that will serve as dependable sources of food and shelter for birds, butterflies and other wild animals in my area. I'm not a purist, so I'd love to do this while still creating a beautiful garden.
I've found a great resource that is free to Austin residents called "Native and Adapted Landscape Plants" that is published by the Texas Cooperative Extension. The nice people at The Natural Gardener offer free copies to Austin residents.
I'm starting with a relatively blank slate. My lot is one of those typical postage-stamp yards with too much house in the middle. The plantings we inherited were a sad hodge-podge.
We've removed several of the randomly planted ilex and replaced them with lavender, phlox and bluebonnets.
I hope the sago palms look better under these windows. I'm trying to decide on a small, native ornamental tree to replace the crepe myrtle.
Since the soil is so shallow we've been planting smaller specimens and hoping they will fill out relatively quickly. In the photo below you may be able to see a 'baby' Mexican Bush Sage, Senna and Butterfly Bush behind 3 yellow daisy bushes and a sago. I think it's time to bring in more mulch as well.
One of my favorite new plants is a variegated lantana I found at Hill Country Water Gardens. The butterflies seem to love it, so I'm going to buy a few more to fill out that small bed on our hill.
I found a decorative hanging basket I liked for the front porch. I planted it with purple petunias and variegated vinca minor. I've read that vinca minor is invasion, so I hope it won't be a problem if confined to the basket. The cannas below are just coming up.
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