October 27 , 2011
New look at lawns, watering tips, plant performance flamboozle
Last hebdomad , we exploit a lawn - free garden that will air in 2012 .
I have sex the way of life that Anne uses grass , yuccas , and agaves for vertical distinction against complimentary - flow natives that nectar hosts of winged visitors . Here ’s a nice duo : Lindheimer muhly and and Deer muhly .
Lindheimer seed mind .
For years , I had a Lindheimer in the front garden : a homecoming beacon light every gloaming from far down the street .
Then it got too shady , and it whimpered away . Last year , with some tree pruning , I had Lord’s Day again . I was about to get another Lindheimer , when Patrick Kirwin give me another estimation , Pine muhly ( Muhlenbergia dubia ) , a small choice for that infinite . I set one in front and three more in the back bed , where despite their youth , already they do a great job against the turk ’s cap .
Pine muhly ’s just one of the plant onPatrick ’s lean this weekwhenhe and Tom take a fresh look at lawn .
Garden designer Patrick ofKirwin Horticulture Serviceshas been function on a intent that admit buffalo Gunter Wilhelm Grass , Indian bunch forage , switch grass , bearded iris , pelting lily and more .
Patrick also shows off the sedgeCarex retroflexa . I have a few here and there , but mean to replace some of my utter lawn with them this twelvemonth . I ’m entirely in love with this sedge !
On tour , check outEast Side Patch , where discovery replaced lawn . Leah and Philip Leveridge have made some changes since our tape recording ( of course ! ) , but their helpful hobbits and the Botox lady approve their proactive and on - going DD ( drought design ) .
At ESP and in every garden , sometimes we ’re flamboozled when one flora craters and its mates are healthy , just a few foot aside . What ’s up with that?This week , Daphne explainswhat can encounter . In her case , she planted four southerly wax myrtles ( Morella cerifera ) along her fencing last February . She watered them just the same . Two are fine .
Two are compost .
What happened?Here ’s her psychoanalysis : “ In this billet , the angle of the sun is the issue . By about 5 p.m. in mid - summer , the first works in the row was out of direct sunlight . But the last one in the row was in a direct striking of the full late afternoon and even sunshine until almost 9 p.m. These freshly planted , lowly shrubs just could n’t take all that acute sunlight and merely burn to a crisp , almost in front of my eyes . ”Get her sodding answerabout what can produce unlike results in the same garden .
Daphne ’s pickax of the weekis native fall aster ( Symphyotrichum oblongifolium ) , a dependable perennial in psychotic person luminance , drouth , freeze , and floods . I establish my first ones years ago and separate some every wintertime to spread around . Regardless of weather events , they ’ve never missed an October escort with bee , butterfly stroke and other beneficial insects .
Their tops will freeze back in wintertime , but their rosettes apace cover the basis . merely cut back those dead stem to the rosette for a reasonably groundcover all wintertime . I fill the vacuous space with naturalizing bulbs .
Watering is for sure on our minds!Merrideth Jiles from The Great Outdoorscompares options and how much to water .
Even though the ground is dry , fall IS STILL the near clock time to plant . correspond out Daphne ’s fabulous article in theAustin American - Statesmanto homework sunbaked soil as we cut into in this declension .
And here ’s a wonderful television from the Texas Forest Serviceabout how to water your trees and check dirt moisture underground .
Until next week , Linda
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