Xeriscape - Drought-Adaptive Horticulture
The Gone Native Drought Adaptive Garden
Scenes from June 21, 2006
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Weeping Lovegrass was introduced to West Texas to be planted in CRP (Conservation Reserve Program) lands - farmland considered prone to erosion and the landowner paid by the government to plant grasses. It is an attractive landscape plant.
The firepit at Gone Native is constructed of travertine, Around it is a starshaped flagstone patio. Sections of a large log provide seating.
Acacia texensis and holy sage create a dense ground cover. Later in the year, the holy sage will be three feet tall. The acacia will have small white ball shaped blossoms.
Red yucca is a very common ornamental plant in West Texas, and is great for hummingbirds. It blooms for months.
Three-leaved sumac is native in rockier soils in West Texas. It produces red berries in the spring that make great lemonade. In the fall, the leaves often turn a wonderful reddish bronze.
Anisicanthus begins blooming in mid-June and will bloom off and on until fall. It is another great hummingbird plant, and in the winter the white twigs can be attractive.
A giant swallowtail butterfly finds the blooms of standing cypress attractive, and hopefully its proboscis is long enough to reach nectar.
Bouvardia is native to the Davis Mountains and the Chisos Mountains. It is underutilized in the landscape trade. It blooms from June until frost. Hummers love the flowers of this three foot tall shrub.
Agaves are wonderful accents for a garden. A number of species are frost tolerant, and agaves have many colors of leaves and many different patterns of spines and ridges on the leaves.
Rouge plant is native throughout the hill country and even in Howard County. The plant has pink blossoms and red berries and is a great dappled shade ground cover. It is also underutilized in the landscape trade.
When rains finally came in June, a quarter inch brought the first touch of green to the grasses of the pasture.
Buttonbush lives at the edge of permanent water throughout west Texas. Its blossoms are sweet smelling and bring a plethora of butterflies. A bush can be ten feet tall and ten feet across.
Beebrush is native to the rockier soils of West and central Texas. It also smells very sweet and also brings plenty of butterflies. It blooms off and on from May to frost. It can be ten feet tall and 6 feet across.
Pomegranates have been a feature of west Texas landscapes since the beginning of settlement in the 1880s. Red blossoms are followed by red fruit that lasts until August or early September.
Vitex normally has purple blossoms, but sometimes white and pink forms can be found. It is another great butterfly plant. Usually a multi-trunked large shrub, it can be pruned into a single-trunked tree.
The entry patio along the driveway is a great place for sitting, and for potted plants.