Native South Texan

Spring is here

noellecj72 — Thu, 25 Apr 2024 20:10:54 +0000

I am spending as much time outside in my beautiful native garden while it’s still cool! I love seeing all of the bees, butterflies, and other insects enjoying the native plants.

It is amazing to see how my garden has changed since last spring. I had only spread wildflower seeds in one corner section of the front yard in the fall of 2022. Now check it out! It’s obvious that the evening primrose won the wildflower contest this year, but I know that the others will be showing up soon.

The first wildflowers to bloom were the bluebonnets and evening primrose. I’ve been working on spreading the bluebonnets all over my yard. Every time we found one of the little seedlings in the cracks of the walkway, we gently pulled it up and then planted it in another place. I’m anxiously waiting for all the seed pods to dry up so I can collect the seeds for this fall!

The most amazing thing to watch is how the wildflower garden evolves throughout the spring. It’s like a new garden every day! The Indian Blanket, Cutleaf Daisy, and Clasping Coneflower have taken over the corner of the yard now. Check out the Mealy Blue Sage behind the wildflowers: the butterflies absolutely love these plants and they do so well in the hot Texas sun.

Speaking of butterflies, here’s a few that have stopped by in the past few weeks! At one point I think there were over 25 Red Admiral butterflies on the Mealy Blue Sage!

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Sunflower

noellecj72 — Sat, 15 Jul 2023 22:19:03 +0000

Last fall I bought native wildflower seeds and spread them all over the front corner of my yard. I kept looking at all these plants sprouting up – not knowing if they were a weed or a wildflower! There was one plant that grew especially fast. Before I knew it, it was at over 5 feet tall, but still no flowers!

My neighbor even joked he was about to chop it down with his weed eater, but then one morning…one sunflower!!!

This sunflower plant is from the aster family: Helianthus annuus or Common Sunflower. It is the official state flower of Kansas (woo hoo Ted Lasso!).

The blooms just kept coming! After a few big storms, it started to droop, so I decided to cut all the flowers and make a bouquet- but it actually made three! What a happy surprise in my garden!

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Graduation Garden & SAWS Rebate

noellecj72 — Mon, 29 May 2023 03:40:12 +0000

I didn’t plan this, but I’m pretty sure all of my big garden projects are tied to some big event in my life. After we moved into this house in Churchill Estates, my fiancé’s family came for a visit. I was determined to get rid of that huge bush you saw in the last post. Deadlines are always a big motivation for me!

My daughter was graduating from high school and we were having a grad party at our house – a great time for another project! I had heard about earning rebates for drought tolerant plants for taking out at least 200 sq. feet of grass. The corner of our front yard would just bake every day throughout the summer and the grass was patchy and ugly.

I started digging up the bermuda grass and tried to loosen up dry, sun baked soil. I realized that it would be a great time to add a stone walkway up the hill as well. After all of this hard work, I finally got to purchase the plants.

San Antonio Water Systems (SAWS) puts together a list of Water Saver approved plants that you can choose from. You purchase them from one of the local participating vendors and can use your $100 rebate towards the cost of the plants. You can use up to four rebates per year (eight lifetime total).

In order to use the rebate, you must purchase 15 plants : small plants must be purchased in 1 gallon containers, and large plants in 5 gallon containers. This larger, more mature plant means it has a better chance of surviving and thriving!

Many, but not all of the approved plants are Texas natives, but they are all water savers – that is, they can tolerate most south Texas droughts. SAWS Water Savers conservation program has all of the information on their website.

I especially appreciated all of the details about each plant (and pics!) : full sun, part shade, full shade, deer resistant, water garden, evergreen, and Texas native. Click here!

After you plant, you must submit photos so they can approve your project. The best part is after you’re approved, you get more rebates for mulch and other helpful garden supplies. SAWS has many different rebate programs – I’ll talk more about that in a later post!

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I don’t have to mow!

noellecj72 — Sun, 28 May 2023 21:16:37 +0000

As I was getting ready this past Sunday morning, I heard a familiar weekend sound – the lawnmower. I thought nothing of it, but then it dawned on me…. I don’t have to mow my lawn! After the record breaking summer of 2022, I decided I was getting rid of my grass (it was dead anyways). I have never wanted to spend the time or money watering my grass, especially after realizing that the grass that most homeowners want is not native to this area.

When I first started working on my front lawn, it was not my original plan to get rid of my whole lawn. It’s been a gradual transformation – for me, and my yard. My first project was to get rid of the awful, huge shrub in front of my only front window. You can’t even see the window!

I love natural light and that giant thing blocked out all the sunlight. It was such an established shrub that I actually had to get someone to come and pull it out of the ground. Immediately, the whole front of the house felt different. I put in some roses and other plants that would highlight my bird bath. This is what it looked like in 2016.

I look at this picture now and can’t believe how much it has changed! Little did I know that this was just the beginning of a whole transformation!

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