My neighbors must think I'm crazy. I stand overlooking the yard. I kick aside gravel mulch and measure distances between seemingly meaningless points, large strides for longer distances and foot-to-foot for the shorter ones. I stick a shovel firmly in the ground and admire it from several different angles. Maybe I am crazy.
My thoughts are often consumed with gardening, and lately especially with the ornamental areas of my landscape. As I started this blog, I envisioned the front garden would be a low maintenance landscape filled with low-water-use shrubs that were not often planted in this area including big sage, chamisa, and mountain mahogany accented with hopefully reseeding wildflowers. Now (I almost wrote "in the end", ha!) I really think that this type of landscape would require a vast amount of space to really shine, far more than the small area available.
So now, not even one year into the process, I am already changing the plan in the front garden. The area closest to the house will be planted with a grouping of red bird of paradise, accented with ocotillo and a large yucca. The area near the street will be shaded by a palo verde and underplanted with some yet to be determined combination of cacti, succulents, and/or wildflowers. A path of some yet to be determined material will lead from the sidewalk to the front door.
These changes are not made without regrets. In moving the former plantings from the front garden, I especially noted just how much I loved the big sage. I love the color, the texture, and the smell. Maybe I can squeeze one of them into the front garden. I think it's time to do some more landscape-dance measuring and pacing.
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3 comments:
Matthew,
I think your new vision sounds lovely.
For a pathway, look at the possibility of 1/4" minus decomposed granite pre-blended with organic stabilizing compound. It's a neat product that hardens so that walking on it is easy, but it blends in with the environment. It is still not a well known product, but the Desert Botanical Garden has recently placed it on all the walking paths.
Oh I know our neighbors think we're crazy. I kind of like it that way. Especially when they're out there mowing and edging and blowing: blecht. You just keep staring at your sticks from different angles: I love that!
-www.sassygardener.com
Have you read "Yard Full of Sun" by Scott Calhoun? It's a terrific memoir with great photos about designing an Arizona desert garden, as well as building a “green” house in the planned community of Civano. Great inspiration for dry-climate gardeners.
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