A solution to the next drought??? (Center: house, landscaping, costs)

[10scoachrick]

Looks like all we need to do in order to combat the next dought is schedule a music festival/event...seems to bring at least one day of rain for each large outdoor music gathering. Just sayin'...

[CptnRn]

Good idea, lets hold the festivals in August when it is sweltering, the rain will be welcome then.

Actually I welcome the rain now, I keep an eye on my rain gauge and hope to see at least an inch of rain per week, so I don't have to turn on the sprinkler system. According to my rain gauge we did not get an inch in the last two weeks, so this is welcome.

Speaking of solutions to the next drought: I'm working on a drawing to convert large areas St. Augustine lawn in my yard into mulch covered landscaped mounds with lots of native drought tolerant plants. Then what remains of the lawn will be replaced with pallisades zoysia grass. I expect to break even on the landscaping cost, as a trade off for the water costs this year, and to see savings in the future water bills.

[atxcio]

Originally Posted by CptnRn

Speaking of solutions to the next drought: I'm working on a drawing to convert large areas St. Augustine lawn in my yard into mulch covered landscaped mounds with lots of native drought tolerant plants. Then what remains of the lawn will be replaced with pallisades zoysia grass. I expect to break even on the landscaping cost, as a trade off for the water costs this year, and to see savings in the future water bills.

I'm doing the exact same things. Eliminating my lawn in stages, by replacing it with "natural" looking areas with mulch ground cover. I'm starting with the full-sunlight areas where the St. Augustine is tough to keep up anyway (thirsty)... Doing the "mound" thing also, to get a little height with the plants right off the bat (plus there is hardly any topsoil in my yard, it goes straight to rock after about 1-3"). Eventually, I will only have a few small, easy to mow carpets of zoysia delineated by the non-lawn landscaping.

[10scoachrick]

Originally Posted by CptnRn

Good idea, lets hold the festivals in August when it is sweltering, the rain will be welcome then.


Speaking of solutions to the next drought: I'm working on a drawing to convert large areas St. Augustine lawn in my yard into mulch covered landscaped mounds with lots of native drought tolerant plants. Then what remains of the lawn will be replaced with pallisades zoysia grass. I expect to break even on the landscaping cost, as a trade off for the water costs this year, and to see savings in the future water bills.

Great idea! I think this spring will be very challenging to those who want an attractive lawn/yard and hopefully will stimulate some innovative solutions to our water, water, water lawnscapes. Our smallish front St. Aug lawn held up pretty well but many neighbors have plenty of work to do! Our back yard is challenging but at least it is fairly well hidden! Good luck with your project and post some pics!

[CptnRn]

Originally Posted by atxcio

I'm doing the exact same things. Eliminating my lawn in stages, by replacing it with "natural" looking areas with mulch ground cover. I'm starting with the full-sunlight areas where the St. Augustine is tough to keep up anyway (thirsty)... Doing the "mound" thing also, to get a little height with the plants right off the bat (plus there is hardly any topsoil in my yard, it goes straight to rock after about 1-3"). Eventually, I will only have a few small, easy to mow carpets of zoysia delineated by the non-lawn landscaping.

Check out these planting guides for drought tolerant plants http://www.ci.austin.tx.us/growgreen/plants.htm

and this blog on central Texas gardners favorite plants for this area, lots of good information here, such as:

Second round of favorites from local gardeners

Kelley Cunny @WildflowerCtr on Twitter. Volunteer at Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center.
For sunny areas
“Golden Groundsel - Packera obovata - one of the first wildflowers to bloom in the spring - disappears in the summer and reappears in the fall
Horsemint - Monarda citriodora - super simple to grow from seed
Bluebells — Eustoma exaltum — spectacular blooms in the hottest part of the summer and a favorite of Mrs. Johnson
Gulf muhly — Muhlenbergia capillaris — gorgeous cloud of pink seed heads in the fall
Possumhaw — Ilex decidua — beautiful red berries on bare branches in the winter”
For shady spots
Spiderwort — Tradescantea gigantea — spring bloomer; disappears with the summer heat and reappears in the fall.
Pigeon berry — Rivinia humilis — has pink blooms and red berries at the same time.
Horseherb — Calyptocarpus vialis — considered to be a weed by many people, but makes a nice ground cover and can be used as a lawn substitute.
Turks cap — Malaviscus arboreus — summer bloomer that attracts hummingbirds.
Beautyberry — Callicarpa americana — understory tree/shrub with long arching branches and clusters of purple berries that the birds love.

Here is another good article about dealing with that strip of grass between the sidewalk and street that is such a terrible waste of water.

A xeriscape plan can save the sidewalk strip

[atxcio]

Thanks for the info. Luckily our house doesn't have the sidewalk "strip" of lawn... just a sidewalk then the curb.

I know we are diverting from the thread topic a bit, but do you have any suggestions for a little more height? I kind of want something that looks like the natural cedar cover (which is quite thick) that you'll see on the greenbelt and hills here... but without using actual cedar. I'm going to plant some mountain laurels, but they grow so darn slow, want to add something else to give some initial height before the other stuff gets established.

[CptnRn]

Originally Posted by atxcio

Thanks for the info. Luckily our house doesn't have the sidewalk "strip" of lawn... just a sidewalk then the curb.

I know we are diverting from the thread topic a bit, but do you have any suggestions for a little more height? I kind of want something that looks like the natural cedar cover (which is quite thick) that you'll see on the greenbelt and hills here... but without using actual cedar. I'm going to plant some mountain laurels, but they grow so darn slow, want to add something else to give some initial height before the other stuff gets established.

I am trying to find out what this plant is for exactly that reason, it makes nice graceful mounds of 4-6' in all dimensions, so it covers a pretty good sized area, is attractive and green all year round, with nice yellow blossoms right now all along mopac, so it is obvioiusly pretty hardy.

Others I can recommend from my plant books are:

Aromatic Sumac, Fragrant Sumac, 3 leaved sumac 5-6'
Texas Barberry 3-5'
Agarito 2-6 feet
American Beauty Berry 5-7'
Honeysuckled Bush 5-8'
Texas Lantana 1.5-3 feet
Pavonia 2-5 feet
Cherry Sage, Autumn Sage 2-3 feet
Cenizo, Texas Sage, Purple Sage - for a lighter color

[calel]

I like the idea of slowly eliminating all the grass.

I'm not sure I could pull that off entirely, but I am looking for ways to minimize the grass where I can. One project is to do something with the parking strip. One of my neighbors is already trying to replace the grass in the strip in front of her house with periwinkle and I have no problems with letting her do that to my teeny portion of that strip as well. The less I have to mow...

I'm not exactly sure what kind of grass I have in my yard. It's not St. Augustine. Something thinner bladed, doesn't appear to have runners...maybe a combination of bermuda and buffalo. Since I water my lawn very rarely, it'll be interesting to see how it does during my first summer in this house.

[CptnRn]

Originally Posted by CptnRn

I am trying to find out what this plant is for exactly that reason, it makes nice graceful mounds of 4-6' in all dimensions, so it covers a pretty good sized area, is attractive and green all year round, with nice yellow blossoms right now all along mopac, so it is obvioiusly pretty hardy.

Others I can recommend from my plant books are:

Aromatic Sumac, Fragrant Sumac, 3 leaved sumac 5-6'
Texas Barberry 3-5'
Agarito 2-6 feet
American Beauty Berry 5-7'
Honeysuckled Bush 5-8'
Texas Lantana 1.5-3 feet
Pavonia 2-5 feet
Cherry Sage, Autumn Sage 2-3 feet
Cenizo, Texas Sage, Purple Sage - for a lighter color

Dang!, I was in a rush and forgot to give you the link. Here it is.

What is this plant?

[CptnRn]

Originally Posted by calel

I like the idea of slowly eliminating all the grass.

I'm not sure I could pull that off entirely, but I am looking for ways to minimize the grass where I can. One project is to do something with the parking strip. One of my neighbors is already trying to replace the grass in the strip in front of her house with periwinkle and I have no problems with letting her do that to my teeny portion of that strip as well. The less I have to mow...

I'm not exactly sure what kind of grass I have in my yard. It's not St. Augustine. Something thinner bladed, doesn't appear to have runners...maybe a combination of bermuda and buffalo. Since I water my lawn very rarely, it'll be interesting to see how it does during my first summer in this house.

One area for elimination that I have targeted is the side yard fenced area (10' x 15') where we store our trash and recycling cans, we have no other use for the area. Why do i have St. Augustine grass and a sprinkler system there? I'm going to "edge" the area and convert it to gravel and no sprinkler. By converting it and adding a small shade tree, it becomes a nice area for me to practice my sculptural (carving stone) and pottery interests, and to put in a potting bench for plants.