- Author: Betsy Buxton
Here I am in the middle of a drought and I'm trying to decide what to plant in my former very small lawn. Using the process of elimination, I have looked at plants: roses, perennials, decorative grasses, etc, to use the space wisely and water efficiently, so there won't need for a re-makeover in the near future.
The in-ground spray system has been converted to drip, that is 4 heads were, and the others capped off underground. I used an easier system this time than the other conversations of sprinklers that required digging rather deep holes to remove the old sprinkler bodies. At the local irrigation store I found a kit that allowed me to replace just the “innards'” of the body and leave the outer body in the ground OR replace the whole sprinkler. I chose to replace the entire bodies for 2 reasons: a. 1 of the sprinklers to be replaced was a 12” popup and b. the others where at least 25 years old and had large tree roots putting pressure on them. Regardless of the method, the changeover was reasonably fast and painless.
Next, is a trip down to Annie's Annuals for the geum species I want, and another trip to the nearby rock and boulder store down the way for 5 mini-boulders. A couple of small linear leafed plants, perhaps festuca glauca or a similar little thing and a slow-growing groundcover (such an oxymoron) and I'm done with plant selection. Hey, I can hear the sniggering now (she's going where for a “few” plants, yeah right!)
I figure with a yellow rose with a deep purple Clematis growing through it, Weigela ‘Wine and Roses' (with deep purple new growth maturing to a purplish green) providing leaf color, the geums providing small hills of fuzzy green and orange-red blossoms, and finally a multicolored pink rose with a white clematis through it, I've got color, texture, and a reasonable drought tolerant front scape to last a good long while. Letting the plants show themselves off against the red mini-oleanders and the bright yellow-green of the already established Magnolia stellata will make the front yard look as 1 landscape. Toss down the mini-boulders in groupings and then mulch – Tad as Wall I would say. I'm done except for. ..replacing a fence, cleaning out where 2 Rhus lancea were removed when the poor dears decided to slip down and “kiss the fence”. Now there's sun where I worked so hard for shade. Oh well, that's the way the garden grows!
I'm closing with a warning about something that happened in my house a few days ago. This doesn't have anything to do with gardening BUT if this next part keeps you and yours safe, then great! I have a 52” ceiling fan in my family room that gets used almost every day and evening rather than use the AC. Bruce and I were sitting there, him almost dozing and me listening to the TV but reading. Suddenly, something flew by my head and there was a huge crash. Looking up, I saw the fan wobbling wildly up there and thought at first it was an earthquake. Nope!! One of the brackets holding a fan blade had broken and thrown the blade through the room and into the kitchen eating area where it bounced off the table leg and fell within 6 inches of the sliding door! If this had happened when my mother was alive she would be truly dead! If my dog was lying in front of the sliding door, she could have been killed as the blade landed right in “her” spot. What I'm saying is, if you have a ceiling fan, check the blades and the connectors for metal fatigue, loose fasteners, etc. My fan is 25 years old and came with the house. Please, do some checking!