Published: September 07, 2006 10:12 am         

The Tree People

Residents use good design of Texas native plants, trees

San Marcos — Sometimes you just can't help coming back.

And in the case of Spring Lake Garden Club members awarding Pat and James Pohl who live at 207 East Mimosa Circle, Yard of the Month honors for September, their good design and use of Texas native plants and conservation efforts did just that. This is the second time the Pohls have been recognized for their landscaping efforts. The first was May 1998.

When the couple first located to San Marcos, they lived off Hunter Road while they built their home on Mimosa Circle. They moved into their new home during 1976.

"We moved into an entirely new world when we moved into town and onto Roger's Ridge," said Pat Pohl. "We lived with wildlife when we lived on Hunter Road, bet we never had to deal with deer on a day-to-day basis."

The Pohl's front yard gently slopes from the house to the street and was covered with trees and shrubs, hiding the home from view of the street below. They enjoyed their privacy and cover for the wildlife that made the yard their sanctuary as well. Their new home was in a forest, green and serene.

But as the years passed and Chinaberry and Hackberry trees matured, they gradually began to choke out native, slower growing mountain laurel and persimmon. As much as they hated to lose their privacy, the Pohls decided that the non-native needed to go.

The real effort began May 1997 and ended in August, according to Jim Pohl when he began cutting out trees and large branches. The task had him climbing up trees and on the roof of his home with a saw.

"I didn't trust myself with a chain saw, so I had to use a hand saw which took hours on some of the larger branches," he said. He even cut out a native persimmon tree that grew dead center in the yard where they had planted zosia turf. He had mowed around that tree for the last time!

Their clearing efforts left the front yard framed by two, very large, free-formed beds, delineating the private part of the lawn from the public street section with a small clearing in the center for a view of the front of the home.

Underplanted in the beds are salvia greggii, barberry, indigo spires sage, yucca and ornamental grasses. Beds closer to the house contain mealy blue sage, nandina, woodworm and rosemary.

A side-entry garage is accessed by a single drive that runs up the right side of their property. The drive is shaded by a very large mesquite tree and street-front bed. According to Jim Pohl, “It's the coolest place to be on a hot afternoon."

A sprinkler system was installed to help conserve water and energy. The beds are on different zones from the turf so that any zone can be watered when necessary without having to water all.

The Pohls have no before-and-after photos, just rock walls that line either side of their property stretching all the way down the slope to the street, in silent testimony to the effort expended, badges of honor in the gardening world of the Texas Hill Country.

And what's been added in the last eight years? A rock terrace has been constructed on the left side of the front yard. And lots of plants have been replaced that have been eaten by deer or succumbed to heat and drought.

But all in all, the landscape has matured nicely. The trees and shrubs in the delineated beds have filled in, offering again, a peace and serenity of the forest and a haven for wildlife.

There is even a secluded place for a swing, hidden from view of the street below for a quiet cup of morning coffee or to wipe a perspiring brow while working.

Do the Pohls mind all the hard work? No. Not while they can derive so much pleasure from the end result.

Mimosa Circle is rumored to be an old Indian horseracing circle that was located above Aquarena Springs and is located in Zone 1. It can be reached by driving through Aquarena Springs up Laurel Ridge or off Sessom by turning onto Ed Green then left onto Alta Vista and straight on to Mimosa Circle.

     

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