Sunny & Sustainable

sharon lockett

spring lake garden club ransforming a yard from ho-hum to eye-catching is the outcome of Sylvia Todd’s landscaping on North Johnson Avenue in one of San Marcos’ historic districts. Beginning in 2017 when she purchased the home after moving from a house on the river that was flooded, Todd has produced an outdoor environment that is both sunny and sustainable. As November’s Yard of the Month for Spring Lake Garden Club, this property on Johnson Street between Belvin and Hopkins shows how significant change can still complement the character of an older home.

Beginning with an updated interior but outdated landscape, Todd first faced problems when insurers refused to issue a policy for a cinder block house totally covered with ivy, which can compromise the integrity of cinder block and also harbor pests. Fronting the ivy-covered walls were aged shrubs, carefully pruned but providing no flowers or attraction to pollinators, and a high-maintenance turf lawn stretching to the street. Todd began by removing the ivy and shrubs and refacing the exterior wall with stucco, a characteristic feature of southwestern structures. She chose a xeriscape design appropriate for a west-facing lot, with low-maintenance and sustainable plants including flowering native species. She gleaned ideas from “Native and Adapted Landscape Plants: An Earthwise Guide for Central Texas,” a pamphlet by Texas AgriLife Extension, City of Austin, purchased at an annual native plant sale at San Marcos Visitors’ Center (and still available on Amazon. com).

Todd collaborated with Hays County Organic landscapers for renewing the yard, and the outdoor renovation reflects her years of living in five different South American countries while serving as a member of the Peace Corps. Although the sunny front yard reflects a southwestern theme, the fenced and shadier back yard is filled with palms and more tropical plants and a small pool. Meanwhile, practical improvements in the front yard included installing a french drain to direct excess rainwater to the street and drip irrigation for xeriscape plants surrounded by decorative gravel and large stones. Landscape fabric under the gravel discourages invasive grass and reduces the need for sprays to control its growth.

Some of Todd’s favorite landscape additions are the purple fountain grasses, which replaced shrubbery next to the house, and a large Pride of Barbados shrub near the front steps, offering colorful blooms throughout its growing season. This plant may succumb to a freeze but can grow anew from roots after dead wood is cut back. An assortment of agaves, red yuccas (actually aloes) and colorful lantana fill most of the yard, with a rock-edged bed of red and white salvia and purple Mexican petunias centering one side. Well-known plants such as mountain laurel and holly thrive on the other side of the yard next to the corner lot, with purple-flowered wisteria against a tall metal fence dividing the yards. A tall agave (or yucca) with a graceful skirt of leaves around its trunk claims attention near the front walk and sets the tone for a variegated xeriscape far beyond rocks and cactus. The “xeri” in xeriscape comes from the Greek word for “dry,” referencing plants that thrive with little water, not a “zeroscape” with no water.

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