Yard of the Month

Spring Lake Garden Club’s Yard of the Month for November reflects the changes that come with land development in San Marcos, as roads are widened and new residences constructed. In 2001, when June and Troy Tidwell bought their house on Castle Gate Circle in the Castle Forest neighborhood, Craddock Avenue was a narrow twolane road bordered by ditches which sometimes overflowed into downhill yards and streets. Drainage improved after Craddock was rebuilt in 2006, and a tall stockade fence lining the road discouraged deer from invading the neighborhood. So June Tidwell filled her yard with rose cuttings from friends as well as hardy native plants. Then in 2012 and 2014, new apartment housing built on the opposite side of Craddock evicted wildlife from their previous habitat, and Castle Forest became the default browsing area for deer and other wildlife.

Like many properties in San Marcos, the Tidwell landscape is now separated into two areas: a completely fenced back yard where June grows roses and edible plants, and an open front yard, where sages and irises still offer colorful blooms, but roses struggle to survive hungry deer. But June, a master gardener in Hays County, is determined to grow as many deer-resistant plants as possible. She credits fellow master gardener Linda Keese with helping to design her landscape, and notes that garden club member Margaret Gordon shared numerous cuttings and passalong plants. As current manager of Alamo Community Garden near the Texas State campus, June is paying forward this horticultural help to beginning gardeners in that area.

An aging Arizona Ash shades much of the Tidwell front yard and lawn, but nearer the street two young possomhaw hollies (one male, one female) will eventually fill the space and grow too tall for deer to browse. Meanwhile, a temporary wire cage shields one. In a sunnier area near the street, a bed of native plants are well-mulched to thrive with almost no supplemental watering. June installed a gracefully curving border for this area just a year ago, using rectangular stones from a neighbor. A terra cotta colored bird bath surrounded by gray artemisia and sages anchors a curbside bed near the mailbox, now encased in a holly bush forming a living mail tower. A large pink crape myrtle marks the opposite end of this bed.

Edging the yard side of the driveway front walk, dark green giant liriope ends at a Mexican fire bush with orange blooms that contrast with red, white, and pink sage near the curb. A linear iris bed along the other side of the drive mirrors the liriope and leads toward the side yard on a gravel walk edged with colored concrete blocks, ending at a tall metal gate to the back yard. Outside the gate, an althea bush offers bicolor pink and white blooms in season, surrounded by groundcovers of blue rubella and sages.

The opposite side yard also ends at a metal gate and features a trellis with Petite Pink roses next to tall Mexican mint marigold screening the A/C compressor, whose cycling noise may help deter deer. This area is also where water lines from rain barrels intersect, serving drip irrigation and soaker hoses downhill toward the street. Beginning with four 75-gallon barrels in 2006, June has added four 50 gallon barrels over the years, all placed on two tiers of concrete blocks to enhance gravity flow to the front yard.

After this summer’s drought, even native plants in the Tidwell landscape show signs of stress, and some requiring more water — such as asparagus fern and bush germander — have disappeared from the curbside bed. But a few Mexican petunia buds mark the resilience of natives, along with salvia greggii and mistflower. Looking forward to cooler weather, June has already scattered poppy seeds in this bed and expects blooms as early as February or March.