Top, the Higgins home entry with beds of sages near the house and agaves sharing separate bed with bare crape myrtle.
Inset, A few red sage blossoms continue to show color as winter nears.
Bottom, Sago palm in a bed stands out from massed sages and agave leaves mirror the sharp edges of square pot.
Photos by Sharon Lockett
Yard of the Month
Just three basic plants — agaves and yuccas, sages (salvia) and crape myrtles — are the foundation for a sustainable year-round landscape developed by Susie Higgins on Willow Creek Circle in a San Marcos neighborhood bordering Purgatory Creek greenspace near Hunter Road. A master gardener, Susie Higgins has earned January’s Yard of the Month award from Spring Lake Garden Club, as well as appreciation from neighbors for her simple but elegant use of a spacious lot. Using multiples of just a few plants provides continuity to the landscape and also highlights those individual plants which differ from the basic mix. The front yard includes a total of 10 crape myrtles (all pink), spiny-leaved yuccas and agaves in beds around trees, and numerous sages propagated from original plantings.
Higgins turned to improving her home’s landscape after retiring 20 years ago, beginning with a small area between the entry and driveway, and gradually adding other areas of interest throughout the yard. First laying a pathway of concrete squares from the front porch to the drive, she added more around a tree at the end of a concrete walk from
