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Yard of the Month

Terraced front yard of Keese residence includes broad variety of native plants. Photo by Paul Keese

Yard of the Month

Texas native dwarf palmetto palms survived San Marcos’ February freeze. Photo by Paul Keese

Yard of the Month

Butterfly garden pathway allows easy access. Photo by Paul Keese

Yard of the Month

Maiden grass cascades over rock wall of terraced front yard. Photo by Sharon Lockett

Yard of the Month

Mealy blue sage attracts butterflies in Keese front yard. Photo by Sharon Lockett.

Yard of the Month

Linda and Paul Keese brings years of gardening mastery to their home
Sunday, May 9, 2021

A lifetime of gardening and numerous awards have not dimmed Linda Keese’s passion for plants and curiosity about their environment. In Hays County, Linda helped set up the Master Gardener program in 1991 and in 1998, organize a Master Naturalist chapter. Both interests inspired her to earn a Level 4 certificate (landscaping with native plants) from the Native Plant Society of Texas and underlined her dual interests of life-long learning and mentoring anyone interested in growing a habitat for wildlife.

Linda and Paul Keese retired to San Marcos in 1989 after living all over the country, establishing new gardens in every home. They found a house at the end of Oak Ridge Drive next to the Spring Lake Preserve, with a front yard steeply sloping to the curb but stabilized with a dry stack wall of large weathered rectangular rocks. But Linda envisioned more than just a wall and lower lawn, so she began a major project to terrace the slope so it could host a variety of plants, setting stones in place herself. Meanwhile, she wrote a gardening column for the San Marcos Daily Record and later offered articles and presentations (especially on old roses, her love and expertise) to the community. Linda served as president of Spring Lake Garden Club and Texas Master Gardeners, a board member of Edwards Underground Water District as well as San Marcos Parks and Recreation, and member of the Planning and Zoning Commission.

Eventually the front yard terrace project involved slowing or diverting rainwater runoff from newly constructed neighborhoods behind the house, so in 2013 the Keeses contracted Sagebrush Landscaping to finish the work by completing stone-edged beds and berms between the retaining wall and the street, and constructing a series of wide curved stone steps up the hill to the entrance. Decorative grasses such as Lindheimer’s muhly planted on the berms provide a screen to neighboring yards (and shelter for butterflies on windy days), and the berms guide runoff to the street instead of a neighboring driveway. Large tanks collect rainwater from the roof to irrigate extensive plantings in the backyard, including Linda’s beloved roses. Linda is also fond of irises and has “rescued” many from old cemeteries and building sites. She now hosts two-toned bearded purple and white irises in her yard. One early planting was a yew tree, a popular source of greenery in flower arrangements, since Linda is a student of Ikebana or Japanese flower design.

With hardscape complete, an amazing diversity of plants — mostly native — grow in the Keese front yard. By focusing on native species, Linda won first place in a 2019 contest sponsored by the San Marcos Discovery Center for a Monarch Butterfly Way Station. A list submitted with her application identifies almost 100 different plants, including five types of milkweed and other nectar plants for pollinators, with ten sages/salvias. One plant from the nearby greenspace introduced itself into the yard and also attracts butterflies: False Gromwell, a hardy herb that offers drooping whitish flowers in spring (Linda calls them “teardrops”) and pearly white fruits in the fall. Mealy blue sage grows nearby and both survived the recent longlasting freeze in San Marcos. Another storm survivor is a dwarf palmetto palm (sambal minor) near the street, and slimleaved green sotols (often mistaken for yuccas) higher up on the terraces.

Most plantings in the Keese landscape may be familiar to local gardeners, but in a partly-shaded area between the front stone steps and driveway are two unusual ones, both deer resistant and freeze tolerant. A low rounded mound of thin variegated foliage spilling onto the steps is maiden grass, which sports a tall stem of white flowers later in the year. Nearby grows a squid agave, with spineless leaves that remain separate while arching and twisting like the tentacles of a squid. Like other agaves, this plant will produce “pups” from underground rhizomes, but unlike some agaves it lives on after a rare blossoming event. These two plants, both hardy and unique, demonstrate that Central Texas gardeners can find a variety of native plants much broader than expected by being curious and creative and matching plants to their environment.

San Marcos Record

(512) 392-2458
P.O. Box 1109, San Marcos, TX 78666