Yard of the Month

January’s Yard of the Month, chosen by Spring Lake Garden Club, is a showcase of native and adapted plants, plus volunteer plants that joined the front yard landscape of Pierre Metereau and Rebecca Bell-Metereau on Los Santos Drive to the central road of Vista de los Santos development. Their home since 2015 when Vista de los Santos offered only a few spec houses, the yard began as a builder’s option for a xeriscape rather than a turf lawn, and now a variety of plants cover most of the space except for rock and gravel walkways and a strip of grass near the street. A local landscaper helped plan and plant the back yard, but Pierre and Rebecca relied on their own choices to augment the builder’s plantings in front: two trees plus yuccas and rosemary (since killed by a freeze).

Rebecca chose blue plumbago, not a native but a hardy “adaptive” in central Texas, coupled with native purple verbena as a basic color in the yard. Shrubs near the house include native cenizo or Texas sage as well as a volunteer red-flowered oleander, another adaptive that thrives in this area (or can be cut back to grow again after a freeze). Decorative grasses — purple muhly and Mexican switch grass — were added as contrasting texture to the bedding plants and shrubs. Beds also include lantana and rock rose, which bloom in warmer weather. Then came more volunteers: yellow esperanza and pride of Barbados (possibly from the back yard) added their showy flowers to the mix. A knock-out rose bush, an addition near the entry, offers red blooms even in cooler weather.

The side yard beside the driveway hosts an amazing variety of plants, including dark-green native agarita framed by tall esperanza’s light green leaves. A hedge of dormant crape myrtle, self-spread from a specimen planted near the street, screens the neighbor’s driveway. Mexican switch grass edges the gravel mulch around a lacy oak added to the landscape and lime green bamboo muhly fills out the area near the natural hedge. This collection of plants has matured into its own mini-landscape and requires little maintenance except for occasional pruning. A recent addition of purple-leaved tradescantia near the driveway echoes colors in the main yard.

A landscape so attuned to the environment requires little care yet delivers “curb appeal” for a home. As Pierre observed, the front landscape is “So pretty, so lush, without a standard lawn.” With increasing challenges to water conservation in central Texas, a new “standard” for home gardening may be worth considering by both new and established homeowners. Birds, butterflies and pollinating insects are attracted to complex landscapes which are low-maintenance, but their food sources are not provided by turf grass lawns which require watering and mowing. Combining both landscape modes in one yard is one way to support a healthy and balanced environment and promote enjoyment over maintenance.

January’s yard of the month is near the far end of Los Santos Drive and its intersection with Madrid Trace. The Vista de los Santos entrance is directly across Wonder World Drive from Craddock Road.