Yard of the Month

Where grass won’t grow, gravel can be an attractive ground cover, as seen in the wide buffer zone between street and lawn at the home of Bob and Sharon Fiore on Philo Street in San Marcos, Spring Lake Garden Club’s Yard of the Month for March. Grass enjoys the shade of large oaks in front of the Fiore house, while the gravel area lining the street hosts succulents that flourish in full sun.

“Rather than look at brown dry grass by the street, I decided to do something different,” explains Bob, who started this “rock garden” 16 years ago, about five years after moving into the house. The extensive gravel ground cover provides a background for decorative boulders and yard art, including an authentic wagon wheel that sets a Western theme for the landscape, echoed by a pair of oversize clay cowboy boots beside the mailbox and a metal road runner figure tucked between rocks.

Bob and Sharon Fiore are both Air Force veterans and parents of three sons, and Bob’s dad flew in B52s during WWII, so the family knows the challenges and satisfaction of military service. After living overseas and in numerous locations in the U.S., Bob retired in Ohio and knew immediately that he wanted to head back to Texas, both for the warm weather and for the friendly people he admired. He taught Air Force Junior ROTC in Lockhart for eight years and now enjoys a second retirement, actively learning about landscaping with “freezes and drought and deer.” With landscape fabric underlayment to deter weeds, the front gravel area is edged with larger limestone rocks “mined” by Bob from his own property of just over half an acre. Along with agaves, cactus and yuccas in the xeric strip by the street stand three tall poles, lighted at night, flying the flags of the USA, Texas, and POW/ MIA, to honor, Bob notes, “those who gave their all.”

On the opposite side of the front yard, backed by a neighbor’s split-rail fence, a bed of native plants includes lantana and sage, well mulched with oak leaf litter. This “free mulch” also benefits a bed by the front porch which replaced lawn grass struggling with too much shade. As part of his “labor in progress,” Bob edged this bed with stacked pavers matching the color of the house brick, and also covered the porch’s concrete floor with decorative tile. A now-leafless shrub near the entry “came with the mortgage” but sago palms nearby leafed out again after last year’s frozen fronds were cut back just to the growth ball.

Bob admits that man aging front yard grass is still a challenge, since expensive supplemental water is required, but having already demonstrated that he welcomes new solutions to old problems, he’s ready to be creative with landscaping.

Simply pruning tree canopies to allow more light through for lawn grass might improve its growth, but reducing water use requires rethinking options for green ground cover. A “lawn” may not be limited to just turf grass but could include shade-tol erant clumping grasses or sedges, which can also be mowed once established. However, Bob notes any search for successful ground cover in central Texas must include plants that can withstand not just freezing weather and drought, but what may be the biggest challenge of all: deer. Choosing a variety of native plants resistant to deer gives homeowners a lasting advantage in landscaping and avoids the expense of wire cages or fences to protect plants from wildlife browsers.