Xeriscape - Drought-Adaptive Horticulture
The Gone Native Drought Adaptive Garden
April 7-8, 2006
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The first week of April is usually the week that spring begins. Mesquites leaf out and many perennials and annuals begin blooming. Catmint does well in a well mulched bed of morning sun exposure but with afternoon shade.
Copper mallow, pink evening primrose, and red sandstone flagstone become focal points as the meadow surrounding it becomes green in the spring.
Stachys coccinea from the mountains of the southwestern U.S. performs well in the dappled shade on the huge plateau called the Llano Estacado. Along with Coral Honeysuckle and Autumn Sage, it provides the first of the red tubular blossoms for the returning Black-chinned Hummingbirds.
Salvia apiana (or White Sage) is from California, and is highly prized for the making of smudge sticks by American Indians. The sweet scent is delectable!
Mexican buckeye grows against rock faces on the eastern edge of the Southern Llano in arroyos and under the top ledges of the mesas such as Scenic Mountain in Big Spring.
The firepit at Gone Native is usually only filled with fire at specific times, to commemorate solstices and equinoxes to mark specific astronomical calendar is a way to keep the cycle of the seasons firmly in the mind.
Variegated tall grass (Arundo donax) is occasionally found in the towns of West Texas the non variegated form was often used by the early settlers to make a quick windbreak for a vegetable garden. Most folks call it cane or bamboo, and it has escaped cultivation in some draws near Robert Lee.
The new blooms and growth candles of the Afghan Pine are bright against the darker needles.
A concrete roadrunner sculpture under American beauty berry with new leaves, next to the pink blooms of the Mexican Buckeye lead the eye to the south gate.
The blue leaves of agarita (berberis trifoliata) seem to glow under the shade of the pines and pull a person down the trail.