My front yard was never the vast swath of St. Augustine to which most Texans used to aspire. Except for a fig tree I share with the wildlife and a smallish bit of Zoysia lawn, it is all native. I try, year after year, to make the lawn smaller by expanding the beds around it. The lawn is now about the size of a living room rug. I am just finishing another two foot band of garden to ring the raised brick circle in which the long gone builder grade Arizona ash was planted. The ash, which was ringed with Asian jasmine, has been replaced with an Eve's necklace, a retama, a bunch of zexmenia, fall asters, inland sea oats, Barbados cherry, Mexican oregano, and silver sage. The new bed is seeded with a butterfly mixture by the brick and bluebonnets in front. Everything is sprouting nicely. Digging out sod is hard work for my nearly 75 year old body. In back I added a garden of bergamot and frog fruit to replace a bunch of Asian jasmine. It was fun to take out that jasmine. I used a fork to pull it out by making a roll. In the early '80s, when this house was built, builders and landscapers used a lot of Asian jasmine, nandina, red hawthorn, and holly along with Arizona ash and Chinese tallow. None of those belonged here, being invasive, non-native species. Other than my miniscule lawn and a little bit more Asian jasmine in back, I have almost overcome the mistakes of 1980. Now my yard uses far less water, relying chiefly on rain, requires far less maintenance, and is a good spot for butterflies, bees, rabbits, foxes, skunks, possums, toads, snakes, squirrels, and raccoons. The deer have no interest in grazing here. The owls, hawks, hummingbirds, and other cool birds are also happy.
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