“Bridge Over the River Why?”

ESPatch May 2, 2015 7 comments

I love the city brush pick-up…it is like I am getting away with something.

I think this is because I am used to paying for dumpsters when I am doing installations.

This is what large brush pick-up looks like in the Patch after I have attacked my loquat trees, vitex (yes I still have it) and bamboos. If I have to stoop to walk under it, it ends up here.

I do have lots of perimeter screening foliage that contributes to the street pile,

and there are always the high-maintenance pecan trees.

My two favorite hand-tools for taking care of such brush business:

It took half an hour to remove my brush pile.

Moving Along…

Just when I thought he couldn’t look any more ridiculous,

he goes and grows these!

I came so close to snapping them off and adding them to the brush pile but I couldn’t bring myself to do it.

…“stupid cactus man with his stupid large and small ears”.

Looming high above the cactus man is this burgundy sand cherry which really pops with color set against a dark back drop like the shade of my post oak.

Spring color that looks like fall.

This wall of jasmine is made up of two types,

The white is Confederate and the yellow is Star of Toscana.

Both are great for screening and for spring fragrance.

Remember the curvy flower stalk on this ‘Macho Mocha’ mangave?

Here it is now, standing proud at about the 6ft 4″ mark.

The rust colored flowers

not only look good,

they also rotate to the touch in all directions…amazing.

Bridge over the river why?

Well, to add structure of course.

This large back garden in south central Austin did not always look this big and airy.

A number of Large ligustrums were imposing and possessing the space making it feel dark and claustrophobic.

Ba-ba DOOK!…Brrr.

They were the first to be exorcised by the teeth of a chain saw.

Here is the design visualization I generated for the client:

Before:

After:

Eliminating the understory ligustrums immediately opened up the space visually.

A weaving dry-creek bed slows water-flow and breaks up two flagstone patios on either side of the bridge.

Cast iron plants, sabal minor, fatsia Japonica and bamboo muhly will soften up the shady scene as an understory planting.

Loquats and clumping bamboos will add perimeter height and interest when mature.

After finishing the rear of the property, naturally we consolidated the front.

Before:

After:

Stay Tuned For:

“Oh my Gourd, that Gourd is Gourdeous”

All material © 2015 for eastsidepatch. Unauthorized
intergalactic reproduction strictly prohibited, and
punishable by late (and extremely unpleasant)
14th century planet Earth techniques.

“Picking on the Paddles”

ESPatch Apr 20, 2013 4 comments

Looking like Medieval instruments of torture the hooks on these

Opuntia ellisiana

paddles (spineless prickly pear) have been keeping someone very busy this week.

First comes the paddle selection…

…there is no shortage to choose from,

then the picking,

and removal of ‘select’ hooks.

“The beauty of suffering.”

Like little voodoo dolls I keep finding them all around the house, dangling where ever there is a free nail.

http://www.eastsidepatch.com/2009/08/pressing-along/

They are like Cactus Man’s…

Moving Less Disturbingly Along:

Plants are very happy after our rain and sun.

My post oak has finally leafed out and stopped raining its catkins everywhere.

Inland sea oats are quick on the rise, and one of my favorite tropical-looking shrubs,

Nerium oleander,

‘Hardy Red’ is putting on a, well…red show on the edge of my Hell-strip.

‘Hardy Red’ tolerates temperature extremes better than the white and pink cultivars, it blooms sporadically through most of the year.

Prefers sharp soil and good drainage,

as do most things in the Patch, like this

back-lit sotol, and these barrels:

I contemplated picking off last year’s old blooms, then decided better of it. I will wait until I have my pliers, besides there is that stubborn piece of Bermuda grass that I always have to work on, (bottom-right) but I do not want to talk about that.

herbert lom dreyfus

With the discovery of the first tadpoles of the year, the netting began.

Not so little fingers went fast to work,

their catch and release policy even included a few baby goldfish which is a good thing considering recent events.

Finally:

My landscape design portfolio finally outgrew the page that it once inhabited in here, so for the past few weeks I have been busy learning Thesis 2 and building a new home for it in here:

http://www.leveridgelandscapedesign.com/

Stay Tuned for:

“Test of Courage”

All material © 2013 for eastsidepatch. Unauthorized
intergalactic reproduction strictly prohibited, and
punishable by late (and extremely unpleasant)
14th century planet Earth techniques.

Feel better soon Dad!