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Posts tagged as “Xeriscape”

[fifty-eight] minus thirty-five: yardwork

taidoka 0
that's one small area of uprooted grass, one giant leap towards saving the succulents

Even though it can be backbreaking, there's something strangely satisfying about getting out of your conditioned environment and into "nature", just kneeling there listening to the winds blowing, the birds chirping, and dogs barking as you pull weedgrass out of your yard before it kills all your succulents. Because the succulents will survive and look nice come the next drought, but this kind of hill grass will turn to dead but pointy weeds with barbed seeds so sharp they actually gave one of our cats a bloody nose.

weeds in a wheelbarrow

A lot of work left to do, but it was a productive day.

-the Centaur

Pictured: One of the areas I cleared today trying to rescue our succulents, and the integrated sum of all of today's work, prior to being dumped on the compost pile.

[twenty-one] minus eighteen

centaur 0

A colorful auto-generated effect from Google Photos showing the profusion of succulents in our xeriscaped yard. They've really taken off in the past couple of years, and are quite beautiful even when not blooming.

Blogging every day (ish).

-the Centaur

Xeriscape, Continued

centaur 0

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Our ground cover, in bloom. This is xeriscaping: landscaping which requires little to no water.

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These pictures are from our front porch, shaded by landscaping planted by the previous owners. These plants, too, require little to no water: loquats and palm bushes and a few other plants I'm not familiar with. The overhanging branches create a sense of seclusion, which makes these shots pleasing; something I learned from my buddy Jim Davies's forthcoming book.

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It's not a zero water system: we had to water the trees that we planted, and you can see a hose where we drip water occasionally on the sick olive tree out front. But the amount of water that we use for this succulent-covered yard is trivial compared to what, for example, my parents did in their large green grassy half acre - and when it's in bloom, it's far more beautiful.

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The back isn't quite finished, but we've got low-water ivy, and even the cats approveā€¦

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-the Centaur

Pictured: a lot of landscaping, done primarily by my wife, Sandi Billingsley.