Three Drought-Resistant Plants That Add Color to Any Space

April 28, 2014. Posted by ABC in Landscaping • Austin

Austin landscaping schemes and drought-resistant plants harmonize like milk and cookies. If we don’t consider our climate and choose Texas-friendly plants, our green spaces soon resemble barren wastelands flourishing with tumbleweeds. It’s not pretty. These three plants, however, require very little water and add an abundance of glorious color to any space.

Portulaca Grandiflora

Also called the moss rose, portulacas grow six to 10 inches tall, but this plant sprawls outward more than upward. If you want a flowering plant that loves high heat, can withstand Austin’s sun and has very little water requirements, this is your plant. Additionally, it doesn’t need fertilization or have special soil requirements.

Moss roses produce intensely vivid blooms through spring, summer and fall. The blooms continue to show and add color to your space after the stems and leaves appear to have withered from heat.

Asclepias Tuberosa

You might better recognize this plant by the name pleurisy root or … Read Full Post »

Well-Maintained Trees Boost Home Values in San Antonio

April 22, 2014. Posted by ABC in Landscaping • San Antonio

Getting the most out of your saplings, shades and shrubs

Trees add to your home’s curb appeal and help you enjoy the great outdoors. Whether they’re fresh saplings, mature specimens or stately shrubs, their branches spread a special peace. The climate in San Antonio is ideal for nurturing native trees, and these canopied beauties can actually improve your property’s value along with its landscaped good looks.

Growing Green Investments

Residential trees aren’t a cash crop, but a recent study by the city estimates that they add as much as 7% to your property’s value. Just one mature live oak commands an appraisal value of $10,000. With careful pruning, trimming and the right touch of mulch, you’re doing more than caring for the trees: you’re making an investment that pays off if you decide to sell the house. You’re also enjoying aesthetic dividends that keep your home beautiful for many years to come.

Planting With … Read Full Post »

Has Your Landscape Hit a Wall?

March 27, 2014. Posted by ABC in Landscaping • San Antonio

Retaining Your Soil’s Sanity

If anyone needs proof that the earth isn’t flat, it only takes a drive around San Antonio to confirm the obvious. The Hill Country is beautiful, but its rolling terrain slips landscaping challenges into your best-laid plans for a stable yard. An attractive retaining wall can shore up your shifting scenery and restore some sanity to the area’s expansive soil.

Walls That Work Hard

Retaining walls might look like ornamental additions to a landscape, but the Riverwalk wouldn’t exist without these humble feats of engineering. While they appear to define the water’s flow, they actually support the massive soil foundations of the buildings that line the river’s banks. Even a small wall performs the same vital function: It acts as a barrier that shores up soil along changes in the landscape’s elevation. The wall’s strength rests on a base built below ground level and a compacted backfill that supports … Read Full Post »

Does Your Yard Need a Haircut?

March 26, 2014. Posted by ABC in Landscaping • Dallas-Fort Worth

Spring is almost here, and your neighbors will soon be outdoors with their lawnmowers, string trimmers and spreaders. As if by magic, their neglected, winter-ravaged yards will morph into works of art. Like the perfect hairstyle, a healthy, polished lawn and landscape makes its owner look awesome. But not everyone has time to maintain a demanding yard. You may barely have time to style your own mane, much less battle half an acre of green fluff. If you’ve never had time for yard work, you probably don’t have the needed experience or skill either. Don’t be embarrassed. Many who attempt lawn care for the first time find that it’s quite easy to end up with a faux hawk instead of neat, uniform grass.

Bed Head, Split Ends, Dandruff and Lice

Keeping your hair looking good requires more than just shampoo and hairspray, and taking care of a lawn involves more than mowing … Read Full Post »

Can Your Lawn Reveal Your Deepest Secrets?

March 20, 2014. Posted by ABC in Landscaping, Lawn, Lawn Care • San Antonio

You probably won’t find lawn conditions mentioned in many pop psychology books, but if you look carefully, there may be a correlation between a person’s lawn and their personalities and priorities. At first glance, it might not seem important, but if you’re looking for a mate or trying to impress your neighbors, your personal environment and what it reveals about you could be a make-or-break factor. Here are a few personality types that could potentially be linked to lawn condition (and of course, we take these results with a grain of salt!).

The Control Freak

The Control Freak’s lawn is never more than a fraction of an inch too long or short. It’s the perfect shade of green, and any blemishes are quickly isolated and treated intensively until they’re back in formation. The Control Freak regularly inspects every plant in the yard and references the Texas Plant Disease Diagnostic Lab when necessary.

The … Read Full Post »

Drought-Resistant Plants Austin Loves

March 11, 2014. Posted by ABC in Landscaping • Austin

If you don’t mind summer heat, Austin is a great place to put down roots. Unfortunately, the region’s climate prevents many common lawn and garden plants from putting down roots on a consistent basis. While the Austin area isn’t a desert wasteland, it does experience periodic droughts that can undo hours of hard landscaping work. Consider relying on these drought-resistant plants to protect your property.

Lechuguilla

As a member of the agave family, lechuguilla is comfortable in truly arid conditions. Its native territory stretches across northern Mexico and into the Chihuahuan Desert of extreme western Texas, but it’s perfectly content in Austin’s wetter climate as well. After a decade-long period of slow growth, this plant grows into a succulent shrub that can provide shade and privacy for your yard without hogging your lawn’s water.

Hill Country Rain Lily

As its name suggests, the Hill Country rain lily is native to the Austin area. While … Read Full Post »

Garden Magic: Making an Amazing Compost Mix

February 20, 2014. Posted by ABC in Landscaping, Lawn Care • San Antonio

A well-kept lawn or bright flower garden can significantly add to your home’s curb appeal and value. Of course, maintaining a beautiful lawn or garden in the hot climate of San Antonio can be tough. Keeping up with regular watering and lawn maintenance is important, but it won’t take care of all of your healthy lawn needs. If you want to create a lawn or garden that’s truly well nourished and adds value to your property, it’s time to start a compost pile.

Creating Your Basic Compost Mix

Composting is the process of allowing waste materials to decay so that they are broken down into a nutrient-rich mix that can be used to fertilize lawns, plants, trees and gardens. If you’d like to start composting, you’ll need to buy or build a compost bin. You should be able to find wire, wooden and metal compost bins. Metal bins are generally built to … Read Full Post »

15 Native Plants Every Texan Needs (Part 2)

February 18, 2014. Posted by ABC in Landscaping • Bryan-College Station

Last week we discussed how you can make your landscaping and lawn care more manageable by selecting native Texas plants for your yard. For the first part of this article, which focused on native trees and shrubs, click here. In the following post, we’ll introduce you to a few of the most low-maintenance, drought-resistant perennials, grasses, and vines for the Bryan and College station areas.

Native Texas Perennials

While annuals require planting or seeding each year, perennials grow back year after year from a single planting. Some annuals self-seed easily, but true perennials grow from the same root system each year. Texas has a lot of beautiful native varieties to choose from.

• Flame Acanthus—The flame acanthus is an example of a xeriscape perennial that does fine without water but produces better blooms with a little watering. Hummingbirds are drawn to the beautiful orange-red blossoms.

• Calylophus—Calylophus produces gorgeous yellow blooms that are about … Read Full Post »

15 Native Plants Every Texan Needs (Part 1)

February 11, 2014. Posted by ABC in Landscaping • Bryan-College Station

Landscaping will be more enjoyable and require less maintenance if you use plants native to your own regional climate. Native plants are easy to care for and resist pests and diseases. Because they’ve naturally adapted to their environment over thousands of years, they won’t need as much fertilizer and water as non-native plants.

If you aren’t familiar with the plants native to Texas, here are a few examples of Texas trees and shrubs ideally suited to the Bryan and College Station climate.

Native Texas Trees

Trees are the largest and most long-lived parts of your landscape. You don’t want to put time and effort into planting a fabulous tree only to watch it wither and die two or three years later. Choosing native varieties will give you plants that will thrive in the Texas heat and require far less water than their northern cousins.

• Live Oak—The live oak is a drought-tolerant shade tree … Read Full Post »

Flower Power! The Year’s Most Colorful Landscaping Trends

February 3, 2014. Posted by ABC in Landscaping • Austin

Whether you add it with foliage, flowers or focal points, your garden needs color in each season. Here are some color trends for this year’s landscaping.

Flower Power!

Deep purples, metallic colors, and lime greens are bold colors in landscaping this year, while bright yellows, deep reds and hot pinks are always welcome.

Wildflowers blossom throughout the year in Central Texas, and the Texas bluebonnets are a popular tourist attraction. They’re a great example of flowers that require little maintenance and bloom spectacularly year after year. Using plants that are adapted to the climate in Central Texas allows you to spend less time watering and more time enjoying.

Reds

Flame acanthus flowers are a wonderful red-orange color and make a hot spot in your landscape. They attract hummingbirds almost as readily as they draw our own eyes. They do just fine with no watering, but a little splash now and then causes them to bloom … Read Full Post »