Rewilding My Lot

I like to eat breakfasts outside — there’s always something interesting to notice in the garden. In the wintertime I’m probably in the front porch where I can get some morning sun, but as the year progresses I’m more likely to be behind the house.

On this recent morning, the light was good under cloudy skies and the garden is nicely waking up for spring so I thought I’d give an overview of the various zones that are evolving. (I’m still planning to draw a garden map, but haven’t done that yet.)

In front of the pond I have planted some low-lying plants so that the view isn’t blocked. Most of them have only been in the ground a few weeks or months, so they haven’t filled in the space yet. Examples are Blackfoot Daisy, Prairie Verbena, Lyreleaf Sage, and Silver Ponyfoot. In the immediate foreground are annual plants returning from seeds dropped last year, such as Texas Bluebonnet and Firewheel. Sunflowers in front of the pond are being removed, because they will grow too tall.

Immediately behind the pond is another area that has yet to fill in. At the moment there are Lyreleaf Sage, Purple Prairie Clover, and a few volunteers. Near the perch on the left I am allowing volunteer Sunflowers to grow — they are an excellent source of food and shelter for birds and insects.

Behind the mulched area that surrounds the pond there is another area of annual plants growing from seed dropped last year, mainly Firewheel. To the right is a Mexican Olive tree that hasn’t woken up yet. At the back among stones is a collection of succulents — Red and Yellow Yucca, Twistleaf Yucca, and Agave — and on the right is the original woodpile that was built in 2023.

Immediately behind the house there is a strip of Frogfruit about a foot wide. This is in a bed where I have some shrubby perennials such as American Beautyberry, Turk’s Cap, Chile Pequin, Barbados Cherry, and there is also Lyreleaf Sage, Lanceleaf Coreopsis, Mealy Blue Sage, Dill, Mexican Mint Marigold and a few annual volunteers. I don’t have a lot of utility workspace, but I do have room for a couple of rain barrels, compost tumbler, and small nursery area.

In the middle on the right side of the garden is an area with the Texas Mountain Laurel tree and CoCoRaHS rain gauge. There are a number of Mealy Blue Sage grown from seed, already blooming and buzzing with bees, and the other plants here are primarily Bluebonnet and Firewheel. There are a few perennials in there as well, though, such as Flame Acanthus and Skeleton-Leaf Goldeneye.

Further back on the right is an area with three trees: Red Buckeye (under the shade structure), Desert Willow, and Mexican Plum. The larger green ferny things on the ground are second-year Standing Cypress, which will bloom this year (or already are). In between them is a carpet of small first-year Standing Cypress and other annual seedlings.

Behind the berm, in the far back right of the garden, is a place for mid-height prairie grasses, and beyond that, native milkweeds. The clumps of grass are rather sparse at the moment, so for now I’m allowing some volunteers in between them to stay.

The perimeter of the garden is seeded with Thunder Turf, a mixture of three short native grasses.