texas garden

JB has been REALLY into native Texas plants lately.  As we were sitting in the living room at the end of his lunch break the other day, he picked up the native plant book on the coffee table and started looking through it.   "I find it relaxing to read about native plants, don't you?" he says.  I had to laugh because I had never thought of it as relaxing per se.  In fact, I find it downright overwhelming.  With my limited knowledge of native plants, they all look about the same to me and I couldn't tell the difference between a salvia and a sage.  

Ok, JB just read this post over my shoulder and informed me that a salvia IS a sage.   ANYWAY.  A salvia and a muhly then.  Whatever.  

I am now, however, a native plant convert for a number of reasons.  On a practical level, they are great because they flourish in the texas climate (i.e. extreme heat and no rain for two months in the summer) without a lot of extra watering.  Also, I have learned to appreciate their somewhat scrubby aesthetic, especially when the grasses are mixed with the desert plants and other flowering plants.  But planting with native species is also about having a sense of place--about appreciating where you live for what it is and not trying to make it look like somewhere else.  Texas is really nothing like England, so why try to plant an English garden?  This is a difficult transition to make for a yankee like me who enjoys maple trees and water-loving plants, but gaining an appreciation for cenizo, pictured above, also known as texas sage, has really been quite satisfying.  Of course, all of this native plant business has nothing to do with good ole Texas pride...

And here is JB in the first stages of turning the front bed into a native Texas garden.  If the previous owners of our house ever find this blog, I hope they are not too horrified that we are digging up most of what they planted.  We are re-planting all of those bulbs in the backyard, Rebecca!