In article ,
"James Lee Johnson" wrote:

"OmManiPadmeOmelet" wrote:
Many thanks... :-)

De nada.

I will miss my Cannas but they did badly this year with less water.
Mulch helps some and I have some leaf mulch black bag composting I'll
add to them this winter. The poor things never did bloom! Perhaps with
more composted mulch, they will do better next year. At least they are
still alive.

Cannas are pretty hardy in parts of Texas. We tried to remove some from a
garden in Grand Prairie, TX, and we never did get rid of them. 'Course we
didn't try an extended drought :-)

lol True... I normally have to thin them back every year and give
rhizomes away. This is the first year they have done badly.

Even the Lantana is looking unhappy, but it's still alive.


Xeriscape isn't an all-or-nothing proposition. It is perfectly acceptable to
have some plants that need a little more water than others. The idea is to
group those plants together as much as possible, use efficient watering
systems like drip irrigation, and limit the areas that need the most
supplemental water. Of course, in any kind of landscaping scheme it makes
sense to group plants by their need for sun, water, soil type, and drainage.
I belonged to the Xeriscape Garden Club of Austin when there was one.

Oh yes, I understand that! I mostly use soaker hoses and we have a timer
setup on the hose.


Xeriscape proponents like to disuade people from the notion that a Xeriscape
garden is a rock and cactus garden. But since you find cactus gardens
attractive, I'd like to point out that there are many cactii and cactus-like
plants which will over-winter in central Texas. In addition to native and
adapted Cactii, there are Agaves, Yuccas, Sotol, Beargrass, and related
members of the Lily family.

I do need to get more Agave. I only have a couple of them and both are
still in pots. The big one is one I dug up from where my dad used to
live. It's sprouted two pups so far being confined that way.

I'd not considered yucca, thanks for the idea! I had purchase a
spineless prickly pear a last year but it got badly frozen over the
winter. It's sprouted new pads but I need to cut the plant down and pull
the new pads for planting and see if I can get it going again.

There is a 10 footer on the sidewalk path I take for morning walks that
is probably a different variety. I want to snag a few mature pads from
it and plant those. They might winter over better since that one seems
to be thriving and it's just down the block.

What succulents do well? Hens and chicks and even Kalancho always seemed
to freeze back!

I'm watching some of the more attractive low growing weeds for ground
cover now and selectively letting them grow where I need them. It looks
much better. I don't know what this particular one is so I need to take
a photo. It seems to do well in low water conditions.


I happen to think some bushes like Texas Sage
don't look out of place in a cactus garden.

I'd need to import some. I've not seen it around here?
I see _lots_ of various salvias around in landscaped parking lots. White
seems to be the main one but I have some red salvia in a pot. It's in
the greenhouse tho' so I've no idea if it'd freeze or not.

It is probably too difficult to
grow a Joshua Tree or a Seguaro in central Texas, but the "skeletons" of
some of the plants in Arizona and New Mexico can be very attractive.

Oh, the irony ... it is flooding in Phoenix!

j jhnsn

lol Too true! My sister lives in Phoenix but they are ok.....
--
Peace!
Om

"My mother never saw the irony in calling me a Son of a bitch"
-- Jack Nicholson