Suggest you rethink your watering schedule. You should water only when the
lawn shows some sign that it needs it, with St Augustine that is when the
blades show some curling in the morning or when you walk across it in the
morning and can turn around and see where you walked. At that point you
should water long enough to put down 3/4 to 1 inch of water. By watering
lightly and frequently you are developing a root system that is only at the
surface.

Might want to look at Dwarf Burford Holly, no flowers to speak of but nice
evergreen and red berries in the fall and winter.

Good Luck

"oldhickory" wrote in message
...
I have an idea about planting hedges around my new back yard. We are
fenced all the way around with white vinyl fencing and have a sprinkler
system. It's not a huge yard but I'd like to start making it something
special. I was able to get two raised beds in for herbs this year and am
ready to start planning for fall and spring.

I was thinking about hedges on both sides, maybe even across the back, to
create an old fashioned English garden setting, or maybe japanese. I think
bamboo would be tough to do--clumping bamboo doesn't propogate so it would
be more expensive and running bamboo...well, you know...

Anyway, I thought, perhaps, purple sage would be a possibility. I have
read that it can get up to 6-8 feet, which would be enough (if I don't get
busted by the HOA for letting it get too high) and the flowers would be a
gorgeous addition.

I'm concerned that keeping the sprinkler system going frequently enough
(usually every 3rd day for about 10 minutes) to keep the grass alive, will
be too much for the sage. I'm especially concerned that it might not get
tall enough.

Any words of advice from experts out there?

Thanks for any input!

ie
--

ride fast, take chances.