In article ,
(Terry Horton) wrote:


Prickly pear is tough, but who wants a boring old Opuntia? But how
about a red one?.. not red flowers, a head-turning reddish-purple all
over. Ask your nursery to order you an "Opuntia violacea var.
santa-rita" (not as hard-to-get as it sounds). We've got a very big
one growing in a very small pot on our back deck, and the extent of
care we give is to look at it. :-) Pic of this extraordinary Texas and
southwestern native he
http://eebweb.arizona.edu/grads/betsy/pp.html

Thanks for the suggestion; this is precisely the kind of suggestion I was
hoping for unnusual enough that it really earns a spot in your garden but
you do not pay a price in high maintainance.

*Lots* more options if you're willing to throw a little water on them
occasionally....

I do not mind some maintenance I just did not want to be married to the garden.

Blank canvas,eh? I envy you, almost...

The place was a rental for 10+ years. I am in the central city but have
to slowly nurse stuff back to shape. Day I took possession a huge
hackberry branch fell off. Local tree guys recommended I get rid of all
three that I had left because they were old and in poor condition. So
valuable landscaping dollars had to be spent on stuff like tree removal.
Most of the other trees are young (~10+ year bur oaks), squirrel donated
Pecan sapling, maturish Fig tree and two mature Mesquites. Several of
the young trees are badly placed/trained (pecan sapling too close to young
Bur oak in the front). Young Bur oak in the back is too close to the
house (13 feet) and appears stunted because of lack of care so I have
planted Chinese Pistachoes in the back and a Red oak and Yaupon holly.
Removal of the Hackberries robbed me Alley screening so I need a lot of
good screening. Currently I am using oleander because a friend donated me
stuff they removed during a house addition. I am also using Silverado
sage for screening.

I intend to use Salvias very heavily.


Roland