Do any of you have any positive or negative experiences with businesses in
Austin that can xeriscape your lawns?

On Sat, 03 May 2003 22:35:11 GMT, Gary Morrison wrote:

Do any of you have any positive or negative experiences with businesses in
Austin that can xeriscape your lawns?

By xeriscape your lawn, you mean remove it and replace it with something xeric?
If so, Big Red Sun on Cesar Chavez, east of 35 is a great place to start.

By xeriscape your lawn, you mean remove it and replace it with something xeric?

Yes, that's the goal.


If so, Big Red Sun on Cesar Chavez, east of 35 is a great place to start.

Great. Thanks for the recommendation.

Anybody have any other positive or negative experiences to report?

That's the spirit! Conserve water and reduce turf!

J. Kolenovsky

Gary Morrison wrote:
=

Do any of you have any positive or negative experiences with businesses=
in
Austin that can xeriscape your lawns?

-- =

J. Kolenovsky, A+, Network +, MCP
=F4=BF=F4 - http://www.celestialhabitats.com - commercial
=F4=BF=F4 - http://www.hal-pc.org/~garden/personal.html - personal webpag=
es

"animaux" wrote in message
...
| On Sat, 03 May 2003 22:35:11 GMT, Gary Morrison
wrote:
|
| Do any of you have any positive or negative experiences with
businesses in
| Austin that can xeriscape your lawns?
|
| By xeriscape your lawn, you mean remove it and replace it with
something xeric?
| If so, Big Red Sun on Cesar Chavez, east of 35 is a great place to
start.

Isn't Big Red Sun responsible for the landscaping at San Jose on So.
Congress?

On Sun, 04 May 2003 14:57:03 GMT, "Texensis"
wrote:

Isn't Big Red Sun responsible for the landscaping at San Jose on So.
Congress?


I'm not too sure. I do know they specialize in xeric landscapes and have some
"out of the box" ideas which I love.

Howdy folks,
In regards to this message:
Isn't Big Red Sun responsible for the landscaping at San Jose on So.
Congress?


I'm not too sure. I do know they specialize in xeric landscapes and have some
"out of the box" ideas which I love.

If you want to see an installed Big Red Sun design, there is a
front yard in Hyde Park across the street from the post office at 43rd
and Speedway, just up from the Northeast corner of the
intersection,which you can spot by the large number of vertical
evergreens. I've talked to the owners about some problem areas they
have, they want to add to.
I don't think anyone would not call their designs Xeriscape these
days, but I tend to think of Big Red Sun ( if I'm in art critic mode )
as "Mediterranean Eclectic". This particular design does have a large
lawn area, their signature style which you can spot at some distance
is industrial rusted metal edging, and planters, for grasses and
speciman plants, and lots of tall evergreens. The couple who own Big
Red Sun, are good people and their East side nursery is a fun place to
visit, and they certainly think 'outside the box" which is refreshing.
We don't all want to look like a chapter out of the Wasowski book.
In my biz I have a number of customers show me their designs, and
I've seen some very good xeriscape plans out of "The Great Outdoors"
on Congress Avenue, ( and they are fairly inexpensive for design work
) and their owners and staff are very dedicated.
For me a good Xeriscape design is to take out all the lawn you can
,except for what you need for the kids and a good barbecue party, and
plant a nice mix of natives and drought resistant adapted plants.

With the exception of Oleanders I like just about everything on
the Grow Green plant list. My personal taste runs to Black Foot
Daisies, Four Nerve Daisies, Zexmenia, Plumbagos, Santolina,
Artemesias, Oreganos, Rosemary, a host of Salvias, Yaupons, Mexican
Feather grass, and a handful of others depending on the color scheme.
For a quick idea of good Xeriscape plants you can always check
out the Xeriscape trail in the Zilker park Botanical garden. ( I'm
taking my Kindergarden, gardening classes there this week where the
big challenge is to keep them from falling in the ponds at the Japanes
garden )
take care,
Steve Coyle
www.austingardencenter.com

Isn't Big Red Sun responsible for the landscaping at San Jose on So.
Congress?

I'm pretty sure they did.

--
Victor M. Martinez

http://www.che.utexas.edu/~martiv

In article ,
Steve Coyle wrote:

With the exception of Oleanders I like just about everything on
the Grow Green plant list. My personal taste runs to Black Foot
Daisies, Four Nerve Daisies, Zexmenia, Plumbagos, Santolina,
Artemesias, Oreganos, Rosemary, a host of Salvias, Yaupons, Mexican
Feather grass, and a handful of others depending on the color scheme.

That sounds like my front yard (though my santolina and artemesia fell
victim to poor drainage).

Following up on Steve's Grow Green reference:
I've mentioned it before, but the Grow Green publication "Native and Adapted
Landscape Plants, an Earthwise Guide for Central Texas" is thorough, relevant,
easy-to-read, and FREE! 40 pages of photos and information, including
height, spread, light, evergreen/deciduous, flower season, color, water,
availability, maintenance (includes some pruning instructions), comments,
and checklists for Texas native, wildllife, and deer resistance. Hard to
beat for free. Available at nurseries and box stores in Austin.

http://www.growgreen.org

The same information and photos that are in the book are available in
PDF form in sections online (under the Plant List link) broken out into
six sections (trees, shrubs, vines, etc).

I'd recommend it for anyone looking to add area-appropriate plantings.
--
Marc Stephenson IBM Server Group - Austin,TX
T/L: 678-3189

Yes, Big Red Sun uses industrial elements in some of their designs. I've been
using rusted out barrels and pipe for a decade. I also like the owners. Your
place looks very nice too. Where are you located? I'm always looking for
"fresh!"

V

On 5 May 2003 07:03:48 -0700, (Steve Coyle) wrote:

If you want to see an installed Big Red Sun design, there is a
front yard in Hyde Park across the street from the post office at 43rd
and Speedway, just up from the Northeast corner of the
intersection,which you can spot by the large number of vertical
evergreens. I've talked to the owners about some problem areas they
have, they want to add to.
I don't think anyone would not call their designs Xeriscape these
days, but I tend to think of Big Red Sun ( if I'm in art critic mode )
as "Mediterranean Eclectic". This particular design does have a large
lawn area, their signature style which you can spot at some distance
is industrial rusted metal edging, and planters, for grasses and
speciman plants, and lots of tall evergreens. The couple who own Big
Red Sun, are good people and their East side nursery is a fun place to
visit, and they certainly think 'outside the box" which is refreshing.
We don't all want to look like a chapter out of the Wasowski book.
In my biz I have a number of customers show me their designs, and
I've seen some very good xeriscape plans out of "The Great Outdoors"
on Congress Avenue, ( and they are fairly inexpensive for design work
) and their owners and staff are very dedicated.
For me a good Xeriscape design is to take out all the lawn you can
,except for what you need for the kids and a good barbecue party, and
plant a nice mix of natives and drought resistant adapted plants.

With the exception of Oleanders I like just about everything on
the Grow Green plant list. My personal taste runs to Black Foot
Daisies, Four Nerve Daisies, Zexmenia, Plumbagos, Santolina,
Artemesias, Oreganos, Rosemary, a host of Salvias, Yaupons, Mexican
Feather grass, and a handful of others depending on the color scheme.
For a quick idea of good Xeriscape plants you can always check
out the Xeriscape trail in the Zilker park Botanical garden. ( I'm
taking my Kindergarden, gardening classes there this week where the
big challenge is to keep them from falling in the ponds at the Japanes
garden )
take care,
Steve Coyle
www.austingardencenter.com

In article ,
(Steve Coyle) wrote:



With the exception of Oleanders I like just about everything on
the Grow Green plant list.

Out of curiosity why do you dislike oleanders?

I like them a lot but am trying to understand peoples distaste for them.

Reasons that have been mentioned previously or I have discovered on my own:

1) Suceptible to a fungal? disease. Maybe true but these sorts of things
do not stop people from considering Red Oaks attractive and plantable.

2) Poisonous. True but so are many other plants.

3) Heavily used and common. True, but this does not bother me terribly.

4) Not bullet proof in terms of cold hardiness. This actually has me
worried. I intend to use oleander very heavily for screening. My
understanding is that Red is the hardiest but even it will not survive the
most record breaking cold we might encounter. I wanted to use several
colors that are even less hardy. Since I want this as a screen, if it
proves not to be cold hardy I am in trouble.

Roland

Jeez, mother's day nightmare...dragging my wife down there two or three
years ago with a 3 and 5 year old...and the three year old fell in off the
stepping stones (just TRY keeping them off of them!) and here comes Daddy
wading/jumping across the pond...obviously not using the stones...thanks for
the reminder :)

And I just helped take HIS kinder class to the Bob Bullock Texas History
Museum...gotta get back there without kids...was a cool place.

Good luck,
John

"Steve Coyle" wrote in message
om...
Howdy folks,
In regards to this message:
Isn't Big Red Sun responsible for the landscaping at San Jose on So.
Congress?


I'm not too sure. I do know they specialize in xeric landscapes and
have some
"out of the box" ideas which I love.

If you want to see an installed Big Red Sun design, there is a
front yard in Hyde Park across the street from the post office at 43rd
and Speedway, just up from the Northeast corner of the
intersection,which you can spot by the large number of vertical
evergreens. I've talked to the owners about some problem areas they
have, they want to add to.
I don't think anyone would not call their designs Xeriscape these
days, but I tend to think of Big Red Sun ( if I'm in art critic mode )
as "Mediterranean Eclectic". This particular design does have a large
lawn area, their signature style which you can spot at some distance
is industrial rusted metal edging, and planters, for grasses and
speciman plants, and lots of tall evergreens. The couple who own Big
Red Sun, are good people and their East side nursery is a fun place to
visit, and they certainly think 'outside the box" which is refreshing.
We don't all want to look like a chapter out of the Wasowski book.
In my biz I have a number of customers show me their designs, and
I've seen some very good xeriscape plans out of "The Great Outdoors"
on Congress Avenue, ( and they are fairly inexpensive for design work
) and their owners and staff are very dedicated.
For me a good Xeriscape design is to take out all the lawn you can
,except for what you need for the kids and a good barbecue party, and
plant a nice mix of natives and drought resistant adapted plants.

With the exception of Oleanders I like just about everything on
the Grow Green plant list. My personal taste runs to Black Foot
Daisies, Four Nerve Daisies, Zexmenia, Plumbagos, Santolina,
Artemesias, Oreganos, Rosemary, a host of Salvias, Yaupons, Mexican
Feather grass, and a handful of others depending on the color scheme.
For a quick idea of good Xeriscape plants you can always check
out the Xeriscape trail in the Zilker park Botanical garden. ( I'm
taking my Kindergarden, gardening classes there this week where the
big challenge is to keep them from falling in the ponds at the Japanes
garden )
take care,
Steve Coyle
www.austingardencenter.com

Howdy folks,
In response to some different comments in this thread.
The problem with Oleanders is an incurable ( at the moment,
according to A&M pathology lab )disease has moved into the Austin area
centered around the Steck neighborhood that is killing them off and
will likely spread. If you do an advanced google search on "Skip
Richter oleander disease" his PDF file article pops up with all the
details.
Skips view, that I agree with is that there is no sense in spending
time and money to increase the host population of this plant in
Austin. Talking to the folks at Green Grow, there was a big debate
about including the plant in this list given the problems, but since
color was so hard to get with deer resistant plants they included it
anyway.

The kindergarden trip to the Zilker botanical gardens went well.We
had one partially soaked kid, which isn't too bad out of thirty. We
saw a black and yellow banded snake which, if we got it straight, it's
"Red and yellow, fine fellow, red and black get back, jack" or maybe
the other way around, but we kept our distance. The purifying wall
basin spigot was clogged up in the Japanese garden, I was sorry to
see. In the Roses just about everything had shut down except for the
Caldwell Pinks, one of my favorite Roses. There was also a massive
amount of black spot everywhere which surprised me, but I've never
been crazy about their choices in that garden.

The kids picked up quick on the question , "what is missing in the
"Dinosaur garden" you see in the other gardens ?" I was proud to see.
The Xeriscape gardens were in fair shape, but the big problem
they can't get around is that there is so much shade in that garden,
and a lot of the plants could use more sun.

take care,
Steve Coyle
www.austingardencenter.com

that reminds me, for the person who asked about our location, actually
my wife the webmaster and I created our site after I retired from
working retail plant sales here in Austin, and the site is mostly to
stay in touch with my customers I've developed over the years, and in
addition, and part of my motivation, to get to write about issues that
I had to whisper about behind the bosses back when I was working for
others, like "Do you know what's in that box of Ironite you are about
to buy?", or "It's a hundred degrees, go home, and don't even think of
planting."
I don't have any grand, garden.com ambitions, but it keeps me busy
and in pocket change.

Red touch yellow, kill a fellow; red touch black, venom lack. Coral
snake is the poisonous one.

Ironite = toxic waste according to 'Fateful Harvest' by Duff Wilson.
That is: 0.5% arsenic and 0.25% lead (page 220 for those wanting the
reference). My neighbor across the street has been putting it on his
lawn for more than a decade.

-Nancy

"Steve Coyle" wrote in message
m...
Howdy folks,
In response to some different comments in this thread.
The problem with Oleanders is an incurable ( at the moment,
according to A&M pathology lab )disease has moved into the Austin area
centered around the Steck neighborhood that is killing them off and
will likely spread. If you do an advanced google search on "Skip
Richter oleander disease" his PDF file article pops up with all the
details.
Skips view, that I agree with is that there is no sense in spending
time and money to increase the host population of this plant in
Austin. Talking to the folks at Green Grow, there was a big debate
about including the plant in this list given the problems, but since
color was so hard to get with deer resistant plants they included it
anyway.

The kindergarden trip to the Zilker botanical gardens went well.We
had one partially soaked kid, which isn't too bad out of thirty. We
saw a black and yellow banded snake which, if we got it straight, it's
"Red and yellow, fine fellow, red and black get back, jack" or maybe
the other way around, but we kept our distance. The purifying wall
basin spigot was clogged up in the Japanese garden, I was sorry to
see. In the Roses just about everything had shut down except for the
Caldwell Pinks, one of my favorite Roses. There was also a massive
amount of black spot everywhere which surprised me, but I've never
been crazy about their choices in that garden.

Aaaack! Steve! It's the other way around: "Red on yellow, kill a fellow,
red on black, friend of Jack". See:
http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/expltx/jrnat/compare.htm . I believe the other
one in the photo is a king snake. Anyway, just tell the little darlin's to
leave 'em alone. (Any idea how many snakebites involve males between
15-30...and usually alcohol? ;-))

Harvested my first "crop" last night: a double-handful of wild dewberries
off my place! Just enough to top a big ol' bowl of Bluebell...

Dale