What’s up in the neighbors’ yard
Springtime view of my garden from the street
My rambunctious, lawn-free, front cottage garden sticks out like a green thumb (I just hope my neighbors don’t privately think “sore thumb”) on my street of older homes, most of which have small St. Augustine lawns, a row of shrubs against the house, and a couple of large pecans, sycamores, or Southern magnolias shading the whole yard. There are a number of exceptions, where a plant-loving homeowner has extended her front bed well into the lawn or added some flowers along the sidewalk. I always applaud their efforts as I walk by. They are giving a gift to the neighborhood, and I’m as eager as a kid at Christmas to see what someone else has planted lately.
Here’s a fun “gift.” Last week a neighbor’s yard suddenly sported these raised beds of welded metal. Is it steel? Zinc? Bronze? I don’t know, but I’m intrigued. The design is creative, attractive, and very different for our modest neighborhood. (As you can see, they are still deciding on paint colors for their house. I look forward to seeing that change as well.)
The husband is a metal worker, and I assume he created the raised beds himself. The wife is a floral designer; perhaps she chose the plantings. They’ve introduced a mod, California-desert look, well-suited to the rugged yet serene lines of the metal containers.
Something different! Something fun. I hope it’s contagious.
Neat! I guess the “California Desert” look is en vogue right now- I’ve seen a lot more use of cacti, succulents, and other desert plants around the neighborhood.
Yeah, global warming may drive all of us in that direction!
Pam, your house stands out in a good way! If your garden were on this block I would be sneaking over to take photos and bragging that you lived nearby. Do you get a lot of requests for gardening advice from people in your neighborhood?
The California look goes very well with your neighbor’s house, and makes them seem like fun people. We made a small bed that’s become the catch-all area for spiny plants, agaves and cactus, and it looks better than anything else on that side of the house.
Annie
Thanks, Annie. I did catch a neighbor taking a photo of my front garden one December evening. When I saw him out there, I walked over, introduced myself, and asked in a friendly way what had caught his eye. “Your Christmas lights are pretty,” he said. Nice to hear, but funny too because it wasn’t about the garden at all.
As I’m sure you know, a garden does bring you out into the neighborhood. When you’re out there weeding or planting, people invariably will wave or say it looks good. Some even stop to introduce themselves, which is always nice. Ironically, I have yet to meet the neighbors whose metalwork I blogged about. Their design does make them seem like fun people. I’ll just have to await my chance to catch them working in their new garden and go over to tell them how good it looks.
I love this post and you’re inspiring me to photograph and blog about my more adventuresome neighbors – thanks! Susan
I love the way your front garden looks so casual and fun. The front fence helps to define it. And vitex is one of my favorite trees.
I like the metal edging in your neighbors yard. It seems like a good idea. Maybe it needs to be softened a little with more plants flowing over the edges. Also it seems like it would be interesting to make a water feature with the metal sides.
I generally don’t like gravel in beds though. Gravel works better on walkways and roads in my opinion. I have used gravel though in places where there is a possibility of erosion from water.
You’re right, Bill. A matching water feature would look nice in the neighbor’s design. Gravel is a more popular mulch here in Austin than in other cities I’ve lived in. Usually, though, folks use decomposed granite, which is an orangy brown color that looks very natural with a lot of native xeric plants. I agree that white gravel usually doesn’t look good in beds, but I think it works in my neighbor’s stylized design.