Category Archives: Compost
Extreme Heat and a Depressed Landscape
I keep thinking about the influx of people who’ve recently moved into my area over the last several years and what an awful surprise it must be to spend a real summer in Austin Texas. Not only is there oppressive, extreme heat and humidity for us, (exacerbated by concrete) but it’s down right depressing to …
“Garden Itis”
I suppose I truly developed garden-itis in my youth. I had a bedroom full of potted plants who were my only true friends, along with my shadow of a dog, Kenobi. She was a full blooded German Shepherd who was as loyal as she was beautiful and never told my secrets. I actually named all …
Trees Deserve Respect
Owning or leasing property with saplings or mature trees is not only a gift to you, it is a gift to our planet and to our children’s future. Did you know that one mature tree produces enough oxygen for two people’s lifetimes? As if that’s not impressive enough, one mature 30 to 50’ shade tree …
“Why Are My Landscape Plants Dying?”
“Why are my plants dying?” A query that many are stumbling with is the reason for their landscape failures. In my 20 years of educational Landscape Consultations I’ve seen a great number of reasons why plants, shrubs and trees fail. I’ve compiled my top 10 reasons for why your landscape is dying. 1) They’re too old! …
It’s Xeriscape, not Zeroscape.
Over the last 20 years I’ve seen and heard my fare share of mispronunciations and misspellings of the word Xeriscape; and while it certainly doesn’t bother me, the lack of understanding what Xeriscape is, does. Xeric which is Latin for “xeros“, means dry, and scape, well obviously….it’s a view or scape, as it were. But, …