A Yard of the Month sign in my unconventional landscape? Yes, but I had to award myself. Sadly, I am not an official winner. A local nursery chain sponsors the award for neighborhood groups. I signed up my neighborhood and picked up the sign. I could not resist putting the sign in my yard long enough to take a picture. The sign will probably never return to my yard. It is not likely that my native landscape will ever be nominated for the award because it is different.
In 2008, I decided to reduce the amount of turf grass in my front yard. The original plan was to create a small island bed in the middle of the yard. I was not happy with the shape of the bed, so I gradually removed more and more grass until most of the front yard was gone. 
I would have removed all the grass, but I read that front yard native landscapes are better accepted (or tolerated) if they have a border around them. To accommodate neighborhood sensibilities, I put edging around my native planting and left a small strip of St. Augustine grass on each side. I think the strip of manicured grass emphasises the point that the natural flowerbed is intentional and maintained.
I decided use straight lines for the front and side borders of the of the bed. I just could not get the curves in the slope of the soil in the bed and curves of the pathway between the original bed and the new bed to complement the curves of the borders.
I did put one curve in the edging. It goes around the edges of my front yard rain garden. It's different, but I think it works fairly well. 
Hey, Bluestem, it's a damp and chilly morning on my corner of Katy so I'm inside bloghopping. I saw your comment on Robin/Getting Grounded's blog and came over to see what you're doing in your garden. I can tell already that you're a man after my own heart! I too removed all turfgrass from my back yard; there are two medium-sized patches of it left in the front. Love the pictures of your back garden and look forward to seeing what you do in the front!
ReplyDeleteI think once you get into the blooming season and your plants fill in with beauty, perhaps more neighbors will understand what you are doing. Or not!? (I'm familiar with Plano; I lived in Addison for a while). Good for you for being a pioneer in your 'hood and leading the way.
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