Update – Front Yard Landscaping

My main front yard inspiration by Rogerslandscapedesign.com

Since I last told you about our spur of the moment front yard landscaping project last week, not much has happened. We have had some unpredictable patches of rain this last week which have kept the outdoor projects to a minimum. But we were able to plant a few central Texas native plants in the upper part of the yard.

I knew that I wanted to plant some low maintenance rosemary on the steep hill next to our front door, so I picked up a couple small ones on my trip to the grocery store last week. I opted for the small $6 plants because rosemary grows extremely quick and I didn’t want to waste money on the $25 rosemary when I knew my little ones would reach that size in just a few months. Yay for saving! 

I planted these guys on the bottom part of the slope of the hill with the intention to have them act as a natural retaining wall of sorts when they get bigger. They will be able to help prevent more soil erosion down that steep slope.
I still need to purchase a few other colorful native plants to plant on the sloped part of the hill, but need to research what plants will do well in those conditions. Right now I am leaning towards some red yucca and Mexican feather grass. 

One other thing that got accomplished in between the rain was mulching. My local rock and dirt yard had a sale on bagged mulch (what you see in the above photo) that actually made it cheaper than purchasing it bulk and having it delivered. So I purchased two car loads and hauled it home myself in two trips. I still need to make a third trip for a bit more, so hopefully that will happen this week as well. 

On the upper section of the planting beds next to the sloped hill, I planted some mondo grass since it likes partial shade and is a low maintenance ground cover grass. In addition, I planted to Japanese boxwoods on either side of where the new path will be. These will eventually get large and we can shape them into a nice living greenery edge to the new pathway. 
On this last section of mulched bed next to the driveway, I went with a drought tolerant, full sun loving flowering grass (accidentally threw away the info and can’t remember the name). As with all my other plantings, I chose small cheaper versions of the plants instead of paying an up charge for older more established plants. These will get full size within one year, so by choosing small on all my plants, I saved quite a bit, and in one year or less no one will know the difference. 
One last thing that we were able to accomplish outside was adding another piece of metal landscape edging to the bottom bed next to the sidewalk. I believe I mentioned that we were thinking of using white chopped limestone, but at an extra $250 for the stone, we instead opted for more edging. And we had some store credit from Lowes that we used to purchase that extra edging, so that was nice too!
Next on my list is to purchase some plants for the bottom planting bed which we will then fill with basalt stone. In the meantime I am looking for local inspiration of native drought tolerant landscaping. Here are a few pictures I took around town as well as one from Pinterest that I am absolutely in love with. Have any recommendations for me on beautiful xeriscape plants or inspiration photos? 

Photo and work by Rogerslandscapedesign.com

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