So I have this huge, really unique back yard in north Texas (DFW). I have 4 months of maternity leave starting end of February and want to do as much as I can with native plants during my leave. I’m definitely a beginner, and we don’t have a sprinkler system. Thoughts, ideas?
by Psychological_Yam_77
7 Comments
You will want to cut the vine growing on the tree in the first photo. Cut all the vines at chest height and pull the bottom part back from the tree.
And congratulations! What a beautiful yard. I hope your maternity leave is much more productive than mine were.
Oof that’s a big yard. I’d start with removing the ivy from the trees and the nandina on the side of the house. Nandina contains cyanide and is dangerous to humans and birds.
That yard looks part shady, so I’d buy seed from prairie moon and scatter it in that area (with correct germination methods.) personally blazing star is one of my favourite plants. I’d put that in the sunnier parts of the yard.
I am so envious! I love stone work.
Congratulations, and what a lovely site to work on! With no sprinkler system, you’ll want to look into earthworks for rainwater harvesting. Brad Lancaster wrote the Bible on this: Rainwater Harvesting for Drylands and Beyond, and has a YouTube channel I believe. Also, you might want to start researching indigenous and permaculture methods for semiarid locations if you’re interested in food production.
😍😍😍
Definitely remove all the invasive English ivy growing up the trees. Ivy was growing up my trees when I moved into my house too. If you cut the ivy about a foot from the ground everything on the tree will die. Then carefully pull up all the ivy from the ground around the tree
As others have been saying, remove the ivy. However if you like the look of ivy, there are native vines that provide both the look of ivy and food for wildlife.
Check out seedsource (Native American Seed), they have several options for seed blends of both perennials and annuals for the majority of regions in the US. You can sort by sun exposure as well. I bought a shade friendly mix myself that I adore (Oklahoma). Robust enough that a good mulch layer to lock in moisture will save you water, time and maintenance in the long run.
EcoBlossom is pricey but provides established plants and eco maps for checking native distribution. And if you’re concerned about other things (like scientific names matching the natives you’re searching for) check out the USDA plant database, which also provides distribution maps for cross reference.