Drive-By Gardens: No-lawn front yards in South Austin
Driving through Bouldin and Zilker neighborhoods in South Austin, I cruise slowly to check out the diverse styles of architecture among the many, many remodeled homes. It’s just as interesting to see what people have chosen to plant in their front yards. Many have opted out of the traditional lawn in favor of waterwise alternatives, like a simple meadow of Mexican feathergrass (above).
Barrels of fun
This bold front garden wowed me with a mass planting of roly-poly barrel cactus, backed by a stately cluster of silver-blue agaves.
Grasses galore
At this house a walled courtyard offers seclusion behind tall ornamental grasses and towering crape myrtles and junipers.
Near the driveway, grasses cluster loosely around large, emerald agaves.
Against the wall
A tall gabion wall with steel-ring windows provides privacy along the property line of another house. Acacia, silver ponyfoot, and rounded shrubs mingle with reddish boulders to liven up the hellstrip.
Sedge it up
In this hellstrip, squeezed between the street and a cedar-post coyote fence, a loose hedge and a fringe of sedge, perhaps Berkeley sedge, add simple but textural greenery.
Nicely done, no-lawn folks!
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Digging Deeper
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All material © 2024 by Pam Penick for Digging. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited.
These front yards reflect what I think of when I think of Austin — an easy spirit and a sense of fun.
That’s an accurate assessment, Pat. Plus a keen sense of environmentalism and desire to landscape in a way that’s suited to our hot, drought-prone climate.
The gabion wall with steel-ring windows is super cool. Makes me want o get a look into the garden. The first house is different and I like that.
I love that wall with the circular windows too. I should have peeked in!
It’s very close to the Twin Oaks Library. I believe on S. 5th???
Good garden picks! Though the “Barrels of Fun” looks great but may be a challenge to clean up leaves or tree debris at certain times. The simplicity of a few of those echoes something missed when people change from mostly-lawn (simple) and few woody plants to no-lawn. Some diversity is good (my default), but it would be interesting to see how clients or the public respond to such a range of styles.
David, I was incredibly skeptical of that on when they put it in. It was on my daily school drop-off. But a few years on they’ve kept it impeccable.
Good to hear, Tim!
You raise an interesting point, David. A lawn does provide a simplicity — a negative space — that many no-lawn front yards lack. Plant diversity IS important, but sometimes a simple mass planting is easier to read (and maintain), especially for the front yard. Thanks for the food for thought.
I liked them all. I wish I saw more of that in my own area.
I’m surprised you don’t, Kris. Los Angeles has such a great climate for growing anything but thirsty lawn.
LOVE the no-lawn front gardens!! I find them so much more interesting than a chunk of St. Augustine…
I couldn’t agree more, Laurel.
They are all interesting. I really like the roly poly cactus planting.
I like that one too, Lisa.
I love this, thank you. We put in Sedge up here in Dallas Area, under tree with lots of roots. Working great so far,
but the Full eco looks you sent probably would not go down in our neighborhood! After visiting Tequilla Mexico in the
fall I LOVE Agave plants-want one-but I am thinking pot so I can have it 50 years if I move!! My sons are Both UT alumni
so know exactly where you were driving….
I would choose Gardent #2 in your list.
Keep on sending inspiration, thank you.
What’s Tequilla Mexico, Nicola? I’m intrigued. And yes, you need an agave!
I love the inspiration here! I’m in a completely different climate – zone 6 hot summers, plenty of snow in the winters. But next week we’re tearing out our front lawn and planting a mass of prairie dropseed! I do find myself yearning for some agaves though.
That sounds like an exciting project, Stephanie. I love prairie dropseed! And there may be an agave for your garden in this list from High Plains Gardening: http://www.highplainsgardening.com/plant-profiles/agaves
Also check out offerings from High Country Gardens’ online catalog.