I love my xeric front yard. What I love most about it is that I can pretty much ignore it most of the time and it still looks pretty good. During the summer, I might wander out there every 2-3 weeks and weed. This year, we had so much rain here in the Denver metro area I watered twice. The plants actually didn’t like all that water. They droop.
All of the plants are native or from similar climates that thrive on rock hard clay soil, hot days, cool nights, and practically no rain. No sissy plants live here. Any fussy ones died off years ago. I’ve got grasses, shrub roses, lots of lavendar, some succulents, wild four o’clocks, iris, cosmos, California poppy, a bunch of other stuff I forgot the names of and weedy sunflowers that sprang up out of the blue. It’s Darwinian gardening at its best.
Now, after another season of benign neglect, it’s time to wrap up the season. I’d plant more bulbs, but every winter I get frustrated when the tulips get confused and start coming up in February. The front yard faces south, and never quite freezes. One or two warm days and I see little tulip leaves emerging from the ground – or the snow. “Not now! Go back!” I say, but they always ignore me. Besides, I forgot where all of the bulbs are and always seem to dig the old ones up when I’m planting new ones.
So, I’ll spend some time tomorrow morning clearing out the dead four o’clocks littering the front walk and pull out withered sunflowers and cosmos. I’ll leave the dried grasses intact until spring; I like to see them moving in the breezes. I’ll also enjoy pulling out the now-dead bindweed – the bane of my garden – knowing that won’t grow back until spring.
I won’t make the yard too neat, though. The dried out plants look suitably spooky for Halloween night. Maybe I’ll put a couple of pumpkins on the front stoop. They’ll look good with the dead geraniums if I don’t have the energy to empty those out and put the pots away.
By March I’ll be ready to start again. Big rush of energy in spring, followed by benign neglect all summer. It’s my personal gardening cycle.
