just do it

JUST DO IT

its like the nike motto but it can apply to you
if you are a gardener

yesterday a friend took us to a large preserve west of where
i use to be in practice
its a place that has always been on my radar to go and hike
i especially like to hike the trails and look at all the fauna
the plants and animals

yesterday i noticed a lot of plants that i actually have in
my yard that is planted xeric
these are tough plants that survive on the hillsides and rocky
ground of this local preserve and do so well in my landscape

things like yes cedar
i have cedar ive planted in my yard
tough as nail plant that doesnt need watering and if
used correctly can be a good addition to your yard

evergreen sumac is a dark green leaf under story tree that produces
a white small flowering that gets overran with bees each
year
ive never watered mine in 12 years

mountain laurel produces this purple plumage that smells like
grape koolaid
this week another friend was looking at our yard and said what
smells so good
she was around on the other side of our house
it was the grape koolaid mountain laurel

there is a yellow flower called the three nerve daisy
it produces a yellow flower that seems so bright against the
dry rocky environment
i planted 2 plants in my yard a few years ago and they have
spread along the side walk and in my crushed granite rock ways
again ive never watered them

there were a lot of texas persimmons
a beautiful under story tree that produces a grape size persimmon that
the  birds love
the bark on the trunk is beautiful and reminds me of the bark on the
crepe myrtle
tough as nail tree that hasnt been watered at my house in five years
not even in our two year drought we had

there were several different native oaks on the hillside
each finding its own perfect niche
the live oak was planted by mother nature in the areas
where soil was deeper and seemed to have accumulated

a tough tree although its getting wiped out in some places
by oak wilt
none noticed here because of course there are no humans
invading the preserve to live and bring in diseases

mexican or texas buckeye is a tough multitrunked tree that is another
under story tree that produces beautiful spring flowers
i notice ours here is just now starting to bud out

the native grape vine thats found on these hillside is like the native
texas grape vine that i use to grow on my arbor to provide shade
and grapes for wildlife
i never water it at all
just keep it trimmed so it only stays on my large 50 ft arbor

of course theres the prickly cactus that was sparingly scattered along the
hillside that needs no care
interesting it was that it seemed to be discreetly planted by nature and did
not overwhelm the landscape like it can in some pastures around here

i of course have the spineless variety in my landscape and it needs
absolutely no care

there was discreetly planted native grasses wherever the
microclimate met its needs
no st augustine or bemuda here
just like in my xeric property

there were i noticed no what i called weeds in this landscape and
no invasive trees anywhere
its like nature planted everything just right and protected itself from
outsiders

of course it helped that man wasnt living there to screw things up

after doing a long hike we sat on a platform eating a nice lunch
and drinking a glass of wine
i sat looking out over the hills thinking
why o why cant we take care of our environment and
why o why cant we do our landscape like nature does so
we dont have to waste all those gallons and gallons of water
and put those tons and tons of fertilizers and junk on our yards

just do it like mother nature does
she does best

the ogranicgreen doctor