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Help with converting lawn to something great
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Posted by toucan 8 (My Page) on Sat, Oct 10, 09 at 0:40
| After buying a house and spending the first summer in this crazy desert heat in Gilbert, AZ (close to Phoenix), we want to stop watering and mowing our lawn and convert it and the whole front and backyard into something great. However, not being from AZ, I would like to some website or pictures that I can see of what others have done, not just single plants. I'd like to turn it into a showstopper. The one problem is that I can't really get out to a nursery or botanical gardens right now so I'm trying to do research on the web.
It's over 100+ degrees in the summer for a good 3-4 months and then gets quite cold in the winter (maybe around 30 degrees, not sure)
I love herbs and was thinking of creeping thyme, lavender, and possibly forming a knot garden in the front yard instead of the lawn. However, I really don't know if anything will survive the summer and the winters here. I'd prefer something that won't die in the middle of the year. I'd like a showstopper or something spectacular. Any suggestions. |
Follow-Up Postings:
RE: Help with converting lawn to something great
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| Take your time, and go to the library. Ask for the xeriscape plants lists. Or visit the Gilbert water department website and look for xeriscaping. Just search Google for Xeriscaping and Phboenix Arizona and lotsof links should pop up You want two books:
Gardening in the Desert Southwest by Mary Irish
Sunset Western Gardens Book Pay attention to what is planted in the median strips, and around public buildings. |
Here is a link that might be useful: My desert gardening blog, with links!
RE: Help with converting lawn to something great
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You may want to think about synthetic lawn. I have had mine for three years now and love it. the kids love it, the dogs love it and the neighbors love it. All the benefits of real grass and none of the downside. It is expensive for the quality stuff, but I did it all myself and have never regretted it. PS: I live in Yuma.
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RE: Help with converting lawn to something great
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| Looks great! Can you post links for what you used, and where you learned how to do it yourself? And any 'how to ' tips. Does the lawn have to be pretty level? I expect it would wrinkle if you had much variation in level... Thanks |
RE: Help with converting lawn to something great
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| Any artificial grass I have ever felt, saddly no matter how good it "looked"........ felt like plastic. I was reading another post, and here is an incredible yard for the HOT http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/load/txgard/msg091642168297.html |
RE: Help with converting lawn to something great
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| The newer, better quality synthetics are very soft. There is a lot of misinformation out there about syn lawn and a lot of misinformation because of peoples experience with older and/or cheaper astrotype terfs/grasses. I used a product from a company called Progreen (www.progreen.com) If you brouse their site you will lean everything you need to know. They are very friendly to talk to. The process is basically pretty easy: strip and clean the ground, put down an inch or two of 1/4- gravel or heavy sand, and spread the carpet. Here is a link to another thread I posted on. My comments are down near the bottom, preceded by a host of misinformation. The product is not for everyone; but unfortunitely many of the comments you read are from people who don't know and/or never had the product. And, yes, I have no connection to the company at all, I just the product. http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/load/gogreen/msg0206312930157.html |
RE: Help with converting lawn to something great
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| I went to a Home Show last month. Our water district had several speakers for xerioscape and slide shows and brochures and some vendors. One of the products was a new fake grass, they had 3 different ones on display. They all felt like plastic. It probably wasnt the same company you are speaking of, but it is my experience with the new fake grass. Unfortunately as wonderful as the information highway is, it cannot supply the sense of feel....... so a website wont get it. I would have to actually feel it, personally. |
RE: Help with converting lawn to something great
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if you contact them, they will send you free samples. Ask them for a sample of their "softest" grass. That being said, it is not organic and does not feel exactly like real grass. but it is soft and easy to lie on, easy to clean, and as I said pets and kids love it. it does feel warmer than grass in the heat of the day, but not enough to bother me. It also cools after fast in late afternoon and actual feels cool, have no idea why this happens. If you seriously start to think about this, contact me and maybe come over for a visit. I have the grass in the front and back.
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RE: Help with converting lawn to something great
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| Do I get to use the hot tub too :) |
RE: Help with converting lawn to something great
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| Looks like the yard from the series "The Brady Bunch"! sorry! If i had your climate i would be thinking cacti, cacti, cacti! Go wild... Look on Amazon for some books. |
RE: Help with converting lawn to something great
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| Im with Franktank! Go crazy with Ocotillo, Aloes, Agaves...!! This is what my yard looks like 6 months after getting rid of my lawn: 
With the exception of the queen palm, I can go two weeks without watering. The groundcover is creeping spurge and thyme mixed. I planted the thyme, while the creeping spurge is a noxious weed that I'm using to my advantage. some of the plants I recommend for visual impact are tree aloes (Aloe Marlothii, Aloe Ferox, Aloe Arborescens, Aloe Dichotoma, Aloe Littoralis, A. Thraskii, A. speciosa, A. Alooides, A. Excelsa...). Or, if you prefer agaves, I recommend
Agave Americana Medio Picto Alba
Agave Americana Variegata
Agave Vilmoriniana
Agave Scabra I would then fill in with plenty of smaller sized aloes and agaves, furcraea, ocotillo, phormiums, carex, festuca...the list goes on. If you are ever in Tucson, you should check out Arid Lands Greenhouses. They have an extensive inventory of succulents and drought tolerant jewels to choose from. They also sell their stuff online for very good prices (In my opinion). Search online for plants from similar climates such as plants from the deserts of the mediterranean, Southern Africa, Chile, Northern Mexico...and of course! The Sonora Desert in your own backyard! I've hiked 75 miles through the Sonora Desert and the cactus forests are simply amazing!!! |
RE: Help with converting lawn to something great
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| Beautiful yard CentralCa! I do have one question though about your yard and other simular yards that are so lush and full. What about snakes hiding? I am busy putting in several small gardens on an acre I share with my mom. I really like "lush and full" and cottage style gardens, but my concern is that I am setting it up to get bit one day either by walking by a low growing full cover or by reaching into a plant to deadhead or prune.... There are dangerous snakes out here too! |
RE: Help with converting lawn to something great
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| Thank you for the compliment stompoutbermuda (like the GW name by the way!). I've never seen a snake in my yard, and I live in prime snake territory. We have several species here (rattlers, coachwhips and gartner snakes). The last two are more of a benefit because they keep rodents and gophers at bay. I'm on the very outskirts of town too. Behind that wall is nothing but "wilderness" aka grassland(those palms line a country street back there). I guess it's simply a matter of being aware of your surroundings and being careful while you're out in the yard. Maybe carrying some sort of stick when you're doing maintenance and cleaning to poke around with before you stick your hand into a mess. I do have plenty of other wildlife around though. I have hummingbirds visiting my yard daily. I even think they nest in a bottlebrush tree. We also have a whole family of lizards that like to hang out on the wall and the patio. Oh, and some red-tailed skinks too. Those are really a treat to see! In the winter we get a whole array of wetland birds like blue & white egrets, seagulls, sandpipers, ducks, geese...the whole spectrum! Also, remember that snakes and other reptiles are cold blooded so they like to lay on rock/boulders/walls/streets to warm up. That's not to say that snakes won't seek shelter in the shrubs and bushes, but just something to think about. Here's a more updated picture of the yard. The one above has a huge volunteer gourd vine taking over the path to the patio. Now that it's gone, it looks a bit less crowded. 
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RE: Help with converting lawn to something great
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| Hi, I just joined this site, so I don't know if you've figured out what you're going to do with your landscaping. But now is the time to do it, during the cooler months of winter. It can get pretty "toasty" here in S. CA but nothing like where you live. I'm going to suggest some resources for you, one is a nursery in N.M. but what the heck, you can at least do some research on their site, as well as the Theodore Payne Foundation. My third suggestion will be a book. Here's the info and good luck. http://theodorepayne.org
http://www.highcountrygardens.com/ And the book: Native Landscaping from El Paso to L.A. Written by Sally & Andy Wasowski. Lorraine |
Here is a link that might be useful: Garden of Native Plants
RE: Help with converting lawn to something great
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| Way out of my league and zone but I think the desert rose would fit in somewhere for someone in these areas at least take a look at em and think it over. |
RE: Help with converting lawn to something great
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| Central Cal, is that a bottle brush next to a yellow rose bush? And what would be the red flowered bush on the other side of the yellow rose? And what is the red flowered ground cover in front on the second photo? What time of year were these photos taken? And what is the dark blue flowered one towards midway to back in the first picture? Towards the front of the fist pic it looks like lisianthus and stock? |
RE: Help with converting lawn to something great
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| Stomp out bermuda, yup, that's a callistemon citrinum way back there. They are probably one of the most commonly planted trees here. The big box stores sell 1 gallon bottlebrush shrubs for $2! On the other side of the yellow rosebush is a tecomaria capensis (cape honeysuckle). Along with the bottlebrush, this one keeps the hummingbirds coming back all day! The red-flowered groundcover shrub is a shrimp plant (justicia). I received a small cutting about three years ago and after sticking it in the ground, I completely forgot about it until it flowered. It is covered in blooms all year round for me, except for a brief period after the wintertime before it resumes growth in the spring. The dark blue flowered plants are petunias. The purple and white ones are petunias also. They usually last three to four years for me until they look really leggy and I have to take them out. The plant that might have misled you as being stock is rock purslane (i think the foliage could be misleading). This picture was taken in October. As you can immagine, in gardening with drought tolerant plants, the season in which plants tend to look their best is fall through spring. This picture was taken after the first rain of the season. |
RE: Help with converting lawn to something great
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| Petunias? Huh, I have read they grow my climate but havent tried them here. I grew them a few times when I lived on the coast but they would get rangy lookin all too quick. I had so many choices there that I finally shovel pruned all of them. Maybe I'll have to try them out here. Thanks! |
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