During:
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| With devil weed (aka Asiatic Jasmine) in the small part on the other side of the driveway |
With large flat rocks placed - I got them from J and M Stone Supply on 620 just west/south of Anderson Mill Road for $10. That's 10 bucks, TOTAL for 10 large-ish flat sandstone rocks. When the local box stores were selling much smaller pieces of flagstone for $6 a pop, I think this is a great deal.
During 3:
1/2 cubic yard of decomposed granite. Also purchased from J and M. I had actually bothered to calculate how much I would need - the amount was covering the entire bed of the truck with 2" of granite. However, when the guy at J and M came over with a Bobcat, he loaded it right up. That means we ended up with about 3-4x the amount we needed.
I used a shovel to fill a bucket with the granite and then I dumped it out on the hell strip.
After the granite has been all spread out
Now then, just to plant the plants - I already have the following:
Mexican Feather Grass (see previous post),
Artemisia (because it grows like a weed),
Wine Cup, Dittany of Crete, and Dahlberg Daisy (from Jenny at RockRose),
Alamo Vine (from Susie at VivaVerde),
Engelmann's Daisy, Creeping Thyme, Silver Thyme, Lavender Thyme and Fern Leaf Lavender Verbena from the AOG garden sale.
I'm going to start some Ruby Crystals Grass from seed and I'd like to get Four Nerve Daisy and Blackfoot Daisy as well. And maybe perhaps some skullcap and alyssium. Does anyone else have any suggestions for other good Hellstrip plants?
10 comments:
Sounds like some good plants you picked out. I'm sure it will look great.
Exciting! And great deal on materials. I'm about to start a landscaping project with granite, Mx feathergrass, and artemesia, too, so I can't wait to see what this looks like planted.
It's looking good. And, a lot of work.
You did get a good deal on those stones.
You have an awesome selection of plants and some killer finds! I need to check out that stone supply place.
In my South Austin hell strip, prostrate rosemary, gray santolina, bulbine, and dwarf curry plant have done extremely well along with bluebonnets and prickly pear. I'm trying out skull cap, variegated artemisia, and maximilian sunflower this year, and I'm waiting to see how the lantana and plumbago I planted last year does - they both struggled but survived through the summer. I also have a corner for small cactus (lace cactus, horse crippler, pine cone cactus, and bunny ears) which naturally does well. Last year I grew a few heirloom sunflowers in the hell strip - go figure!
Takes hot baking sun all day if you need a ground cover: wooly stemodia.Nice, fuzzy grey-green leaves w/small blue flowers.
Good choice of plants. Love the flat stone @ great price.
Datura is an excellent, vigorous, and show native for such an area. One graces my mail box in a similar spot on my property, north side, immediately before a sidewalk. It can get BIG, though.
Portulacas are a good, creeping succulent color producer, too; same with ice plants.
Looks good and I like those flat rocks, Katina! My hellstrip survivors have been low-growing rosemary, Salvia greggii, Silver germander & Rock Rose. The feather grass & gulf muhly died as did bluebonnets, santolina, penstemon & Blackfoot daisies.
Although our hellstrip garden looks OK, it should look better! Do you have a lot of dogwalkers on your street? The dogs are mostly cool but some of the owners are idiots. Even though my little strip garden has 20-feet of mowed green lawn-strip on either side, people don't guide their dogs to that area - just stand there jabbering on their phones while the dogs crack the plants and pee on the flowers. Being stomped will make Blackfoot daisies die.
Annie at the Transplantable Rose
Annie - Nice to know about the blackfoot daisies - so far we don't have many people who walk by with their dogs, and it seems that the dogs prefer the grass anyway. Our bigger problem are the cats - so I do have to clean out cat poop now...
Hi there. I just found your blog--and it's full of useful info.
We were just about to undertake a project that needed some decomposed granite, and I was wondering if you mind sharing about how much it cost for that amount of granite at J & M. Because we have no idea how much we need to budget.
@Anon - the decomposed granite was $17 per half cubic yard ($36/cubic yard). I think you might be able to get that cheaper if you shop around. I only say this because one of my coworkers found a place up in Round Rock or Liberty Hill or something that charged $20 per cubic yard. Keep in mind that both of these prices are based on you hauling the rock yourself. If you have it delivered, it will cost more.
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