From the Sperry Garden – December, 2009

I took a stroll through our landscape earlier this week, and I really didn’t find anything newsworthy. So, I thought I’d dip into last summer’s photos to show you one little corner of our driveway garden and use it to illustrate a couple of points I talk about on the radio.

• Shade presents problems when it comes to landscaping color. I vary leaf, stem and growth form textures in our landscape to supplement the color I am able to add.

• Textures of the tropical Philodendron sp. ‘Florida’ and, behind it, the dark-leafed rubber plant Ficus elastica ‘Decora’ are quite bold when compared to the Japanese maple along the left margin or the dwarf yaupon holly in lower, right corner.

• These pots are in place in groundcover beds. In the summer, they’re the pedestals for their plants, and in the winter, once the pots have been removed, they become neutral, unobtrusive elements in the garden.

• You can’t really see much of the mondograss behind the philodendron, but you can see the trailing purple wintercreeper euonymus in the foreground. Even though it’s one of our best full-sun groundcovers for Texas, I’ve had equally good luck using it in the shade.

• Garden art, specifically the gazing ball and its pedestal, adds to the look of this little alcove. I always thought that gazing balls were for fuddy old grandmas and grandpas, and now that I am one, I really like them. This one is rather restrained in its visual impact on its surroundings.