Congratulations 3207 Silkgrass Bend for Winning June Yard of the Month!

by the “Garden Gals”

The Yard of the Month winners for June should be the stars of their own reality show on HGTV—it would be called “Extreme Yard Makeovers”!  Jeannie and Scott Morman, of 3207 Silkgrass Bend, removed or replanted much of the vegetation in their lawn in order to create a wonderful landscape that was more suited to some of our native plants and trees.  

A section of their lawn is a xeriscape bed that includes drought-tolerant plants such as yucca, Texas sage, and Mexican feather grass.  The live oak that sits in the middle of their lawn is no longer crowded and will be sure to get the sunlight and water it needs.  Jeannie and Scott have also planted a variety of blooming plants that are perfect for Texas landscapes, such as crape myrtle, blue plumbago and turk’s cap.  The blue plumbago plant’s indigo blossoms, turk’s cap’s crimson blooms, and the rose of sharon’s fuchsia hibiscus flowers will be sure to attract an array of brightly-colored butterflies and even hummingbirds.  They might even have to set up tours of their butterfly garden!  

They didn’t tear out and discard their nandina bushes, but rather they transplanted them to a more desirable location in their yard.  They also took on the task of laying all new sod in their front yard.  In order to provide water for their new garden, they tapped into a natural resource—rain water!  They installed new gutters on their house and connected them to a rain barrel to collect water for their yard.  

As for feeding their vegetation, they turn away from artificial fertilizers and instead use natural compost with turkey manure from the Natural Gardener store.  Those turkeys can sure help us grow some nice lawns!  After we spoke to Jeannie and Scott who graciously showed us around their property, it was clear that they are passionate about creating a beautiful yard as well as helping the environment by using “green” methods of keeping their garden green!  

Wow-- just writing about all the hard work they put into creating their new yard makes us tired!  Thanks to Jeannie and Scott for allowing us to share this with our neighbors.  Be sure to take a look at the newsletter online so you can see these photos in color at www.peelinc.com.  Select “Communities”, then “Austin”, then “Cherry Creek on Brodie Ln.” to get to the menu of newsletters.