Austin Landscape

Once we consider an Austin landscape what comes in your thoughts? Perhaps a neatly trimmed line of bushes around the house, some annual color along the pathway, graceful live oaks or pecans shading the yard, even some planter beds curving around the house full of the usual evergreen shrubs. But the one thing that people always expect you'll see is a large and lush green lawn landscaping austin. But what are the results when it stops raining?

Here in Central Texas we are used to droughts. It's section of life in this area. Actually, droughts have now been recorded completely back again to when the Spaniards first came through the area. Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca found a population of farmers near present-day Presidio where it hadn't rained in two years. In 1756 things got so bad the San Gabriel River dry out forcing missionaries and settlers to leave. The settlers under Stephen F. Austin suffered in 1822 when drought destroyed their crops. One of the worst was in 1884-6 causing farms to fail and a mass exodus back east. For each and every decade there has been one or more amount of drought in Texas. The worst started in late spring 1949 in the Concho River Valley, had spread west by fall of the exact same year and to the entire state by the summertime of 1951. By year's end in 1952 the water shortage was critical with Lake Dallas, like, holding only 11 percent of its capacity. In the Trans-Pecos corridor only 8 inches of rain fell throughout 1953 and slowly worsened through 1954-56 with rains finally arriving the spring of the year. A similar thing occurred in the first 1980's where a blistering heat wave settled over the area enforcing water rationing. Some towns even ran out of water.

So perhaps even this historic drought where Central Texas finds itself is not any surprise. But how will this effect Austin landscapes? Even as we saw in the summertime of 2011 that lush green lawn can soon turn brown and die. In some instances the yard was right down to bare dirt. Grasses like St. Augustine with its high water requirements and shallow root system suffered in the extreme and with continuing water restrictions set up, replacing that lawn in near impossible.

But there is an answer: Xeriscaping. The concept is not new but its promotion in Central Texas is timely. The major problem is attempting to change people's attitude toward their landscape. Folks just prefer to see a wonderful green lawn, after all. Nevertheless when that becomes untenable the options and perceptions need to shift, and indeed they have. People are realizing that it is possible to displace all of the lawn area with sculpted flower beds filled up with shrubs, perennials, and groundcovers that could take the dreadful Texas summer heat and still provide various blooms through all of the year. They're also realizing that the targeted drip-system irrigation is far better than traditional spray irrigation - most of which were only built to be 'passive', counting on rainfall to produce up the difference.

So, since the Austin landscape changes so do people's attitudes, and even as we continue into uncertain times with rising populations and increased water demands, a far more considered way of landscapes is inevitable.

Steve Gilder lives in landscaping austin, Texas and has over 20 years experience in the landscaping cape austin companion planting business. Droughts are inevitable. It's really a concern of what we're willing to complete to be ready for them when they happen.