Meep meep! Yes, right in our front yard this weekend.
I’ve been working hard this past week on what I’m calling the “dream garden waterfall/fountain/pond project.” After approximately a million aborted attempts (resulting in dead goldfish, among other casualties), a vision that began back in Brooklyn — when we optimistically splurged on a plastic pond liner — has begun to really be realized. Really.
As I pulled the truck around to the garden this weekend, aiming to unload the load of cinder blocks and retaining wall blocks I’d purchased for the project, I hit the brakes when I spied a visitor to our front yard. I wasn’t 100% sure when it was still, but a little movement cemented my original suspicion of what it was.
Please excuse this picture taken from the window of the truck.
What does this have to do with living wild, you ask? In honor of the roadrunner (Geococcyx californianus) and everything else that lives hereabouts, I’ve decided to concentrate on adding native plants and building wildlife habitat on our property this year, instead of cultivating vegetables. (Though I’m still tending perennials like the peach tree and the blackberry bushes.)
This includes adding plants to the dream waterfall/pond in the garden, possibly including aquatic varieties and maybe even fish. I’ve been eager for some time to convert our back yard to Habiturf — maybe this is the year. Kicking this off in earnest in a couple of weeks at the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center’s spring native plant sale.
The decision has brought me a great deal of peace, I have to admit, because vegetables need a lot of care and feeding, while native plants are, by definition, easier to grow in this environment. I’ll be working with the climate and soil, rather than against it. This emphasis will also likely result in a prettier yard and garden in general — something I’ve been needing to dedicate myself to for quite a while.
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