On-Air: Landscaping West Texas

I was interviewed on landscape concepts for West Texas by Tom Michael, on Marfa Public Radio, KRTS 93.5 FM. My interview was a week before that segment of West Texas Talk was broadcast on 6/24/2015.

You can listen – here.

From about 15:40 in the interview, I was able to make a point often missed, crucial to any primer on xeriscape or native plants –

Select materials and plants native or adapted to your ecoregion, but design those materials for the architecture of the space.

above – linear planter and wall, linear but informal hedge of Opuntia ellisiana; below – linear space, naturalistic rock mulch, random Echinocereus spp.

Thankfully, many Texans are notably proud of place and native plants. That could help elevate genuine, ecoregional gardens into our mainstream.

 

yellow chairs for impact, green cactus hedge, existing trees, and that high desert sky

almost dreamy – a large-lot oasis of conifers (Deodar Cedar), tan grasses, a trio of parkway palmillas, and green lawn

adapted mulberry out of harm’s way, native Desert Candle massing, sun and shadow

One thing I missed: if our natural areas’ landscapes looked as incongruous as some xeriscape designs, few would want to visit state and national parks, open spaces, and the like. That’s another interview or post!

Though I did relate one natural landscape outside Marfa as possibly informing a prominent one near the middle of town.

 

the inspiration?

Chamberlain Building…inspired?

yet abstracted or adapted into the rectilinear, uniform site?

Desert Candle / Dasylirion leiophyllum in mass, a single Torrey Yucca / Yucca torreyi. One is old nature, and the other is contemporary manmade. More on the building and works inside – here.