Most people just let their garden mature naturally in that they do not choose a particular style. This is fine, but it can become a hodge-podge, if not taken care of. Other people, however, deliberately choose to landscape their garden according to a clear style or a theme. Some of these themes are very sophisticated and others are quite simple.
One of the many themes to pick from is the Texas Style. We all know that everything in Texas is done on a large scale, so you would be forgiven for thinking that landscaping in the Texas Style would require a large garden.
It is perhaps easier to carry out your landscaping in the Texas Style in a bigger garden, but it just depends how you go about it.
The first things to remember are that Texas is very hot and so the topography closely resembles wilderness. Plants and shrubs are thin on the ground, so to speak. Landscaping in the Texas Style is what you might call minimalist gardening.
You will need to make use of every square inch of your land, if you only have a small plot and the climate will have to be fairly warm in the daytime although it is good if it gets cold at night. This will allow you to grow many of the plants that thrive or at least grow in Texas. One good thing about Texan flowers is that when they do blossom, they really do show a great deal of colour.
One of the kinds of plant that you are sure to have success with is the cactus. There are many varieties of cactus, so you should not have too much difficulty finding several kinds that will grow in your garden in order to produce a Texan dry climate look, as long as it does not rain every other day where you reside.
Cacti yield spectacular flowers when they bloom, but they have big thorns, so if you have young children, the Texas Style garden may not be for you for a few years yet.
Once you have your plants sorted out, you can begin looking for accessories. You can pick up ideas from the old cowboy films and from magazines, but a few recommendations are: a chow wagon style barbecue area with a canvas hood; some broken wagon wheels; a well, functioning or not (it could even be a fish pond that looks like a well); boulders and wooden fence posts.
Boulders are often overlooked by gardeners but there are some fascinating stones, boulders and rocks in all sorts of shapes and colours. Boulders with fossils in them are great conversation starters. Smaller rocks can be used to make a rock garden, and this will expand the choice of plants that you can grow in your Texas Style garden. You will be able to plant succulents, small cacti and other small plants that often grow in this austere environment.
Lighting should be low and subtle so that you can see the stars at night. You could even have a camp fire with log seating or you can accomplish this look by using low powered solar lighting. Solar powered lighting will also save you from having to have an electrician wire up your garden.
When you have finished landscaping in the Texas Style, do not fail to remember to enjoy it by eating out of doors as often as you can. Barbecues, steaks and Texmex food are the order of the day.
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Owen Jones, the writer of this article writes on quite a few subjects, but is at present concerned with
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