Landscaping on the Island

I got excited last week when I saw that the Island Breeze - which is a very fine publication IMHO - had published a story on landscaping on SPI. I love working in my backyard and am always interested in tips on what and how to grow stuff here. I know it is a challenge and so was not put off by the title: "Growing Pains - It's not easy being a green thumb on the Island." True enough - so tell me something I don't know...

I hoped to read on to find out some useful tips but alas! the article is comprised mostly of interviews with a couple of professional landscapers whose best advice would appear to be "don't try this at home without professional supervision." The writer also interviews a non-professional former resident whose best advice is -- "get advice from professionals."

And four out of five professional sandcastle builders suggest you leave your next sandcastling beach excursion in the capable hands of the people who do it for a living - US!!!

I have never consulted with a professional landscaper -- even so, I think I have a pretty wonderful backyard and would like to take the writer of that article on a tour if she were so inclined.

We would start the tour on the patio - the one with all the healthy, blooming potted things - and turn left at the sandbox, noting the tall border (12 ' plus?) of flowering purple and orange honeysuckle. Along the east fence is a big fringe of vincas and prickly pear, bougainvillea and a lantana that just appeared one day. Throw in a big patch of purple shower petunias and note the lovely shade - and privacy - being provided by the strand of very tall pine trees that extends along the back fence. The birds love those trees. We would head west to get a closer look at the 3 palm trees (one is Chinese, one is Mexican, the third is a garden-variety washingtonian or something like that) - one magnificently huge yucca and the gladiola bulbs are about a foot tall these days. There is a lovely magenta bougainvillea offering partial shade to the outdoor living room (chair, sofa and table all made from driftwood), framed by a Texas sage that puts out delicate purple flowers. And this is where things start getting a bit jungly - but in a really colorful, tropical way.

More vincas. The coolest and possibly tallest prickly pear tree you have ever seen. The west side of the sandbox is bordered with oleander, hibiscus (hell, it's not hard finding things that grow here - just look for plants that have the same names as South Padre Island streets!) and what Nancy Marsden has called the "Most Fuschia Backyard of the Month," all intertwined with more of the orange honeysuckle stuff. Along the fence you will note the "Fred and Feets Memorial Rose Bed" which at the moment is boasting no less than 8 blooms. Get a whiff of the jasmine as you make the corner and yes, that is one very large bamboo tree arching gracefully over the hot tub and its brick and tile staircase/platform.

Some of these plants were given to me. Most were either dug up from other places on the island (with the owner's permission, of course!) or purchased from the town during an arbor day sale (do we still have those? If we do, when is arbor day this year? and if we don't, why not??!) .... or from Wallyworld. Plain old Walmart - and the pre-super duper one, at that!

“The Island is definitely not the tropical paradise it’s promoted to be.” That's what a professional landscaper is quoted as saying.
Dogshit, say I. And that is the best tip I can give potential landscapers -- professional and non.