AUSTIN | Misc. Discussions - No Politics

[verybadgnome]

I doubt any homeowner in 78704 would put something like that in, probably an investor/flipper.

I have glass mulch and two very large flower beds in my front yard to go along with a gravel driveway.

I don't see how any small aggregate is worse than a lawn when it comes to water absorption as there are still plenty of voids between the pieces. I also don't think my glass mulch acts as a heat sink since it is much cooler than the adjacent sidewalk or street on a summer day.

[austlar1]

I have my front and back yard covered in 1/4" crushed granite. Both my front and back yards are very shady, so it was almost impossible to grow a healthy lawn as a result. I had an ugly landscape that turned muddy with each heavy rain. Now my front yard is kind of a courtyard since I lined the sidewalk edge and driveway edge with privacy hedges. I keep flowering plants in containers during the growing season and spot them around the yard. It is one of the nicest yards on my block, and I get compliments on it all the time. It is kind of an outdoor living room where I sometimes sit and read or meditate. Two nearby neighbors have done something similar with their yards since I installed my crushed granite. Now my back yard is a bit more desolate looking, but it is also the outdoor area for my four large and active dogs. I don't use it for much else, and since I put down the crushed granite I have very little mud tracked into the house. That has been a huge benefit. Also, my warm weather water bills, which used to be considerable, are inconsequential. I live in 78749.

[ivanwolf]

My parents did the Xeriscape in their yard right at the height of the drought when Georgetown told people you could only water a new lawn for two weeks then you had to do the once a week watering. Their lawn would have died so they did the xeriscape. The HOA was not happy and most residences were not happy either saying their yard did not fit, highly visible on a corner lot. However now four years later many of the new homes are doing the xeriscape if not the whole yard they do a portion. My parents being plant lovers have placed may succulents and cactus's all over to break up the yard and allow for the attraction of bugs, wasps, and other things. They placed a small one inch round rock mixed with crushed granite as the majority of the yard, they also have a bridge over a man made drainage area with like 6" river rock, there down spouts go into this are and create a temporary creek during down pours. Compared to JDawgs pic my parents have a much more interesting yard we think.

[lzppjb]

I knew I was familiar with jdawg's area. I found a google streetview angle of the houses he's talking about. These yards look like Las Vegas. Terrible.

[austlar1]

It looks terrible, but it could be the starting point for an interesting yard. I'd put in some raised planters, maybe a shade tree like the one next door, a sitting area, and a perimeter row of tall grasses or privacy hedges to create a more enclosed space. The largish round rock is probably a mistake too since it will be hard to scrape the weeds or grasses that will inevitably poke up regardless of whether there is a plastic mesh weed preventative underneath. I don't think they need to have a grass lawn to make an attractive yard or fit in with the neighborhood.

[drummer]

austral1, you make some good points. I don't think it has to be an entire lawn of green (though that is my preference), but some more color would be nice. Perhaps the raised planters would suffice if done well. Native plants here have a lot of color (be it wild flowers, trees, shrubs, succulents, etc.) and could still save water and have low maintenance in a lot of cases, right?

[austlar1]

Originally Posted by drummer

austral1, you make some good points. I don't think it has to be an entire lawn of green (though that is my preference), but some more color would be nice. Perhaps the raised planters would suffice if done well. Native plants here have a lot of color (be it wild flowers, trees, shrubs, succulents, etc.) and could still save water and have low maintenance in a lot of cases, right?

Absolutely. Even non-native plants or shrubs that need frequent watering don't consume that much water compared to thirsty lawn grass in a dry (or not so dry, since even wet years have frequent long dry spells)Texas summer. The trick is to have bold splashes of color and some shady or inviting feature.

[hookem]

Yeah, that looks pretty bad. I wouldn't say it's typical of the vast majority of xeriscaped homes in Austin which are much better on average. That just looks like a cheap no-landscape-design involved solution to the front yard.

The culprit appears to be Townbridge homes:
http://www.townbridgehomes.com/available-homes/

[Tech House]

As stark as these yards look, they're at least clean (for the moment) and minimalist, and I agree that this is probably designed, in part, to be a do-it-yourself landscaping situation. When the developer hands you a yard of rocks instead of a lawn, you've already got a head-start on xeriscaping. It will be very interesting to see how these yards are handled by their new owners, so hopefully we can revisit this in a year or two.

I bought a house on the east side (Cherrywood neighborhood) back in about 1993, it had a completely barren yard front and back. I mean, not even any weeds, just a couple of mature trees. I really enjoyed landscaping it and I ended up having the nicest yard on the street. But I planted a lawn out front, partly because that's what my neighbors had, and partly because it was just bare dirt and I wanted to remedy that situation ASAP. A lawn can provide instant coverage, and so can rocks.

The point is, if I had bought a house with a bare rock yard like the ones pictured, I'd have landscaped it accordingly. I'd bring in some larger rocks to break up the monotony, and plant a fuck ton of cool succulents and flowering shrubs.

This comment is partly just me being contrarian. I don't like these yards at all, but I've seen plenty that are even worse. And it wouldn't be surprising if this were a So Cal developer, as there are many yards covered in rock in the suburbs of that region.

[wwmiv]

Really the problem is that we have so much space in the first place. WTF do we even need a front lawn for anyway? Shrink that by 75% and increase the back yard by 25% and you've actively increased the outdoor space that is actually used while also making the neighborhood appreciably more densely populated.

There's also this type of stuff that I'd love to see more often:

http://iwastesomuchtime.com/on/?i=108161

[drummer]

Speaking of back vs. front yards (and not necessarily focused on environmental reasons but community relationships)....

I appreciate homes that are more connected to the neighborhood rather than the insistence on having a private enclave to call your own in the backyard. Not that there's anything wrong with a great backyard, but so often our suburban communities (but not just suburban) have folks who don't know their next-door neighbors. So often, people come home, park their car, close the garage door and don't let people see them.

I suppose I'd say that if you're going to increase one of the two (front vs. back), I'd choose the front. If you want to put a small fence up and have a garden there like wwmiv's post, go for it.

I've got a friend who chose to live in suburbia up in DFW based on the schools (I get that) and his budget. He intentionally chose a relatively inexpensive house with a small back yard - but right next to a decent neighborhood park. His thoughts were that his neighborhood fees pay for the park...it has a pool, a playscape, a running trail, and a big lawn to throw a frisbee/football/whatever. In his mind, why does he need to pay for that twice to have the same things in his back/front yard? To top it off, he knows his neighbors better, which helps to create a better community and, overall, a safer environment for his kids. He's not spending thousands of dollars maintaining a fancy yard (he's got native grass and trees...he just mows, doesn't really even water but once in a blue moon).

I know - to each his own. I'm not trying to say that one is better than another in every aspect, but I do think that these things affect not only the appearance of a neighborhood, but the community of it as well...at least to some degree. Culture has a big part to play also, of course, but if we build things that encourage community relationships (same argument for walkable neighborhoods downtown), we'll see improvement in those areas.

If you have a useless desert of a front yard (unlike what austlar1 was talking about), odds are you'd use it even less than you would if it were a beautiful green lawn. More than just the environment is at stake here.

End rant.

[Tech House]

One of the great benefits of urban farming is that it, too, brings neighbors together. Since food is kind of central to human culture and survival, people talk to each other about the food they grow. I don't have any background info to support what I'm saying, but it seems to me that if there is a lot of food being grown in a neighborhood then those neighbors are more likely to be talking to one another because they've got something very important in common, and it's non-political and non-religious so it's mostly non-controversial.

wwmiv, did you see the comments on that page? They completely undermine my statement above, that this topic is non-controversial. Thank dog we don't live in a world that mirrors internet comment threads.

[drummer]

I agree - if no yards (or in addition to them), a neighborhood/community farm is a wonderful thing that can bring folks together and meet economical/environmental needs.

Folks always have something to complain about online. It's really sad to read how rude people can be in comments of various articles...childish, selfish, and, more often than not, ignorant.

[lzppjb]

Originally Posted by Tech House

Thank dog...

I take offense to that.

[lzppjb]

I've mentioned before that my parents' place is 3 acres just outside the city limits. Actually the city limits encircle the property. If/when I inherit that property (hopefully many many years from now), I would love to put a wall around it and create an oasis in the city. That's the complete opposite of what y'all are talking about. Kind of funny.

My dad has mentioned multiple times that he wouldn't mind clearing the back half of the property except for some of the nice oaks, and starting a neighborhood farm. Lease out plots for people to come farm their own things.

[the Genral]

Originally Posted by lzppjb

I've mentioned before that my parents' place is 3 acres just outside the city limits. Actually the city limits encircle the property. If/when I inherit that property (hopefully many many years from now), I would love to put a wall around it and create an oasis in the city. That's the complete opposite of what y'all are talking about. Kind of funny.

My dad has mentioned multiple times that he wouldn't mind clearing the back half of the property except for some of the nice oaks, and starting a neighborhood farm. Lease out plots for people to come farm their own things.

My backyard is 120' X 120' and is completely fenced in. Its where I love to kick back after work and watch my 10 dogs run around in safety, and where I keep my chicken coop. I have a large covered porch I rarely use. I socialize with my neighbors, but sometimes, I take refuge in my back patio when I don't want to. I think I have the best of both worlds.

[Tech House]

Originally Posted by lzppjb

I've mentioned before that my parents' place is 3 acres just outside the city limits. Actually the city limits encircle the property. If/when I inherit that property (hopefully many many years from now), I would love to put a wall around it and create an oasis in the city.

This reminds me of a forgotten fantasy that I used to actively cultivate. It's completely absurd but it's fun to get lost in fantasy, so here's my dream:
I want to live in a pristine wilderness that encircles me for anywhere from 180 to 240 degrees. I can walk out my back door and hear only the sounds of non-human origin, I'd have a huge veggie garden back there, and an orchard, and a tropical jungle garden, a succulent garden, etc. So it's an elaborate botanical garden with hiking trails, and beyond the gardens, without any fences to divide the gardens from the wilderness, there's a diverse landscape of mountains and valleys that vary from tropical to alpine. So, right out my back door, within a few hours of hiking or mountain biking, you can get to most of the non-desert ecosystems that the world offers, along with most of the outdoor recreation opportunities.

Now, on the side of my property that isn't garden and wilderness, my house would front on a neighborhood not unlike Pemberton Heights, but more diverse in terms of what's available. It would be exceptionally walkable, with outstanding and unique cultural amenities of all sorts within a few blocks. I'd have a front porch on which I could sit and chat with passersby, and I'd be able to get to "downtown" in 5 minutes by car or 30 minutes by walking. All pedestrian routes would be isolated from auto routes and gorgeously landscaped.

I'd put the price tag on this fantasy at approximately $14,000,000,000,000. I've raised a little less than $17 toward this goal. It's a start. All of you are invited to live in the immediate neighborhood, of course, and when I say "downtown" I mean the best of NYC, Paris, Austin, Seattle, Rio de Janeiro, Capetown, Shanghai, Singapore, Melbourne, Oslo, and Geneva, all rolled into one.

The main difference between my fantasy and what you're talking about, lzppjb, is that yours is a fairly simple, realistic plan, and mine is the province of Alice In Wonderland delusional thinking. But where they intersect conceptually is in the idea of having a natural oasis of privacy in the midst of a big city. Surely this is the dream of millions of people!

[KevinFromTexas]

This makes me smile.

So of course Austin has a street in downtown named "Bowie Street". It's named after James Bowie, the Texas revolutionary colonel. Overnight Tuesday night, someone replaced the "Bowie Street" sign with a "David Bowie Street" sign.

http://www.fox7austin.com/news/local...74071685-story

Downtown Austin street sign replaced in honor of David Bowie

By: Donny Wong
POSTED:JAN 13 2016 12:00PM CST
UPDATED:JAN 13 2016 12:09PM CST

It's not clear who did it but a street sign in downtown Austin has been replaced with a new one renaming it in honor of singer David Bowie.

The David Bowie Street sign was placed at Bowie and 5th Streets. The Austin Transportation Department says it did not put up the sign.

The department says it plans to leave the sign up until January 19 so that the community can enjoy the memorial to the late musician and pop culture icon. It will then take down the sign and put back up the real street name.

FOX 7 Austin - https://www.facebook.com/FOX7austin/...type=3&theater


The KVUE Insider - https://www.facebook.com/KVUEinsider...type=3&theater

[drummer]

^ Awesome.

[Jdawgboy]

Originally Posted by lzppjb

I haven't seen the photo yet (blocked at work), but I think I know roughly where you live. My cousin lives in our late grandma's house on the Philco cul-de-sac, which is somewhat close to you, IIRC. I believe at least one of the developers coming in and building 2nd homes on the lots is from California. Maybe it's that CA/AZ influx that is bringing the landscaping. They think all of Texas is dry and in perpetual drought.

We ain't Las Vegas, guys!

Yea I'm not far at all. Live and grew up on Jinx. I've been watching the new multifamily housing being built on the corner of Philco and Mt. Vernon. I don't have a problem with the increased density since I'm obviously a strong proponent of increasing density within the urban core. I just hope they don't desertify the landscaping.

Someone is about to start building either multifamily or a row of single family houses on the corner lot right next to our house. Will be posting pictures in the 78745 thread when they start construction. Going to be noisy for the next 3 to 4 months but will deal with it.

I'll also post once I'm finished the side yard and the water garden in the front. Both areas will have rocks, the side yard will have crushed granit walkways with native and adapted shade gardens and the front will have riverbed stone going into a rounded depression surrounded by natives.