May’s Yard of the Month is the home of Susie and Bruce McDonald at 5220 Serrano Trail. After losing most of their front yard oaks to live oak wilt and most of the shrubs and grass to the severe drought last summer, the decision was made to replant with a drought resistant rock garden, minimizing the amount of lawn. Many tons of rock were brought in from various construction sites around Hudson Bend to form the substructure of the beds which were filled with cactus, succulents and various native flowering plants and shrubs.
The back yard adjacent to the house consists mainly of a deck and patio covered by large awnings made by Bartlett Sails and a large butterfly and hummingbird garden.
Beyond the immediate back yard, there was a hill that sloped way from the house towards an alley way. This was mostly cedars until the wildfire season last summer when we did our civic duty and removed all of the cedars on the property. The result was a denuded slope that really did not add to the visual appeal of the property. After consulting with a neighbor who has a Bobcat (a good thing), it was decided to build a six foot retaining wall of 4000 pound limestone blocks and fill behind it. The original project was to be a flat site which would be landscaped with cactus and succulents and would require no supplemental watering. In an effort to preserve a number of native trees on the property, wells were built around them. These were eventually connected to become a dry creek bed. We decided to put some sort of water feature at this point, which became a waterfall, then a water garden and eventually an 11 x 18 ft. koi pond. The area has a water garden area with aquatic plants, surrounded by a transition area of water hungry plants such as banana, cana lilly, squash, cucumber, cantaloupe and watermelon. The fruits and vegetables hang over the wall to provide fresh produce for the neighborhood and are watered from the pond which is high in nutrients. The water is then replenished automatically from rain water tanks. In a normal year, rainwater is sufficient for all supplemental watering needs on the property.

The resulting feel is one of a tropical desert oasis. The pond has become home to 30 koi, 4 Shibutkin goldfish, numerous frogs and toads, humming birds, butterflies, red dragonflies, and numerous birds. Pond plants include bog iris, horsetail bamboo, Cana lilies, taro, anachris, lizard’s tail, hardy lilies and umbrella plants. Project costs have been kept in check by utilization of our neighbor and his Bobcat to do the heavy earth moving, free rock, fill dirt and gravel from local construction sites, doing the labor and design work ourselves, getting most of the plants from propagation or from friends and neighbor’s overgrown yards, free koi from an overstocked pond, free pond plants from the Austin Pond Society and recycled lumber.