Gulf Muhly and Dwarf Bottle Brushes

[Azryael]

I'm not sure if this is in the right area, as I'm new to gardening, but find myself enjoying landscaping and the designing thereof. So this is essentially a bit of an intro post as I am new here.

My family purchased a house in northern San Antonio a little over 7 years back, and we inherited a nightmare of a landscape that we've been slowly redoing ourselves.

Among various items that need to be addressed with the yard, I've got four tall mulch beds that have pretty much become bare due to the planted vegetation dying off and the deer destroying whatever they could.

I've begun looking for hardy plants, as well as native plants to resist drought, deer, cold, etc.

Recently, I purchased some Dwarf Bottle Brushes (these will bloom red) and several Gulf Muhly (Muhlenbergia Capillaris, I believe) plants. I've planted them in various areas, ensuring proper drainage for both. Soil composition seems to vary from dry dirt to clay.

Now, the issue I've noticed is that some of the Muhly are doing fine, and others have completely turned yellow with no signs of renewed growth; my bottle brushes have also begun to shed leaves (these are small right now, less than 1' in height) and yellow as well. I know both do not like wet soil, so I've kept watering to a minimum as clay may retain excess moisture.

I also made sure when planting them to allow them to sit a little higher above the ground to allow excess water to drain away. I should also mention that I made sure to spread out the cramped root balls for all of them, especially the bottle brushes to encourage spreading.

I can post a photo of the various plants in question if it'll help to assess how they've been planted and if I need to make any changes.

Thanks in advance!

 

[Azryael]

Since pictures are worth more than words, these photos should shed some light on what I'm working with:

This is the center driveway island. Mostly clay; full sun for the better part of the day year-round. Mulch will refreshed in time.
Because of the poor lighting you can barely make out the bottle brushes as I took this closer to evening hours.

Part shade/part sun bed that I've added. Plan is to put some additional Society Garlic in the front as the scent seems to keep deer away (those have taken very well anywhere I've put them).

This area gets most of it's sun in the early morning hours; you can see one Muhly has more green than the one off to left.

This is one of two identical cutouts I've made; both feature only the Gulf Muhly which are in the same, yellow state.

Hopefully these can help me get pointed in the right direction.

 

[DeborahJane]

Great design work Asryael. Would yukka type plants work for you? Your garden design has a strong architectural feel so I think that look could suit coupled with the amount of sun it gets. Be sure to keep us posted

 

[Azryael]

Thanks!

I have a lot of red-tip yuccas that I continue to divide as the clusters grow larger and larger.

My chief concerns stem from the Muhly and Bottle Brushes not doing well, hence my seeking advice as to what I can do to ensure they recover AND thrive.

Further plans include some Lantanas for a pop of color, likely looking at a mounding species to reduce the need to keep on top of them.

I have many young Agave Americana that I will be planting within the rocks themselves in an organized fashion to let nature take its course.

My lawn will be the very last thing I address, that's why it's looking rather patchy in the one photo you can see it.

I'm by no means a professional landscaper, but I do enjoy the work, and I continue to learn things to make the job cleaner, easier, and more professional the next time I do it.

 

[Azryael]

As an update, some of the muhly have started showing green growth again, but one in particular that was pulled out three times by either deer or armadillos is yellow as ever and showing no signs of improvement.

The bottle brushes are green at the top, but yellowing and losing leaves below the canopy.

Not sure what else I could/should do to nurse these plants back to good health, or if they're fine as they are.

 

[Azryael]

Not much has been done or changed since winter rolled in.

We had a few cold snaps that seems to have done some harm to my agave, and killed my bottlebrush plants.

A few Muhly and society garlic seem to have fallen to the cold as well.

Of all that I've planted, the Oleander are doing the best, minus the one that gets trampled by deer, but it's still surviving.

Whatever isn't back by the 15th of this month will be getting replaced, and have a much longer season of warm weather to become properly established before next winter.

 

[Azryael]

Just a bit of an update, the only casualties I had were two society garlics and a single muhly. Everything else seems to be maintaining. I'm adding some more lantana, but have noticed the deer are beheading them and eating the blooms despite the fact that lantanas are meant to be deer resistant. Food for them is scarce as overpopulation continues to be a problem. HOA won't do anything about it, and I can't deal with them the way I'd like to either due to living in a cluttered subdivision.

Any suggestions? I've tried hair, mothballs, repellant, marking a bush or two myself, and they realize it's all for show. These deer are brazen and are not afraid of people or even dogs.

 

[Tjohn]

Unfortunately, not much can be done about the deer, short of a good crossbow and a charcoal grill......

 

[Azryael]

Unfortunately, not much can be done about the deer, short of a good crossbow and a charcoal grill......

That's the approach I'd love to take... nothing quite as tasty as deer.