AUGUST YARD OF THE MONTH
The front yard landscape design at 4620 Calmont Avenue is the result of a negative and that got turned into a positive.
At the height of COVID-19 in August 2020, Erica Gibbs decided she had had enough of struggling to mow the grass on the steep slope of her front yard. Enter Erica’s grandmother, Linda Melancon, an 80 year-old powerhouse gardener who oversees the gardens of all of her grand kids. “She can outwork everyone in the family,” says Erica.
Linda dug out the slope, all the way down to the existing rock wall by the sidewalk. In went terraced plant beds and drip irrigation. Then, the fun part of planting began. “We spread wildflower seeds,” explains Erica. “Some of them re-seeded and come back year after year.”
Erica and Linda, who “shows up with stuff in her trunk,” plant more color to the beds every year, adding cock’s comb, morning glories, society garlic, lamb’s ear, skullcap, lilies (some are even blooming now!), gladiolas, gaura, asters, black-eyed susans, lantana, and Mexican sage. This spring, Erica spread zinnia seeds throughout the beds for guaranteed summer color.
The parkway between the sidewalk and the street was stripped bare and covered with river rock (it doesn’t wash away as easily as decomposed granite) and accented with several large specimen boulders. The desertscape extends to the plantings that include agaves, grass and a fan palm that required replacing after a very hard freeze.
Hedges of old growth abelia shrubs hug the front of the house.
The secret sauce is fertilizing with Grow More EDDHA iron chelate and Medina Humate Acid. “The ad calls it ‘liquid compost’,” says Erica. “I heard about it from someone at Fort Worth Botanic Garden.”
A Rockwall native, Erica is an attorney who moved to Fort Worth ten years ago for a job with a local insurance company. She knew no one, but immediately fell in love with Arlington Heights and decided that’s where she wanted to live.
Erica received a $25 gift certificate to Archie’s Gardenland and a year’s membership in Arlington Heights Neighborhood Association, courtesy of AHNA.
If you see an award-worthy yard, even your own, please let us know by sending the address to president@arlingtonheightsna.com.
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