Captain's Log: Embarking into hostile environment. Kowalski! We'll need to win the hearts and the minds of the natives. Rico! We'll need special tactical equipment. We're gonna face extreme peril. Private probably won't survive.

This summer hasn't been as bad as the last two. To date, I think we've had a week of 100 degree weather as opposed to three months so far. Lake Travis is only about 80 feet down so we still need the rain. My backyard is still dirt mounds and mostly dead (insert Princess Bride voice here) grass. Since I built my little retainer wall we have had some rain and since the grass is mostly dead, which means its slightly alive, I've decided to water my little patches of green to try to keep them... well, green... and the wall is working wonderful! Not only is the dirt staying off the porch, but the water is barely getting through as well which is a welcome sight to see because that means the ground is absorbing it and that it isn't just washing the topsoil away.

Anyhoo, since I  have a zombie lawn that is trying to stay on the alive side, I've decided to help it and I've been watering it. I saw a pin on Pinterest that if you burn Sage, it will keep the mosquitoes away so I went to a local nursery to search for some. Unfortunately, for the most part, I go to the big box home improvement stores. My experience has been with the small business nurseries is that their customer service sucks and I put customer service at the very top it not The Most Important Reason to shop at a particular store. Anyone can sell a product, only those who treat the customer right will be successful at it.

So anyway, I decided to go to local nursery to look for Sage because big box home improvement stores usually only care popular herbs and only during the spring time. The one I went to, Red Barn Garden Center was pretty cool. The guy who helped me had never heard about sage being used to keep mosquitoes away. He asked me why I didn't want to just pick up some Citronella and I told him that I thought you had to crush the leaves. He said that was for Lemon Grass; Citronella is like Rosemary in that its scent releases easily when the wind blows or by just brushing your hand against the plant.

I told him I tried growing Citronella before and it promptly died on me. He asked if I kept it in at least partial shade to which I replied with a firm nope. He said I must have gotten it from a Big Box because what he's noticed is when he talks to the customer's who have killed Citronella, they didn't know that it doesn't like sun because Big Boxes don't help you select plants and when you do ask, they usually don't know.

I went ahead and picked up some Golden Sage because it only grows about a foot in height which will work perfect where the wildflowers were going to go . I also got one Pineapple Sage because it attracts hummingbirds and butterflies but it grows about 2 feet in height so I don't know where I'm going to put that. I'm thinking I'll put it in the center of the raised bed by where the grill used to be. I also picked up one Citronella plant to see if I can keep it alive. My backyard is westwardly in direction. Matter of fact, in the Summertime, the setting sun just broils my backyard so I won't be able to plant the Citronella back there. I'm thinking of planting it in my front yard but I haven't really thought about the landscaping there so I don't know. I might try putting it in a container.

Speaking of Rosemary up there, while I was at Red Barn, I noticed Huntington Carpet Rosemary. It's Rosemary that can be used as a groundcover. It grows about 1-2 feet high and can be cut back after blooming in the spring. Husband LOVES the smell of Rogsemary and guess what?! It is a very hardy plant, does excellent in direct sun (desert like temps) and also keeps mosquitoes away! I LOVE IT! I get a great smelling groundcover that is very hard to kill that repels insects! The only thing is that it does attract bees when blooming. We have this dirt mound that is completely uncovered so I've planted the Rosemary there. So far (it's been like 3 days) it's lasted well so I think I'm going to go buy some more. Oh, looking back at that post laying out the landscape, I forgot I had originally thought about planting Alyssum to replace the grass. I'll had to research that again. Wiki is saying that Alyssum is an annual plant where as Rosemary is what I call a forever plant. It isn't a perennial in that it comes back year after year because it never really goes away. I think technically it's called an evergreen?And besides, it isn't really my grass that has come back as much as its the clovers. I don't know, I kind of like the romantic look of my yard being covered in nice smelly rosemary and green soft clovers.