I'm surprised no one else has commented on this yet. It's an interesting house with potential. However, I find one aspect of the hardscape unattractive and would change it if I could. You're probably not interested in making such a change, but I'll mention it anyway in case I'm wrong. It's the way the landscape wall encloses the front entrance area. It looks awkward and less than luxurious. Would be better if curvature was reversed to reflect the shape of the entrance structure itself. Illustrated below.

Commenting on your planting proposal, I'm afraid I must oppose your intentions. As a landscape architect I've developed opinions based on observation over many years, resulting in rules about what is good and what is not. One of those rules is not to summarily confine walks with barriers. I think it looks unwelcoming and amateurish. Here, it is more or less the heart of your plan! Walking between extended barriers provides a confining experience that is not pleasurable. I guess the scheme has developed popularity over the years because it appears in one way that the walk -- the walking experience -- is being "protected." People seem desperate to in their attempts at finding places to put pretty plants and along the edge of a walk is one such usually available place. Consider that the front yard, in general, is one large "room" that establishes the view to the house. The lawn represents the floor. Imagine that if in one of the interior rooms, the living room for example, you lined the edges of a 3-foot path between the television and couch with a low barrier. It would seem absurd to the max ... even if that barrier is made up of pretty things. Rather than adding major low level obstacles to the interior of a space, it is generally better to add them to the perimeter as one would do inside with furniture, sculptures, lamps, pictures, etc.

You say that your ultimate goal is to xeriscape, but you might say something about your objectives for the landscaping in general. You're trying to increase curb appeal? What else? Wish we had a ground (eye) level photo of the house that captures the view from the curb on back.

Take any room in the house and most of them generally have a floor that is of uniform material from wall to wall. This simple foreground allows all other things in the room to be viewed without distraction or visual competition. If you created a floor that displayed many different materials in the same room, it's likely that people would appreciate the visual qualities of other things in the room less. The same thing can happen outdoors if you add too much variety and are not careful about the patterns being created. Food for thought.

HI yardvaark,

Thanks so much for sharing your thoughts/ideas. I too was wondering why my post had not received a reply...I was at least expecting comments on how strange the house is. :)

Regarding the hardscaping, I don't really have much wiggle room there. The previous owner said that the house had major drainage/flooding issues which is why he built up the wall around the perimeter. Apparently, the front door is the lowest spot. I guess the castle facade followed shortly! All of the walls and walkways are on a nice slab of cement. I'm willing to move dirt but not interested in pulling up the slabs. I do agree that is is awkward, just need to work around it.

My ultimate goal is to soften the hardness (curb appeal), and get as close to low watering as possible without creating a sloppy dessert look. Here is a link to my Pinterest garden board to see what types of plants I'm hoping to use. https://www.pinterest.com/joannatmf/garden/

Here are some curb level shots. As you can see the sidewalk leads to stairs down to the fountain area. Again, not really freeing up my ability to move the retention wall. Also, the tall palm at the curb will most likely go. I'm really not a fan of it. I would like to put a vitex tree or mountain laurel there instead. The two small trees that flanked the front curb walkway are gone as well.

Thank you for the feedback. I certainly do not want to crowd the walkway, but I really want to get rid of the sod. Would adding the gravel as the first layer then a low growing bed still be confining? I hope I'm not missing your point by still wanting to add something other than grass along the walls/walkway.

-Joanna

Kiminpl- yes, the look he was going for was a moat. As far as the look I desire...not really sure. This house has so much symmetry, that I hope to mirror it in the landscaping while not making it too much more (if that's possible) cartoonish. This "castle" certainly does not dominate. I guess elegant would be my preference.

At the end of the day, I am tired of looking at so much stone and grass. Our summer temps are brutal and often dry. I would like to minimize the care/water needed and give it a more finished look while adding color and contrast.

Here are some inspiration pictures from pinterest:

In spite of the fact that you've added pictures, the Google panoramas seem distorted and consequently, I don't sense that I grasp the true scale of the yard. It would be better if you took a set of slightly overlapping photos that pan the yard in sections, all from a central area (such as directly in line with the walk.) Stand about 5' off of the curb (in the street) and remain in the exact same location for all photos. Just pan from left to right and post the single photos, not a panorama.

"...still wanting to add something other than grass along the walls/walkway." I don't get why you see this as the starting point ... or how it fixes something. A reasonable starting point would be to look at the overall picture and ask what's wrong and go from there. I can't say what's wrong since I don't feel like I'm completely and accurately seeing the property. But in your view, what's wrong with it? (Besides "looking at so much stone..." which, I presume, you're speaking of the hardscape walls ...?)

Joanna, the folks over in the Texas Gardening forum may be able to help with plant choices. We have several members in the dryer areas of Texas including Austin that have designed their gardens with the extreme heat and low water conditions that we are more familiar with.

It's a fairly busy forum and we'd love to help.

edited to say, cool castle!

Gardening in Texas

Hi Joanna - My husband & I live in Austin and frequently drive past your castle. I like knowing that a gardener owns it now! I think you're getting some valuable advice here, but like PKponder, also believe you will get local, specific help at the Texas Gardening forum.

Annie

Hi PKpnder & Annieaustin! I will get this over on the Texas board as soon as spring break is over. Lots of stuff going on with the kids this next week.

Yardvaark, thanks for your help. I'll try to get better pics posted as soon as I can. I was totally being lazy using google maps and see that they don't add much.

I want to start with the walkway as it provides a clean edge to move from. The grass along the walk and walls has dried up, so it seemed logical to remove the dead stuff first. I have already begun removing the grass from that area (prior to seeking opinions here). Since I am wanting to do the work myself (including whatever child labor I can get the kids to add) I started where I knew help was needed with the intent to grow from there. I realize that having a final design is important to minimize the patchwork look that I want to avoid (which is why I've come here).

I cannot really define what's wrong any better than what I've said. The stone on the house, walkways, and walls don't lend much color. I am not a fan of watering or caring for grass (especially in an area with a near constant need to conserve water). I want to add color, texture, and depth to a bland boring yard by using native/drought tolorant plants.

-Joanna

I'm not questioning or commenting about what WORK you do first. I'm asking only about PLANNING. The first step is analysis (which, for us, requires pictures decent enough that we can understand the yard.) You're starting from the walk because it is a "clean edge to start from" ... whatever that means. Wouldn't the drive and street be such clean edges? But really, there's no point in thinking about doing anything while skipping the analysis process. It's what directs all following efforts.

Nice that you have locals willing to help with plant material. But neither are plants a starting place. To look at/be thinking about them too early will be only a distraction. First one comes up with an artistic scheme made of shapes/sizes/forms that SOLVES PROBLEMS identified in the analyzing process. After achieving that, one begins to identify which plants will actually work to create that artistic scheme. You cannot skip these steps or ignore their order and expect to come up with good solutions that work and last.

High Country gardens has ideas you will like. They are in Santa Fe, NM.

Nice folks to.

Jo

They have a catalog you can ask for.

Needs a larger, definitely formal (geometrically symmetric) layout in front that echoes the design of the house facade using sheared plants, paving etc. and therefore forms a visual transition (intermediate area) in order to integrate the mansion with the surrounding setting - the existing walls and paths are too limited in extent and too curvy to accomplish this. Really this latter part of the place is what is most odd, rather than the house itself - whimsical as it seems.

The word that sprang to my mind about the main approach was skimpy rather than limited in extent, but yes - larger, wider?, formal and with symmetry. I think getting size and symmetry into the paving/ hardscape could be doable with enough money, but in a Texas Hill Country setting it will be incredibly difficult to get plants, trees or shrubs to cooperate - put in a pair of anything and watch them grow in ridiculously different fashion. And since there are deer around, they may have their own ideas about shearing plants.
The number of plants that will thrive in these soil, heat & low-water conditions is so small compared to what grows in more moderate places! Add in deer and the number becomes depressingly small. Maybe that's why many of us who garden in Central Texas gravitate toward thinking about plants first, even when it's not the classical or logical way to go.

Deer may need to be fenced out. Otherwise, there may be something of interest here.

http://texassuperstar.com/plants/index.html