Kristen Bannister and Gareth Jones
Kirsten Taylor, Gareth Jones, and their son Arran have lived at 915 Omar for 14 years.
“When the house was built in 2010, we had St. Augustine grass edge to edge. We ripped much of it out and have been experimenting with a wide variety of plants and trees ever since…”
Today, their garden includes many native plants, including Eastern Purple Coneflower, multiple varieties of Black-eye Susans, Autumn Sage, Fall Aster, Esperanza, Bluebonnet, Rockrose, Coreopsis, Indian Blanket, Mealy Sage, and Milkweeds.
“Wildflowers are my favorite plant – they show up throughout the year on their own schedule and location and pleasantly surprise us with incredible colors…bluebonnets, blanket flowers, salvias. My new discovery plant is the almond verbena – it smells magical, loves full sun, and brings in a huge crowd of bees.”
Kristen continues, “I love being outside. I’m a geologist, but I have an office job…so maybe that’s how I discovered gardening. My favorite part of gardening is seeing new plants pop up. My least favorite part of gardening is seeing the damage from a hard freeze and waiting for signs of life to signal that all will be okay again. I have some poppies that came from my grandmother. My mom sends me seeds every year, and I believe many of those came from her mom – calendula, poppies, phlox of sheep, sunflowers.”
While they both have a few favorite spots in their garden, they especially like the small flagstone patio in the backyard with its bubble fountain surrounded by different plants and the surprising results of their front garden.
As with many gardeners in our neighborhood, Kristen enjoys having Buchanan’s and Joshua’s close by. But her gardening inspiration comes from “all of you who put time and energy into your yards—so many of my plant choices came from visually exploring the gardens of this neighborhood. Some of you have even brought me extra plants or seeds from your yard, and I enjoy hoping I can make you smile by watching your plants grow in my yard.
“It’s how I wind down after a long work week – I can easily spend 3-4 hours at a time and not even realize it. I’ve learned through making many mistakes – and forgiving plants – and friends and family offering advice (and praise) and even sharing plants with me. My grandmother was a prolific gardener. She could grow anything and had a bright green thumb – perhaps she shared a bit of her talent with me.”
Another advantage of native plants in such a beautiful garden, “We are frequently visited by monarchs, Gulf fritillaries, and black swallowtails. We have lots of bees and ladybugs. Birds frequent the water fountain in the backyard, and in winter, we put out suet seed rolls for them.”
And in terms of Houston’s extreme weather and gardening, “Generally, most of what you’ll find seems to survive, even if above ground completely dies back. For things that survive with minimum maintenance, I’d suggest any of the plants you’ll find in the front by the street.”
As for being recognized as April's Yard of the Month, Kristen says, “This neighborhood is brimming with outstanding gardeners. It feels amazing to be recognized – thank you!”