20 March . 2022
Sweetwater’s new landscaping embraces locals
Following the freezing winters of 2021 and 2022, Sweetwater has embarked on a new community landscaping program that will create a more beautiful and sustainable native Hill Country landscape for many years to come.
Sweetwater residents and visitors will start seeing the new plantings this spring, according to Ian Knight, Sweetwater’s HOA manager.
The first places to see the new additions will be along Pedernales Summit Parkway, Sweetwater’s main thoroughfare, and around major amenities including the Sweetwater Club and the Overlook Club.
Colorful and hardy natives including Texas sage, lantanas and crepe myrtles will create a beautiful year-round palette of color throughout Sweetwater, along with larger plants including whale tongue agaves and sunshine ligustrums and yuccas.
Native grasses including muhly grasses will also be planted throughout Sweetwater, with flowing blades that move with the wind and change color with the seasons, adding tones of pink, purple and sage to the landscape. Silver ponyfoot, a trailing perennial herb, will be used as a groundcover in common areas, adding an appealing silvery-green color and an interesting texture.
Sweetwater’s beloved wildflowers will be reseeded for the 2023 blooming season, and they’ll get a helping hand from residents, with seed giveaways planned for several events this year.
Residents will be encouraged to sow the seeds along their backyard fence lines, with the idea of creating a coordinated and spectacular display that will take full advantage of Sweetwater’s rolling Hill Country topography. Wildflower seeds will also be sown along Pedernales Summit Parkway, the Sweetwater Club, Overlook Club and Hilltop Park.
Sweetwater’s main wildflower palette includes the iconic Texas bluebonnet, along with Indian paintbrush, firewheel and huisache daisy to provide earthtone colors.
Sweetwater is working with Austin’s Urban Dirt Landscaping, which specializes in environmentally conscious landscapes, to create a native plant palette that will be hardier in the face of droughts and freezing temperatures, according to Knight.
Planting of Sweetwater's new natives will be completed by the end of April. It will take several months for them to become established, and the result will be a natural and sustainable landscape that will be beautiful in every season.
See some of Sweetwater's Hill Country landscapes via our gallery.