TerraVida

About TerraVida

A yard in the Permian Basin has to be chosen, not assumed. Fourteen inches of rain in a good year, sun that does not let up from June to September, and a wind that pulls moisture out of everything — TerraVida plans for that country rather than against it. Lawn areas are mowed, edged and trimmed where turf actually earns its keep, and the rest is given over to plantings that belong here: sage, red yucca, native grasses, beds mulched to hold what water they get. In late summer the light lasts until nine and those beds are at their best, purple and rust and dry silver against the caliche. The result is a landscape that looks alive in August, which in West Texas is the whole point.