One Lot in Houston: Driveway

The driveway is the house's original driveway constructed in 1955. It has cracks in which small plants grow, especially in the warmer months. I pull the plants out of the cracks once or twice a year, which permits other plants to move in. Plants that have grown in the cracks include lawnflower, Venus looking-glass, dichondra, chickweed, spotted spurge, and yellow woodsorrel. Like the roof of the house, the driveway drains rain water quickly, but unlike the roof, it sends most of the water directly into the street.

On October 7, 2013, I found this spiny backed orb weaver spider below the eaves in front of the garage door.

I encountered another large spinybacked orbweaver web on November 3, 2013.

On April 6, 2014, the driveway was heavily covered with fallen catkins. See Cleaning up the Catkins. Here is the driveway on March 29, 2015. The leaves and catkins from the southern live oak had fallen on the driveway and aggregated onto the small plants in the cracks. I had pulled the plants out of some cracks, which don't show anything in them.

Click to see it bigger!

The sides of the driveway also accumulate leaves, catkins, pollen, and dust blown in, as well as dirt washed in from the grassy areas of the yard when it rains. St. Augustine grass and other ground cover plants spread out over the sides of the driveway to the extent that I wait between edgings. All of these accumulations contribute to small, transitory ecologies along the cracks and edges of the driveway.

On October 19, 2014, dog fennel and flat-top mille graines were growing in a crack.