Come along with one family as they prepare to build their eco-savvy, multi-generational dwelling surrounded by Texas live oaks—and pick up some professional advice on tending your own trees, too.
This year the McMahons aim to make real progress toward breaking ground on their Hill Country dream home.
“We’ve been developing house plans for about a year, working with an architect and our daughter, Maggie, and her husband,” said Sue McMahon. “We have input from our two grandchildren, too. It’s truly a multi-generational project, even now during the planning stage.”
The family’s long-term plan includes a 3,700-square-foot living space near Johnson City with two wings of sleeping quarters, a garden, a sleeping porch, and open space for sports like baseball and football. Rather than digging a water well, the McMahons plan to harvest rainwater and rely upon solar power for their electricity.
Sue said the family hopes that the new homestead will allow everyone to live together comfortably for decades to come, all while leaving a minimal environmental footprint.
“My mother lived with us for over thirty years,” said Sue. “It’s important to us that we be connected, to care for one another.”
Before construction can begin, of course, the McMahons must prepare the land they purchased for their project.
On a bright January afternoon, Sue casually surveyed her family’s seven acres at The Preserve at Walnut Springs. The 2,000-acre development near Johnson City features 66 homestead lots set among 1,500 acres designated for wildlife preservation.
“We were lucky in that this lot only had only a few cedar trees, so that’s not a problem we have to address on a large scale, thankfully. Instead, we’re focused now on shaping up and thinning out the large live oaks that will greet visitors as they make their way from the motor court to the house,” Sue said.
As she spoke, the preserve’s usual quiet was punctuated by the sharp sound of clippers and a chainsaw’s buzz. Nearby a crew of men from Austin’s Sid Mourning Tree Service busily moved about the large oaks.
“These trees have never been tended before, so there’s a good bit of work to do to shape them up. There’s a lot of ball moss to be cleared off of some low limbs,” she said, gesturing toward a man perched high in one of the trees pulling off the bromeliads by hand.
Ball moss is a problem familiar to many Hill Country homeowners, of course. Consequently, ball moss removal is a topic on which the McMahon’s certified arborist, Michael Suarez, is well-versed.
“They are rootless plants and whether or not they are a problem depends on how many of them are present,” said Suarez via telephone interview. “Generally speaking, one or two are fine. Some people like them. But if you get more of them on a branch than you can count on your fingers, then they are choking the limbs out and it is a problem that needs to be addressed for the health of the tree.”
Another common problem in the Hill Country? Knowing when and how to trim live oaks properly without accidentally leaving them prone to disease. Suarez cautions DIY homeowners to pay close attention to the calendar.
“Many places now set limits about when you can cut or trim them. Those rules typically ban cutting live oaks from March through June or July. That’s when the beetles that spreads oak wilt are most active, and failure to seal the cuts leaves the tree vulnerable to infection. The rules are in place to prevent trouble caused by the casual weekend gardener, however. When we send out a professional crew to do the work, whatever the season, we seal all of the cuts carefully.”
Although the cost of hiring someone to shape up your live oaks may seem like an indulgence, the reality is that proper tree maintenance in the short run can mean big pay offs in the long term.
“Trees add a lot of natural beauty to a property, but they are also valuable in their own right. Most people don’t realize that a large live oak can be worth $40,000 to $50,000. To replace, say, a 100-year-old tree . . . well, with removal and transport and labor, that can run up to $100,000. That’s a figure that catches some homeowners off guard and can leave them wishing they’d done a better job of taking care of the tree in the first place,” said Suarez.
For Sue, her motivation to care for her family’s live oaks extends far beyond how they’ll look when her new house is completed.
“What I envision with these trees is how they’ll look in twenty to thirty years,” said Sue. “We want to ensure that they grow correctly for our grandchildren to enjoy in their lifetimes, not so much for ours. Those trees are a huge reason why we bought this property, because we all fell in love with them. I hope how we care for them today ensures they’ll be around for generations.”
Pamela Price is the founder of TheTexasWildflower.com.
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