My Villain Origin Story
For years, my husband and I would wait until 11 PM to walk outside. The city was so hot that heat would still seep from the pavement through the soles of my shoes on our evening walks. Most of the houses in the neighborhood had replaced their lawns with large expanses of rocks. I’d frequently see heat mirages above the stones, amplifying the already oppressive temperature. When we moved to a new rental that happened to have a rock backyard, I was determined to do something different. I couldn’t handle making the area around our house even hotter.I began researching heat island effect. I wanted to understand why I instinctively dreaded walking past homes with rock yards. I learned that heat islands are areas of heat-holding urban structures with minimal greenery. The hard dry surfaces can increase temperatures in the surrounding area by up to 7 degrees! NASA used satellites to study heat island prevalence in the US; the scientists found that urban spaces aren’t inherently heat islands. NASA researcher Dr. Kurtis Thome shared that “the amount and type of vegetation plays a big role in how much the urbanization changes the temperature.” Through my reading, I realized the important role that plants play in heat management. I needed plants.THE CHALLENGE
The condo property had been abandoned for several years. The backyard was covered in a stinging, clinging burr weed. I sprayed the weeds with a mixture of vinegar and boiling water. It was painful and slow going to clear it, but after 2 weeks I had finally cleared out the yard. 
Backyard Before
I was left with two malpruned Firebushes (Hamelia patens) on one side of the yard and an expanse of semi-buried rocks mobbing a Traveller’s Palm (Ravenala madagascariensis) on the other. At this point, the sweltering backyard was home to just me and a large army of fire ants.I was gifted a massive planter bed (about 8 feet by 3 feet), which turned into the saving grace of this garden. The planter gave me the chance to work with healthy soil that could retain water, instead of battling the artificially rocky ground soil. I had no garden training and no idea about native plants. I just went to the garden center and filled up my cart with anything that looked happy and said “full sun” on the tag. 
Raised Planter Bed
It wasn’t perfect, but it made a difference. The patio started feeling cooler as my cucumber vine (Cucumis sativus) and Star Jasmine (Trachelospermum jasminoides) climbed up and across the pergola. The walkways didn’t burn my feet like before!I wanted the backyard to feel like an oasis. I bought an outdoor floor fountain for some added ambience and I quickly learned the importance of doublechecking item dimensions. I nestled this pint-sized water fountain amongst some Mediterranean herbs by the patio and waited to see what would happen. What started as an escape for us quickly turned into paradise for all the creatures living nearby.
The Tiny Water Fountain
THE REWARD
Our most beloved garden friend was a possum we named Leopold. My husband and I still talk about Leopold years later. He would amble over to the water fountain and stick his entire head into it, confounding my cat to no end as she watched from the other side of the glass. But my Snow White moment didn’t stop there: we had hummingbirds darting through the flowers, a prairie dog napping under the planter bed, a Texas Brown Snake sunning amongst the garden gnomes. From tree frogs sleeping in my garden cabinet to pupating caterpillars to dancing anoles, we became surrounded by animals. I even got to see a songbird slamming a caterpillar into the pavers before flying off with its catch for its babies. We had front row seats to the entire food web from our swinging bench.
The backyard was no longer just me and the fire ants. While I would approach this design challenge differently now, it didn’t matter that the plantings weren’t optimized, perfectly aesthetic, or all native. The backyard still sprang to life thanks to the plants. In a region seemingly devoid of life, nature flocked to this tiny, imperfect garden.What started as an attempt to cool down our yard turned into the most wonderful science experiment that changed the trajectory of my life. I fell in love with habitat restoration and began studying sustainable garden design. I learned so many lessons in that garden, the most important being the restorative power of plants - for the climate, for the animals, and for me! 
Backyard After