I'm very new to gardening. ==>> i can tell.. and welcome to GW ... i am not even going to try to speak to what grows in houston.. others will chime in there... but let me tell you what is the easiest way to make a list .. this spring.. simply take the camera/phone .... and as you tool around town.. snap pix.. bring them here.. so we can ID for you ... and start a list of things YOU LIKE.. in your area.. odds are .... they all thrive there ... next.. check the link.. and memorize it all ... it might take years.. lol .... but do it.. planting and first year aftercare.. are the ONLY important things.. after choosing an appropriate plant ... and we plant in NATIVE SOIL.. we do not amend planting holes ... but we do mulch heavily after planting ... read those parts closely .. if you succeed.. and they get well ESTABLISHED... most shrubs become entirely are free but for some pruning in the decades to come ... [which is what was NOT done on the old ones ] .... i would never bother transplanting what you call a mature shrub .. jsut too much work .. for what are basically rather cheap plants ... well when you grasp all that.. you are all set to start digging.. lol .. and TIMING of planting is very important .. and i want you to NOT think about doing this all this spring.. we will find a couple things.. for you to experiment on .. but dont delude yourself into thinking you are going to landscape the whole yard in the 'proper planting season' ... this spring ... if that is imperative.. hire a landscape architect to develop a plan for you.. and to plant a vast majority of the project ...instant gratification is not for the novice .. IMHO ... and after a few this spring.. we will shoot for a few in the fall/winter planting season.. good luck ken Here is a link that might be useful: link

HI again Ann ,yes i have looked at it several times ,no doubt its top class ,yes i realise that the blooms are not of your making ,in general i think the quality of a lot of todays commercially available Hippeastrum bulbs leave a lot to be desired ,to much tissue culture and not enough trials before marketing ,and some that are released are just poor growers ,Pity but it has happened in Australia as well ,including wrongly named or simply same bulb but 2 different names ,from their first flowering to naming / selling ,i used to let it bloom 3 consecutive years ,if the blooms varied from year to year ? trust me its a dud ,only size should vary ,for instance ; a true ( geneticaly ) pure white should not " bleed" or flush any red colour , if so ? its not a true white , i was / am very critical ,anyway am sure you are very happy to have that bulb ,guard it well , cheers ,Jack

OK guys and gals! I want to try my hand at crossing two different hydrangeas to see what I could come up with, but I have no idea how to do it. Can anyone tell me the steps, or is there a place on Garden Web that teaches us how? I know that there must be a way, for there are new varieties coming up it seems each year or so. I am particularly fond of Lace hydrangeas and one plant that looks like the bloom looks like petals falling around the head of the flower. Thank you for any help. Donna1952_1@Juno.com - So. King County, WA

I started a lot of peppers as well, but I was just looking at them and I can see signs of germination on everything except my jalapenos. I didn't buy new seeds and the ones I had were about 3 years old. I hope someone started extra. I only planted 8 days ago, but I got germination in 6 days on 3 different kinds and can see a few showing through on everything else in the flat except jalapeno. At the end of the season, I cut up all of my peppers and froze them and have used them all winter. I told my DH the other day that I bought one bag of 3 peppers all winter and only because they had a red, yellow, and gold in a bag for $2.50 one day. They made a really pretty stir fry. Otherwise, I have used my frozen peppers for everything this winter. We can blame everything on Jay and Dawn if you want to. LOL I sure thought of them a lot as I planted my seeds because I planted a lot of Jay's and some new ones from Dawn that I hadn't tried before. I planted her new Pink Brandymaster and it really grew into strong looking seedlings. I will be interested in seeing if it tastes like Brandywine and produces better. I don't think I even planted Brandywine this year. Jay sent me some really choice ones that are new to me. I don't have nearly enough cages for all of the tomatoes I will plant, but I tie some to cattle panels. I may have to buy some more cattle panels because I also love them for pole beans and several other things. Except for the things I really like, I planted 5 seeds of most things. I ended up with 3-5 plants in most. Actually I got 6 of a few things because the seeds stuck together. My only failures were Box Car Willie which I only had 4 seeds and got none, and Tess's Land Race which I only got one of 5 to germinate. I got five of a lot of them and of course I don't have room for that many. I have two neighbors that usually buy a few plants in town, then add more to their gardens from those I don't plant. My husband's (step) grandmother is 95 and likes to have a small garden. I don't think she is able to put it in, so we thought we would go plant a few things for her. I took plants to the Senior Citizens for 2 years, and last year I didn't take any. My DH said they reminded him this past week that they sure did like to get plants from me. My new son-in-law has 6 Earth Boxes, so he will probably need a few plants. Then there is the Spring Fling.....maybe I need to plant some more. LOL