Call Ed Etter and have him come look at your trees. Those live oaks can handle amazing side stresses like that. Ed is The Man for tree care in SA. Don't give in to bermuda yet. St Augustine will come back if you have one living plant left. It spreads about 5 feet in all directions in the spring (NOW in SA) and another 5 feet in the fall. There are a few methods that will help you get over the SA watering restrictions. 1. If you need to, water the full 7 hours you are allotted. My sprinkler (oscillator type) takes a full 8 hours to apply 1 inch, so I never water a full inch in the summer. During most of the year I water for 3 hours (3/8 inch) once every 2 weeks in the late spring. In the summer heat I will bump it up, I go to 5 hours. Last summer I was watering all 7 hours. That was a first. 2. Keep St Aug mowed at the highest setting on your mower. Then let it go several weeks in the summer heat. Tall St Aug really resists the drought stress much better than short St Aug. I have another home in George West where I'm experimenting with really tall St Aug. It is knee high in some places left over from the fall. I don't plan to mow it at all and see how the extra desert heat in GW treats the grass. 3. If you want the St Aug to spread, over fertilize it with organic fertilizer. I used corn gluten meal as a fertilizer every month last season and my grass never looked better. Organic ferts tend to not cause over growth, so that is a bonus. Your rye will not die by itself in SA. That causes a problem for the underlying grass because the tall rye provides too much shade for the real lawn to come out of dormancy. If you want the grass underneath to spring back, you'll need to mow the rye very short to let the sunlight in.

Thanks for looking Fox and thanks for the encouragement to grow the Bird of Paradise plant, Element. Thought some might be interested in an upcoming event at the S. A. Botanical Center: Walk Across Texas at the Botanical Garden Take a "walk across Texas" at the San Antonio Botanical Garden, enjoying the beauty of spring wildflowers right in the heart of San Antonio. Hike the loop trail system of the Texas Native Trail which winds through an 11-acre native area of the Botanical Garden, where you will experience the diverse ecosystems of the Hill Country, East Texas Piney Woods and South Texas Plains. Enter the world of early Texas by visiting the historic cabins and living historians dressed in period clothing from the Sons of the Republic, Chapter 7. Enjoy Pioneer biscuits and gravy, compliments of sponsor C.H. Guenther & Son. The Alamo Area Master Naturalists will offer various displays, bird walks and art activities. PLANT SALE: Just in time for spring planting, gardeners may purchase all types of plants made available by various plant societies. Botanical Society members may enter early at 8:00 a.m. Saturday, April 19, 9 a.m. Â Noon Free admission! San Antonio Botanical Garden 555 Funston @ N. New Braunfels San Antonio, Texas Free admission from 9 a.m. to noon on this day. For more information, the public can call 210-829-5100 or visit www.sabot.org.

If any one wants autumn clematis, let me know. I don't want to dig some up if no one wants it. You need to know it is aggressive. Here is a link that might be useful: Autumn Clematis

Hi Gayle! I look forward to seeing you there. As a newbie, I'm guessing you can sure bring those bougainvillea's. I'm trying not to be selfish, so if some else has their heart set on them, no problem. If not, I would give them a new home! It's been a while since I have had one, but they are very nice. I might have something there that you would like. Several of what I have are very hard to kill! Tonya