aliweed is closer to right than Bryan. I'm sure there are grasses that like to be mowed to 1 inch (bentgrass, some zoysias, bermuda, some buffalos, and centipede come to mind), but St Augustine is not one of them. I've seen St Aug absolutely thriving in the dunes at Port Aransas and it's 30 inches tall. You might not like the appearance for your lawn but it does not hurt it to let it go. For St Aug raise your mower to the highest setting and leave it there. St Aug never needs to be scalped or mowed any lower. When mowed at that height it will use less water and keep many of your weeds under control for you. Henbit, however, is not one of the weeds that St Aug can control. You will have to pull it out or spray it. Pulling it out is trivially easy. Water the lawn for an hour or so and come back the next day. The henbit comes out by the roots. Other weeds that St Aug has trouble with are dichondra, clover, oxalis, horse herb, and spurge. It will keep out dandelion but most of the small leaved, broad leaf weeds will take over if you don't keep after it. Once you get a really dense stand of tall St Aug, it should take care of itself. St Augustine is sensitive to weed controls. The one you want will have Atrazine in it. Get the spray so you can control how much and where it goes. If you can find a foamy spray, that is much better because it will not overspray onto the lawn or your veggies. I have not seen that product in years, but it was good. Do not water the lawn twice a week. If you do that you are setting up a situation where every weed seed in the yard will sprout. Weed seeds need continual moisture at the surface to sprout. If you water deeply and allow the surface to dry out, then the roots will still get moisture while the weed seeds at the top do not. The infrequent deep watering will break the weed seed sprouting cycle. The onion looking plants you have are called rain lily. They come with the rain storms. You can let them get tall and ugly but DO NOT LET THEM GO TO SEED. Each flower literally shoots about 30 seeds out from the seed pod. Then with the next rain you will have 30 plants from the first one. Next rain after that you will have 900 plants. Unless you want a little prairie of rain lilies, then pull them when you see them. Don't expect to get the root bulb. It is 6-8 inches below the surface. Just keep them mowed off before the flowers come. Here is the 1-2-3 for lawn care. It is inexpensive and relatively low hassle. Water deeply and infrequently. Deeply means at least an hour in every zone, all at once. Infrequently means monthly during the cool months and no more than weekly during the hottest part of summer. If your grass looks dry before the month/week is up, water longer next time. Deep watering grows deep, drought resistant roots. Infrequent watering allows the top layer of soil to dry completely which kills off many shallow rooted weeds. Mulch mow at the highest setting on your mower. Most grasses are the most dense when mowed tall. Bermuda, centipede, and bent grasses are the most dense when mowed at the lowest setting on your mower. Dense grass shades out weeds and uses less water when tall. Dense grass feeds the deep roots you're developing in 1 above. Fertilize regularly. I fertilize 4 times per year using organic fertilizer. Which fertilizer you use is much less important than numbers 1 and 2 above. If you are interested in learning about the modern approach to organic lawn care, look at the Organic Gardening forum here or many other lawn forums for the Organic Lawn Care FAQ. Read that about 5 times and ask more questions. That little tutorial has generated a LOT of interest over the years since it was written. One website had a counter on their downloads and racked up 75,000 hits in a 2-year period. That was a long time ago, so who knows what the impact has been. I can almost promise you there will be some surprises.

Hi BettyLu, Brugs contain alkaloids which can be toxic but usually just from ingestion and if the sap comes in contact with the conjunctiva of your eyes they will dilate. If you have especially sensitive skin then you should wear gloves but I (and most others) pinch my brugs and daturas with bare hands. Just remember not to touch your eyes if they have sap on them. I have cats, dogs and other animals and they've never chewed on my brugs. Keep your brug outside during the summer. Give it am sun and protect it from late afternoon sun. The description of where you have it sounds perfect but does the urn have drainage holes? They are very heavy feeders and need a well draining soil. Container brugs will need daily watering during the heat. I don't care for MG products and would add some perlite to it to help with drainage. Feed your brug every 2 weeks minumum. Weekly is even better. I prefer to allow my brugs to go dormant over the winter because they are such bug magnets and I have so many. With only 1 brug I don't see a problem keeping it growing over the winter. If you have a very well lit room it might do ok over the winter but you might want to add a grow light to increase the hours of daylight. It will likely decline some being inside but will rebound once it's back outside. Make sure you don't overwater your brug while it's inside or it can lead to rot. If you decide to allow it to go dormant over the winter you will restrict watering almost entirely giving it just enough to keep the roots hydrated. Maybe a cup or two of water every 4-6 weeks, if that. I have dormant brugs that get no water over the winter. I hope this helps and I'm sure others will chime in with suggestions. Good luck. They are beautiful and addicting. Kind of like potato chips. I don't know anyone that has just one. lol

There is so much conflicting info out on the web between these two aloes . One side of my head lacks hair from all the hair pulling I have done trying to figure it out. My Aloe cryptipoda was sold to me by the head (or ex-head) of Austin's C & S society so I imagine that he has the name down. The leaves are a turquoise grey and long and inward curving. It has not bloomed yet. They say Wikensii's synonym is A. cryptooda but they are different aloes but closely related. I did have an A. wikensiii with the fatter dark green leaves several years back ( dead now) and it was very different from the Cryptopoda that I have now. Maybe the difference is due to age ...Do not know if the juvenile form changes as it ages. Mine did not live very long. I took the cold hardiness on the tag verbatim and it died in the first cold front years ago.Brian Kemble has it listed as hardy to 20F. Personally, I think California 20F is very different from Texas 20 degrees. Be careful with all claims of hardiness. Here is San Marcus Grower's take on the dilemma. San Marcus growers info.

Thank you!! I have a little draining system going on in the coffee cup but I'll try potting it with different soil