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Texas Gardening

How is everybody's garden doing this spring?

2 years ago

My Formosa Azaleas are all in bloom and they smell so sweet. I will have to cut them back after they bloom because they surround my house and are growing up to 5 feet now so before they completely block my windows I'll need to tackle that job.

Comments (5)

One Devoted Dame
2 years ago
Of the 25 Candytuft I planted last May (yes, it was stupid to plant that close to summer, and I didn't want to do it, but I also didn't want my husband to surprise me with something he picked out at the nursery...), only about half survived the crazy heat and then crazy freeze. But they are looking so cheerful. I have another order of 25 coming this week/next week. :-D

I planted seeds (Carnations, Violas, Echinacea, and Prunella) literally 1 day before we got the latest freeze, and now everything except the Echinacea has sprouted, so I'm pretty stoked about that.

Made some design decisions with the husband a couple of weeks ago, that (YAY!) resulted in a firm resolve to get rid of *all* of the stupid Bermuda grass in our backyard. I seriously hate the stuff, and wish I could eliminate it from the entire property. Maybe one day I can, lol!

We had multiple tornado scares Monday; properties 2 minutes/less than 2 miles away from us sustained damage to the north and south of us. So, either the same twister jumped around, or we were sandwiched between 2 different ones. :-O Thankful I have a garden to work in today. <3
One Devoted Dame
2 years ago
Ohmygosh, my Candytuft arrived and I was sooo mad unboxing it!!! >:-(

The entire box of 25 smelled rotten, the roots were dry as straw, and I'll be lucky if 5 of them survive. Grrrr. I'm gonna have to propagate like crazy, I guess. :-( So much for having 6" diameter plants in the garden beds this season. Sigh.

Ooooh! Today, my passionflower vine emerged from dormancy at the root; soooo excited! My baby crepe myrtles (Natchez, Zuni, and Acoma; all around 24"-36" tall) finally sprouted leaves... I bought them dormant and was nervous there, for awhile. lol I have Zuni and Acoma planted in the same hole, with their trunks woven together -- hoping for a really pretty mixed-bloom tree. <3
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My experiences: Round Up kills the grass and weeds grow back. It will be weeds in the spring. Annoying. Also, lots of neighbor kids (toddlers and preschoolers), including my own kids, run through my lawn and I don't want to be the jerk who poisoned them. Digging and turning the soil is heavy work and a fine way to go, but it will till up seeds and you will have to keep weeding out grass and weed babies for some time. My usual method, but that's in the middle of the summer when I am off work and have the time and energy. I had my happiest success with the lasagne method. Very very fertile in the spring and not as many problems with weeds as you might expect. A lot of work, but I think worth it. I don't have much time this fall so I am thinking of covering the grass with thick wet newspaper then covering that with mulch (maybe a layer decomposing material from my compost bin before the mulch, but I don't have much yard waste yet). The grass will die and in the spring I can pull back the mulch where I want to plant. Hopefully it will be easier than digging and I will have fewer weed problems than with other methods. Good luck! Jen
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Gardening here is pretty much year round, depending on the weather. If it's too hot, too cold, too rainy; if there's snow, I don't get out much in the garden; otherwise, I work through the seasons. This fall I did have to lay out the positions of the major garden beds so that they could be plowed, which meant a lot of time with stakes and flagging tape. Fall is generally the best time to shift plants and to plant new arrivals. This year it looks as though we are going to get all our roses and shrubs in by Christmas: a great achievement. With the mild autumn we've had I've been able to do most of my weeding and mulching, but haven't been able to begin pruning: that will be the major winter task, along with continuing to catalog my roses. I plan sketchily, but leave a good deal to the inspiration--or desperation--of the moment. I don't plan more than the minimum necessary for the immediate task. I probably plan more in summer than in winter. I do work out more detailed small schemes as I go along, but have never been able, or willing, to plan and execute a large and complex plan. When I've attempted it the results weren't better then with my current method, and were a lot more tiring. It may be that I still haven't sufficiently mastered my materials, i.e. the plants, to be able to use them "fluently". I start a new area planting the major plants, then correcting mistakes the following year and beginning to fill in with smaller plants. I do sometimes draw plans, not much recently, possibly because the spaces I'm gardening in are irregular in form and sloping and don't lend themselves to this method of planning. I brainstorm writing lists of plants and writing down ideas. I read and think about plants and gardening all the time, reading mainly Internet and books. Catalogs are usually more tempting than honestly informative: the Vintage catalog is a huge exception (the Schultheis catalog is also extremely seductive). If the weather gets really bad and I'm stuck in the house, or if I simply get sick of gardening, I just do other things: read, cook, write letters, or go visit an art museum. When things get really desperate I clean house. Melissa
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Right now, I need a sump pump...and I live on a hill. More rain in the forecast, too. The weather pattern has changed here - normally an El Nino year means severe drought in Oklahoma. Not this season anyway. With our normally semi-dry to dry summers, I use the garden hose to water EVERY day in most areas and every other day in other areas that prefer dryer conditions. We have our own well, so I can also use the sprinkler without ill affects on my plants. It is just like rain water. The birds, butterflies, bees and amphibians love it too. When I hand water, the birds follow me from tree to tree, so I spray up into the trees and they chirp and sing for me. The occasional tortoise will come out of hiding for a long, cool drink, too. I set the mister on the tropicals and water-loving ferns etc. to keep them happy. This takes all day. I use soaker hoses under my veggies when it is very hot and very dry to prevent scorching and so the water will get down deep where the nutrients are and encourage deep roots. For under my Phlox and roses, &etc., I screw on a fan sprayer and let it run slowly, gently and deeply under them to prevent leaf-scorch, and do this as often as needed. I even water in the winter if it is a dry winter. Soil heave (freeze, thaw, freeze, thaw) is terrible here in Okie, and in dry winters this will kill plants and even small trees and shrubs. And of course, potted plants need a drink just about every day in the summer. That is how I have to do it here to keep mine alive year round. ~Annie
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Dan H z8b SA, TX
2 years ago
The roses in the warmer part of the lot are getting their first blooms this week. The ornamental sweet potato vines are starting back earlier than I remember. A passionflower in a 20 inch pot is less than a foot tall but already had 4 caterpillars. The tuberose in pots and in the warmer front yard are starting to emerge. Pink jasmine waited until after the last freeze this year and didn't get their buds killed before they had a chance to open.

I had 3 large Texas rock rose (Pavonia); the powdery mildew got so bad I had to remove them last fall. They used to look so nice and peaceful, gently swaying in the morning breeze.
memetexas
Original Author
2 years ago
I use to have Pavonia a long time ago, I can't remember what happened but they're gone.
purslanegarden
2 years ago
I went on vacation for about 10 days. At that time, the barely visible red stems of my peonies were just peeking out (or rather, they've been peeking out most of the winter, just waiting and preparing). After vacation and returning home, they are now about 12" tall. Wow! A lot of growing happened in that 10 days.

Oriental lilies and elephant ears are poking out as well.

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