Ella Brown T

Barn owls hunt quietly at night, and rodents are a big part of their menu. That makes a…

By Ella Brown T · Sep 30

A soft, fuzzy caterpillar looks like something a kid would love to pet. In Texas, though, some fuzzy…

By Ella Brown T · Sep 30

Walk into a Texas garden center in spring and you may see a leafy pot labeled “mosquito plant.”…

By Ella Brown T · Sep 30

A popular claim says one tough plant by the back door can keep rats and roaches away. Texas…

By Ella Brown T · Sep 30

Some porch corners look flat no matter how many pots you add. Texas sotol (Dasylirion texanum) is a…

By Ella Brown T · Sep 30

Central Texas yards are full of cozy spots where a scorpion could tuck away for the day. Rocks,…

By Ella Brown T · Sep 29

Agarita is a tough Texas native shrub with prickly leaves that stay green all year. Roadrunners are famous…

By Ella Brown T · Sep 29

Few backyard visitors are as fun to watch as a dragonfly zipping over a Texas patio at dusk.…

By Ella Brown T · Sep 29

That big, fast, hairy spider near your garage door can look alarming, but it is probably just hunting.…

By Ella Brown T · Sep 29

That rough-scaled lizard doing push-ups on your fence is a Texas spiny lizard, and plenty of Central Texas…

By Ella Brown T · Sep 29

You lift a pile of wet leaves by the porch and spot a banded snake the color of…

By Ella Brown T · Sep 29

Pepper plants across Central Texas can look perfectly healthy while quietly dropping every flower they produce during a…

By Ella Brown T · Sep 28

If you have noticed fresh shallow pits scattered across your lawn or garden beds several mornings in a…

By Ella Brown T · Sep 28

Many Texas backyard fig growers walk outside after a rough winter and wonder why their tree barely produced…

By Ella Brown T · Sep 28

If you have stepped outside to find a patch of lawn looking like something went digging through it…

By Ella Brown T · Sep 28

A small reddish-brown ant has been turning up in Texas yards and homes in numbers that can seem…

By Ella Brown T · Sep 28

Hanging a bat house in your Central Texas yard is a genuinely worthwhile project for local wildlife, but…

By Ella Brown T · Sep 28

Every fall, Central Texas yards fill up with crape myrtles holding clusters of small, round seed pods long…

By Ella Brown T · Sep 27

Plenty of Texas gardeners have looked at a sprawling lantana and wondered whether something better could grow in…

By Ella Brown T · Sep 27

Every fall, adult monarch butterflies move through Texas on their way south, and they need nectar to fuel…

By Ella Brown T · Sep 27

Chinch bugs can turn a healthy St. Augustine lawn into a patchwork of brown, crispy grass before most…

By Ella Brown T · Sep 27

Owls do not show up just because a yard has one big tree. They need safe places to…

By Ella Brown T · Sep 27

Spotting a large, fast-moving spider inside your Texas home can send anyone scrambling for a shoe. Before you…

By Ella Brown T · Sep 27

A viral claim has been circulating among Texas homeowners: plant one specific herb in your yard and rats…

By Ella Brown T · Sep 26

Spotting a toad tucked under a garden pot or hopping across the patio at dusk is one of…

By Ella Brown T · Sep 26

Finding a vine that covers a fence quickly without taking over your whole yard sounds like a simple…

By Ella Brown T · Sep 26

Plumeria thrives on Texas warmth and sunshine, but when brutal heat teams up with dry soil, hot wind,…

By Ella Brown T · Sep 26

If you keep spotting a possum in your backyard after dark, you are not alone, and there is…

By Ella Brown T · Sep 26

When a Central Texas flower bed starts looking tired by midsummer, the problem is often the plant, not…

By Ella Brown T · Sep 26

Walk out to your tomato patch one morning and you might find whole branches stripped bare, with dark…

By Ella Brown T · Sep 25

Fall lettuce in Central Texas can go from tender to harsh-tasting faster than most gardeners expect, and lingering…

By Ella Brown T · Sep 25

Gulf muhly is a native Texas grass that puts on a stunning cloud of purple-red blooms every fall,…

By Ella Brown T · Sep 25

Lantana is one of the toughest flowering plants Central Texas gardeners can grow, but even heat-proof plants perform…

By Ella Brown T · Sep 25

Central Texas summers can push fig trees to their limits, and when the heat really sets in, fruit…

By Ella Brown T · Sep 25

Spotting a Great Horned Owl perched in your backyard live oak is one of those Texas moments that…

By Ella Brown T · Sep 25

Scorpions turning up near your back door or tucked under a garden stone can catch any homeowner off…

By Ella Brown T · Sep 24

Spotting a green anole on your fence post or clinging to a shrub is one of those small…

By Ella Brown T · Sep 24

By late summer, most Texas flower beds look like they’ve given up. The heat has beaten back the…

By Ella Brown T · Sep 24

A feeder can bring cardinals close, but it cannot do everything they need in a Texas fall. As…

By Ella Brown T · Sep 24

Every spring, stretches of Texas highway turn vivid blue with blooming bluebonnets, and plenty of homeowners wonder whether…

By Ella Brown T · Sep 24

Spotting a Greater Roadrunner darting through your Central Texas yard is one of those moments that makes you…

By Ella Brown T · Sep 24

Mexican oregano is one of those patio plants that earns its space through looks, fragrance, and toughness rather…

By Ella Brown T · Sep 23

Fall nights in Central Texas can sneak up on a basil patch fast, and gardeners who walk outside…

By Ella Brown T · Sep 23

Stepping out to check your fall kale bed and finding silvery streaks across the leaves is a jarring…

By Ella Brown T · Sep 23

Growing jalapeños in Central Texas can feel like a battle when summer heat takes over and your pepper…

By Ella Brown T · Sep 23

Tan, bronze, or spreading patches in a Central Texas lawn can stop a homeowner cold on a July…

By Ella Brown T · Sep 23

Spotting a possum shuffling through your yard after dark can catch you off guard, especially if it keeps…

By Ella Brown T · Sep 23

Spotting a Greater Roadrunner perched on your fence at first light is one of those Hill Country moments…

By Ella Brown T · Sep 22

Watching your Purple Martin house go quiet in late summer can feel like something went wrong, but most…

By Ella Brown T · Sep 22