Ella Brown T

Fall gardening in Texas is not a single starting gun fired across the whole state. Depending on where…

By Ella Brown T · Jul 30

Texas sage is one of the toughest shrubs growing in Texas yards, but a few wrong cuts can…

By Ella Brown T · Jul 30

Aphids can show up fast on Texas roses, vegetables, and ornamentals, and the urge to reach for a…

By Ella Brown T · Jul 30

Texas summers push plumeria to its limits, but these tropical beauties are tougher than most people think. The…

By Ella Brown T · Jul 30

Greater Roadrunners are one of Texas’s most recognizable birds, and yes, they really do eat scorpions. Making your…

By Ella Brown T · Jul 30

Late July heat is brutal in Texas, but for gardeners in the northern part of the state, it…

By Ella Brown T · Jul 29

Every summer, a leafy little plant starts showing up at Texas nurseries with a bold promise printed right…

By Ella Brown T · Jul 29

Step outside on a July afternoon in Texas and you might notice a lot more wasps buzzing around…

By Ella Brown T · Jul 29

Most patio plants in Texas give up sometime around mid-July, when the concrete radiates heat like a skillet…

By Ella Brown T · Jul 29

A Texas backyard can feel like a safe haven for kids and dogs, but ticks can show up…

By Ella Brown T · Jul 29

Rosemary is the fragrant, tough herb that Texas gardeners keep tucking near the front door every summer, and…

By Ella Brown T · Jul 29

Pickerelweed is a native Texas aquatic plant that blooms with blue-to-lavender flowers from June through October, and it…

By Ella Brown T · Jul 28

Rosemary is a fragrant, sun-loving herb that can thrive on a Texas patio through brutal summers, and plenty…

By Ella Brown T · Jul 28

Scorpions are a fact of life across most of Texas, and plenty of homeowners spray regularly without seeing…

By Ella Brown T · Jul 28

When that August heat dome parks itself over Texas and the temperature climbs past 100 for days on…

By Ella Brown T · Jul 28

A Texas patio in July can feel like a frying pan, especially when the concrete soaks up sunlight…

By Ella Brown T · Jul 28

A blank wooden fence baking in the Texas sun is basically a wasted opportunity. With the right climbing…

By Ella Brown T · Jul 28

Texas gardens face some brutal conditions, from triple-digit summers to strict water restrictions that leave lawns thirsty. The…

By Ella Brown T · Jul 27

South Texas summers can feel like an oven that never turns off, and a lot of pretty fruit…

By Ella Brown T · Jul 27

Your salvia looked great in spring, covered in flowers, and now it has gone quiet in the July…

By Ella Brown T · Jul 27

Knock Out roses get planted everywhere in Texas, but they often struggle once the triple-digit summers and water…

By Ella Brown T · Jul 27

Crape myrtles show up in half the yards across Texas, but they are not actually from here, and…

By Ella Brown T · Jul 27

Texas summers can punish roses fast, and what you do in the weeks before serious heat settles in…

By Ella Brown T · Jul 27

Texas weather does not play nice, with triple-digit summers, stubborn drought, and water restrictions that can leave a…

By Ella Brown T · Jul 26

Lantana has been the go-to border plant in Texas yards for years, but it can spread where you…

By Ella Brown T · Jul 26

A single shrub with fiery red-orange blooms can make your yard a much more welcoming place for hummingbirds…

By Ella Brown T · Jul 26

Every Texas gardener knows the disappointment of watching hostas melt in the summer heat, turning yellow and crispy…

By Ella Brown T · Jul 26

Gardenias are not easy plants to begin with, and a Texas July can push even a healthy one…

By Ella Brown T · Jul 26

A small, furry caterpillar found in Texas yards and gardens can cause a burst of pain that stops…

By Ella Brown T · Jul 26

If you have ever watched a shrub wilt into a sad brown pile by the middle of July,…

By Ella Brown T · Jul 25

Purple Martins are one of the most celebrated summer birds in Texas, swooping and chattering over neighborhoods from…

By Ella Brown T · Jul 25

Barn owls are one of nature’s most efficient nighttime hunters, and plenty of Texas homeowners wonder whether attracting…

By Ella Brown T · Jul 25

When temperatures push past 100 degrees in Texas, the birds visiting your yard face real challenges finding water…

By Ella Brown T · Jul 25

Scorpions have a way of showing up exactly where you don’t want them: on the back porch at…

By Ella Brown T · Jul 25

If hummingbirds have been missing from your yard lately, the fix likely involves more than one plant, but…

By Ella Brown T · Jul 25

Late summer in Texas can leave even tough lantana looking tired, with long leggy shoots and fewer fresh…

By Ella Brown T · Jul 24

Scorpions are a real concern for Texas homeowners, especially in summer when the striped bark scorpion turns up…

By Ella Brown T · Jul 24

Your hottest fence line is the toughest spot in the whole yard, baking in triple-digit Texas sun with…

By Ella Brown T · Jul 24

Spotting a gray fox slipping through your Texas yard at dusk is one of those sightings that makes…

By Ella Brown T · Jul 24

If a gray-and-white bird has been showing up in your yard every day, singing from the fence post,…

By Ella Brown T · Jul 24

By late August, most Texas gardens look tired. The grass has gone crispy, flowers have quit, and even…

By Ella Brown T · Jul 24

Stepping outside on a warm Texas evening and counting twice as many fireflies as last year feels like…

By Ella Brown T · Jul 23

Few sights in a Texas summer yard stop you cold like a male Painted Bunting, a bird that…

By Ella Brown T · Jul 23

Something catches your eye on the back fence again, that flash of electric blue and bold black, and…

By Ella Brown T · Jul 23

Every summer, Texas yards light up with the electric yellow flowers of Esperanza, and then, right around the…

By Ella Brown T · Jul 23

Texas weather likes to test everyone, swinging from triple-digit August afternoons to surprise February freezes without much warning.…

By Ella Brown T · Jul 23

Spot a handful of small green or brown lizards darting across your fence or disappearing into the shrubs,…

By Ella Brown T · Jul 23

Roaches love a Texas summer just as much as we hate them, and once the heat climbs into…

By Ella Brown T · Jul 22

Esperanza (Tecoma stans) turns heads every summer with clusters of bold yellow trumpet flowers that can keep going…

By Ella Brown T · Jul 22