Ella Brown T

Few birds stop a Texas gardener cold like a male Painted Bunting, with his electric blue head, red…

By Ella Brown T · Aug 12

Step onto a Central Texas porch after dark and you might spot a small, wide-eyed lizard frozen near…

By Ella Brown T · Aug 12

Scorpions rank near the top of the list of things Texas homeowners dread finding inside their homes, and…

By Ella Brown T · Aug 12

Every spring, Central Texas yards fill up with small purple-flowered plants that most homeowners yank out without a…

By Ella Brown T · Aug 11

Watching bats streak across a warm Texas evening sky is one of summer’s small pleasures, and plenty of…

By Ella Brown T · Aug 11

Coral honeysuckle is a Texas native vine that produces clusters of red-orange tubular flowers from spring into summer,…

By Ella Brown T · Aug 11

Fireflies blinking along a summer fence line feel like something out of a childhood memory, and plenty of…

By Ella Brown T · Aug 11

Spotted a bright green spider with long spiny legs lurking in your tomato plants or perched on a…

By Ella Brown T · Aug 11

Summer evenings on a Central Texas patio can turn miserable fast once the mosquitoes show up. Bats swooping…

By Ella Brown T · Aug 11

Spotting a gecko on your porch at night feels like a small victory for the backyard ecosystem, and…

By Ella Brown T · Aug 10

Scorpions showing up around the house is one of those Texas realities that nobody enjoys, and plenty of…

By Ella Brown T · Aug 10

Fireflies flickering along a summer fence line are one of those yard moments that make Central Texas evenings…

By Ella Brown T · Aug 10

Every spring, Central Texas lawns fill up with small purple flowers, and the knee-jerk reaction is to yank…

By Ella Brown T · Aug 10

Scorpions and Texas summers go together whether homeowners like it or not, and finding one near the front…

By Ella Brown T · Aug 10

Watching bats swoop across a summer evening sky is one of the quieter pleasures of a Central Texas…

By Ella Brown T · Aug 10

Spot a bright-green spider perched on your porch shrubs on a warm Central Texas evening and you might…

By Ella Brown T · Aug 9

Summer evenings in Central Texas used to mean watching fireflies blink across the backyard, but many neighborhoods have…

By Ella Brown T · Aug 9

A small green lizard darting through your garden shrubs might be doing more work than you think. Green…

By Ella Brown T · Aug 9

If you live in the Texas Hill Country, you already know that scorpions come with the territory, and…

By Ella Brown T · Aug 9

Every spring, Central Texas homeowners yank purple-flowering plants from their lawns without a second thought, assuming they are…

By Ella Brown T · Aug 9

Summer evenings in Central Texas can feel like a battle against mosquitoes, and bats are often pitched as…

By Ella Brown T · Aug 9

Somewhere between the back fence and the first hummingbird of spring, a lot of Texas gardeners start wondering…

By Ella Brown T · Aug 8

Texas homeowners know the sinking feeling of spotting a cockroach scuttling toward the back door, and plenty of…

By Ella Brown T · Aug 8

Spotting a bright green anole perched on your backyard fence on a hot July morning feels like a…

By Ella Brown T · Aug 8

If you live in Texas and have ever shaken out a shoe before putting it on, you already…

By Ella Brown T · Aug 8

Barn Swallows are some of the most acrobatic birds you will spot over a Central Texas yard, sweeping…

By Ella Brown T · Aug 8

Walking out to your garden on an August morning to find a healthy squash plant flopped flat on…

By Ella Brown T · Aug 8

If you have ever stepped onto your porch on a warm Texas evening and spotted a small lizard…

By Ella Brown T · Aug 7

Every August in Central Texas, gardeners walk out to okra plants loaded with pods and come back inside…

By Ella Brown T · Aug 7

Tomato plants in Central Texas can be downright confusing in September: they bloom, they look healthy enough, and…

By Ella Brown T · Aug 7

A lot of Texas gardeners have heard that a certain native shrub can keep scorpions away just by…

By Ella Brown T · Aug 7

Spot a slender green lizard doing push-ups on your back fence and you might wonder if it’s quietly…

By Ella Brown T · Aug 7

If you have spent a Central Texas summer swatting mosquitoes on the patio and wondering whether the right…

By Ella Brown T · Aug 7

Watching a crop of half-grown figs shrivel up and hit the ground during an August heat wave is…

By Ella Brown T · Aug 6

Central Texas okra is supposed to be the toughest vegetable in the summer garden, so when it suddenly…

By Ella Brown T · Aug 6

Spotting a Greater Roadrunner sprinting across a Central Texas yard is one of those moments that stops you…

By Ella Brown T · Aug 6

A Texas-native shrub called American beautyberry has caught the attention of gardeners and researchers alike, thanks to a…

By Ella Brown T · Aug 6

Spot a small lizard clinging to the wall near your porch light on a warm Texas night, and…

By Ella Brown T · Aug 6

Spot a big, bright green spider crouched on your pepper plant and your first instinct might be to…

By Ella Brown T · Aug 6

A headline claiming one native plant draws in geckos and locks roaches out of your house sounds like…

By Ella Brown T · Aug 5

Your tomato plants look healthy, the flowers keep coming, but nothing is turning into fruit. August in Central…

By Ella Brown T · Aug 5

Scorpions showing up around your Central Texas home can feel alarming, especially on hot summer nights when they…

By Ella Brown T · Aug 5

Walking out to your fig tree on a scorching August morning and finding a ring of small, hard,…

By Ella Brown T · Aug 5

Purple Martins are some of the most exciting aerial birds you can attract to a Central Texas yard,…

By Ella Brown T · Aug 5

Watching your bell pepper flowers fall off during an August heat wave is one of the more discouraging…

By Ella Brown T · Aug 5

Watching a healthy squash plant go limp overnight is one of the more unsettling surprises a Central Texas…

By Ella Brown T · Aug 4

Native toads are one of the most welcome surprises a Central Texas garden can host, showing up on…

By Ella Brown T · Aug 4

Spot a slender little lizard doing push-ups on your backyard fence and you might wonder whether it is…

By Ella Brown T · Aug 4

Reach into your okra row on a sweltering August afternoon and you already know the feeling: pods that…

By Ella Brown T · Aug 4