Ella Brown T

Look up on the right September afternoon in Central Texas and you might catch dozens of hawks spiraling…

By Ella Brown T · Sep 14

Something unsettling happens when you walk out to your garden one morning and find a rose bush that…

By Ella Brown T · Sep 13

Pecan trees are a proud fixture across Central Texas yards, and watching one shed leaves ahead of schedule…

By Ella Brown T · Sep 13

Every fall, Central Texas fig owners walk outside to find their tree stripped bare and start wondering if…

By Ella Brown T · Sep 13

Watching half-formed pecans hit the ground before they ever fill out is one of the more frustrating things…

By Ella Brown T · Sep 13

Bermudagrass has ruled Central Texas yards for decades, but some homeowners are taking a hard look at what…

By Ella Brown T · Sep 13

If your hummingbird feeder is going empty faster than you can keep up with in September, you are…

By Ella Brown T · Sep 13

Step outside on a Central Texas morning and you might find a scattering of fresh, cone-shaped holes punched…

By Ella Brown T · Sep 12

Brown patches spreading across a Central Texas lawn can feel alarming, especially when the grass that was green…

By Ella Brown T · Sep 12

Spotting a chunky, warty toad near your garden beds on a warm Central Texas evening is one of…

By Ella Brown T · Sep 12

Summer in the Texas Hill Country is no joke, and most flowering plants tap out long before August…

By Ella Brown T · Sep 12

Walk through your Central Texas yard on a late-summer morning and you might come face to face with…

By Ella Brown T · Sep 12

By late summer, most Central Texas flower beds are looking pretty rough. The petunias are leggy, the zinnias…

By Ella Brown T · Sep 11

Spotting a bobcat slipping through your yard just before dark can stop you in your tracks. These spotted…

By Ella Brown T · Sep 11

Dragonflies darting over a backyard pond are one of summer’s most satisfying sights, and they do eat mosquitoes…

By Ella Brown T · Sep 11

Blue plumbago puts on one of the most cheerful flower shows in a Central Texas yard, but come…

By Ella Brown T · Sep 11

Walking through a Texas yard in late summer, you might spot a fuzzy, fast-moving insect with bright red-and-black…

By Ella Brown T · Sep 11

Most front walkways in Texas bake under a relentless summer sun, and keeping them looking polished without burning…

By Ella Brown T · Sep 11

Walk across a Central Texas yard after a stretch of dry weather breaks and you might count a…

By Ella Brown T · Sep 10

Tucked along Bandera Road in San Antonio, there is a garden center that feels less like a store…

By Ella Brown T · Sep 10

A tree growing quietly in yards across Central and South Texas has been making headlines with a startling…

By Ella Brown T · Sep 10

Native perennials are the smart pick for Texas yards because they shrug off triple-digit summers and survive water…

By Ella Brown T · Sep 10

Just outside Denton, there is a small nursery that has become a quiet legend for Texas gardeners who…

By Ella Brown T · Sep 10

If you have ever wondered where those famous Texas bluebonnets come from, a big part of the answer…

By Ella Brown T · Sep 10

Every fall, some Central Texas homeowners notice swallows swooping low around their eaves and wonder whether the birds…

By Ella Brown T · Sep 9

Catching a pale, silent shape gliding low over your yard just after sunset is one of those moments…

By Ella Brown T · Sep 9

Eastern Screech-Owls are small, secretive birds that live in suburban Central Texas yards, often going unnoticed until you…

By Ella Brown T · Sep 9

If you have ever watched a tiny hummingbird streak across your backyard and slam into another one hovering…

By Ella Brown T · Sep 9

Texas mountain laurel looks like a friendly evergreen shrub, but its bright red seeds hide a poison strong…

By Ella Brown T · Sep 9

Summer afternoons in Texas can turn a west-facing wall into something that feels like a griddle, and that…

By Ella Brown T · Sep 9

Something catches your eye near the back fence, and before you can blink, a long-tailed bird sprints across…

By Ella Brown T · Sep 8

Chinese and Japanese wisteria can take over a yard in a few seasons, swallowing fences, climbing into tree…

By Ella Brown T · Sep 8

Every fall, Texas gardeners get a narrow window to put plants in the ground before summer heat returns,…

By Ella Brown T · Sep 8

Buffalo grass has been quietly drawing attention from Central Texas homeowners who want a yard that asks less…

By Ella Brown T · Sep 8

Black widows are a real part of Central Texas outdoor life, and most homeowners would rather not find…

By Ella Brown T · Sep 8

Red-tip photinia lines fences all over Texas, but it comes with a catch that trips up a lot…

By Ella Brown T · Sep 8

Mexican mint marigold, also sold as Texas tarragon, is one of the most talked-about aromatic plants for warm…

By Ella Brown T · Sep 7

Crape myrtles are one of the hardest-working flowering trees in Central Texas yards, and a lot of homeowners…

By Ella Brown T · Sep 7

A flat, fast-seeding weed called spotted spurge has been showing up in Texas lawns, garden beds, and sidewalk…

By Ella Brown T · Sep 7

Texas summers punish outdoor spaces with triple-digit heat, blinding sun, and months without meaningful rain, yet the right…

By Ella Brown T · Sep 7

Central Texas gardeners know Knock Out roses as the tough, reliable shrubs that keep flowering when almost everything…

By Ella Brown T · Sep 7

Some native shrubs just make sense for Texas yards, and yaupon holly is one of the strongest candidates…

By Ella Brown T · Sep 7

Finding a shrub that gives birds real shelter without eventually swallowing a fence corner is harder than it…

By Ella Brown T · Sep 6

September is a short but real window for Central Texas gardeners who want one more round of vegetables…

By Ella Brown T · Sep 6

Few wildflowers can match the bold, wheel-shaped blooms of Indian blanket, a heat-tough native that paints roadsides and…

By Ella Brown T · Sep 6

Plenty of Texas gardeners dream about walking into their own backyard and picking fruit from a tree they…

By Ella Brown T · Sep 6

Something small and fast has been showing up on your Central Texas porch every day this September, hovering…

By Ella Brown T · Sep 6

A bare fence can feel like a missed opportunity, especially during the long Texas warm season when everything…

By Ella Brown T · Sep 6

Cracked patios and lifted walkways are a common headache when the wrong tree goes in the wrong spot.…

By Ella Brown T · Sep 5