Ella Brown T

Most Texas gardeners walk past bougainvillea at the nursery without giving it a second look, assuming it belongs…

By Ella Brown T · Aug 24

Texas lantana is a tough, sun-loving native shrub that blooms in bursts of orange and yellow across central…

By Ella Brown T · Aug 23

Red-tip photinia was once the go-to fence shrub across Texas, but many homeowners are watching their hedges turn…

By Ella Brown T · Aug 23

Texas lantana is built for brutal summers, so when it stops flowering in the middle of July, something…

By Ella Brown T · Aug 23

Some Texas water providers will pay you to pull out your grass and replace it with a drought-tolerant…

By Ella Brown T · Aug 23

Most Texas homeowners with a hot, rocky slope have already tried something that failed – turf grass that…

By Ella Brown T · Aug 23

Late August is a good moment to take a close look at your crape myrtles and decide whether…

By Ella Brown T · Aug 23

Every Texas neighborhood has at least one street lined with crape myrtles, and for good reason – they…

By Ella Brown T · Aug 22

Finding a foundation shrub that holds up through a Texas summer and still looks good planted against heavy…

By Ella Brown T · Aug 22

Most Texas gardeners spend money every spring replacing plants that didn’t survive winter, but there’s one native shrub…

By Ella Brown T · Aug 22

Every spring, a cheerful yellow flower pops up across Central Texas lawns, and most homeowners yank it out…

By Ella Brown T · Aug 22

That shaded corner of your yard where nothing seems to grow might finally have a solution. Wishbone flower,…

By Ella Brown T · Aug 22

A popular claim circulating among Texas homeowners says that placing a certain porch plant near your front door…

By Ella Brown T · Aug 22

Bare borders in Central Texas are a real problem. The summer heat, thin rocky soil, and unpredictable rainfall…

By Ella Brown T · Aug 21

Rosemary shows up on a lot of Texas patios, and it earns its spot. It handles brutal summer…

By Ella Brown T · Aug 21

Pulling weeds from a Texas flower bed in July is nobody’s idea of a good time, and most…

By Ella Brown T · Aug 21

When a Texas summer turns brutal and most of the yard looks scorched and spent, finding a plant…

By Ella Brown T · Aug 21

August in Central Texas is brutal, but it is also the month that decides whether you get a…

By Ella Brown T · Aug 21

Every summer, Texas porches become prime real estate for wasps looking to build their next nest, and plenty…

By Ella Brown T · Aug 21

Every summer, Texas homeowners start spotting scorpions in places they really did not expect – inside a shoe,…

By Ella Brown T · Aug 20

Texans who spend time on a covered patio know the frustration of sweeping up a constant mess of…

By Ella Brown T · Aug 20

A bare chain-link fence is one of the least inspiring sights in a Texas yard, but star jasmine…

By Ella Brown T · Aug 20

Rosemary is a Mediterranean herb that many Texas gardeners are discovering works surprisingly well in bright, sunny spots…

By Ella Brown T · Aug 20

When a Texas summer turns brutal and watering restrictions kick in, most yards start looking rough fast. Orange…

By Ella Brown T · Aug 20

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

By Ella Brown T · Aug 20

Watching fireflies blink across a dark Texas yard on a warm June evening is one of those simple…

By Ella Brown T · Aug 19

Summer heat in Texas is no joke, and a shady yard can feel like a completely different world…

By Ella Brown T · Aug 19

Plenty of Texas homeowners have stepped outside after dark and spotted a small, pale lizard frozen near the…

By Ella Brown T · Aug 19

If you have a sunny fence line in Central Texas and want to draw hummingbirds into your yard,…

By Ella Brown T · Aug 19

Adding a native grass to the edge of your Central Texas pond sounds like a simple fix for…

By Ella Brown T · Aug 19

Every summer in Texas, a striking bird with an impossibly long tail shows up on fence lines and…

By Ella Brown T · Aug 19

A plain wood or chain-link fence in eastern Texas can become something genuinely worth stopping to look at…

By Ella Brown T · Aug 18

Spot a small, pale lizard clinging to your fence or skittering across the porch wall after dark, and…

By Ella Brown T · Aug 18

Fireflies have a way of making a summer evening feel like something worth stepping outside for, and many…

By Ella Brown T · Aug 18

Painted buntings are among the most striking birds in North America, and Central Texas homeowners have real reason…

By Ella Brown T · Aug 18

Every spring, Central Texas homeowners yank a small purple-flowering plant out of their lawns without a second thought,…

By Ella Brown T · Aug 18

Central Texas summers push plants hard, and most foundation shrubs struggle to keep up. Texas sage, also called…

By Ella Brown T · Aug 18

If you live in Central Texas and have spotted a small, pale lizard clinging to your porch wall…

By Ella Brown T · Aug 17

A single vine can turn a plain fence into a butterfly nursery, and in Central Texas, one native…

By Ella Brown T · Aug 17

Plenty of gardening tips promise that one plant will solve your pest problems, but the real story is…

By Ella Brown T · Aug 17

Cardinals have a way of stopping you mid-step, especially when you suddenly notice three or four of them…

By Ella Brown T · Aug 17

Every spring, Central Texas homeowners yank out a slender, purple-flowered plant without a second thought, assuming it is…

By Ella Brown T · Aug 17

Walk outside on a Central Texas evening and you might catch the quick, zigzagging silhouette of a bat…

By Ella Brown T · Aug 17

Barn Swallows are among the most recognizable summer birds in Central Texas, swooping low over lawns and nesting…

By Ella Brown T · Aug 16

Rosemary is one of those plants that earns its spot on a Texas porch without much fuss. It…

By Ella Brown T · Aug 16

Every spring, Central Texas lawns light up with clusters of tiny purple flowers, and most homeowners reach for…

By Ella Brown T · Aug 16

A Texas-native passionflower vine climbing a backyard fence is a genuinely beautiful thing, and the idea that it…

By Ella Brown T · Aug 16

Spot a flash of bright green darting across a wooden fence in the Texas Hill Country, and you…

By Ella Brown T · Aug 16

Greater Roadrunners are one of Texas’s most recognizable birds, and yes, they do eat scorpions. But the idea…

By Ella Brown T · Aug 16