Ella Brown T

You flip on the porch light on a warm fall evening and spot a dark, odd-looking bug resting…

By Ella Brown T · Oct 5

Gulf muhly is a Texas-native grass that turns a yard into a cloud of pink every fall. Some…

By Ella Brown T · Oct 4

Every fall, Central Texas gardeners face the same race against the calendar. Bluebonnets, Indian blankets, and other spring…

By Ella Brown T · Oct 4

That soft, rolling coo drifting across your yard at sunrise is one of the most familiar sounds in…

By Ella Brown T · Oct 4

A Texas tree can look fine in October and still be running low on soil moisture. When a…

By Ella Brown T · Oct 4

Step onto a Texas porch on a fall evening and you may find toads hopping across the bricks…

By Ella Brown T · Oct 4

Picture a plain wooden fence draped in glossy green vines and dotted with sunny, sweet-smelling yellow flowers while…

By Ella Brown T · Oct 4

Pomegranate has a reputation as a tough plant for hot Texas yards, and that reputation is partly earned.…

By Ella Brown T · Oct 3

Camellias can put on a beautiful show in fall, but Central Texas water and soil make them tricky.…

By Ella Brown T · Oct 3

Texas lantana is still putting on a show in many yards come October, but some branches start to…

By Ella Brown T · Oct 3

Picture a small Texas native tree that blooms white in early spring and throws a little shade over…

By Ella Brown T · Oct 3

A masked visitor on your patio, a toppled trash can, or glowing eyes by the pecan tree can…

By Ella Brown T · Oct 3

Looking for a living wall between your yard and the neighbor’s? Cenizo, also called Texas sage, is a…

By Ella Brown T · Oct 3

Rocky slopes are tough places to plant, and many Texas gardeners end up staring at patchy grass and…

By Ella Brown T · Oct 2

Plenty of Central Texas yards still hold a Bradford pear, and many owners are looking for something better…

By Ella Brown T · Oct 2

Plant a low, leafy native by the back door, and toads will show up to eat your roaches.…

By Ella Brown T · Oct 2

A flash of blue, green, and red at the edge of your shrubs can stop you mid-step. The…

By Ella Brown T · Oct 2

That dim strip of ground along a Texas fence line is easy to ignore, yet it might be…

By Ella Brown T · Oct 2

You flip on the garage light, spot a small brown spider, and wonder if something is going on…

By Ella Brown T · Oct 2

Few shrubs put on a show like American beautyberry in fall. Its branches fill with clusters of bright…

By Ella Brown T · Oct 1

Fall is the best time of year to plant in Texas, and smart gardeners know it. Cooler air…

By Ella Brown T · Oct 1

A west-facing wall in Central Texas can feel like an oven by late afternoon. Crossvine, a tough native…

By Ella Brown T · Oct 1

Most Central Texas yards have a spot where a tough, leafy shrub could earn its keep all year.…

By Ella Brown T · Oct 1

A bare fence can do more than hold up a property line. Coral honeysuckle is a twining vine…

By Ella Brown T · Oct 1

A rough-scaled lizard stretched out in the afternoon sun is hard to ignore. In Central Texas, that visitor…

By Ella Brown T · Oct 1

Texas spiny lizards are common, eye-catching residents of Central Texas yards, and plenty of people hope they double…

By Ella Brown T · Sep 30

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