Texas Gardening

A lemon, satsuma, or orange tree can take years to bring into fruit, and one hard freeze can…

By Ella Brown T · Nov 3

Those brown, bristly coneflower heads left in the bed after summer are not dead weight. They hold seeds…

By Ella Brown T · Nov 3

A Texas horned lizard is a flat, spiky little reptile that many Texans remember from childhood and rarely…

By Ella Brown T · Nov 3

That first cool rain of fall feels like a reset button for Texas yards. The soil softens, the…

By Ella Brown T · Nov 3

Fall cleanup is the perfect time to look at what is really going on at the edges of…

By Ella Brown T · Nov 2

A pecan can look perfectly fine on the outside and still hold a hungry grub inside. That is…

By Ella Brown T · Nov 2

You cut the vine off your fence, haul away the pile, and a few weeks later green shoots…

By Ella Brown T · Nov 2

Shady corners in Texas yards often go quiet by late summer, when many sun-loving flowers fade or struggle.…

By Ella Brown T · Nov 2

Tarantulas and scorpions both make Texas homeowners nervous, so it is natural to wonder if one keeps the…

By Ella Brown T · Nov 2

Plant a fall bulb bed in Central Texas, and a squirrel may start digging before the soil settles.…

By Ella Brown T · Nov 2

By late August, a lot of Texas yards look tired, crispy, and ready to give up. But when…

By Ella Brown T · Nov 1

A stack of firewood by the back door or a pile of boxes in the garage can seem…

By Ella Brown T · Nov 1

Picture a fence or pergola draped in foamy white flowers right when the garden usually starts to fade.…

By Ella Brown T · Nov 1

When the first cool front rolls through Central Texas, coyotes start moving more, and their noses lead the…

By Ella Brown T · Nov 1

When the first blue norther rolls across Central Texas, bare garden beds take the hit first. A thick…

By Ella Brown T · Nov 1

November in Texas feels like a reward after a long, brutal summer, and your roses know it. Cooler…

By Ella Brown T · Nov 1

Most Texas yards go from green to brown with barely a pause for color. One native tree can…

By Ella Brown T · Oct 31

Picture a silvery shrub that stays leafy all year and sometimes covers itself in purple flowers. That plant…

By Ella Brown T · Oct 31

You step outside with your coffee and find a patch of lawn flipped over like a plowed field.…

By Ella Brown T · Oct 31

Out across the flat fields of the Texas Panhandle, a hawk from the Arctic may be hunting this…

By Ella Brown T · Oct 31

Late summer in Central Texas brings tiny travelers zipping through yards on their way south. A flower with…

By Ella Brown T · Oct 31

Cold snaps have Texas homeowners wondering what they can put by the front door to keep rats and…

By Ella Brown T · Oct 31

Fall in Texas can look like a quiet time for your lawn, but the choices you make now…

By Ella Brown T · Oct 30

Texas summers can turn a pretty flower bed into a crispy mess by July. The good news is…

By Ella Brown T · Oct 30

One morning the yard is quiet, and an hour later dozens of sleek, crested birds are lined up…

By Ella Brown T · Oct 30

A small Texas tree with peeling gray bark produces fruit that turns jet black. That fruit belongs to…

By Ella Brown T · Oct 30

A privacy screen has to look good and hold up through long Texas summers, so the plant you…

By Ella Brown T · Oct 30

Drive through a Central Texas neighborhood in the fall and you may spot soft pink clouds floating above…

By Ella Brown T · Oct 30

That pretty crape myrtle by your patio has a whole root system you never see. Many Central Texas…

By Ella Brown T · Oct 29

A big, spreading oak can cool a Texas yard for generations, but only if it gets the right…

By Ella Brown T · Oct 29

Late fall is a sweet spot for Texas gardeners, when the heat finally breaks and garden centers fill…

By Ella Brown T · Oct 29

You walk outside with your coffee and find your lawn looking like someone attacked it with a spoon…

By Ella Brown T · Oct 29

A bare fence can make a Texas yard feel stark, especially once the summer sun starts beating on…

By Ella Brown T · Oct 29

Few sights say Texas spring like red paintbrush glowing next to blue bluebonnets along a country road. You…

By Ella Brown T · Oct 29

Fall is the sweet spot for planting roses in Texas, when the brutal summer heat finally backs off…

By Ella Brown T · Oct 28

When the leaves drop in November, a lot of Texas yards suddenly feel wide open to the street…

By Ella Brown T · Oct 28

You may have seen a claim that one plant, tucked around your foundation, can keep rats out of…

By Ella Brown T · Oct 28

Podocarpus looks tidy at the nursery, but plenty of Texas yards have watched it brown out in drought,…

By Ella Brown T · Oct 28

Some porch plants look like they would wilt if you stared at them too long, yet they keep…

By Ella Brown T · Oct 28

Crape myrtles have ruled Texas yards for decades, but bark scale, bad pruning, and thirsty summers have many…

By Ella Brown T · Oct 28

By October, many Texas yards look tired, crispy, and brown after months of heat and little rain. A…

By Ella Brown T · Oct 27

Big wasps cruising low over your Central Texas lawn can make anyone nervous, especially when fresh holes show…

By Ella Brown T · Oct 27

Most tulips sold in Texas stores bloom once and then quietly vanish, because our winters are too warm…

By Ella Brown T · Oct 27

Every spring, Texas roadsides glow blue, and plenty of homeowners wish their own yards could join in. The…

By Ella Brown T · Oct 27

Big shade trees take decades to grow, so the choice you make this fall will shape your yard…

By Ella Brown T · Oct 27

When the first cool front rolls through Central Texas, people throw open the windows and break out the…

By Ella Brown T · Oct 27

You glance out the back window at dusk and see a lean, gray-brown animal trotting along the fence.…

By Ella Brown T · Oct 26

Fall in Texas feels like a signal to tidy up the garden, and roses often get the first…

By Ella Brown T · Oct 26

You step outside with your coffee and find small craters scattered across the grass that were not there…

By Ella Brown T · Oct 26