Texas Gardening

Your hottest fence line is the toughest spot in the whole yard, baking in triple-digit Texas sun with…

By Ella Brown T · Jul 24

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

By Ella Brown T · Jul 24

If a gray-and-white bird has been showing up in your yard every day, singing from the fence post,…

By Ella Brown T · Jul 24

By late August, most Texas gardens look tired. The grass has gone crispy, flowers have quit, and even…

By Ella Brown T · Jul 24

Stepping outside on a warm Texas evening and counting twice as many fireflies as last year feels like…

By Ella Brown T · Jul 23

Few sights in a Texas summer yard stop you cold like a male Painted Bunting, a bird that…

By Ella Brown T · Jul 23

Something catches your eye on the back fence again, that flash of electric blue and bold black, and…

By Ella Brown T · Jul 23

Every summer, Texas yards light up with the electric yellow flowers of Esperanza, and then, right around the…

By Ella Brown T · Jul 23

Texas weather likes to test everyone, swinging from triple-digit August afternoons to surprise February freezes without much warning.…

By Ella Brown T · Jul 23

Spot a handful of small green or brown lizards darting across your fence or disappearing into the shrubs,…

By Ella Brown T · Jul 23

Roaches love a Texas summer just as much as we hate them, and once the heat climbs into…

By Ella Brown T · Jul 22

Esperanza (Tecoma stans) turns heads every summer with clusters of bold yellow trumpet flowers that can keep going…

By Ella Brown T · Jul 22

Texas summers can bake a yard until it looks more like a parking lot than a garden, but…

By Ella Brown T · Jul 22

Right around sunset, when the Texas heat finally eases up, you might catch something zipping between your flowers…

By Ella Brown T · Jul 22

If you live in Texas, you already know summer can turn your yard into a tinderbox. Bark mulch…

By Ella Brown T · Jul 22

Spotting a gray fox trotting through your Texas yard at dusk once feels like a lucky surprise. Seeing…

By Ella Brown T · Jul 22

When the Texas sun finally drops and the heat lets up, a whole night shift of pollinators clocks…

By Ella Brown T · Jul 21

Texas gardens take a beating from triple-digit summers, stubborn clay soils, and water restrictions that show up every…

By Ella Brown T · Jul 21

Texas lantana is one of the toughest flowering shrubs you can put in a Texas yard, but it…

By Ella Brown T · Jul 21

Most Texas patios in July feel more like a punishment than a retreat, but one native shrub quietly…

By Ella Brown T · Jul 21

August in Texas is no joke for any plant, and your esperanza is no exception. The good news…

By Ella Brown T · Jul 21

Every Texas yard has that shady spot where the sun barely reaches, tucked behind a fence, under a…

By Ella Brown T · Jul 21

Crape myrtles show up along fence lines all over Texas, but they came from Asia and do not…

By Ella Brown T · Jul 20

Most people picture fireflies glowing over a Texas backyard on a warm June night, but few realize the…

By Ella Brown T · Jul 20

A Texas pergola in July can feel like a griddle if nothing is growing overhead to soften the…

By Ella Brown T · Jul 20

Plumeria brings the scent and color of the tropics right to a Texas patio, and a potted plant…

By Ella Brown T · Jul 20

Texas summers can feel like an oven, with days of triple-digit heat and city water restrictions that make…

By Ella Brown T · Jul 20

Most plants throw in the towel when the thermometer climbs past 100 degrees, but a handful of fruits…

By Ella Brown T · Jul 20

Somewhere in Texas, a silvery shrub is blooming after a summer storm, and chances are good that your…

By Ella Brown T · Jul 19

Catching a flash of blue, green, and red in your Texas garden can stop you mid-step and make…

By Ella Brown T · Jul 19

A single vine trained near your front walkway can turn an ordinary stroll to the door into something…

By Ella Brown T · Jul 19

Bare patches of soil in your yard are basically an open invitation for weeds to move in and…

By Ella Brown T · Jul 19

Every Texas gardener knows the frustration of planting something pretty only to watch it swallow the whole flower…

By Ella Brown T · Jul 19

Spotting a roadrunner dart across your Texas yard once is a thrill, but seeing it again and again…

By Ella Brown T · Jul 19

Water bills in Texas keep climbing, and summer restrictions make it harder every year to keep a thirsty…

By Ella Brown T · Jul 18

August in Texas feels like the sun is trying to win a fight with your garden, but this…

By Ella Brown T · Jul 18

Rats love hiding along the base of a house, especially where warm foundations meet shady garden beds during…

By Ella Brown T · Jul 18

Across Central and South Texas, a native shrub called Texas mountain laurel grows in yards, along roadsides, and…

By Ella Brown T · Jul 18

A single barn owl family can swallow up to a thousand rodents in one nesting season, which makes…

By Ella Brown T · Jul 18

A pretty tree with white, popcorn-shaped seeds and brilliant red fall color sounds like something you’d plant on…

By Ella Brown T · Jul 18

Most Texas homeowners know to watch for copperheads in the garden, but far fewer give a second glance…

By Ella Brown T · Jul 17

Plumeria growing in Texas can put on a stunning show from late spring all the way into fall,…

By Ella Brown T · Jul 17

Every summer across Texas roadsides and open fields, a low-growing wildflower blazes in rings of red and gold,…

By Ella Brown T · Jul 17

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

By Ella Brown T · Jul 17

Few backyard moments stop a Texan in their tracks quite like spotting a brilliant red cardinal perched on…

By Ella Brown T · Jul 17

Your Texas yard can do more than look pretty. The right native wildflowers pull in dragonflies, which are…

By Ella Brown T · Jul 17

Weeds are the uninvited guests that show up every summer in Texas yards, and no amount of mulch…

By Ella Brown T · Jul 16

That soft, hollow cooing drifting from your roofline or backyard fence on a warm Texas morning is one…

By Ella Brown T · Jul 16

Remember catching fireflies in a jar on a warm Texas evening? Those blinking lights are getting harder to…

By Ella Brown T · Jul 16