Texas Gardening

If you live in Texas and have ever shaken out a shoe before putting it on, you already…

By Ella Brown T · Aug 8

Barn Swallows are some of the most acrobatic birds you will spot over a Central Texas yard, sweeping…

By Ella Brown T · Aug 8

Walking out to your garden on an August morning to find a healthy squash plant flopped flat on…

By Ella Brown T · Aug 8

If you have ever stepped onto your porch on a warm Texas evening and spotted a small lizard…

By Ella Brown T · Aug 7

Every August in Central Texas, gardeners walk out to okra plants loaded with pods and come back inside…

By Ella Brown T · Aug 7

Tomato plants in Central Texas can be downright confusing in September: they bloom, they look healthy enough, and…

By Ella Brown T · Aug 7

A lot of Texas gardeners have heard that a certain native shrub can keep scorpions away just by…

By Ella Brown T · Aug 7

Spot a slender green lizard doing push-ups on your back fence and you might wonder if it’s quietly…

By Ella Brown T · Aug 7

If you have spent a Central Texas summer swatting mosquitoes on the patio and wondering whether the right…

By Ella Brown T · Aug 7

Watching a crop of half-grown figs shrivel up and hit the ground during an August heat wave is…

By Ella Brown T · Aug 6

Central Texas okra is supposed to be the toughest vegetable in the summer garden, so when it suddenly…

By Ella Brown T · Aug 6

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

By Ella Brown T · Aug 6

A Texas-native shrub called American beautyberry has caught the attention of gardeners and researchers alike, thanks to a…

By Ella Brown T · Aug 6

Spot a small lizard clinging to the wall near your porch light on a warm Texas night, and…

By Ella Brown T · Aug 6

Spot a big, bright green spider crouched on your pepper plant and your first instinct might be to…

By Ella Brown T · Aug 6

A headline claiming one native plant draws in geckos and locks roaches out of your house sounds like…

By Ella Brown T · Aug 5

Your tomato plants look healthy, the flowers keep coming, but nothing is turning into fruit. August in Central…

By Ella Brown T · Aug 5

Scorpions showing up around your Central Texas home can feel alarming, especially on hot summer nights when they…

By Ella Brown T · Aug 5

Walking out to your fig tree on a scorching August morning and finding a ring of small, hard,…

By Ella Brown T · Aug 5

Purple Martins are some of the most exciting aerial birds you can attract to a Central Texas yard,…

By Ella Brown T · Aug 5

Watching your bell pepper flowers fall off during an August heat wave is one of the more discouraging…

By Ella Brown T · Aug 5

Watching a healthy squash plant go limp overnight is one of the more unsettling surprises a Central Texas…

By Ella Brown T · Aug 4

Native toads are one of the most welcome surprises a Central Texas garden can host, showing up on…

By Ella Brown T · Aug 4

Spot a slender little lizard doing push-ups on your backyard fence and you might wonder whether it is…

By Ella Brown T · Aug 4

Reach into your okra row on a sweltering August afternoon and you already know the feeling: pods that…

By Ella Brown T · Aug 4

Scorpions are a real concern for Texas homeowners, and it is tempting to believe that one well-chosen plant…

By Ella Brown T · Aug 4

Barn Swallows swooping under a Texas porch or eave are one of summer’s more striking sights, and plenty…

By Ella Brown T · Aug 4

Every summer, Central Texas homeowners start finding scorpions inside their homes, and some wonder whether the toads living…

By Ella Brown T · Aug 3

Most Central Texas gardeners who spot a bright-green spider on their tomato plants reach for something to kill…

By Ella Brown T · Aug 3

That bright green lizard darting along your back fence is more than a cool summer sighting. Green anoles…

By Ella Brown T · Aug 3

Summer in Central Texas brings scorching heat, and with it, grasshoppers that can shred a vegetable bed almost…

By Ella Brown T · Aug 3

Spotted a quick little lizard darting across your porch railing and wondered if it was doing you a…

By Ella Brown T · Aug 3

Okra growers across Central Texas know the frustration well: you checked the garden two days ago, everything looked…

By Ella Brown T · Aug 3

Scorpions are a real summer concern for Central Texas homeowners, and the idea that backyard toads might eat…

By Ella Brown T · Aug 2

Aphids can show up fast on fall vegetable crops in Central Texas, and green lacewings are one of…

By Ella Brown T · Aug 2

Barn Owls are one of the most recognizable raptors in Texas, with their ghostly white faces and silent…

By Ella Brown T · Aug 2

Summer evenings on a Texas porch come with unwanted company, and plenty of homeowners are looking for a…

By Ella Brown T · Aug 2

A bright-green spider hiding among your broccoli leaves is not a pest to sweep away. The green lynx…

By Ella Brown T · Aug 2

If you spend summer evenings on a Central Texas porch, you have probably spotted a small green lizard…

By Ella Brown T · Aug 2

Spotting a Ruby-throated Hummingbird hovering at a bloom in your Central Texas yard is one of those moments…

By Ella Brown T · Aug 1

Texas summers are brutal, and most plants either give up or need constant watering to survive. Texas lantana…

By Ella Brown T · Aug 1

Walk barefoot across a gravel yard on a July afternoon in Texas and you will know exactly why…

By Ella Brown T · Jul 31

Most hummingbirds are not looking for a feeder when they pass through your yard. They are looking for…

By Ella Brown T · Jul 31

Bougainvillea is one of the most dramatic plants you can grow in Texas, but that explosion of color…

By Ella Brown T · Jul 31

Gardenias are one of those plants that stop people in their tracks with their creamy white blooms and…

By Ella Brown T · Jul 31

Spotting a roadrunner trotting through your Texas yard after a long stretch of quiet is the kind of…

By Ella Brown T · Jul 31

Texas summers are relentless, and most flowering shrubs wave a white flag long before August is over. Esperanza,…

By Ella Brown T · Jul 31

A yellow wildflower with a dark, button-like center has been quietly showing up in Texas pollinator gardens for…

By Ella Brown T · Jul 30

Fall gardening in Texas is not a single starting gun fired across the whole state. Depending on where…

By Ella Brown T · Jul 30