Texas Gardening

A mockingbird perched on top of your berry shrub, singing and chasing off visitors, is hard to miss.…

By Ella Brown T · Oct 26

That strip of soil next to your driveway can get hotter than any other spot in your yard.…

By Ella Brown T · Oct 26

Reaching into an old box or pulling on a stored boot is something most Texans do without a…

By Ella Brown T · Oct 25

Late October is one of the best planting windows Central Texas gets all year. The brutal summer heat…

By Ella Brown T · Oct 25

A flash of red outside the kitchen window on a cool October morning is hard to ignore. Many…

By Ella Brown T · Oct 25

When the first cool front rolls through Central Texas, a lot of us head outside to tidy up,…

By Ella Brown T · Oct 25

Fall is the real planting season in Texas, and the best garden centers know it. Cooler days mean…

By Ella Brown T · Oct 25

Walk under almost any Central Texas live oak and you will likely find hard, dusty ground where nothing…

By Ella Brown T · Oct 25

Walk into most big-box garden centers in Texas and you will find the same few trees stacked by…

By Ella Brown T · Oct 24

That long-tailed bird sprinting across your driveway is a Greater Roadrunner, and it is always on the lookout…

By Ella Brown T · Oct 24

A west-facing yard in Texas takes the hardest hit of the day, when the sun drops low and…

By Ella Brown T · Oct 24

A bare chain-link fence can make a yard feel more like a parking lot than a garden. Star…

By Ella Brown T · Oct 24

A bare fence line can look pretty dull by September. Autumn sage (Salvia greggii) is one Texas-native plant…

By Ella Brown T · Oct 24

Late fall in Central Texas can look messy, and many gardeners feel the urge to tidy up. But…

By Ella Brown T · Oct 24

Live oaks give Central Texas yards cool, deep shade, but that same shade can leave the ground below…

By Ella Brown T · Oct 23

You step outside on a warm October afternoon and spot a rough-scaled lizard clinging to a fence post.…

By Ella Brown T · Oct 23

Garlic braids look great hanging in a kitchen, but not every garlic plant gives you stalks that bend…

By Ella Brown T · Oct 23

Most Texans think spring is tree-planting season, but fall is actually the sweet spot. Cooler air and warm…

By Ella Brown T · Oct 23

A flash of red in a bare shrub can stop you in your tracks. Many people feel comforted…

By Ella Brown T · Oct 23

Fall chores sound simple: plant, mulch, feed, and cut everything back. But a Texas yard in October can…

By Ella Brown T · Oct 23

You flip on the bathroom light and spot a scorpion in the tub, and suddenly the bedroom down…

By Ella Brown T · Oct 22

Few spring sights in Central Texas beat a Texas mountain laurel loaded with purple flower clusters that smell…

By Ella Brown T · Oct 22

Silvery leaves that glow in a baking Texas yard are hard to miss, and one native shrub is…

By Ella Brown T · Oct 19

Pomegranates seem tough, so it is easy to grab the loppers when a bush gets unruly. But a…

By Ella Brown T · Oct 19

You flip on the porch light after dark and spot a small frog stuck to the window glass,…

By Ella Brown T · Oct 19

A small tree with orchid-like flowers sounds like a great fit for a sunny Texas yard. Desert willow…

By Ella Brown T · Oct 18

Fall is the secret planting season in Texas, when cooler air and warm soil help new shrubs grow…

By Ella Brown T · Oct 18

You flip on the porch light after dark and spot a handful of small geckos clinging near the…

By Ella Brown T · Oct 18

Brown patches in a Texas lawn or pasture can make anyone nervous, especially with news about a new…

By Ella Brown T · Oct 18

A fast-growing shade tree sounds like the answer to a hot Texas yard, but the label fits more…

By Ella Brown T · Oct 18

Few things wake you up faster than a scorpion sitting at the bottom of the bathtub. Many Central…

By Ella Brown T · Oct 18

You step onto the grass after a good rain and it still crackles like breakfast cereal. That sound…

By Ella Brown T · Oct 17

You step outside as the light fades, and there is a rabbit nibbling near your lettuce bed. It…

By Ella Brown T · Oct 17

A soft trill or a shadow on a fence post can make you wonder why an owl keeps…

By Ella Brown T · Oct 17

Something very small and very busy may be hopping through the shrubs outside your window this season. The…

By Ella Brown T · Oct 17

Painted buntings are some of the most colorful birds in Texas, with blue heads, red bellies, and green…

By Ella Brown T · Oct 17

Your roses worked hard all through that long Texas summer, pushing out blooms in heat that would wilt…

By Ella Brown T · Oct 17

When the Texas heat finally breaks in fall, most of us want to rush outside and fix the…

By Ella Brown T · Oct 16

You step outside on a bright fall morning and spot a lizard stretched out on a warm fence…

By Ella Brown T · Oct 16

Pale, yellowing patches in a Texas lawn can send any homeowner hunting for a culprit. One tiny insect,…

By Ella Brown T · Oct 16

Blue flowers are hard to keep looking good through a Texas summer. When an agapanthus sulks, many gardeners…

By Ella Brown T · Oct 16

Some trees look tough enough to handle a Texas summer and a wildfire season, and Mohr oak gets…

By Ella Brown T · Oct 16

You pull back the covers or slip on a shoe, and something small with a curled tail is…

By Ella Brown T · Oct 16

Right when many Texas beds start to look tired, one purple-flowered perennial is just getting going. Fall aster…

By Ella Brown T · Oct 15

Maybe you spotted a scorpion near the baseboard last week, and now you are wondering if your neighbors…

By Ella Brown T · Oct 15

Fall in Texas finally brings cooler mornings, and that is when most of us haul out the rakes,…

By Ella Brown T · Oct 15

Seeing a group of quail scurry across your Texas yard in fall can feel like a surprise visit…

By Ella Brown T · Oct 15

Winter in Texas is quiet in the garden, but it is busy at the swap table. All over…

By Ella Brown T · Oct 15

Texas 1015Y onions have a loyal following because of their mild flavor and big-bulb reputation. The catch is…

By Ella Brown T · Oct 15