Texas Gardening

South Texas summers can feel like an oven that never turns off, and a lot of pretty fruit…

By Ella Brown T · Jul 27

Your salvia looked great in spring, covered in flowers, and now it has gone quiet in the July…

By Ella Brown T · Jul 27

Knock Out roses get planted everywhere in Texas, but they often struggle once the triple-digit summers and water…

By Ella Brown T · Jul 27

Crape myrtles show up in half the yards across Texas, but they are not actually from here, and…

By Ella Brown T · Jul 27

Texas summers can punish roses fast, and what you do in the weeks before serious heat settles in…

By Ella Brown T · Jul 27

Texas weather does not play nice, with triple-digit summers, stubborn drought, and water restrictions that can leave a…

By Ella Brown T · Jul 26

Lantana has been the go-to border plant in Texas yards for years, but it can spread where you…

By Ella Brown T · Jul 26

A single shrub with fiery red-orange blooms can make your yard a much more welcoming place for hummingbirds…

By Ella Brown T · Jul 26

Every Texas gardener knows the disappointment of watching hostas melt in the summer heat, turning yellow and crispy…

By Ella Brown T · Jul 26

Gardenias are not easy plants to begin with, and a Texas July can push even a healthy one…

By Ella Brown T · Jul 26

A small, furry caterpillar found in Texas yards and gardens can cause a burst of pain that stops…

By Ella Brown T · Jul 26

If you have ever watched a shrub wilt into a sad brown pile by the middle of July,…

By Ella Brown T · Jul 25

Purple Martins are one of the most celebrated summer birds in Texas, swooping and chattering over neighborhoods from…

By Ella Brown T · Jul 25

Barn owls are one of nature’s most efficient nighttime hunters, and plenty of Texas homeowners wonder whether attracting…

By Ella Brown T · Jul 25

When temperatures push past 100 degrees in Texas, the birds visiting your yard face real challenges finding water…

By Ella Brown T · Jul 25

Scorpions have a way of showing up exactly where you don’t want them: on the back porch at…

By Ella Brown T · Jul 25

If hummingbirds have been missing from your yard lately, the fix likely involves more than one plant, but…

By Ella Brown T · Jul 25

Late summer in Texas can leave even tough lantana looking tired, with long leggy shoots and fewer fresh…

By Ella Brown T · Jul 24

Scorpions are a real concern for Texas homeowners, especially in summer when the striped bark scorpion turns up…

By Ella Brown T · Jul 24

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