The Pumpkinator!

Posted on December 3, 2013 by Jay White

I had no idea how much fun there was in a box of pumpkins

This past weekend Sally, Jessie and I were invited to take part in an annual fall activity called “Punkin Chunkin”. If you are not familiar with “Punkin Chunkin’” don’t feel bad. Neither was I. Evidently this is a pretty big deal in the North East. Punkin Chunkin is the art (and competition) of creating machines to hurl pumpkins as far as possible. This sounds amazing! I cannot believe it has not caught on down here.

Staring dowm the barrel of “The Pumpkinator”

Luckily Sally is friends with a true visionary. Kathyrn Boyd is, as far as I know, the first “Punkin Chunker” in Texas. She has created her very own Punkin Chunker that her daughter Emmy Kate has dubbed “The Pumpkinator”. They invited my family to join their family for an afternoon of good natured vegetable destruction.

Emmy Kate (in white) instructs my daughter Jessie in the proper way to load the catapult

“The Pumpkinator” is an ingeniously simple catapult that Kathryn designed for the sole purpose of propelling pumpkins hard enough to explode on impact. Katherine’s Pumpkinator is built on a 2” drill stem frame that looks a lot like an old swing set. Pointing down from the top bar are two arms that hold long rubber lines made from surgical hose. The rubber lines are attached to a funnel that has been modified to include a handle. The pumpkins are placed in the funnel which the shooter pulls back as far as possible. Then, it is just a matter of point and release.

There is nothing like exploding pumpkins to bring out the kid in all of us!

I cannot describe the shear bliss that burst out across those kid’s faces when those bright orange orbs exploded against the plywood wall! It looked like so much fun that Sally and I gladly lined up for our turn. After firing “The Pumpkinator” I can tell you that you have not really lived until you have used a catapult to fire a pumpkin into a wall!

The end result of a very enjoyable afternoon

Even though chunking pumpkins is new to me, the feelings I felt while doing it are not. I miss the days when families actually got together and participated in good, old fashioned, wholesome activities. I know I sound like an old man here, but I truly believe we would all be better off if we got up, turned off the TV, the computer, the Ipad and the Playstation and went outside and chunked pumpkins with our friends and family. I want to say a big Thank You to Kathyrn for creating “The Pumpkinator”. People like you remind us all that life is best when lived unplugged!

Squash Wrap Up

Posted on November 22, 2013 by Jay White

Another front came through last night. Since this is the second significant front to come through in November I realize that the end of growing season is at hand for a lot of things in my garden. The last front actually brought a little freezing weather with it so I had to cover up the tomatoes. I also had a few winter squash that were not quite ready so I covered them too. I also harvested the winter squash that were ready.

The last of the winter squash. Top wrung – Red Warty Thing, Black Futsu and the unidentified squash. Second wrung – Turk’s Turban. Third wrung – another unidentifed squash. Photo by Chris Rue

I planted five varieties of winter squash back in August. I bought the seeds from Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds (rareseeds.com). Even though I planted five varieties of squash, I wound up only harvesting three of the varieties I ordered. This was due to a couple of strange things that I have never happened to me before.

The cucmber beetles ate everything – leaves and flowers included!

The first were the cucumber beetles. OMG! They were terrible. In addition to being a general menace they completely destroyed all of the vines of the Lakota winter squash. I really wanted this variety so that was pretty disappointing. However, that is nature. Bugs happen. Since I have never had cucumber beetles before, and since they COMPLETELY ate all of the Lakota vines, I can only assume that the Lakota squash brought the bugs to me. I will never plant this variety again.

This image of Galeux d’ Eysines is from rareseeds.com. This what I wanted to grow. The green and orange squash in the first picture is what I got.

The next thing that happened was truly strange. I am convinced that Baker Creek somehow messed up their packaging. I ordered a variety called Galeux d’ Eysines. As the season progressed it became clear that I had none of this variety growing in my squash patch. Instead, I had a large, oblong squash that was mostly green but stripped with a little orange. To this day I have no idea what variety this squash is. I have gone through all of the pictures on their website and I can find nothing that resembles the squash I grew. Very strange. I know accidents happen but I have never bought a package of seeds and then had them turn out to be something other than what was advertised.

This lovely Tatume’ was grown by MOH reader Sherry Westphal in Michigan.

On another note, I recently got an e-mail and pictures from Sherry Westphal of Michigan. She grew Tatume’ on a trellis in her garden. Tatume’ is my favorite squash of all time. Tatume’ is the rare squash that can be grown as either a summer or winter squash. I grow it in the spring and eat it when it is young. However, if you leave it on the vine it will turn into a mild winter squash. So glad Sherry enjoyed her Tatume’ and took the time to send pictures and tell me about it.

All of this cold means the end of what I consider prime gardening time. The tomatoes are done and the last of my winter squash will soon be on the porch. However, thanks to my mild climate, I have enough greens and brassicas growing in the garden to keep my hands dirty until February.

Trimming Trees Correctly – Don’t Overdo It! by Janet Laminack

Posted on November 12, 2013 by Jay White

Some of you out there make yard work way too hard. For example, leaves don’t have to be raked and bagged. You can mow them into tiny bits and let them break down in the lawn. Or you can rake them into your flowerbeds as a mulch. But they can be messy and ill-behaved and blow around places, so I know that some people really need to rake and bag leaves and that is ok.

Downed leaves make great mulch

Did you know that trees don’t have to be trimmed? That’s a real shocker, isn’t it? The three primary reasons a tree should be pruned or trimmed is if they have branches that are dead, diseased or damaged. There are many other reasons that people trim and prune their shade trees but not all of them are very effective or recommended, such as pruning to control size. Find a tree or shrub with a mature size within your desired limits. Removing more than a third of a plant at a time is not recommended ever, so bear that in mind when charging about with your loppers and chainsaws.

Trees will need to be trimmed if branches are crossing and rubbing. Or if a tree is touching your house or other structures, pruning is appropriate.

Trees don’t “have” to be trimmed. These lovely cottonwoods and sycamores have never seen a a pruner or saw and they look pretty spectacular

Sometimes trees are thinned out in the canopy. This is primarily done to allow more sunlight in for growing grass under the tree. Trees and turfgrass don’t actually mix too well. But, a tree adds so much more value to your home that I tend to always side with the tree over lawn health. Planting a groundcover or other shade loving plants under a tree is an option if it’s too shady for grass but you want something green. Trees don’t need to be thinned out because they are too heavy or thick.

Trees are also trimmed up to open up a view or sight line. This is sometimes necessary and advisable. Removal of a few of the lower branches so that you don’t clothesline yourself while mowing is reasonable. However, be mindful not to overdo it creating a lion’s tail. This can leave a tree less structurally sound.

Crape myrtles are commonly trimmed back severely or topped in the winter to encourage blooming. They do flower on new growth, but pruning is not necessary in order for them to put on a spectacular show the next summer. Topping can cause the tree to lose its wonderful branching structure.

You don’t have to commit crepe murder to get your crepe myrtles to produce beautiful blooms each year. Photo from Greg Grant on Aggie-Horticulture. http://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/archives/parsons/publications/stopthecrape.html

Yard work can be tough, but maybe not as hard as you have been making it all these years. If you have questions about how to care for your trees or landscape, give us a call at 940.349.2892, email master.gardener@dentoncounty.com or visit www.dcmga.com.

The Red Warty Thing

Posted on October 30, 2013 by Jay White

I love garden surprises. This fall, my surprise came in the form of a massive squash called The Red Warty Thing (formerly called Victor). Back in July I pulled down my cucumber vines. This left me with a 33’ trellised row in need of planting. So, I ordered 5 varieties of heirloom winter squash from Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds (rareseeds.com). In all honesty, I didn’t plan on eating any of them. I wanted to use them in the fall decorations around our house.

I have never enjoyed watching anything grow more than I did this Red Warty Thing

When I ordered The Red Warty Thing, I thought I would be growing a lovely orange, bumpy, softball sized decoration to mix in a bowl with my gourds, acorns and leaves. I was very surprised when my “decoration” turned into a 16 pound pumpkin!

Watching this squash turn into a pumpkin has truly been the highlight of my fall garden

I have grown very few things that I enjoyed as much as this squash. In fact, watching it grow became a part of our evening routine. It produced huge vines with huge, beautiful leaves. After that came the huge yellow flowers. Once the bees did their thing, we enjoyed watching the light yellow football shaped fruit that was about the size of golf ball turn into the huge Red Warty Thing. For the first month, it kept its yellow color. Once it got about as big as it is now, the skin started to change. Then it developed slight ribs like a pumpkin. Then the bumps started forming and the color started changing ever so slightly every day.

This baby Red Warty Thing has gone from golf ball to softball size in less than a week

As much fun as it was to watch the squash grow, I will probably not grow it (or any other squash) for a couple of years. The reason I have finally decided to give up on squash for a while was a little green bug called the cucumber beetle.

This little green bug has finally convinced me to put away my squash seeds for a couple of years

Now I am a pretty experienced gardener. However, I have never experienced insects that were this invasive and this destructive. While I am accustomed to squash bugs and squash vine borers, I have never encountered anything like the cucumber beetle before. As soon as the foliage reached the top of the trellis, these guys showed up. And not just a few either. They came en mass. Over the next few weeks they systematically stripped all of the foliage and flowers from my 15 plants. The only way I could keep ahead of them was to let the squash vine on the ground. For some reason the bugs only ate the foliage on the trellis.

The cucmber beetles ate everything – leaves and flowers included!

Since I grow organically, I didn’t have any means to fight them. I never noticed a larval stage. One day I noticed holes in the leaves and the next day the trellis was covered in a swarm of green bugs. These beetles finally showed me that as an organic grower I am truly defenseless against a determined invader.

Since this is going to be the last winter squash I grow for a while I decided to do a little research and see what I could do with a 16 lb squash. Turns out, I can do a whole lot. According to the internet, the Red Warty Thing has a flavor and texture that allows you to use it in all of your pumpkin recipes. So I can puree it and use it to make pumpkin bread, pumpkin pie and pumpkin soup. It can also be cubed and roasted just like an acorn or butternut squash. Since I really like all of these things, I am looking forward to helping my wife convert our “decorative” squash into a plethora of pumpkin dishes for all of our Thanksgiving guests.

Fabulous Fall Decorations

Posted on October 18, 2013 by Jay White

On Monday, my wife went to Bayou Bend to attend the memorial service for Michael Brown. Michael was the curator there for many years and she was very fond of him. Michael was a great researcher and curator. In fact, he literally wrote the book on Duncan Phyfe furniture. He was the epitome of a gentleman and scholar. He left this world too soon and his passing leaves a big hole in the world of American Decorative Arts.

Michael’s memorial service was held at Bayou Bend.

After I got off work I rode around while waiting for the service to let out. I love riding around in River Oaks. According to Forbes magazine, River Oaks is home to several of the richest people in America. Because of this, I got to enjoy some of the most impressive homes and landscapes in the entire United States.

This is the proper way to decorate the enterance to a home

In my wanderings I happened upon what I think is my favorite fall landscape ever. If I had the money, this is how I would decorate the outside of my house every fall. As you look at these beds notice that, besides the shrubs, nothing is permanent. Each season, the owner replaces every thing between the boxwoods with seasonal plants.

Not only do I admire these decorations I admire the owners for creating these botanically beatuiful scenes for the public

I don’t know the landscape company that installs these decorations or the man that pays to have it done. However, I admire them both. Much like Michael Brown, they are enhancing peoples lives by sharing beautiful things with them.

I am not particularly fond of crotons. However, I have to admit that they were the perfect filler between the mums, marigolds, squash and pumpkins.

It’s Tree Planting Time by Janet Laminack

Posted on October 13, 2013 by Jay White

There is an old saying that goes “The very best time to plant a tree was twenty years ago”. If you didn’t do it twenty years ago you can make amends by planting one now. Fall is the perfect time for planting trees in Texas. Fall planting allows a tree to establish itself in the cooler temperatures of winter and spring.

October is the best time of the year to plant trees in Texas. This weekend, I planted two large Empire Live Oaks from Tree Town USA in the front yard of nationally known decorator Holly Mathis (http://www.hollymathisinteriors.com/).

When choosing trees, people often want a quick growing tree. Quick growing sometimes means quick dying, so it’s best to be patient and pick a quality tree. Some good choices for our area include oaks like burr, chinkapin, red oak and live oak. Lacebark elm and cedar elm do well and pecans also make nice shade trees. But pecans are not a good choice for planting over driveways or for the squirrel-adverse. You can also consider smaller trees or large shrubs such as redbud, crape myrtle, desert willow, and wax myrtle. True, these trees won’t be gigantic shade trees, but they can make a positive impact and might be more appropriate and attractive by staying in scale with your home and smaller urban lot.

When I plant a tree I use my shovel to get the hole width and depth correct. Width should be 1.5 times as big as the pot and the depth should be 2 or 3 inches shorter than the soil depth in the pot

When deciding where to plant a tree, it’s essential to consider its mature size. Consider how big this tree will be in 10, 20, or 30 years. Make sure you don’t plant a tree too close to power lines, buildings or other trees. You also need to check that the tree isn’t too close to anything underground as well. Before you dig, call 811 to have the underground utilities in your lawn marked for free. Planting trees or shrubs might seem like minor digging, but not knowing where underground lines are could put you in danger or disrupt service in your neighborhood (or both depending on just how serious the sports fans are in your area!) For more information, visit www.call811.com.

The handle of my shovel was almost exactly 1.5 times as wide as the pot of my 45 gallon Empire Live Oak. Note the black line on the handle. This is how I determine the depth of the hole.

Trees can increase the value of a home’s resale. Properly placed trees can also help with heating and cooling expenses of the home. A deciduous tree (one that loses its leaves in the winter) placed on the south or west side of a home provides shade and cooling in the summer and allows for warming up in the winter.

A big tree requires a big hole and some help. I had two grown men help me with my 45 gallon Empire Live Oak.

I’d recommend doing some research on your own in order to pick your tree. Online sources such as the Texas Forest Service Tree Selector (http://texastreeplanting.tamu.edu/) and the Earth-Kind Plant Selector (http://earthkind.tamu.edu) can provide you with much more information on the particular traits of trees that work well in North Texas.

When back filling the hole, it is a good idea to fill 1/3 of the whole the with soil and then saturate. Use the handle of your shovel to tamp in the soil. Then add 1/3 more soil and repeat. This will remove any root killing air pockets.

When back filling the hole, it is a good idea to fill 1/3 of the hole with soil and then saturate. Use the handle of your shovel to tamp in the soil. Then add 1/3 more soil and repeat. This will remove any root killing air pockets.

As far as planting trees a very common mistake is planting a tree too deep. Keep the same soil line on the trunk when it’s in the ground as it was in the container. If this kind of exactness makes you nervous, place the tree slightly higher. Some settling may occur and it is very important to make sure the tree is not too deep. Once the tree is planted, don’t forget about it. For the first three years it will need more care while it gets established such as supplemental water and reducing the competition of weeds and grass. For more details on proper tree planting and more tree choices for our area, check out www.dcmga.com, email us at master.gardener@dentoncounty.com or call 940.349.2892.

This post has been shared on the Homestead Barn Hop. These’s hops are a great way to gather tons of great info from bloogers around the country. Be sure to visit!

Harlequin Bug – A Real Sucker By Patty Leander

Posted on October 1, 2013 by Jay White

Brassica plants love our fall weather. So do harlequin bugs. And unfortunately harlequin bugs love brassicas. These colorful bugs are attracted to the large, succulent leaves of various members of the brassica family, including broccoli, cauliflower, kale, collards and mustard. A cousin to stink bugs, the adults are easy to spot because of their orange and black exoskeleton, and if you find one there are usually many more in the vicinity.

Adult Harlequin Bug in curly kale. All photos in the post by Bruce Leander

One of the best methods for controlling this pest is to perform a regular “search and destroy” operation to keep them in check; otherwise they will continue to proliferate in your garden. Monitor your plants for clusters of the distinctive, black and white barrel-shaped eggs which are usually laid in clusters of 10-12 on the plant stems or the underside of leaves. Each female egg has the potential to hatch and grow and lay another dozen eggs in only four to nine weeks, so if you can eliminate just one egg mass you will be way ahead in this game we call vegetable gardening.

This dime shows the relative size – the intricate eggs are tiny and easy to overlook

Harlequin Bugs have distinctive egg cases, usually 10-12 barrel shaped eggs laid side by side

Organic products, such as spinosad or insecticidal soap, only offer fair control and are most effective in the nymphal stages. Adults become more resistant and harder to control so find those eggs and destroy them! If any eggs should escape your eagle eye, hand pick the resulting pests and drop them into a bucket of soapy water. Row cover can be used to protect plants, just make sure there are no adults or eggs present before covering plants. Another control option is to plant a sacrificial trap crop of mustard or turnips to attract the bugs away from your desirable plants, then pick off the adults or spray the trap crop with insecticide rather than spraying all of the brassicas you plan to eat. Keep an eye out for this pest in both fall and early spring as they can easily decimate a plant if not kept under control.

The colorful adults are plentiful and easy to find; handpick and dispose of them in a bucket of soapy water

Go Vertical With Winter Squash

Posted on September 26, 2013 by Jay White

I grow squash almost year round. Since there are literally hundreds of varieties of them it is very easy to find several that will do well for you no matter where you live. Right now I am growing three little bushes of yellow crook neck. However, the stars of my fall garden are the five varieties of winter squash that I am now growing.

A lovely little acorn squash that I grew vertically last year

Now I am going to make a bit of a confession. I actually enjoy eating yellow squash and zucchini a lot more than I do winter squash. However, winter squash gives me three things that the bushing types never will – 1) It is visually stunning when grown on structure 2) It is almost 100% immune to the squash vine borer and 3) I can decorate with the fruits.

Growing Vertically – Winter squash typically grow on vines – BIG VINES. It is not uncommon for many varieties to produce vines that are 20 to 30 feet long. Because of this, a lot of folks don’t grow them. While there is no way to stop them from going big, you can control the sprawl by growing them up a structure. I grow my winter squash on a 32’ length of cattle panels. The large scale foliage of these plants cascading off of the structure makes my garden look lush and almost tropical.

I love the large scale foliage of winter squash

I planted five varieties of winter squash (see image at bottom of post) on August 15. I could have planted any time after the soil temperature was above 70 degrees. If you plant when the soil is too cool, many squash seeds will actually rot in the ground before they get a chance to germinate. Squash is also very tolerant of all types of soils. It can grow in soils that are slightly acidic and soils that are slightly basic.

Since squash grow so well from seed, and many varieties mature in 50 to 60 days, you definitely do not want to waste your money on transplants. Plant your seeds in a sunny location when night time temperatures are in the sixties. Plant them about an inch deep in soil that has been well worked with compost. Squash are heavy feeders and need good drainage to thrive. Compost will provide both of these requirements to the plants. Most squash plants sprout in 5 to 10 days. Once the true leaves appear you can thin your plants to 36” for vining types.

A baby winter squash awaits it’s flower’s opening and pollination

Because squash are big, fast growing plants they require more water and nutrients than many other vegetables. While 1” every five days may be sufficient in heavier soils, squash in sandy soils will require more. Watch your plants. It is normal for them to wilt a little on a very hot day. However, if they are wilting heavily you may want to increase the frequency of your watering. Also, since they use so much water, squash will definitely benefit from mulch. Mulch with compost and it will help the soil retain more water, keep the roots of the plant cool or warm and feed it all at the same time.

As you can see from the pictures, winter squash produce stunning foliage. Some of the leaves of my heirlooms are as large as elephant ears. These large vines also produce lots of large yellow squash blossoms that really bring in the bees.

Squash Vine Borer – If you are going to grow squash you are going to have bugs. I can deal with squash bugs. While annoying, they don’t really set my plants back much. However, no matter how hard I try, I just cannot beat the squash vine borer (SVB).

SVB damage on last year’s winter squash. Even though a SVB obviously attacked the plant, it did not effect fruit production

Luckily, winter squash are almost immune to the effects of this horrible little pest. Notice I said almost. The SVB can devastate summer squash because it only has a few stems to produce leaves and fruit. The ugly little caterpillar can borrow through these few stems and destroy the plants entire vascular system. Winter squash, on the other hand, spread out and put down roots every place a node lies on the ground. Because of this, even if the SVB caterpillar gets inside the base of the plant, it cannot destroy the entire vascular system. All of those rooted nodes ensure that the plant can continue to thrive even if the base gets infested with the SVB.

If you grow vertically you will be limiting the number of nodes that root on the ground. This can limit its SVB fighting power. If you are really worried about the SVB I suggest letting one or two vines grow on the ground and then let the rest grow up over the structure. Winter squash is designed by nature to grow over things. They produce tendrils that are long and strong. Because of this it is very easy to get them to grow up and ove something. If you just lay your vines on the structure for one night, the tendrils will take over. After that there is no more need for help from you.

Beautiful Fruit – Even though I don’t really love eating winter squash, I do love looking at them. With the exception of the cushaw, most of the winter squash that I am familiar with produce very attractive fruits. When you go to the store to buy “gourds” for your fall arrangements, there’s a good chance you won’t be buying gourds. All of those textured, oddly shaped red, orange, green and gold “gourds” are actually the fruits of several varieties of winter squash. Without getting too botanical, know that if it is woody and hollow, it’s a gourd. If it is solid and has some weight to it, it is a squash (or a pumpkin which is also a squash but that’s another post). One of the most commonly used squash in fall arrangements is the Turk’s Turban. I love this funny looking squash so I am currently growing three vines of it in the row garden. I am also growing Lakota, Galeux d’ Eysines, Black Futsu and The Red Warty Thing (not making that up folks, that is its real name).

The five varieties of winter squash I am currently growing.

Another reason that these lovely squash make such good decorative objects is the fact that they store really well at room temperature. This storage capacity is why people grew them before refrigeration. If the skins and the stems of your squash are not damaged they should stay fresh and attractive in an arrangement for three or four months. I plan to harvest mine toward the end of October. They will then be used throughout the house until after Thanksgiving. At that time, the Christmas decorations will go up and I will be free to eat all of these lovely squash that have served me so well.

Chicken Update

Posted on September 23, 2013 by Jay White

I haven’t posted anything on my wife’s chickens in a while; mostly because there hasn’t been much to post. Over the past couple of months they have been doing what young chickens do. Unfortunately, during this time, they have fully established their pecking order. This is very upsetting to Sally and me. We really expected more out of our girls. We read somewhere that the chicken on the bottom of the pecking order would become your favorite. We can now affirm that bit of wisdom is 100% true.

This is Tiger Lily. Who could be mean to something this cute?

Tiger Lily is one of our Ameraucanas. She is the smallest of the six birds and as such they pick on her regularly. When it is time to roost at night, they kick her off. If she catches a nice, fat grasshopper they chase her down and try and take it away from her. Because the other chickens are so mean to her, she stays pretty close to Sally and I when we are outside. Not only does she know that we will protect her from the bullying, she has learned that we usually have something special in our pocket just for her.

My wife found a treat on-line called Chicken Crack. This stuff is amazing. We have experimented with different treats for them, but this stuff is by far and away their favorite. We used to share it equally with all of the girls. However, when they got so mean, we mostly cut them off. Now, treats for the five mean girls is plain old hen scratch. While they are scratching away, we call Tiger Lily over and let her eat all of the Chicken Crack she wants right out of our hands.

The coop is finally done! I think it turned out pretty cute.

Even though our girls look all grown up, they are not yet producing eggs. They are only 4 ½ months old so we are hoping for some October eggs. Knowing that they will soon be laying encouraged me to make the final push to finally finish the coop. Sally and I spent a lovely Sunday afternoon building their nesting boxes. We also got the door painted and the outside lights installed. It has taken me almost three months to get the girl’s coop finished. However, I think it was worth the effort.

The nesting box that is currently completely unused

Gruene Days

Posted on September 12, 2013 by Jay White

This past weekend I tagged along with my son Chris and my son in law Cameron when they went to meet an old high school buddy at Gruene Hall. It had been about 30 years since I last walked through the doors of the oldest continuously operating dancehall in Texas and I wanted to see how much things had changed.

Thirty years ago, Gruene Hall was the main reason that folks came to the town of Gruene. Gruene Hall has been hosting the stars and future stars of country music since 1877. When my wife was a student at the university formerly known as Southwest Texas State (now Texas State—Go Bobcats!!!), she and her friends would drive over from San Marcos to dance and listen to a tall, skinny kid named George Strait. King George is not the only country star to get his start there. Gruene Hall has been providing the best in country music to two-stepping cowboys and cowgirls for the past 135 years.

No plant says Texas better than cactus and no building says dancehall better than Gruene Hall

Dancing is no longer the main reason to come to Gruene. The town is now a bustling spot for tourists, shoppers, foodies and wine aficionados (with a great dancehall). Someone has done an excellent job of preserving the charm of the old parts of the town and then enhancing them with very attractive landscapes and plantings. All of the common areas are dotted with trimmed native trees and lined with neat decomposed granite or brick pathways. The unpainted board and batten shops are the perfect backdrop for a host of Texas tough plants like purple sage and southern wax myrtles. There are also tons of beautiful borders scattered around as well.

If you want to make a plant “pop” plant it in front of a gray background

The thing that got me the most fired up were the impressive container plantings that are scattered around the town. The massed whiskey barrels that combined lush flowers, cacti and succulents were beautiful. By using containers of different heights and plants of different textures, the designer created lush gardens that seemed to “tumble” down a hill and spill onto the sidewalk.

The container gardens in front of Gruene Hall are stunning

I love container gardens. I wish I were better at creating them. The rule for creating beautiful container arrangements is the “Thriller, Filler, Spiller” method. The container arrangements at Gruene take that concept a step further. Instead of having a thriller, filler and spiller in each pot, they take a large, tall pot and put a single large scale plant (see the thornless prickly pear) in it to create the thriller part of the arrangement. Then they arrange pots of different heights that contain plants of different textures to create the fillers and spillers. The effect was very attractive and as you can tell, I was pretty impressed with it.

This thornless prickly pear makes a great “thriller in the container arrangement

My wife and I love to dance and there is still no place in all of Texas that is better to do a little belly rubbin’ than Gruene Hall. However, as I discovered this weekend, dancing is no longer the only reason to go there. While you can still hear some great music you can also shop, eat at some very nice restaurants and enjoy some really great people watching while sipping a glass of artisanal Texas wine. The Gruene Music and Wine Festival runs from October 10 through the 13th. If you have never been to Gruene this is a great time to go. Fall in Gruene is a great time to appreciate all of the charm of days gone by while enjoying the best that modern Texas has to offer.

Whisky barrels make great containers