Fool Proof Summer Color

Posted on August 10, 2016 by Jay White

Summer is a tough time for me. As someone that likes to be out doors, the oppressive summer heat makes it a whole lot less enjoyable for me to be outside. While the heat is a bit of a problem for me, I can adjust. I can always get up earlier or wait until the evening to do my gardening chores. My plants, on the other hand, are stuck wherever they are and they have to either adjust to the heat or die. Since our extreme climate makes it impossible for many of the beautiful flowering plants that we love to grow in the spring die by July, it can be a bit of a challenge for we Texas Gardeners to keep our beds and borders looking alive, vibrant and inviting.

A few years ago I was talking about my search for no fail summer color with my buddy Morgan McBride of Tree Town USA. Before he started selling trees, Morgan worked as a landscape maintenance supervisor for over 20 years in the Dallas/Ft. Worth area. According to Morgan, the businesses he serviced wanted attractive landscapes at the lowest cost possible. To fill these requirements, he relied on three very common plants to ensure colorful commercial landscapes throughout the hottest parts of summer –sweet potato vine, purple fountain grass and lantana.

After my visit with Morgan I realized I was looking for color in all the wrong place. Instead of trying to brighten my beds with colorful annual flowers I should get my summer color from the many of the perennials that do well for us despite our oppressive summer heat. Thanks to his advice I have finally come up with my short list of Texas tough plants that will reliably provide tons of low maintenance and low water color in your summer landscape.

Foliage Plants

Purple Fountain Grass (Pennisetum setaceum ‘Rubrum’) – Purple Fountain Grass is one of many grasses that do well in our climate. However, it is the only one that will add a lovely burgundy color to your landscape. Combine that striking color with the lovely and graceful flower spikes and you have a very showy and useful plant that can be used in mass, as a specimen and even in pots.

Purple Fountain grass is so versatile that i grow it in pots.

Sweet Potato Vine (Ipomoae batatas) – With its rapid growth rate and varieties that come in colors that range from almost black to the brightest chartreuse, there is no better way to bring a lot of color to your summer landscape than with this cousin of the edible sweet potato. Sweet Potato Vine is incredibly easy to propagate and it tells you when it needs water. If you want more vines simply snip off a piece and root it in water and if you see your vines wilting, give them a little drink. Sweet potato vine is great as a ground cover, spilling over a wall or tumbling out of a pot. If you live where winters are cold and wet, you can dig up the tubers and store in saw dust for next year. Otherwise you can leave them in the ground for years of beautiful foliage.

Coleus (various species) – I love coleus and grow several varieties every year. Coleus are one of the few plants that you actually have to work very hard to kill. Coleus can take a lot of drying. If you forget to water your coleus they will wilt down pretty quickly. However, you can take some very wilted coleus, trim them up a bit, water them and watch them miraculously bounce right back. Coleus work as well in the ground as they do in pots. Group them together for a very colorful display.

Artemisia (var Powis Castle)- Artemisia is a woody perennial plant that is known for its gray, feathery foliage and its distinctive smell. There are many artemisias out there but the variety Powis Castle is the best one for most of Texas. Powis Castle loves full sun, high heat and well-draining soil. A single plant will create a silver mound that is three feet tall and five feet wide in a single season. With its lovely silver-gray color, Powis Castle is the perfect companion for plants in a variety of colors. It is lovely when paired with pink Knock Out roses or pink antique roses like “Old Blush

Powis Castle artemesia has lovely silver foliage that pairs well with a wide range of plants. Here is pairs nicely with “Hotlips” salvia

Setcreasea purpurea ‘Purple Heart’ – In my mind, Purple Heart is one of the most versatile, yet underutilized plants in the Texas landscape. Talk about color! This plant is all purple! While it does get lovely, small, pink flowers in the spring, Purple Heart is used for its lovely purple foliage. I love this plant and I grow it in mass as a ground cover. While it can get aphids and spider mites it is a mostly carefree plant that loves full sun and crowed conditions. Purple Heart will spread rapidly by sending out runners up to 3’ long. Plus, it is so easy to propagate. If you want more purple heart just break a piece off, stick it in moist soil and it will root. Truly an awesome plant for bringing lots of color to your landscape!

Nothing brings in more intense color to a summer landscape than a mass of Purple Heart

Flowering Plants

Lantana – There is really nothing bad to say about lantana. This mounding perennial starts blooming in the spring and blooms and blooms and blooms well into winter. Right now I grow a yellow variety called New Gold. However, I have grown many others through the years. One of my favorites is a red and yellow variety called “Dallas”. Lantana is the ultimate hands off plant. While I water, most varieties will survive on annual rainfall. If you water it occasionally, it will reward you with flowers for six to eight months of the year. Then, when the freeze does finally get it, just cut it back to about six inches and wait for spring.

If lantana can thrive in the middle of an HEB parking lot, it can certainly thrive in your yard. In my opinion lantana is the most versitile, tough and pest free color plant you can use in your Texas landscape.

Salvia greggii-There are many salvias that thrive in our climate. One of the more colorful and more reliable is Salvia greggii. Salvia greggii is a woody, bushy perennial that gets about three feet tall. Its upright braches are covered in little muted green leaves. However, the little flowers of this hardy plant are what make it a standout in the summer garden. Salvia greggii comes in many colors including red white and pink. However there are other variants available. A red variety called Cherry Chief is one of my favorites. However, I am also found of a variety called Hot Lips. Salvi greggii is a mannerly bush that stays where it is planted. Besides its almost year round flowering, the best thing about Salvia greggii is the fact that hummingbirds absolutely love it.

Salvias are great color plants for Texas. Many of them are native to the Southwestern United States so they bloom all summer long on annual rainfall.

Gomphrena (Bachelor’s Buttons)– Talk about a showy plant! Gomphrena grows into three foot mounds of foliage that are covered with round, button like flowers. You can find gomphrena in most colors. I have a lot of yellow flowering plants in my yard so I use two shades of purple. Gomphrena is a self-seeding annual. That means if you leave it alone the seeds from those hundreds of flowers will fall to the ground and remain dormant until spring. I like this plant because it does not really start blooming until most of my other flowers have faded. Look for blooms in June and enjoy them until the first good freeze.

I love gomphrena. This Texas Tough self-seeding annual blooms just as things begin to really heat up and then keeps blooming right up to the first freeze!

Celosia (Cock’s Comb) – When you are a gardener you just kind of assume that everyone knows as much about plants as you do. Each year, my celosia reminds me that this is not true. I guarantee that each time I use celosia in an arrangement someone is going to ask me what it is. Celosia comes in two types – the big velvety brain like varieties and the plume type. I love them both. I grow several colors and several varieties. These unusual flowers are also self-seeding and, like gomphrena, the start to bloom in June and then go all the way up to the first freeze.

I share these posts on Our SimpleHomestead Blog Hop. Be sure to stop by. The “hop” has tons of great information from gardeners and homesteaders all over the world!

Week 32 Tips for the Zone 9 Garden

Posted on August 6, 2015 by Jay White

A lovely sunflower and gomphrena arrangement in our little guest cottage that we call “The Nest”. Photo by Natalie Lacy Lange

Last night Sally and I came home to every Texan’s worst August nightmare; our air conditioner was out! Thank goodness for our little guest house! While watching the news from the air conditioned comfort of our little cottage I caught the forecast for next week. They are saying it is going to be 105 and 106 on Monday and Tuesday. That should motivate you to get out there this weekend and get your garden ready for the fall planting (since it is only going to be 101 on Saturday and Sunday). You will want to get as much done as possible while it is still cool!

It is time to order your seeds for the Fall garden. Check out Patty’s Variety List and Seed Sources on the sidebar.

Vegetables

Order seeds now – With only two or three weeks left before the Fall planting season begins, you need to place your seed orders ASAP. Patty Leander has created two great guides that will tell you the best varieties for Central Texas and where to find them. Click on the links below to read her Vegetable Variety Guide and her list of her favorite seed sources.

Patty Leander’s Vegetable Varieties for Central Texas

Patty Leander’s On-Line Seed Sources

Take advantage of the heat – We are right smack dab in the middle of the hottest part of the year. Solarization is a great, cheap and organic way to solve some serious weed problems. Patty talks about this in her latest post on Nematode control and I did a post a while back (called Weed Free Organically)that is worth revisiting. Check them both out. Solarization is very easy to do and very effective.
Water and turn your compost – Your compost pile has to stay moist to work properly. Water and turn regularly

One of my beds with three of my favorite heat loving ornamentals-puple fountain grass, sweet potato vine and zinnias

Ornamentals

Dead head – Last night my wife made a very attractive bouquet of sunflowers and dark purple gomphrena. All of our summer blooming flowers need to be deadheaded to encourages rebloom. Also, water your flowers more often in this heat. Right now I am applying about an inch of water every third day to my cut flower garden
Order seeds for fall blooming flowers – When you order your vegetable seeds pick up a few packets of flower seeds. It will soon be time to put out spring bloomers like larkspur and poppies. Order now to ensure the best selection

Trees and Lawns

Watch out for sod webworms – August is the month for this pest. The worms are the larval form of a very small, gray moth. The larvae will strip your grass down to the stolons. Infestion clues are yellowing grass and/or lots of birds on the lawn. The birds are eating the caterpillars. These pests can do a lot of damage in a hurry. Unfortunately there is no good organic control. Spray Bayers “Power Force” on day one and Bayer’s “Bayer’s Complete” on day two.
Trim shrubs and hedges now – The high heat of August slows the growth of woody perennials. Since they grow less now, your shaping efforts will ensure they look good much longer than they did after their Spring pruning

I share these posts on Our SimpleHomestead Blog Hop. Be sure to stop by. The “hop” has tons of great information from gardeners and homesteaders all over the world!

Week 31 Tips for the Zone 9 Garden

Posted on July 30, 2015 by Jay White

August 15 is right around the corner. Why do I mention that? Well, it is the first planting date for the fall garden. We are truly lucky to be able to garden in the fall. If you have never had a fall garden I highly recommend it. Fall temperatures make it much more comfortable to be outside. Bug and weed problems are greatly reduced and you can grow a wide variety of vegetables (some that will continue producing until you remove them to make room for the Spring garden). It is also the best time of the year to plant (or move) trees and shrubs.

Our friend Amy Hime captured this beautiful Texas sunset. Right now it is so hot I wait until about this time each evening to go into the garden!

Vegetables

Begin planning the fall garden– My friend and co-blogger Patty Leander creates the planting guides for the Travis County Texas A&M AgriLife Extension service. If you are wondering what to plant for the fall garden, check out her guide. Not only will it tell you what and when to plant, it will give you some ideas of different vegetables that do well in our area that you may not have tried before. Check out the guide here: Travis County Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Vegetable Planting Guide
Solarize nematodes-Nematodes plague many of the plants we grow in Texas. Patty has a great post coming out this weekend about controlling them. One of her tips is to turn up the soil in your infected areas and let the July and August sun rid you of some future problems.
Mulch and water – Lots of veggies like melons, southern peas and okra are still producing. Producing vegetables need lots of water. Mulch them heavily now then water early in the morning or late in the evening to reduce water lost to evaporation.

Love this shot of our red bird house on our redbud in front of our red garage door. Photo by Amy Hime

Ornamentals

Remove “buggy” plants – My marigolds have been good this year and so have my gomphrena. However, they are now beginning to succumb to spider mites. Remove these plants and throw them away. Do not put them on the compost pile.
Weed beds thoroghly and re-mulch – The heat is slowing down the growth of many of our invasive weeds. Pull them now and mulch heavily to prepare for your fall plantings
It is not too late to replant zinnias, cockscomb, sunflowers and gomphrena from seeds.

Lovely mixed annual border at FDR’s grave site in Hyde park, New York

Trees and Lawns

Do not fertilize lawns until the temperatures come down a bit.
Let grass grow as high as you can stand it. A thick carpet keeps roots cool and actually helps to conserves water

I share these posts on Our SimpleHomestead Blog Hop. Be sure to stop by. The “hop” has tons of great information from gardeners and homesteaders all over the world!

Tips for Week 25 in the Zone 9 Garden

Posted on June 16, 2015 by Jay White

This past weekend I harvested my first crop of elephant garlic. This was a new plant for me and I thoroughly enjoyed growing it. While it is not technically garlic (it is more closely related to leeks) it was a beautiful plant that can be used ornamentally or for its fist sized, mild, garlic tasting bulbs. My elephant garlic was given to me by a man who has grown it in his garden for 47 years. He got it from his parents who grew it for years before sharing with him. I absolutely love plants like this. Whether they are called heirloom plants or pass a long plants, they are a living link to our horticultural past. I love finding, growing and preserving these living links to our southern heritage. If you have an heirloom plant that you love, leave me a comment. I would love to hear about it.

With it long curvy scapes and big flower heads, Elephant Garlic is a useful as as ornamental as it is as a food source.

Pest Control

Invest in a few select organic insecticides– Bt for caterpillars, insecticidal soap for soft-bodied aphids, neem oil for beetles and squash bugs, spinosad for caterpillars and stink bugs. Follow label instructions, and spray only as needed. Mark the purchase date on the product container and store in a protected location, preferably indoors.
When using any insecticide, mix up only what will be needed for the plants you are treating – I rarely mix up a gallon of anything, and often get by using a one pint or one quart squirt bottle, depending on the product and number of plants needing treatment. Once I determine how much a particular product is needed per pint, I write it directly on the pesticide container so I don’t have to scour the label and recalculate every time.
Protect bees by applying pesticides in the late afternoon or evening, when bees are less active.
Control Spurge and Puslane-These two plants are some of the most difficult to control. Both grow rapidly and produce thousands of seeds. Chemical control has little effect on mature purslane. Pull these weeds and place in a plastic trash bag. Do not compost! Apply heavy mulch or solarize if possible after you remove the plants.

When mixing herbicides or pesticides mix only what you need and clearly mark each container

Vegetables

Plant okra, sweet potatoes, winter squash and peppers-Realize this is the absolute end of the spring planting season. It may be too late to plant even these in southern parts of the state.
Water correctly- It is better for your plants, and your water bill, if you apply one inch of water every five days. Water slowly in the morning to reduce evaporation loss.
Remove spent plants like green beans to avoid attracting pests.
Top dress empty rows with compost and cover with a heavy layer of mulch to prepare them for fall planting in late July

Water deeply and less frequently to encourage deep root growth and conserve water

Ornamentals

Cut fresh flowers for the house-Cut your zinnia’s, sunflowers, gomphrena, celosia and other fresh cuts early in the morning. Cut stems on 45 degree angles, strip foliage and drop immediately into cool, clean water
Plant sweet potato vine from transplant-Sweet potato vine is a great way to add lots of low maintenance color to your pots and beds. With its bright chartreuse or purple-black foliage this drought and heat tolerant plant will add LOTS of color to your summer landscape. Sweet potato vine will provide you lots of color right up to the first freeze

Fruit Trees

Pick remaining plums-Plums will continue to ripen after they are picked. Pull when they have half color and allow them to ripen inside; especially if making jelly. Over ripe fruit left on the trees, or on the ground, invites in raccoons, possums and mocking birds
Pick Peaches-Pick peaches when they are slightly soft to the touch

I share these posts on Our SimpleHomestead Blog Hop. Be sure to stop by. The “hop” has tons of great information from gardeners and homesteaders all over the world!

Tip of the Week – Week 21 in the Zone 9 Garden

Posted on May 20, 2015 by Jay White

It finally finished raining long enough for Sally and I to harvest the rest of the potatoes. While we were out there we also pulled our first cucumbers and picked a small mess of green beans. We just finished an amazing dinner of cucumbers and onions, green beans and an okra/tomato/sausage/smoked poblano concoction. Everything but the sausage came straight from the garden or the freezer. And that my friends is why I garden!

On another note, I recently read an article that said internet readers want their information quick and easy. With that in mind I am going to structure my weekly tips in a different format for a while. If you like it, or even if you don’t, leave me a comment and let me know what you think.

Vegetables

Pick Green Beans
Harvest and cure onions
Control aphids, thrips and scale insects with a strong blast of water. If this is not working spray entire plant with neem oil or a water/dish soap mixture
Harvest Potatoes-It has rained so much lately that it has washed much of the soil away from my potato plants. I literally have potatoes on top of the ground. This will cause two problems. First, the harvest is going to be a muddy mess. No way around this. I will have to dig them and then go directly to the hose for a good wash. I do not normally recommend washing your potatoes. When potatoes come out of the ground their skins are soft and can be damaged by washing. Damaged skins let in fungus that will cause the potatoes to rot during storage. That is why we cure them before we store them. To cure potatoes we need to let them dry in the hot sun for a few hours. All of this rain is causing an unusual lack of sunshine. Because of this I will have to figure out a way to move the potatoes into the garage for curing. This is a big problem for me because my garage is already covered with the onions that I had to cure inside because of the rain.

Ornamentals

Pull weeds while the ground is soft. Throw them in the compost pile if they have not set seed
Dead head zinnias and marigolds
Plant zinnias (Benary’s Giant are my favorites) and marigolds from seed
Plant Sunflowers-There are about a million different varieties of sunflowers and I grow several of them (my favorite is a double called “Teddy Bear” that grows on three to four foot tall stalks and produces gorgeous flowers). For the next couple of months I will plant more seeds every other week. This “two week planting schedule” will ensure that Sally and I have an ample supply of fresh cuts for our home right up to the first frost.
Plant Gomphrena (Bachelor’s Buttons) – I have two places in my yard where I grow gomphrena (Bachelor’s Buttons). Gomphrena is a great plant for our area because it can really take the heat and it will keep flowers until the first frost. Even though it is an annual it is a great self-seeder and will come back on its own year after year. That is, it will come back year after year as long as you don’t have free ranging chickens that scratch up all of the seedlings in your beds. That is what has happened at my house. Thanks to my chickens I currently have no gomphrena. So this weekend I will be replanting. Many of our reseeders (like gomphrena, zinnia, poppies and marigolds) can be planted by running a rake over and area and then putting the seeds out in a broadcast manner. Once the seeds are down, run the rake across the soil to lightly cover the seeds. Finally, gently water the area. Keep the soil moist until the little plants develop their first set of real leaves.

Lawns

Do not fertilize until things dry out. Nitrogen, moisture and cool temps encourage brown spot

I share my posts on the HomeAcre Hop. Be sure to stop by the hop. It has tons of great information from gardeners and homesteaders all over the world!