BottleBrush Bush

I have to admit that this is one of my favorite plants.  I love, love, love the Bottlebrush plant.  This plant is truly  a carefree plant with little to no worries about diseases or bug problems.  It will flower several times a year here in the south, (I live just outside of Houston, Texas).  The Bottlebrush is great for covering things and blocking views, such as a fence, or blank wall, or a bright light from a neighbor's flood light attached to the back of their garage.  The last example is what happened to us.  The light was so bright that it lite up over half of my backyard and shined into my son's bedroom window.  We put up a bottlebrush to screen out the light.  It grew nicely over a short period of time and is beautiful when it blooms. 
Another great thing about this plant is that there is very little pruning involved in taking care.  It is best to trim it to shape it.  Try not to take out too much out of the center of the plant.  

The ins & outs of the Bottlebrush:

Scientific name: Callistemon rigidus
                        This is native to Australia.

Growth Habit:  Zones 8-10
                        Grows 8 x 6 feet; the average growth is 6 x 4 feet (but I have seen it grown to about 11 feet)

Flower:  Bright red spikes near the tips of the branches, each flower sessile, in axil of floral leaf.  Many   
              bristlelike stamens one inch or more long.  Flowers grow in a mass in the shape of a bottlebrush,
              hence the name.  It flowers in late spring and early summer and then again in the fall.

Foliage:  The leaves are a gray-green leaf scattered along woody stems.  Each leaf is 2 to 5 inches long and
              about 1/2 inch wide.  They have a midvein that runs through the middle.  The tips of the leaves are
              sharp-pointed.  The new foliage is showy being reddish green.

Pros:  -Drought tolerant.
          -The bottlebrush plant attracts hummingbirds and butterflies, as well as bees (this is a good thing).
          -Bottle brush have wonderful flowers that are very showy when in bloom.
          -These shrubs and small trees are salt tolerant, which makes them great for near the beach.
          -Non-toxic to dogs, cats, and horses.
          -Very little care to keep this plant a beauty, mild pruning.
        
Cons:  -The bad thing about these plants is that they will freeze when there is a severe winter.  I personally
           have not lost any of these plants but they have died back to the ground during a hard winter.
           -If you don't trim them occasionally, the ends of the branches can bend down instead of staying
           upright.  The flowers tend to be heavy and makes the branches droop on smaller branches.
           -Bottle brush plants do not want to be in poorly drained soils.


Other common varieties:  -'Little John'- a dwarf red
                                     - 'Splendens'- a scarlet-red
                                     -'Hannah Ray'- an orange-red
                                     -Callistemon citrinus- Lemon bottlebrush lemon-scented leaves; red flowers.
                                     -Callistemon viminalis- Weeping bottlebrush, red flowers.
          

          
                        

White Gaura (aka Whirling Butterflies)

Here is another one of my favorite spring/summer flowers.  Gaura lindheimeri is a great plant for the a spot in the front of the garden. Gaura lindheimeri is also called Whirling Butterflies.  It grows about 2-3 feet tall flower spikes while the foliage is shorter than that.  The plant gives an airy feel to the area.  The flowers will bloom upward on the spikes. Gaura blooms from April through November.  The leaves are a dark green about 2-3 inches long to 1/2 inch wide with the upper leaves smaller.  Gaura likes rich clay or sandy soils of prairies, pinelands, moist edges of ponds, lakes and seepage areas. 
Gaura can and will form into groups or colonies.  The flowers are visited by numerous species of insects, especially small bees and beelike flies.  A great plant to have.  It has little to no trouble with insects and diseases.  I have had this plant for many years and I love it.

How To Correctly Plant A Plant In The Ground

I was planting a few plants in the ground the other day with my son and I realized that I needed to give him a few pointers on planting plants in the ground.  At first I sat down next to him and said plant this basil here when he looked up at me and asked what he needed to do exactly.  He knows how I feel about my plants so he wanted to do a good job.  I have planted many plants in my 20 something years of gardening and just didn't realize that there are a few things everyone should know about planting. 
When you get ready to plant something you first want to clear the space of weeds.  I am always fight weeds so I usually need to pull a few out of the way for my new little (or big) plants that I want to go into that space.   Sometimes, if the ground is to hard to pull the weeds out of or to dig the hole to put your plant in, you will need to water the area to make it easier to work.  Do this and let the water soak in.  Usually when I know that I have to weed an area and it is dry, I will water it and then come back an hour or two later to clean it up. 
Next, you get your shovel for big plants and a hand held trowel or what I call "my digger".  I dig a hole twice the size of what the plant is.  When I mean the size of the plant- I mean the size of the soil that is in the pot you are about to plant. Only do this wide not too deep.  You are going to plant the root ball or dirt ball as my son calls it just deep enough to add a little fertilizer to help the plant grow when it is in the ground.  I always put a little bit of soil on top of the fertilizer so the fertilizer will not burn the roots of the plant.  After this step you are ready to plant your plant. 
Grab your plant.  What I do when I am trying to get it out of the pot is, if it is small enough that your hand can hold the pot upside down, turn the pot upside down and use your hand to hold the plant where it will not come out of the pot, fall to the ground and crush the top of the plant.  Then if it hasn't slide out, I will gently squeeze the pot or gently shake it while holding it upside down to get it out.  After it is out of the container I always take the root ball (or dirt ball) and rub my fingers on the outside of the soil to break up the roots that have coiled themselves within the container.  Doing this helps the roots to start growing out and not continue to grow in a circle.  You are not going to kill the plant if you do this.  After this step I put the plant into the hole making sure that the top of the soil where the plant is coming out of the soil is level with the top of the ground.  It is better to plant it a little too high than plant it too low in the ground.  If you plant it low in the ground then the plant may rot and die.  Adjust the soil level in the bottom by adding or taking out soil to make the plant level.
Time to fill the soil back in around the plants roots.  Gently push the soil down getting out all of the big air pockets.  It is also a great idea to mulch after the plant is planted.  This will help bring nutrients back into the ground and help conserve water.
That is the basics.  Happy planting.

Best Citrus for Texas

The Gulf Coast area is a great place to grow citrus.  We have the perfect climate of high humidity, sunlight, and heat.  Oh course we would love to have a little less of the heat and humidity but the citrus love it.  Most citrus grow into large bushes or small trees.  If you don't want a big citrus plant then it can be grown in a container.  This can be a bonus during an early freeze when you need to protect your citrus by bringing it into the garage when that cold snap comes.  You will want to bring the citrus to a warmer area when it gets 26 degrees or lower.  But some citrus have been know to survive a colder freeze than that.
Best varieties for South Texas:
(The * means that it is virus-free)

Oranges:
Tomango
Louisiana Sweet
Naval
Marrs
*Pineapple
*Hamlin
Republic of Texas

Grapefruit:
Bloom Sweet
Golden
*Rio Red
*Star Ruby
Marsh
Ruby Red
*Henderson

Kumquats:
Chang Chou
Nagami Kumquat
*Meiwa Kumquat (seedless)

Acid Citrus:
*Mexican Lime
Eustis Limequat
Sunquat
Yuzuquat
Calamondin
Meyer Lemon
*Ponderosa Lemon
Eureka Lemon
Thomasville Citrangequat

Mandarins/Tangelos:
Orlando Tangelo
Fairchild Tangerine
Clementine Tangerine (Monreal)
Changsha Tangerine
Satsuma

There are many more that can be added to this list.  Really it is a matter of taste.  Get the ones you like the best.  Try to wait until March to add your plants in the garden.  You will want to wait till all danger of frost has past.  Normal spacing between trees is 15 to 20 feet. 
Fertilize the trees with a complete fertilizer such as a 13-13-13 in late January or early February, at a rate of one-and-a-half pounds per year age of tree up to 12 years.  Water regularly and make sure that your water source is not high in sodium. Citrus love sunshine. Provide 5 to 6 hours of sunlight a day.

The next thing you do is sit back and wait for your delicious fruit to grow and flourish. Enjoy.

Texas Bluebonnet Time

It has been a wonderful season for bluebonnets this year.  I know the spring rains that we have had played a big part in making this year so beautiful.  I live right outside of Houston so really it is not too far for me to go to see the bluebonnets in the hill country.  But at my house you don't have to go far at all.  I planted bluebonnet seed in the garden right after we put the soil in (our backyard was nothing but builders sand when we moved in). And every year since then we have more and more bluebonnets that spread and pour into the lawn and garden pathways.  I love going outside and looking at a sea of blue and pink and maroon bonnets.  Yes, I said pink and maroon bonnets.  They are not as prolific as the blue ones but they still come back every year.  One year I decided to add some Aggie bonnets, which are maroon for Texas A&M University. They were actually developed by A&M.  I was told that they would cross pollinate with the bluebonnets but I didn't care.  As the next year rolled around I had a few maroons bonnets and a few pink ones mixed in with a bunch of blue ones. They are really a sight to see.  I love springtime at my house.  I end up spending more time outside than I do inside.  (The house doesn't get a good spring cleaning where I live, but the yard does.)
So here is how you grow them if you would like to add them to your garden.  The variety that I have is Lupinus texensis. These plants are Texas natives, which I love. They bloom from March-May.  Although at my house they tend to bloom early but they finish early also.   It loves prairie, pastures, hillsides and slopes to call home.  It doesn't require much water to survive.  I do notice that when I don't splash it down with the water hose from time to time that it will get spider mites.
I don't use any chemicals on it since bees love bluebonnets.  It is also the larval host plant to the Elfin butterfly and the Hairstreak butterfly.  The bluebonnets are susceptible to herbicides. So please don't spray anything on them or near them. If you do spray them, then that chemical can affect any of the bees and butterflies that drink its nectar. Please be careful.
You can add plants directly to your garden or you can easily sprinkle the seeds in the fall.  What I do is every year after the plant has finished flowering I wait for the plant to die.  The seed will mature on the dying plant and then when they are ready to come out of their pods they pop out and go flying to their new location. Yes the plant is ugly and doesn't look pretty at all but I will never have to buy more plants or seeds at the store again.  It is that easy.  Bluebonnets are a great wildflower to have in the garden.  Every year I truly enjoy going out and watching the bees and butterflies hovering around the fragrant flowers.  It is an awesome sight to see.

Trying To Get Rid Of Bermuda Grass

I have one main problem in my yard- Bermuda grass.  We bought our house brand new.  So when we did buy it there was no sod in the back yard.  I liked that we had a clean slate and I was able to design the yard the way I wanted it to look.  No problems there.  When we got around to adding grass to the back yard we spent about $2,200 on St. Augustine grass.  I thought at that price we were getting good grass but there was plenty of Bermuda grass that came with the St. Augustine.  It has now been about 9 years that we have had our house and the Bermuda grass has made its way into my flower beds.  It is literally taking over and I am so tired of digging it out that I am on the verge of getting Round up.  Really I wouldn't buy that stuff.  Round-up is horrible and I have recently read that they are now finding Round-up residue where it has never been sprayed before and also in the air.  Did I say how bad Round-up is?
So I am now trying to find ways to organically get rid of it for good.  The one thing that I have not got around to is making a 3-4 inch dead space (just dirt space) between the flower bed edging and the grass itself.  So I will need to get to that soon.  After that I will put a barrier deep in the ground at the edging so I can hopefully stop the Bermuda grass from coming in the flowers beds in the future.  Then the next thing I will do is spray vinegar on the Bermuda grass without getting it on the other plants.  I am going to try this at the hottest part of the day.  Since I have a background in Horticulture I do know that the vinegar will only kill the top of the plant and not translocate to the roots of the plant.  So I intend to do multiple sprayings of vinegar.  I am going to experiment with this and find out what type of spray schedule is going to work best.
So far I really have no idea if this is going to work but at this point I am willing to try it because I don't want to have to dig up this plant any more.  Wish me luck.

Need more Butterfly Food!!!

This year I have been in short supply of butterfly weed, which is the only plant that Monarchs will eat and lay their eggs on.  I have had so many butterflies this year that I just can't seem to keep the plants around long enough for all the caterpillars.  I have a good amount of butterfly weed that usually grows in my garden. I will only grow it for the Monarch butterflies.  I don't care what it looks like after the caterpillars get finished with it.  And honestly, it looks pretty bad.  Nothing but stems and no leaves. Last year I didn't have hardly any butterflies.  I probably had 4 or 5 the entire year.  I am not sure if the number of butterflies was lowered because of the drought that we had here in Texas but I think it is a large part of it.  Maybe there was not enough nectar plants for them. Also,  I don't think there was enough wild butterfly weed out there for them to eat or lay eggs.
This year we have had a great spring with lots of rain and with that came lots of butterflies.  My boys and I usually help raise the caterpillars inside our house in a terrarium because the red wasp will eat as many caterpillars as they can sink their teeth into.  But we have had so many caterpillars that I have kept most of them outside on the host plants.  I also have not seen any red wasps this year.  Not sure why?
Six days ago I ran out of food for all the caterpillars.  And I still had about 18 caterpillars that were still growing.  So my oldest son and I went down to our favorite nursery, Enchanted Gardens in Richmond. We bought 4 more good sized butterfly weed plants.  Brought them home and moved the remaining caterpillars onto the new plants.  It only took them 3 days to devour them and we were out of food again.  This time my youngest son and I went back to Enchanted Gardens and bought one more plant.  We only had 7 caterpillars left to get to cocoon stage. Now we have 5 caterpillars left and one is getting ready to cocoon.  We have only half of the last plant that we bought left.  Two of those remaining caterpillars will stop eating within the next day or two. So I sit here and wonder if I will have enough food for the last few caterpillars.  The good news is that all of the original plants that I have in the flower beds are all starting to leaf out.  So I do have hope for the remaining few caterpillars.  Keeping my fingers crossed.  I don't want to keep going to the store to buy more butterfly weed because I tend to find new plants that I want to add to my garden.  There is so much to choose from, I can never have enough plants.

Mulch It Right

Mulching your flowers beds is one of the most important things you can add to your garden.  By definition, mulching is when you place a layer of organic or inorganic material on top of the soil.  Mulches can greatly improve the benefits of the internal soil structure while greatly enhancing the overall health of most plants, reducing their susceptibility to pests and environmental stresses.  They can also prevent weeds, protect the plants roots from heat, cold, or drought, keep fruit clean, and reduce plant diseases by preventing water from splashing on the leaves and fruit of plants.  And if that was not enough, mulches can also prevent soil erosion and add nutrients to the soil as they break down slowly. 

So here is the ins and outs of mulching.  It really is pretty simple to remember just a few pointers about mulching your flower beds.  Mulch can come from many materials.  Shredded pine bark, wood chips, leaves, grass clippings, and compost are all forms of mulch.  My personal favorites are compost and/or native hardwood mulch.  I don't like using the red mulches as they are dyed and I don't want anything that is not natural in my garden beds.  I recommend putting down a 2-4 inch layer of mulch around your trees, shrubs, and garden plants.  Please do not pile up the mulch around the stems and trunks of plants.  I have actually seen mulch piled very high around the trunks of plants and trees and I just wanted to cringe.
Grass clippings can be used as a mulch.  I love not having to go and buy my mulch and this is one way to do it.  Simply wait to mow until your grass is between 2 and 4 inches high.  Then mow off only the top 1/3 of the grass, and don't bag the grass clippings.  The clippings will feed your soil and won't smother your grass.  If there are too many clippings, you can rake the excess and use it to mulch the garden beds.

Mulches are essential for the overall health of your plants.  Using mulch and/or compost will raise the soil nutrient level and enhance the physical structure to a point that the need for synthetic fertilizers is greatly reduced. This is not achieved quickly.  You need to have patience to build up the soil.  But it is soooo worth it.