Garden Notes April 2026

 April 3rd, Good Friday.  We are getting some rain, thank goodness, we need it.  Engelmann Daisy is in full bloom, and the gorgeous blue of Spiderwort growing next to it makes a pretty picture.  The poppies are blooming and the Fragrant Mimosa is in full bloom now.  So is the Paw Paw tree - which thrills me, but the flowers are dark burgundy so not very showy.  Augusta and Henry Duelberg are in full bloom.  The pink, blue, lilac and white Larkspur are blooming in the Vegetable Garden. Flower colors always look more vivid in cloudy or cool weather, so everything is so pretty.

I drove over to Deb's to get some Alamo Vine seeds so that I can sow them this weekend.  I want to sell them in the fall plant sale.  Normally I would have a billion myself, but Bert burned the vine off the arbor last weekend.  The ones on the ground might be okay, but why waste the effort on seeds that might be dead.  She gave me some very pretty dark pink rain lilies with prominent yellow stamens.  She thinned her stand out and was just going to throw them away.

Tall Wine Cup is in full bloom in every garden, it will have peaked by the time the Crawfish Boil comes around. Too bad. Each Tall Wine Cup flower is packed with pollen.  I watched an insect with a long wasp-like shape with prominent yellow and brown stripes on one of the flowers.  It wrapped its body around the stamen completely and then made a circle around it thereby covering itself in pollen.  Very fun to watch.

I spent the morning clearing weeds out of some of the beds in the Star Garden.  

I also turned over the soil in the newest bed in the Vegetable Garden.  I have dumped lots of compost in there over the weeks.  Sowed 5 rows of corn about 12 feet long.

Planted 3 healthy French Marigold in the Orchard.  They were in pots in the Vegetable Garden.  I didn't sow the seed, they just popped up in there, blown into the pots by the wind.  Did some weeding in there while I was down there.

I planted 4 Grandpa Ott morning glories under the goat wire arbor next to the Rose Garden.  Same situation as above, they took root in some pots that had other seeds sown in them. Grandpa Ott was what showed up. 

I cut back dead debris on the huge lantana next to the pool.  And I trimmed all the elderberry in the Greenhouse Gardens so that nothing hits your face or makes you need to lean away.  I pulled up lots of elderberry out of the path, and if it had a good root system on it, I threw it in the rain barrel.  I'm going to plant them and put them in our NPSOT fall plant sale.

Went down to the Orchard and cut goldenrod away from my daylilies.  No crowding my day lilies!  I spent some time clearing out the blackberry bed in the back corner.  I did that pretty recently so I was startled to see how much growth was in there that I didn't want in there.

Next, I sowed the Alamo Vine seeds that Deb gave me.  I soaked them overnight to help with germination.  Sowed 2 seeds each in 13 pots.  Next, I bumped up White Snakeroot from 5 inchers to one gallons, total of 10.  And I planted the elderberry in 10 one gallon pots.  That was a fun, absorbing task.

The cucumber seeds and bean seeds that I planted a couple of weeks ago have all popped up.  The Vegetable Garden looks really good right not.  Lots of bean patches, zucchini, bird house gourd vines, onions, tomatoes, corn, and peppers.  The weeds are tiny right now, so roughing up the soil is all I need to do in order to uproot them.  Long may it last.

We got a couple of inches of rain over the last 2 days,not enough, but we'll take it.  A cold front moved in and dropped the temperature to 58.   

April 10 - I began pulling up Tall Winecup around plants in the Rose Garden.  I want to get my pots in the Vegetable Garden planted.  Ox Eyes, Pringle Aster, coneflower and several other varieties.  Winecup is out of control anyway.  I have way too much of it, and it's smothering my roses.

I knocked debris down  that is stuck in the wisteria arbor.  You can't see the green of the vine, only dead leaves and sticks.  It looks like rats nests to me, but none have fallen on my head yet during the process.

I sowed half a dozen or so sunflower seeds in the Vegetable Garden.

I saw a Tiger Swallowtail, a Buckeye and a Goatweed Leafing (or it might have been a Question Mark) today.  And I saw a Monarch yesterday, I guess it's a scout.

April 11 - I worked in the Orchard most of the morning.  Weeding, weeding, weeding.  In the paths and the beds.  I worked on the back area along the grape vines and in the back blackberry bed.  I pulled up a handful of Schinners Sunflower and planted them in the Meadow.  Cut plants away from my daylilies.  My Clasping Coneflower is about to be in full bloom.  The Tall Winecup and the Clasping Coneflower bloom time will overlap and look very pretty next week for the Crawfish Boil.  Cow Pen Daisy seedlings have popped up.  I pulled up a bunch of them, they get so big.  But I left several for gorgeous fall color.

I cut down about 10 of those annoying little spreading trees (can't come up withe the name right now) in the Meadow.  Put a drop of poison on the cuts.

April 12 - grey and drizzly all day.  I planted a couple of Lysimachia in the old toilet sitting under the tree.  Fertilized the pots in the Vegetable Garden with liquid fertilizer.  They were looking a little chlorotic.  Poured some over my cucumber babies as well.  Pulled weeds.  I cleaned out the bed where the Green Oak grows and spread a wheelbarrow-ful of compost over it.  Made 2 batches of gumbo for the party next week.  I staked a couple of oak trees in the Star Garden that sprung up on their own.  They are both about 4 feet tall now, so I decided to take them seriously.  I don't pull up oak tree seedlings.  If they can make it own their own, I will let them live, even if they are growing in a flowerbed. Pulled weeds in the Star Garden.

That's about it for April, I did family stuff for the remainder of the month.  No gardening.

Garden Notes March 2026

It's Sunday March 1st.   I'm just up for the day.  Leaf cutter ants have stripped my Cramoisier Superior rose, so I put down poison and got really aggravated.  It's the first thing I saw when I got here, so I'm working on not being aggravated now.

The Sweetness daffodils are on the wane now.  There are still many blooms, but I expect they will all be gone by the time I come back.  That's what makes them special, their appearance is so brief.

I worked in the Star Garden in the morning.  I have many, many dozens of Frostweed in the wild part of the Star Garden.  They look beautiful at all stages of their growth, but the one down side to them is that all the tall stalks have to be cut down every spring.  They are kind of thick, so loppers have to be involved to cut some (but not all) of the stalks.  So I did that chore as well as cut back White Snakeroot and Giant Blue Mistflower.  I watered each of my roses in the Rose Garden as I worked.

Bert and I moved the lemon and the grapefruit tree down to the Orchard.  I don't think we will have another freeze.

As much as I dread doing it, I sprayed herbicide in the Vegetable Garden, the Orchard, the Rose Garden, and the Star Garden paths.  

I sprinkled ant poison around the outside of the entire Rose Garden.  And I found active nests in the Orchard and poisoned them as well.  I even drove around the property poisoning ant trails and nests.

March 7.  I sowed lettuce seed in a bed that I filled with compost several weeks ago.  I turned the soil, broke up all the clumps and sowed the seed.  I sowed 2 beds with bush green beans, same process.  The beds were already composted.  And I planted 5 tomato plants.  I also sowed some zucchini seeds, but that might have been premature because a cold front moved in, and they aren't fond of the cold.  I only have space for 2 zucchini plants, they get huge.

I spent some time in the Rose Garden pulling weeds and planting 3 white gaura lindheimer.  I made space around my 5 salvia azurea and some of my iris and daylilies by pulling up wildflowers that were crowding them.  In the back corner bed where it is really gravelly, I added some compost and planted 4 Silky Barrens aster.

I pulled chickweed and other weeds in the Orchard, and I cleared some space and planted 3 gaura lindheimer and some Ox Eyes.  I pulled up Tall Wine Cup (which is everywhere, so not at all dear to me) wherever it was crowding my day lilies.

I spread compost in the Shade Garden and planted 5 Hinckley's Columbine.

Next, I spruced up all my potted sedums by adding soil to them or adding soil and spreading cuttings across the top of the soil to start new pots.  They are so charming sitting on the tables around the pool.  I added soil to the wheelbarrow and spread sedum cuttings over the soil.  

I spent the rest of the day caring for all my seedlings in pots in the Vegetable Garden.  I pulled apart the plants where there were more than one in the pot and made several more.  Fertilized all of them.  

March 21st.  The yellow buttercups are blooming.  I was given that seed by sweet Verna Lammers.  They are little perennial wildflowers.  Eve's Necklace is loaded with buds.  The Passalong Pink verbena is in bloom with beautiful hot pink blooms.  The Purple Phacelia is going to seed.  Banana shrub is blooming.  I could smell the strong banana scent as I worked in the Herb Garden.  The Johnny Jump ups are still blooming but they are on the wane.  Several Johnson Amaryllis are blooming and many more to come.  Koy's tree, Parsley Hawthorn, is blooming for the first time ever.  Exciting.  All the roses are in bud.  Yarrow is throwing up their tall flower heads.  The Anacacho Orchid tree is blooming.  Clyde Redmond iris are beginning their bloom cycle.  Such a pretty blue.  The larkspur are covered in buds.

Composted the 12 foot long 4 foot wide bed in the Vegetable Garden with the goat wire arbor over it. Sowed cucumber along the arbor and a row of bush beans alongside it.  They are good companion plants.  I also cleared out a bed of come again cilantro and weeds, composted and sowed zucchini.  I filled more of my corn bed with compost, but I'm going to wait until next week or maybe the week after to sow the corn.

Watered all my pots of sedum that I babied last weekend.

Next I worked in the Kitchen Herb Garden.  Composted and added 2 basil and 2 Mother of Thyme.  I spread compost around the chives and fennel and sorrel while I was in there.  

Next, on to the Rose Garden where I cleared out the Mexican Plum bed of spent Johnny Jump Ups and weeds and planted a pot of Jacob Cline bee balm.  I cut right through the middle of the plant and created 2 plants.  Composted around everything - Zexmenia, the plum tree and all the Catchfly seedlings.  I cleaned out Tall Winecup from around daylilies that I planted some weeks ago.  Composted and gave them a friendly hello of water.  Watered as I worked.

Spread compost around the Western Soapberry next to the pool.

I'm down to the dregs of the compost pile, scraping it up off the ground.  Very sorry to see the end of it, but at least it is going to be gone in time for the crawfish boil in April.

I spread compost around my Pringle Asters in the Star Garden and planted a pink bee balm nearby.  Watered.

March 28.  I bought a half dozen varieties of sedums to fill all my empty pots.  I put brand new potting soil in them because I let them get so weedy last year that there was no way I was going to use any of that old soil.I have 18 posts of sedums in the poll area and Medicine Garden.  I dearly love sedums.  Watered all of them. 

I planted a rose in the Rose Garden.  Three of the roses that I wrangled out of pots and planted in the ground did not make it.  Who knows why - water?  shock?

I've been weeding the paths, a very un-fun task.  But spraying herbicide just makes me feel so bad now, I can't stand doing it.

Something has cut in half the stems on the bell peppers I planted last week.  It's not eating the leaves, it's just chewing through the stems.  Very mysterious.  They will be fine as long as it doesn't keep happening.

A thrill!  I have new growth on the cactus piece that I got at the spring plant swap last year.  I knew the pad wasn't dead, but, it has been a year since I set it in the ground.  Yay.  Verna brought cactus pieces to the swap and one of the flowers from the plant.  It is a vivid orange, large blooms.

Saturday was consumed with preparations for the NPSOT plant swap, then the swap and the after party.

Sunday, I worked all morning in the Orchard.  The weather was cool, only warming up around 11:00.  Sunny and altogether pleasant with the birds singing their hearts out.  I pulled weeds, cleaned out tall winecup from around all my blueberries, my day lilies, and plants that I love.  I finally dug out the dead pomegranate tree.  I'm very good at killing fruit trees unfortunately.  I planted 3 Golden Alexanders in its spot.  I cleared out that nasty, sticky weed from underneath a blackberry bed.  Pulled weeds in paths.  I planted 3 Roughleaf Coneflower in the center bed.  And I planted 3 Drummond Aster underneath the apple tree.  I gathered up all the sticks from the Swamp Sunflower.  Watered Henry's tree. I did some good work in there.  I'm very pleased with myself.

I planted the Scarlet Leather Flower which is a vine.  I got it at the swap.  I also got a Yellow Buttercup and a Sabal Palm.  I wish I had researched the palm before I chose it.  I will have to plant it in Houston, I don't want a palm tree in Burton.

  

  

Garden Notes February 2026

 The first day of February is beautiful  Cool and sunny, the perfect day.  I cut down my giant blue mistflower.  I collected the fluffy seed heads as I went and spread them throughout the Meadow.  I'll have to cover the whole area where I cut them back with compost because it produces so many seeds that drop to the ground that it makes the ground look fuzzy.  I don't want all that sprouting in the Star Garden.

I filled the big asparagus bed with compost and part of one of the raised beds.

I was so excited about some of my phlox coming back from the rough summer last year, that I planted 2 more pots of phlox right next to them.  They are in the Water Garden.  I weeded, turned the soil and spread compost all around the phlox and throughout that corner of the garden.  I dug all that phlox up last spring.  It was in the Long Border, and it never prospered after the first year. So I rescued it from a long slow death - I potted some up and planted the rest in the Water Garden and in the Rose Garden. 

Second weekend of February.  I dug Martha's Vineyard rose out of its bucket and planted it in the ground.  Spread compost around it.  I pruned my Champneys Pink Cluster noisette hard, composted.  Pruned several others that were already mulched.  I also pruned Cramsoisier Superior hard too.  That means I cut them to knee height which isn't really supposed to be necessary for old roses, but I'm looking for some genuine renewal in the Rose Garden.  My rose collection is so sad looking.

I cut back the hyssop leaf eupatorium dead debris and cleared away all the seedlings that were going to smother it.  Pulling up wildflower seedlings is always hard for me despite the fact that there are a zillion out there in the Rose Garden.  Spread compost.  I also cut away the dead debris on the Pringle Asters and spread the seed in the Meadow.  Aster seed is very confusing to me - is it seed or is it fluff?  But, whatever that was, it's in the Meadow now.

For some reason, I have been thinking lately about my Blush Noisette.  It died many years ago.  I drove to the Antique Rose Emporium and bought another one.  I moved the tiny little Anacua seedling and planted the rose in its spot.

I composted in the Star Garden in some spots where I pulled up chickweed.  And I pulled up small handfuls of Blue Eyed grass from a big clump and made a border edging along one flowerbed.

Worked in the Orchard next.  I loaded up 2 truckloads of compost and spread it in the Orchard beds.  I weeded before I spread.  I finished spreading compost around my blueberry bushes and spread some around some of the fruit trees - the fig and one of the peach trees and one of the apple trees. I tucked some mulch around a lot of the day lilies that I transplanted a month or so ago. 

As I was leaving and headed home to Houston, I noticed one lone Sweetness daffodil blooming in the Daffodil Border.  Texas springtime is about to start.

Third weekend of February.  I finally planted the second Western Soapberry tree that I got from the fall plant swap last year.  I planted it in the bed next to the pool.

I bought 6 Guara at Buchanan's so I planted those in the Rose Garden. And I spent time watering each of my roses while I was in there.

All of the Indigo Spires that I transplanted are starting to leaf out.

I also bought a Beauty plum tree.  I used to have one, it died a couple of years ago.  Beauty has red flesh and red skin.  It is one of my favorites.  I planted it in the Orchard.  While I was down there, I cleared out the 2 blackberry beds at the back of the Orchard.  That took a couple of hours.  I cut away dead canes and also poisoned the peppervine and greenbriar that had taken hold in there.  I cleaned one bed out completely and got the other bed only partially completed.  I sat in an ant pile and got a dozen bites before I got them all off me.  That let the wind out of my sails pretty good, so I gave up.  

Pruned all the roses in the front beds - 8 or so, mostly Perl d'Or, and one Marie de Orleans, one Franziska Kreuger and one pink shrub rose whose name I can't pull out of my memory right now.  I wasn't planning on doing that this morning because I'm short on time this visit.  But it's time to prune - it's Valentine's Day!

Spread compost along the back bed and a few trees in the Orchard.  Pruned my peach trees.

Fourth weekend of February. Saturday was beautiful,such perfect weather.  It feels like spring is here, and it's hard to imagine that we might get another cold snap. But it could still happen.  I immediately noticed the step change in growth of everything.  All the wildflowers and early-emerging plants are a little bigger.  Teeny tiny leaves are covering the Bee Brush.  The familiar rusty-reddish yellow tips of the Johnson Amaryllis are peeking out.  The Celeste fig has broken dormancy.  

I worked the entire morning in the Long Border.  I raked out the whole thing as well as the path that runs along one side.  It was full of leaves and pine needles.  I cut down all the aster debris and cleaned out all the debris around the crinum lilies. Next, I spread compost around all the crinum clumps, my tiny Anacua tree that I moved there last week, and the big Althea.  I watered in the Rose Garden as I worked in the Long Border.  Next, I spread compost in the Rose Garden in some bare spots.  And I distributed moth balls, half a dozen or so around each rose bush to try and deter the deer.  

I loaded up the cadet several times and spread compost in the Mountain Laurel bed in the Star Garden.  I cleaned out the Moudry grass bed in the Star Garden.  I cut down all the grass debris, cleaned out the canna debris, pulled weeds, then spread compost over it.

In Mom's Garden, I cut back the White Trailing Lantana.  I noticed something ate the phlox I planted last week right down to the ground.  It will come back, but I was aggravated.  Probably a rabbit.

I went on a leaf cutter ant hunt and found several active piles in the Orchard, the Rose Garden and the Vegetable Garden.  I put down poison on the entrance holes, destructive little pests!

I pulled up a huge expanse of chickweed in a bed in the Vegetable Garden.  I wasn't thorough, but I kept a billion seeds from forming.  I'm still some weeks away from sowing any vegetable seed, but I'm getting excited and impatient.

On Sunday, I finished watering in the Long Border where I composted.  And I spread some compost around my Shrubby Blue Sage.

Then I moved on to the Water Garden and Greenhouse Garden.  I spread compost around all the Trailing White Lantana that I cut back the day before.  And in so doing, I spread compost around my massive Madame  Alfred Carriere rose.  Next, I raked leaves out the beds where I planted some of the day lilies I separated last fall.  Usually I leave the leaves in the beds, but since I have the compost, I'm raking them out (and putting the leaf debris somewhere else - nothing goes to waste) and putting down compost.  I spread compost around the day lilies, my Oakleaf Hydrangea, my baby Live Oak Tree, Nine Bark shrubs, Spicebush, Little Leaf Sumac, and here and there and everywhere throughout the gardens.  I weeded while I was in there and cleared debris away from my old fashioned yellow iris.  I composted around my wild onion edging.  Their pretty green spikes are coming up, they look like little soldiers.  I gave everything I composted a good watering.  Cut away the sticks from my Pringle Aster and composted.  I found another phlox (John Fanick) in the Vegetable Garden that I potted up last fall, so I planted it in the Water Garden next to the other four.  This time I encircled all of them with chicken wire to keep the rabbits away.

A little more about Madame Alfred Carriere rose - this rose is in the Noisette class.  It was bred in 1875 by Joseph Schwartz, so a little piece of history in the garden.  Very intense lovely rose scent and the flowers are blushed pink, almost white.  It is almost thornless, so very easy to prune or to train if you want a climber.  I have it against a goat wire fence.  At first, I was going to train it through the goat wire, but eventually I just let it grow into a waterfall shape.  She has a wonderful spring and fall bloom season with surprise, occasional blooms in between.  I highly recommend this rose, but you need lots of room for this vigorous plant. 

  

  

 

 

 

Garden Notes January 2026

It is January 1st today.  Sunny and cool.  I walked through all my gardens.  They whisper to me of all the delights that are coming in the spring.

I rooted 6 more Pringle Aster.

Jan week 2.  The coneflower seeds are beginning to sprout that I sowed  a few weeks ago. I pulled up chickweed.  And I began clearing out the Shade Garden.  All the White Snakeroot has finished seeding and turned brown.  I snap the debris off at the soil level.   I began clearing out all the ginger debris as well.

On Friday evening, I met with Jane and Richard at Los Patrones for a NPSOT board meeting. Tim Siegmund will be our next speaker, so I'm looking forward to that.

Saturday, I had 12 yards of mushroom compost delivered ($598 with tax), and I began the process of pulling my roses out of buckets and putting them back in the ground.  A couple of years ago, I dug them all up and planted them in feed buckets.  I was convinced that voles were eating the roots.  Well, that always looked like hell, so ugly.  So I decided to put them back in the ground this winter.  I dug deep holes where the buckets had been, filled them with compost, and planted the roses.  Then I dumped the bucket of soil into my wheelbarrow and wheeled it over to a spot next to the Vegetable Garden.  I am making a big pile of soil which I will find a use for.  And the buckets get relegated to the area near the wood pile.  I will find a use for them as well.  Many of the buckets also had fennel growing in them because I was convinced that the deer didn't like the smell, and it was deterring them from eating my roses.  All the fennel was moved to my Kitchen Herb Garden.  By the way, I'm not sure fennel works as a deer deterrent - when deer are hungry they will eat roses.  But, the fennel is great for butterfly larva, so it is useful regardless.  I cut back all the roses I moved because I'm sure they all went into shock.  I'm not done, but I've made a good start.

I did some leaf raking and dumped the leaves in the Daffodil Border.  I'm almost done with that chore.  Less weeds in the Daffodil Border - that's my goal.

Turned all my compost piles.

I moved some Heartleaf Skullcap in the Rose Garden from the path into the bed.

Sunday, more of the same.  I planted some roses into the ground, dumped the bucket soil into my pile.  I composted everything heavily.

I planted 2 Passalong Pink verbena in the Star Garden.  First, I cleared out chick weed.  It's a very chick-weedy area.  

I planted a Christmas tree-shaped rosemary in the Star Garden that Amy gave me.

Spread compost over the small asparagus bed.

Spread compost around my Cinco de Mayo rose in the Star Garden.

Mid-January.  Bert is re-framing all the raised beds in the Vegetable Garden.  That's a good thing, it hasn't been done since the garden was first built.  A lot of the wood was rotted and most of the beds just have the original outline of a frame.  His timing is perfect because I want to spread compost in all those beds and prep for spring planting.

I had pretty good success with blueberries last year, so I decided to buy some more.  I bought 4 more at The Arbor Gate.  I wanted some of the old classics like Tif Blue or Brightwell, but they didn't have any with names that I recognized.  I bought some anyway without doing any research.  Silver Dollar gets 2-3 feet tall, Climax gets 6-8 feet tall, Powder Blue gets 8-12 feet tall and Hello Darlin' gets 4-5 feet tall - if I can keep them alive and thriving.

It's not the right time to prune my Zepherine Drouhin rose in the Rose Garden, but I did it anyway.  I got rid of peppervine that had wound itself up through the canes, peppervine is the bane of my existence in the Rose Garden.   I put poison on the cuts of some of the really thick vines.  I removed dead canes, cut away crossing branches and removed a few old canes that were still alive but definitely not pretty.

Spread compost here and there.  I planted another rose - Enchantress -into the ground.  One less feed bucket in the Rose Garden.  I had a Tickseed and salvia in a bucket.  I transplanted them over to the wild corner of the Rose Garden.  Composted around it.

I began the process of reducing the beds in the Star Garden (in order to make way for the mower - no more spraying).  I dug up all my Indigo Spires salvia, pulled up the cedar edging, raked and tried to smooth out the dirt as best I could.  That area is now empty.  I cleared out chickweed and wildflower seedlings in the long bed of the Star Garden, and I planted 5 big clumps of Indigo Spires.  I planted 4 clumps in the Black and Blue Sage bed.  That took about 3 hours, it was hard work but worth it because, if I had tried to buy plants that big it would have been very expensive.  I composted everything and watered it well.

I filled two of the beds that Bert built.  I mixed several truck loads of compost into the beds with the existing soil until they were about 2 feet deep.  I planted Yukon Gold potatoes in one and onions in the other. 

I dug a Henry Duelberg salvia out of the front bed.  It was interfering with my gold iris.  I spread a thin layer of compost around my iris.  I spread compost around all the iris in the Rose Garden as well.  It's not good to cover iris with a lot of soil ofr any kind because they like their backbone exposed.  I will push it away once winter is over.

Planted the four blueberry shrubs in the Orchard and covered them with compost.

I began cutting down the Southern Wood Fern in the Dining Room Bed.  I have some Louisiana iris growing amongst the ferns, and I want them exposed for spring.  That bed is the only spot I have that stays pretty wet because the sprinkler is messed up and doesn't shoot very far.  So I plant wet-loving plants there:  Ferns, Buttonbush and Louisiana iris.

I began picking up all my debris piles and doing some raking.

Spread compost around my Debutante camellia and watered it really well.  It's very dry, and a big cold snap is coming.  I just felt like it needed a little pick me up.  I spread compost around a couple of roses in the Rose Garden - Caldwell Pink and one of my Belinda's Dream roses.  I raked in there for a while.

We had a pretty good rain and a cold snap towards the end of January.  The temperature stayed below freezing for several days.  I didn't bother protecting anything here because 1, that's too much work and 2, because 30 degrees is really not that cold.  Only the most frost sensitive plants are unable to survive that temperature.  Hibiscus, camellias, and gingers can easily make it through 30 degree weather.  Brussels sprouts, no problem as well. 

I see 6 large Engelmann daisy seedlings in an area where I threw down seed a couple of years ago.  I gathered the seed from a patch on Sandtown Rd.  Nothing showed up last year, but this year I have 6 plants growing.  My patience is rewarded!

I finished cutting down all the Southern Wood Fern debris in the Dining Room bed so that the Louisiana iris aren't smothered.  That partnership is not sustainable.  I guess I will have to move something at some point.  

Today is January 31st.  Very cold and sunny.  I finished clearing out white Snakeroot debris from the Shade Garden.  There is still some here and there, but mostly gone.  I also cut away yaupon and greenbriar and poisoned the cuts.  Spread compost around the camellia, the Arkansas Oak, the Firespike, and dumped a wheelbarrow-ful of compost in a spot where I need to plant something.  I don't know what I'm going to plant, but it's a big blank spot, so I will consider my options. 

Next, I worked in the Vegetable Garden.  I pulled weeds, cleaned up paths, and filled several raised beds with compost.

I pruned my pink Vitex.  That job is a booger each year because all the branches are so thick.  I use loppers and a small electric saw and a ladder.  It is not a small chore.  Last year I didn't even bother with it, but it blooms better with a pruning.  

I cut down some yaupons in the small cleared area on the neighbors property next to the Rose Garden.  I poisoned the cuts.  I don't want yaupon taking over in there since it's right next to us, plus that area has a beautiful stand of Red Gaillardia, and I don't want that to disappear.

My last bit of good news in January is that I noted my John Fannick phlox in the Water Garden is not dead.  I really allowed it to suffer last summer, so much so that I thought it had died.  But I see a good stand of it just popping up.  That made me smile. 

 

Garden Notes December 2025

Early December - the leaves on the oaks still have not fallen.  There are some on the ground, but the big drop still hasn't happened.  I have a lot of places where I want to lay down leaves, particularly in the Daffodil Border.  It got pretty weedy last summer.  I finally had Bert mow everything down in order to get it under control.  A thick layer of leaves this winter will help.

The White By The Gate camellias along the Boardwalk are loaded with buds.  They are so beautiful, and very cold tolerant.  I highly recommend the variety.  They are sited within a few feet of each other, but one of them is almost twice the size of the other.  I have always found that to be a curious thing, that such a similar environment  could produce such different results.  Is it their environment, or are they weaker in some way that prevents them from flourishing?  

My paperwhite Italicus are popping up in Mom's Garden.  Their late winter floral display is, unfortunately, always hit and miss because they are vulnerable to late, hard freezes. But when they bloom, it's a thrill.  I look forward with anticipation every year to see if I will get blooms.

Little Jonah was born on December 3rd.  He is a beautiful little boy.

I dug up a clump of white butterfly ginger down by the Orchard that had spread right up next to the boardwalk.  I re-planted it a few feet away.

I weeded in that same area, then spread pine needles over it.  It got pretty weedy last summer, so I had to put something down that will really suppress the weeds.

I planted 4 of my coneflower seedlings in Mom's garden.  I was going to wait until late winter to plant them, but I got excited.  Then I sowed some more seed in those pots.

In the Rose Garden, I dug out some clumps of Duehlberg in one of the beds.  I planted a tiny Anacua tree in that bed a couple of weekends ago.  And I've never thought that little bed looked good.  Once the salvia was gone, I planted 6 or so of my conefower seedlings.  And I spread some Ox Eye seeds.  If I had bought those coneflowers in a nursery, I would have spent $50.  Plants have gotten so expensive.  So!  good on me.

I re-seeded the pots that I emptied when I planted my conefowers.  I sowed coneflower and Ox Eyes in the empty pots.

Bert and I moved the lemon tree and the Ruby Red grapefruit out of the Vegetable Garden over to the front porch.  It's going to get cold next week, although not cold enough to harm them.  But really cold weather is coming, and they can easily be moved from the porch into the bedroom when it happens.

I spread fragrant white mistflower seeds in lots of places, wherever I felt like I needed something to grow in a large bare spot.

I cut back giant blue mistflower  in the Star Garden.  I don't want that to go to seed.

Pulled weeds in the front beds.  I see lots of Red Gaillardia seedlings have popped up.  Beautiful and kind of rare, they are nevertheless lanky and bossy.  I will have to pull some out eventually.

Mid December - I have been counting my Heartleaf Skullcap seedlings.  They are popping up in two places, a bed in the Rose Garden and a bed in the Star Garden.  What I have learned so far from this plant, is that you can make an amazing display forever if you just plant one flat in your garden - one - time.  That's how well this plant reseeds. I saw a lovely display at a garden tour in Brenham with the NPSOT folks.  It was very prettily blooming as a solid ground cover with the silvery cast of the foliage and the pale purple of the flowers. 

It was another day of peering at the soil in the most absorbed way, seeing each seedling as a tiny baby that I will nurse through the winter.

The leaves have finally turned colors - to the extent that central Texas gets fall color, this is the time.  Yellows and oranges.  It won't be long before the big leaf drop.  

I worked for a couple hours in the Rose Garden.  I pulled up turnera, cut away dead rose branches, cut the purple trailing lantana away from the path, weeded.  I finally dug out a dead althea and got rid of that.  I dug up a clump of Duehlberg because there was one daylily in the middle of the clump trying to stay alive. I planted it away from anything that would crowd it.  I expect a flower in the spring now that it is no longer struggling.   I raked the whole garden.  It looks much neater in there.  I even got a compliment from Bert.

I worked in the Orchard for several hours.  I cut down all the goldenrod stalks.  I had already harvested all the seeds from them.  I cut back the Texas Orange Lantana to the ground.  If I have a lot of a certain plant, I will cut it back right away because I don't want to look at it all winter.  But if I only have a few, I will let the dead debris stay in place until spring.  It helps insulate the plant from cold and provides insects with protection.  I pulled up 30 or so tall blue mistflower seedlings that were popping up everywhere in paths.  Weeded.  I am determined to eradicate the chickweed in that bed.

Week 3 of December.  Bert and I drove up for the day on a Sunday.  He blew leaves into drifts, then I came along after him and raked them up into my wheelbarrow.  I dumped a dozen or more wheelbarrows full of oak leaves into the Daffodil Border.  I covered an area 30 x 15 with a foot deep layer of leaves.  The daffodils will make their way upward, but the weeds struggle.  Once the speed of the weeds is slowed, I have time to get rid of them before they take over.  The daffs are already popping up, and I was walking all over them crushing them unfortunately.  My spring daffodil display is incredible even if I do say so myself.  So pretty.  They are all Sweetness daffodils.  I wanted them all to be the same variety so they would all bloom at the same time in one, fabulous show. 

Filled the fountain in Mom's Garden with water.  I cut away white trailing lantana that was reaching into the path.  I pulled up some with roots and stuck them into some dirt in a pot.  If they make it, that will save me some money because, come spring, I want to plant some in a round, flat pot I have and place the pot on a tree stump in the Star Garden.  I saw a similar, very pretty display of trailing white lantana at the Brenham library entrance.  Drought tolerant and pretty. 

I worked in the Vegetable Garden for an hour or so.  I spread French Marigold seeds in all the beds as I pulled up the plants.  I dug Oxalis out of one of the beds.  I was startled to see how it had taken over.  I see good stands of dill and cilantro that came back from seed.  That's always handy.  I don't find parsley to be very cooperative.  I rarely see it come back.

I made a start of cutting back the small asparagus bed. It really needs fertilizer.  As soon as Christmas is over I'm getting 10 yards of compost and go to work in every garden.   

December 27, I came up without Bert.  He just didn't feel like making the drive.  But this place rejuvenates me, I had to come regardless of being alone.

The irrigation systems have not been on for many weeks. I decided to give the Rose Garden a watering, just to encourage my seedlings. 

I pulled up chickweed in the Orchard.

I poisoned leaf cutter ants in the Star Garden.

Raked leaves and dumped them in the Daffodil Border.  I'm about 2/3 finished 

I finished clearing out the dead debris from the small asparagus bed and the big one.

   

Winter

Sing on sweet thrush, upon the leafless bough,

Sing on sweet bird, I listen to thy strain, 

And aged winter, mid his early reign,

At thy blythe carol, clears his furrowed brow.

  -  Robert Burns

Garden Notes November 2025

Early November.  While I worked in the Orchard, I cut the tops off of all the goldenrod, fuzzy with seeds, and blew them through the air into the Meadow and shook lots down on the ground.  If any goldenrod shows up in the Meadow next year, I will know it's from my efforts!

I cut most of the ripe seedheads off a big Cowpen daisy growing in the Orchard and threw the seeds in the Meadow.

I got about 20 Bur Oak seeds at the NPSOT plant swap (they came from Connie), so I kicked up dirt here and there and partially buried them.  I put some in the Star Garden and some in the Shade Garden and a few in the Greenhouse Gardens.  I plant them in groups of 3 so I will know what they are when they pop up.  If it's three seedlings in a row, they are Bur.

I also got a dozen or so Red Buckeye seeds at the swap that came from the Lammers.  I planted them all in the Star Garden along the fence edge.

Jane brought a couple varieties of asters to the swap, and I chose them on every one of my turns.  One of them is patens, don't know what the other is, I'll have to ask her.  I planted them in the Long Border with the rest of my beautiful aster show.  The aster in the Long Border that was always such a pest to me - for years I pulled it up, this season and last season, I let it grow.  It's the best garden decision I've made in a long time.  It's gorgeous!  I don't know what the variety is unfortunately, but I can find out.  

Heath Aster.  Mystery solved.

11.14 Nighttime.  I strolled the Star Garden in the moonlight looking at everything in the most minute way.  The hummingbird moths were busy on the yellow Anacanthus.

Fall is that time when the Rose Garden is so amazing.  Not for what's happening right now, but for what is beginning for spring.  There are millions of seedlings starting to appear, and I find all the tiny little darlings endlessly fascinating to watch.

11.15  I Cut some little plantlets off of my Pringle Asters, put a little rooting hormone on the sticks, and potted them up.  I had excellent results from this last year, and every one that I planted in the gardens is doing great.  I put 3 in Mom's Garden, 3 in the Star Garden, and two in the Rose Garden.  They all bloomed beautifully, and they are forming their winter rosettes.  I planted one or maybe 2 in the Orchard, but I'm not sure they are fairing as well simply because that garden gets irrigation pretty steadily.

In the Rose Garden, I dug out 4 big clumps of Duelberg growing right at the edge of a bed and moved two of them to the middle of the bed next to the Cramoisier rose.  Then I prepped my new, empty area and sowed Ox Eye Daisies.

Spent some time in the Meadow cutting down yaupon and Sumac.  I don't want all that tall stuff in my meadow.

Spread more goldenrod in the Meadow.

I checked on the 6 Coralbean that I planted last week or so.  They are doing fine, they don't seem to be suffering from lack of irrigation.  

Planted 4 cutleaf coneflower in the Meadow (also known as green top coneflower).   This is new for me, I have never planted plants in the Meadow.  I normally only sow seed or allow the existing natives to develop.  The last couple of weeks I have planted in there.  But, it's fall and about to be winter, so they can get well established before hot weather sets in.  I will not try and keep plants alive out there by pouring water on them once a week.  

I have a half dozen or so roughleaf coneflower seedlings that have popped up in the 5 inch pots, and several of the short goldenrod.  My babies!

I am busy at work cutting all the spent blooms off my Giant Mistflower.  I don't need anymore of that stuff setting seed in my gardens!

I pulled up a bunch of crabgrass underneath my grape vines.  It has all gone to seed, so it will be a nightmare in the spring.  I raked up pine straw and spread a thick layer of it in the place where I weeded.

Week before Thanksgiving.  The craziest thing happened after 15 years.  The bee hive collapsed.  When I opened it up, it was crawling with wax moth larva. Well, we had a good run.  We were actually wondering what we were going to do with the hive when we began construction on our lake.  The lake will be sited right beyond the Orchard, very near the hive.  We were going to have to move the hive.  And bee hives are very, very heavy and full of bees!  I had already called someone about moving it for us, and he was concerned about how old the hive was because it could fall apart when moving it.  Problem solved- they are dead (or gone).  Perhaps we will get another hive some day.  But, it's a lot of work harvesting the honey.  Bert and I have gotten to the point that we will only do it with help from some family. 

I spread fragrant white mistflower seeds over to the bed that runs along the path to the pool.  

I spent several hours potting up more Pringle Aster, a flat of hyssopleaf thoroughwort, a flat of Ox Eye daisy and half a dozen Oakleaf Hydrangea.  For the Oakleaf Hydrangeas, I cut some branches that had no blooms on them, that is important because you won't have success if you use a branch that bloomed in the spring.  Next I scraped along the lower part of the branch to expose the cambium, dipped it in rooting hormone powder and stuck it in very wet soil.  I also put little hoods over them to try and keep in some evaporation moisture.  I used bamboo stakes and plastic grocery bags for the hoods.  Now, they sit in a cool shady spot through the winter.  

I sowed a dozen or so Rudbeckia Goldsturm seeds in pots and fragrant white mistflower (Havanese) in pots.

Spread Cowpen daisy in the Meadow.  I also spread a bunch of Cowpen daisy seed and goldenrod seed in the Rose Edge Border.