Plant This: Mexican oregano spices up the garden
June 25, 2008 Mexican oregano (Poliomintha longiflora ) is one of my favorite summer-blooming perennials. It loves sunny days and hot weather, and it laughs in the face of drought, although, like most xeric plants, it appreciates a good drink every 10 to 14 days when it’s dry. Its tubular ...
Plant This: A toast to winecup
May 25, 2008 I can’t drink my fill of winecup (Callirhoe involucrata) right now. This Texas native, which sprawls along non-rooting stems, carpets the ground with glowing magenta cups. Growing just 6 to 12 inches tall but several feet wide, winecup is the perfect groundcover for spring through early summer ...
Little John bottlebrush sherwood make you happy
April 27, 2008 Is that the corniest title in the blogosphere or what? Thankfully, I can’t think of any more Robin Hood puns, as Callistemon viminalis or C. citrinus (websites differ as to the name) ‘Little John’ hails from Australia anyway, not England or Sherwood Forest. If you live in ...
Plant This: Duchess of Albany clematis
April 18, 2008 I know gardeners who are successful with traditional clematis in Austin (Annie for one). But many of us can only yearn for those big, beautiful clematis featured in all the garden magazines but which tend to croak in our summer heat. Happily, the Natural Gardener nursery recommended ...
Plant This: Noteworthy pencil tree
November 28, 2007 Euphorbia tirucallii ‘Sticks on Fire’ A couple I’m friends with gave me this red pencil tree for my birthday. The husband explained, “We thought the pencil tree was appropriate since it is from Africa and there is a cool Texas version of the plant that grows around ...
Plant This: Autumn sage is not just for autumn
November 07, 2007 In the past month, three different visitors to my garden have commented on its fragrance as they walk through the front gate. “It’s just the Salvia greggii ,” I say, taking for granted the clean, minty scent of this shrubby native that I’ve planted on either side ...
Plant This: Spider lily
September 23, 2007 Lycoris radiata at sunset A little later than usual, but already putting on a better show than last year, when the garden was struggling through a long drought, the spider lilies have sprung up seemingly overnight. In the morning light, the lilies are a cooler red. Also ...
Plant This: Barbados cherry
September 20, 2007 Last January’s ice storm damaged this Barbados cherry (Malpighia glabra ), breaking some of its branches while bending it almost to the ground, and burning all its evergreen leaves. Its northernmost native range is South Texas, and it can be damaged by temperatures colder than 28 degrees ...
Plant This: Pride of Barbados
September 04, 2007 During a quick visit to the San Antonio Botanical Garden (more on that later), I spent a good five minutes just admiring this Pride of Barbados (Caesalpinia pulcherrima ) in a parking-lot island. Also known as dwarf poinciana and red bird of paradise, this showy tropical is ...
Plant This: American beautyberry, a beauty of a bush
August 06, 2007 American beautyberry (Callicarpa americana ) is one of my favorite harbingers of autumn. At the point in a typical Austin summer when you think you just can’t take the heat and humidity anymore—about now, actually, though this summer has been atypically cool—this understory shrub goes all purple ...
Plant This: White mistflower
November 04, 2006 Ageratina havanensis In the afternoon, my front garden is redolent with white mistflower, also known as white shrubby boneset, a Halloween-sounding name if I ever heard one. Its fragrance is not sweet but spicy and earthy. During the day, bees frolic in its sprays of white flowers ...
