By Chris Winslow If I could only add one plant to the landscape a year, my choice at the moment would be Pride of Barbados.  This member of the pea family (Caesalpinia pulcherrima) is one of the showiest of the landscape perennials in central Texas.  Native to the West Indies, it is also known as dw...

By Mick Vann M ost of us struggle as designers… and when faced with a terra cotta pot or half a whiskey barrel by the front door to fill with plants, for me there’s quite a lot of guesswork involved. Luckily over the past few years a design secret has been leaking out into popular garden magazines, ...

I t’s always fantastic when you have plants that look beautiful in the garden, and work really well in the kitchen. For readers who enjoy Mexican cooking, the good news is that three of the top four Mexican culinary herbs fall in this culinary/horticultural category: Mexican oregano, hoya santa, and...

By Chris Winslow E arly July gets me in the mood to plant fall tomatoes. Texas A&M’s Vegetable Garden Planting Guide advises gardeners to get their fall tomato transplants in the ground between July 7 and August 7. (Larger transplants in 1 gal. pots or larger can be planted as late as Sept.1.) I pre...

W hile May brought with it 15.8 inches of rainfall and a host of black spot, powdery mildew, and sooty mold problems, June has seen a return to more expected levels of sunshine and rainfall, and this looks set to continue in July with temps levelling out at around 95 degrees after a surge in heat du...

A lthough we have enjoyed some heavy rains this spring, I can’t help but notice that we have entered the oven-hot months of the summer, and I also notice that my life has a certain repetitive rhythm to it: water all day long at the nursery, drive home… and more watering!  With all these hours spent ...

F or a low-maintenance ornamental tree, you cannot beat the good old crape myrtle. This wonderful flowering tree or shrub (depending on the variety) provides three seasons of color without a lot of fuss or maintenance. They bloom for months on end, and they come in any size you could imagine. Once e...

By Chris Winslow A t ease disease, there’s a fungus among us…’ perfectly describes a host of plant disease problems that we are encountering after the wettest May on record here in central Texas, with 15.8 inches being the official tally from Austin’s airport.  Too much moisture, cooler days, and cl...

By Chris Winslow I ndian curry leaf has proved to be an easy plant to grow here in our central Texas area. Native to India and Sri Lanka, Indian curry leaf is a member of the rue family, which includes citrus and the popular herb rue. (In olden times, rue was thought to improve eyesight and creativi...

By David Sargert During a recent conversation with long-time customer Connie Graves we explored the medicinal qualities of a number of plants and then got onto the subject of mosquito control.  Connie shared some fascinating findings from recently completed research at the University of Mississippi....