W ith the recent rains, cooler weather, and the arrival of the first official day of fall next Wednesday (Sept. 23), I am so happy to declare that my favorite gardening time of the year has arrived. Cooler weather means gardening can be fun once again. With the ground moist, now is the time to plant...

By Chris Winslow I f you’re looking for a strikingly beautiful flowering plant that loves our hot and dry summers, look no further than bougainvillea. Named after the French explorer Louis Antoine de Bougainville who discovered it during a stop in South America in 1768, bougainvillea is known for it...

A s gardeners we all know how plants can brighten up and magically transform a space, whether it’s inside or out. But I have met people who rent properties who are a little hesitant to take on any of these ‘transformations’ because the property belongs to someone else.  I understand their position, ...

By Chris Winslow O ne group of trees long associated with drought and desert conditions is the palm tree. You can also find palms doing perfectly well in equatorial rain forests. Here in Central Texas, we happen to have both of these climates. Some years we have drought. Others, such as this year, w...

By Mick Vann B ack in the early to mid 70s, when I was an avid vegetable gardener-chef, I heard about a tree called the Neem tree, which sounded like a miracle plant to me. A little background research was revealing: it was native to India and Pakistan, was very drought resistant, and useful in myri...

For gardeners in the heat of the summer  1. Mulch & water:   Your vegetable garden, landscape, flowerbeds and trees need some help to make it through this torrid month. Mulch, and water deeply.  2. Lawn care:  Your grass also needs deep, infrequent watering (5 day schedule) and keep the cutting heig...

Y uccas are these amazing new world plants with a vast natural range. They grow all the way from Baja, California in the west, to Florida in the east, Canada in the north, and Guatemala in the south. These beauties have strong evergreen sword or strap-like leaves, and they produce dramatic spikes of...

A  Lament for the Fallen: while the rains from the wild weather of this spring and early summer have been fantastic for the trees and the lakes, sadly, gardeners have been witnessing a death toll in their landscapes. Too much of a good thing, and some plants just couldn’t take all those trillions of...

It’s About Thyme to move   By Kim Hilsenbeck A long-time business in Manchaca is searching for a new home. It’s About Thyme nursery learned that the property on which its business sits was sold for $2.8 million. The new business taking over that land? Apartments. Co-owner Diane Winslow recently wrot...

R ecently while doing some research for our new medicinal / healing garden, my wife shared an article with me on the Moringa tree, and the more I read, the more fascinated I became.   First of all, the Moringa, also known as the 'Drumstick Tree,' is nearly entirely edible. It can grow with little wa...