This is a place where I can share my obsession about plants with fellow gardeners. I garden in a Houston suburb in Zone 9 on exactly a third of an acre lot. I love color and ideally would love to garden with mostly small trees, shrubs and perennials, but for now I must have annuals in ground for added color. My husband helps me with the heavy lifting but largely focuses on the veggies that we grow in our raised beds while I take care of the rest. We both have our busy day jobs and can only afford time on weekends and an hour or so on some days from spring through fall after work, when the days are longer.
Gardening is Houston is not easy. Our native soil is clay based and we have huge temperature extremes. I am no expert but would love to share my experiences, both successes and failures, with others or at least provide some inspiration to people that feel that they don't have a green thumb but would like to garden.
@@AmateurGardener2024 ok thank you. We just planted four with pink buds this spring. Houston area. We used acidic soil and fertilizer. Hoping for a little difference next year. Thank you!
I buy my plants either online if I am interested in a particular variety or locally from smaller home nurseries in the Houston area or Cornelius or a wholesale nursery in Houston. Occasionally I do check out the big box stores.
I use a mix of compost and some pine bark based garden soil. This year I added some miracle grow soil in the mix as well. I usually add a long acting organic fertilizer in it. So far the plants have been doing quite well. I haven’t tried flowering plants in those Birdies beds but I don’t see why you couldn’t try roses in those as long as you can ensure that the you replenish the soil nutrients that would get depleted sooner over time. All of my roses are in ground and I would like to keep it that way as they then benefit from the soil microbes and worms and can spread their roots deeper into the native soil. Thanks for watching !
The red rose that you don’t know the name could be the Meidiland Fire Rose. I have had one for two years and it looks very similar. By Star Roses. Also Houston garden has lots of unique roses for sale. I bought 3 yesterday for 32 dollars. Nice and healthy. They had some that I bought online for wayyyyy cheaper. I was pretty upset. I want more but I’m running out of room ha ha. I’m trying to save some spots in my yard for some more David Austin’s . Anyway beautiful garden.
Thank you for watching my video. I love roses too and have space for just 1 more rose in this garden space. Taking my time to decide what to plant there. The red rose is probably not Meidiland fire as it is producing long 5-6 ft canes. It’s more tall than wide now and is filling up the trellis. The flower is similar though but the growth habit is different.
Thank you very much for sharing, your garden is beautiful! What all were you adding as you were planting the hydrangea? I would love to try to plant one but I’m not sure what all needs to be added for our soil. Thank you so much.
I usually add biotone starter fertilizer to all my perennials and shrubs / trees. And sometimes to my annuals too. And for hydrangeas, since we have alkaline soil, I add espoma’s soil acidifier as well. The acidifier is not necessary but I prefer blue/purple blooms vs. pink. Thanks for watching!
Yes they are. Can be grown in full sun in most parts of the US. They are rudbeckia or what is commonly known as black eyed Susan. They usually die back but come back in spring and readily self seed. You may also harvest the seeds and grow them. I don’t. I just let them self seed and I keep the ones I want and do away with the ones I don’t.
Yes. Had it on a few branches of my persimmon and aprium trees as well as one of my grape vines. Got rid of all the affected branches and de-leafed the entire grape vine and sprayed BT all over and especially in the affected areas. So far so good. Thanks for watching!
Does your blue berries produced well and come back each year? I purchased a climax, O’Neal and a Biloxi Blueberry Bush because my daughter loves them. So far they are doing well.
Blueberries in general need and thrive on acidic soil. We don’t have acidic soil so I have lost a few plants in previous years. Most need a pH of around 6 or even lower like 5.5 but our pH is above 7 so I planted mine with some soil acidifier and the plan is keep adding some every couple of months. Seems like a lot of trouble but my son loves blueberries so it’s worth a try in my mind. I have read that the soil pH is better controlled in a pot. Also you will need the right pollinator for blueberries. Your Biloxi and O’Neal with cross pollinate each other but you don’t have a pollinator for the climax. So I would recommend reading up on it and get another variety to pollinate the climax or best if they cross pollinate. Agrilife extension or any of the university extension sites would be good.
Yes they do. I have 4 fig trees. The little miss figgy is the biggest but is supposedly a dwarf variety for the south from southern living plants. 2 others are Chicago hardy fig that I got online from Costco and are doing quite well. This will their second full season - planted in the fall of 2022. The newest one is a brown turkey fig that I got from a plant giveaway this spring - so it’s very young. The 2 apple trees that have been there for 5-6 years are Anna and Golden Dorset that produce consistent fruit and it’s a fight between me and other inhabitants of my ecosystem who gets it first. I have a Fuji apple too but it’s much younger and I have not been letting it fruit yet. Also got a ein Shemar apple that is bred for the south at the same plant giveaway this spring.
Thank you, I will. If they get too much in a spot, I usually just scoop it up and plant it elsewhere. They love full sun and come back after winter dieback without any protection. I love that they hybridize and produce a variety of flower patterns each year.
The plant and its leaves are in full all day sun. The roots and bottom 15-20 inches are in the shade from dense under planting with salvia, gaura and the boxwood hedge. If you see my May garden tour the plant has had tremendous growth in the last 2 months. Looks like it’s loving the spot.
The 1/4 inch tubing looks like the Dig Irrigation dripline I use. I like it. It's inexpensive and easy to set up. The end cap you showed are different than the ones I have, though. What brand are they?
They`re saying to expect above average temperatures for the South again this year. Last year in Louisiana the only crop of mine that produced was okra but even with close to 80 plants I only got a few pods per day. Thankfully I`m getting some cucumbers right now and I hope my various peas, ground cherries, tomatoes, melons, squash and carrots grow. I planted a lot of fruit trees this year and started garlic, chives, strawberries, asparagus and others that will hopefully produce in the future.
That’s so nice to hear. Wish you get a very good harvest. We have a lot of veggies too - all mostly from seed and they are doing very well. Houston has been cooler than usual this spring but I am sure that we have weeks of 90+ in store for us in summer. Also most amateur gardeners like me make mistakes but learn from our mistakes and gardening only gets more rewarding with each passing year! Thanks for watching!
@@AmateurGardener2024 I discovered I had bad soil here after moving to a rural lot in 2022. I`ve been hauling in soil from the forest and adding all my grass clippings to the garden, chopped leaves, pine straw and some lime, bone meal, and organic fertilizer. I think I`ll be able to grow turnips, rutabagas, carrots, radishes and winter greens normally by fall/winter. I have a lot of carrots planted but I have no idea when they`ll make roots. My Cape Gooseberries & Ground Cherries are doing great. I`ve never grown them before. The Ground Cherries are already making fruits so I hope to get to try them in a few weeks. I hope I get some figs this year. The tree I planted last year is already a big bush this year and growing very rapidly.
@@AmateurGardener2024 I lived near a highway for 14 years and when I planted a garden people stole everything. They even took my tiller, old junky mower, air conditioners...everything. Anything made of metal would vanish straight to the scrap yard. I sold the place...first offer.
how in the world do you manage to keep your lilac alive in our "lovely" Houston climate?:). also, I've given up trying to grow hydrangeas here, surprised to see how many you have. great garden by the way!
I just pay some attention to the microclimate for each plant. The lilac gets only morning sun. And by early summer I have the hibiscus and the limelight and the hollyhock offer it some extra shade. Also I picked the one that is slightly better suited to heat and humidity based on reviews. As for hydrangeas, you can never have too many in my opinion. I just counted that I have over 30 of all different kinds planted at various points over the past 5-6 years. All have drip irrigation so there is consistent moisture. And except for a couple of limelight hydrangeas, they get at most a half day sun or mostly filtered sun. I will share videos as the season progresses. I typically like to buy my hydrangeas as small quart pots in the fall and then let it get well rooted over the winter and spring. Some of them need a whole year to settle down and I don’t get blooms until a year and half later but that’s ok with me. Thank you for watching my videos!
I use espoma’s rose tone once year in spring. I think I have a spring fertilization video. This year I may fertilize again this month with a different mixture and may put up a video on that. So please stay tuned and thanks for watching!
Yes it does! The white ones are on their year 2 so I decided to get more of those and the pink cashmere variety. Got the rising sun redbud tree from enchanted forest locally in 2021. Thanks for watching!
Beautiful! I get excited finding RU-vidrs from houston. Is there a plant that you recommend that does well with morning sun and afternoon shade that blooms all summer? Small and compact .
You may try verbena. Blooms endlessly, you can use a hedge trimmer to cut it back and it will bloom again, takes our heat and survives our winter. Other easy plants are echinacea and rubeckia and they self seed but you can easily pull out the ones you don’t want. And if you can go to a 2-3 ft height I would try the smaller compact hydrangeas like Bobo and some others but that’s if love hydrangeas like me and can provide consistent watering. The other 3 I mentioned are very drought tolerant.
They can. But you have to provide the correct microclimate. And patience. Also there are so many different types with different requirements. These are in their 5th season and get a lot of light with some late afternoon sun but I have nearly 30 of them in various areas with different amounts of sun from full all day sun to full shade. All get consistent water with drip irrigation.
It's been a while but most of my arches are either from Home Depot or Amazon. Of late, I have been ordering from Achla Designs who sell their stuff on HD or Amazon.
It’s a petunia. Branded as Supertunia by proven winners. They have many colors and types. Their supertunia vista series are grown to do well in pots but all do well in ground. The bubblegum variety is the most resilient in my experience and all of mine were planted in the spring of 2022. I cut them back in winter and they lay low for sometime but then start growing in spring. They are annuals as per proven winners but we can get several years from some of them in zone 9. That said they are heavy feeders. I haven’t started fertilizing them this year but I will soon. Will make a video on what I do to keep them and some others blooming throughout the season. No deadheading needed.
Yes it did for the past 2 years! This will be the third year for my older ones. That said, I don’t think that they would survive a 2021 like freeze we had.
@@AmateurGardener2024 thank you for responding and the advice. I just planted some in my front flower bed and I want them to return. We have so many similar plants. I’m in Sugar Land as well. I love your plants and videos. I have a rose garden too and want to buy more lol
It was planted in the fall of 2022 and did not flower last year at all. This is the first season that it’s flowering. So you will get an idea from my monthly garden tour videos on how it’s doing. Most of my roses are in full sun but this area gets morning sun up until noon or so. But I can see that the flowers are more dense on the branches that get the most sun. As far as roses go, I would plant them in full sun if at all possible. Thanks for watching!
I look forward to seeing the monthly updates. I have the Peggy Martin climbing rose but would like another climber to go over my garage. I want to try and find something that would bloom more than once.
You may Dawn or New Dawn or Awakening. I have the second 2. They are all in the same family and are prolific bloomers all year after they get established. Both my New Dawn and Awakening are in full all day sun
Thanks! I know of folks in my neighborhood that have night blooming jasmine. Yes the fragrance is divine. It survives most of our winters but dies down to the ground. I just have to find space in my garden for the plants I love and for tropicals, the commitment to cover during freezes. The Rangoon creeper was getting too big for my greenhouse with the trellis!
My thought process is : blood meal - should provide more nitrogen that will help in the initial growth of the plant. Bone meal should provide more phosphorus for better flowering and hence more fruits. I do add either garden tone or tomato tone depending on what I have which is a slow acting organic fertilizer that should help the plant as the summer heat kicks in.
Hi! I live in houston as well and found you from tbe Houston Gardening group. I’ve never grown angelonias. Do they bloom all summer? What light requirements?
They bloom all summer into fall in full sun. The more sun the better. Go wonderfully with some of my roses. They wintered over with no protection for me and all came back from the roots.
Yes, it is! I have drip irrigation in all my beds except for the lawn areas. I hand water the birdies beds first now. But will be setting those up on drip as well. May make a video on that later this month. Thanks for watching!
Hi! I’m Zone 9 HTX as well, I purchased a rising sun red bud at HEB last year. I haven’t planted in the ground yet. But how does your rising sun do in our climate ? Is your in part shade ?
Mine is at the back of my front garden bed with the canopy of the oak tree ending way before that. Gets slightly filtered sun in the morning but does get sun all afternoon until 5 pm or so. Though in my opinion the afternoon sun comes more in an oblique way and not directly head on because of the house. The morning sun used to be more filtered in the previous years but since I pruned the branches of the oak tree early last summer it’s in more sun than the previous years. Does quite well. I would plant yours in an area with at least 4-6 hours of preferably morning sun.
They did pretty well last year, died back to the ground during the January freeze and came back nicely after that. I have ordered a couple more to supplement that area. That said they are planted under the redbud tree but get near full afternoon sun for at least 3-4 hours. I got the angelonias from Cornelius.
