I'm new to Texas from Alabama and the climate and all is sooo different. Maybe yall can help me with some plants that do good here?? I have mainly foliage, no colorful plants. Any ideas? I live in an apartment but I have a balcony that gets sun. Several cactus and lucky bamboo that I have are doing real good. I want some color though.:)
HELP! please
Thanks, Elizabeth
New Texan needing advice
Welcome - I'm new here too - you've joined a great group.. Do you have room for a bogainvilla? I love them and they thrive in heat & sun. I have them in pots on patio. Also portulaca does well in sun and in pots. Happy gardening
Welcome to Texas and the forum. I'm sure you'll find lots of answers to your questions here. Here's a few that you might consider for your patio: purslane, fan flower, mandevilla (vine), cuphea (flowers resemble little bat faces), firecracker plant (great textured foliage plus flowers), desert rose, plumbago, begonias, plumeria (fragrant), pentas, hibiscus. The things you can grow there makes a pretty long list. Do you have a specific color you're looking for or just easy care sun plants? I especially like the fan flower and purslane in pots because they have a weeping form and cascade down the side of the pots. I'm sure others will add to this.
Hi Elizabeth,
Are you looking for potted or hanging suggestions? Also tell us if you get morning or evening sun, that is so important here in TX. Since I am a few zones away, I may not have much of an input, but I am sure you will have a lot of suggestions from our members in the south.
Thanks for all the suggestions. I have alot of plants to look up. I get morning sun. I would like to have both potted and hanging plants with color. Anything really that is easy for the most part.
I will let you know and share pictures when I get my first one. I'm sure I will need some advice and help. :)
Thank you all again, Elizabeth
I thought I'd post a couple of pics for you. These would do well in a hanging basket or floor pot. This is fan flower with a desert rose in the back of the pot.
Here's the purslane. It reseeds itself, so you don't have to replant.
Those are lovely Crowelli!!!!
Very pretty
Ditto on all the above, especially the welcome! Heat doesn't kill portulaca; I can testify to that! Echinacea grows wild in Texas, if you like the droopy daisy look. You might look into the book "Herbs for Texas" which is more than herbs. An excellent book.
Ann
I must paraphrase Loonie1 from Rowlett.
If all else fails, plant salvia.
Beautiful perennial flowering plant with multiple varieties. Thrives from 40%-100% sun. Drought tolerant.
Elizabeth, You wil have lots of luck with your patio getting sun in the morning. The afternoon sun is brutal on plants.I also like to mix some herbs in with my pots of flowering plants, especially mint. They are easy to grow and I like to pinch off some while I'm walking by. Right now my pots of geraniums are doing ok as are begonias and nasturiums. This year I just picked up some small 4" plants at the local big box store and jammed them all together in a pot. I like that look better than having a massive pot of the same plant(especially if that plant ends up not doing well)It also gives me a chance to try things out to see what is going to grow.....nancy
I can only hope I can get as lucky as you and have such beautiful plants.
I am excited and anxious to go get some!! :)
nancy- i love the mint idea. i will definately try it. any other favorite herbs? Are they easy to grow?
Elizabeth
If you can locate it, try some of the chocolate mint, it smells yummy. Another favorite of mine is rosemary. I love the way it smells, it's pretty when it blooms and I use it when cooking chicken, lamb or pork roast. I've tried thyme, but I think our heat and humidity do it in. I've never had very good luck with it.
elizabeth...i am a fellow waste (west) texas person; in fact i lived in san angelo for a year....anyway, i grow geraniums, sweet potatoe vine, alternanthera, petunias, begonias, container roses, ivy, pampas grass.....sun coleus, juniper.....pretty much any thing that they have
at your plant store will usually be a fairly easy thing to grow here...
Elizabeth ~ for other herbs to try in pots, oregano is great and will over winter in pot with little effort. I also like lemon verbena and lemon balm pruned to keep it pot sized and I have a small bay tree ~ Laurus Nobilis. The lemon verbena and bay would need protection to make it thru a winter. Chives and basil also do well in pots and are great using herbs too.
Elizabeth, I like all the mints and also Lemon balm. It is especially nice to toss in your ice tea on a hot day, but the best way is in a cup of hot tea. It really releases its fresh aroma and taste that way.The mints are very easy to grow and actually grow better in a pot since they tend to be invasive when planted in the ground.I've got a trailing rosemary that is doing well in a pot along with some vinca and a sedum.That pot is in a full sun location.My pot with mints are in more shade(like your morning sun location) I have some begonias in it right now that are doing great and some other flowers that bloomed this spring, but are now starting to go down in the heat. So this weekend I'll pop another small pot of something that will flower this summer. This way always gives me another excuse to visit the nursery to see what they have in stock.
welcome to Texas...Elizabeth.... :)
I would definitely try some bougainvilleas. There are so many different kinds now...and they do extremely well in our hot climes... There are many different types of native plants that do well in sunny locales as well...and in pots, like Texas Betony, Salvias...or Hyssop is another fragrant one that hummers love. Scented Geraniums are nice..as well as the fragrant herbs mentioned by other folks here. So many choices! :)
Melanie
I think it depends on where you live - Texas itself is extremely varied in climate. East Texas is probably actually very similar to Alabama in climate. I saw a map on High County Gardens which actually explains a lot - rainfall diminishes rapidly as you move westward through the state, which also means less humidity and a harsher sun that's less filtered. Soils also change as you move westward. Not sure what the San Angelo area is like climatically...maybe some people from that specific area would know what grows well there. See the attached I got from High Country Gardens:
This message was edited May 19, 2007 10:16 AM
BTW I agree on the portulaca - very colorful and vibrant, loves heat and sun (in fact does not do well if it DOESN'T get it), and grows well in containers. You could try some cannas in containers as well, just keep those well watered for best performance.
My goodness!! Thanks to all of you I have got a list near about a full page long. It's gonna be hard deciding what I want first!! I could go broke trying to get everything I want all at one time. LOL
I reckon I should buy an already started herb plant instead of trying to grow seeds? I saw some at HD a few weeks ago but didn't stop to look since I knew nothing at that time about them.
I want to go today, but tomorrow all the sales will come out in Sunday paper. Seems so long to wait (LOL), but being the thrifty kind I'll wait and maybe get more if sales are on! HEHE!!
Melanie- I was born in San Antonio. I was adopted when I was 2 and lived in Alabama till almost 2 years ago when I moved to San Angelo. Since being back in Texas I have been wanting to go to San Antonio and open my adoption records so I can maybe find my birth parents. I have a sister that was born a few years after I was adopted and would like to meet her as well. Anyways- thank you for your suggestions. :)
Elizabeth
Elizabeth, while herb shopping, see if you can find basil or Thai Basil. If you like to grill, a flour tortilla topped with a bit of mozzarella, fresh tomato slices and a couple of springs of basil popped on the grill makes a wonder appetizer, almost like a mini pizza. I also use the Thai basil in lots of other cooking.
I second the basil idea. Grows almost too well here in small pots as long as you keep it well watered and drained. My boyfriend and I really love purslane also.
Bunsengirl, what do you do with the purslane? I know it's edible, and very high in vitamins, but don't know how to fix it. Do you put it in salads or cook it?
Hmmm. I was talking about the flowering purslane that we've bought from Home Depot for the past two years. We use it in our flower garden as an impromptu ground cover. We set four plants in an area partially shaded by a tree last June and by first frost it covered a 4 ft. by 4 ft. area (almost intruding on our roses). The small flowers opened every morning/afternoon then closed up at night. They were a big butterfly attraction and tons of snails lived underneath. Right now I have two in hanging planters and the vines are starting to creep over. It might be a different purslane you eat or something. I just suggested it because it was such an easy, beautiful grower down here. Maybe it's one of those edible flowers?
welcome elizabeth,
i am a newbie to this site as well. all the folks here are so helpful...may your patio pots overflow with beauty...
good luck and happy gardening
welcome to the Texas Forum as well...nystx. You are so right...lots of great folks here who are ready to lend a helping hand or hoe, or tiller...or seeds...or, or......dirt...lol :)
Wow, Elizabeth, quite a story! I can only imagine what it would be like to actually find your birth parents... I wish you lots of success..... :) And Happy Gardening... :)
Melanie
I have plenty of clay to donate!!!! Please, please, form a line. . . ;)
Hi welcome to texas... and to the forums... I'm still sort of new myself, I'm not sure what to tell you about gardenin in san angelo, it's probably not the same as houston, however it's probably not that different either. My strawberries in hangin baskets are doing wonderfully and they'd probably do well for you too :) see ya round :)