Hi
I'm new here and new to Texas.
We move d in our house the end of July and I have taken pictures of some of the stuff I found in the yard (2.4 acre lot).
I know we have peach trees, a few rose bushes, yucca and some bushes planted by one of the previous owners.
But the back half of the place where most of the peach trees are has been not been taken care of and let go.
I made a web page that I shared on the plant ID forum and we have gotten a number of them figured out.
http://www.ladies-of-the-heart.org/Phyllis/plants.html
I would like to make sure we keep the "good" plants as my husband will mow or cut anything down unless I tell him to keep it.
I've emailed the local extension office to see if they can lead me to someone that can help us figure everything out in the yard since not everything is flowering.
Any help would be greatly appreciated
New to Forum and Texas
Welcome to Texas and the forum
Wish I could help you with the IDing (the few that I know you already have labeled), looks like you're making good progress.
Here is a list of links that have really helped me out.
texassuperstar plants (be sure to check zones tolerance--quite a few of the plants are only hardy to zone 9 and above) http://texassuperstar.com/
texas a&m xeric site
http://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/extension/xeriscape/xeriscape.html
bexar county low water use site
http://bexar-tx.tamu.edu/HomeHort/F4Best/nLowWaterPlants.htm
earthkind roses
http://earthkindroses.tamu.edu/
Thanks for the welcome and the links!!!
It is hard to do things when I work 5 days a week with 3 of them being till 9pm.
So much info on plants to so many pictures to look at to compare can get confusing at times.
I'm so glad I found the site and some help.
I posted a new one I found in the peach trees in the ID forum tonight.
I feel like I am just starting out all over again in learning plants since Texas so different then Illinois. lol
Hello Mibus2, you sure have a lot of plants to identify, but you are also lucky to have all those native plants. I don't have time right now but I will try to help.
In the meantime, welcome to Texas and the Texas forum.
Josephine.
Your welcome,
Had to do a double take on your new residence, my wife is from Flint, Michigan. Anyhow, you moved to a great area. Arguably, the best rose nursery and store in Texas is just north of you in Tyler. Chamblee's 10926 US Highway 69 N, Tyler, TX (903) 882-5153.
Our climate here keeps you on your toes--summers can be hot and dry or wet and humid. Up until this year, we've had a five year trend of hot and dry. Winters are usually mild, but we occasionally have a cold, nasty one. July and August are consistently the hottest and January/February the coolest. IMO, April/May and then mid Sept-Halloween are usually fantastic.
Best wishes on your new home and plants
Thanks Frostweed
I'll take any and all help I can get I just feel so overwhelmed with it all and I know hubby wants to start clearing things out and up. It is such a mess in the back part it is hard to know where to start and what to keep.
I'll have to go out and take a few pictures of it all without doing close ups of the separate plants to show the mess we have to work through.
I would love to be able to landscape and get things into some organized "beds" but I'm not sure where to start with it all other then clearing things out and I know it would be best to transplant or plant in cooler weather, but once hubby gets the mower he wants he is going to start mowing so I have to figure things out before he starts and take pics. so he will have them for reference in what not to mow over.
Plus I need to find and get the "bad" ones ..i.e. poison ivy, oak and sumac etc. out as I will end up with it and if I ever plan on my folks coming down to visit it has to be gone or my mom will never go in the yard she can get it just from the air.
I understand it has caught a few of our friends off guard in Illinois as they think Flint MI too....one of my best friends lives in Ann Arbor MI. so I am familiar with MI too.
Oh goodie another new place to check out and I love roses!!!!!!! Hubby will just love it when I tell him where I am going shopping next.
I could never keep them growing past one year in Illinois.
I also found this place when I was searching online tonight for things
http://www.bluemoongardens.com/
They are in Chandler
As for the climate yes I've been told it isn't usually like it has been so far this year. We were down here looking at houses the end of June when things were flooding above Dallas and I came down and started work the 11th of July so I was here to enjoy some of the rain that has come through since.
I am kinda looking forward to winter to see IF any snow falls and how it is handled..from what I hear things shut down with just a lil bit of the white stuff. So we may have to go driving just for the fun of it.
This message was edited Aug 19, 2007 11:12 PM
careful driving in the "snow" we get here. It usually "snows" about 2-3 days a year. Every now and then (once every five years) we'll get a week or two. My wife (from Michigan) can drive better in that Northern snow than I can, but she is petrified of the icey, slick stuff we get here. We hardly ever get that nice real snow. We get freezing rain that coats the roads with barely visible icing. Of course, because this is such a rare event, we don't have the sand trucks and infrastructure to deal with it. So the frosting will melt in the afternoon and then refreeze at night creating black ice=no traction.
Welcome Mibus2
I'm glad you found Blue Moon. It is THE place around here. They also have a landscape service where they will come and evaluate your yard/garden. I've never used it myself so I can't tell you the cost. But the are a very trust worthy business, about the only place I shop anymore, except Chamblee's (great roses, great prices).
Welcome to the Lone Star State! If it's identification you're after, then you came to the right place. I've lived here all my life and still don't know all the plants, but the DGers have helped me (especially Frostweed) alot! Maybe you could come out to the swap in Arlington and meet everyone face to face. If not, maybe next year. Good luck with your new place.
I can't identify any of the plants that aren't already labeled, but welcome to Texas and to Dave's Garden! :-)
Thanks for the welcome everyone!!!
Collin we'll be careful black ice is well known back in Illinois too.
Coco I have yet to go to Blue Moon but plan on going to check everything out my boss at Le Protager says they have a wonderful variety of Herb plants.
I have to wait a bit till we get things cleared and cleaned up before I get to go to Chamblee's though.
Bronc when is the swap in Arlington? I'll have to look at a map and see just where it is from Tyler.
I went through the yard this afternoon and took a few pictures so you can see what we have to deal with in cleaning things up.
a lil bit further back in the lot
last one
Loads of sumac... those are worth keeping, but there is some bamboo fro the looks of it too and that you need to read up on first before you keep it.
Mis, the swap is on Oct 28. There's 2 other threads in the Texas Gardening Forum that deal with the swap. One is "North Texas Roundup- Head Count" and the other is "North Texas Roundup-Trade Page". You'll meet some more cool people in those threads. I hope to see you out there.
Yes Mitch loads of sumac and sadly yes to bamboo there is a ton of it right behind the house. I've already started reading through posts on DG to see what we can do to get rid of it as it seems to be taking things over.
Thanks Bronc I wasn't' sure if I should be looking for an "East" or not. I'll go check those posts out too
Does anyone know what this tree is we have a number of them too. Didn't know if the lil pieves of bark or wahtever were suppose to be there or not but every one I am finding has it.
Phyllis
Elm!
The bark formations are normal as far as I know, but watch out for scales. They are little sap suckers that look like black lady bugs.
This message was edited Aug 21, 2007 10:40 AM
went throgh your link, sorry I can't i.d. what's left on your list , but took a few notes. From now on you can consider the smilax and wisteria sinensis your enemy . It covers, kills and tears down anything in it's path, including trees. I hate both of them. You don't have to worry about poison sumac, it doesn't grow here. I never seen poison oak on our property, but wouldn't be surprised.
As for poison ivy, it's there, somewhere, waiting. It's a bad year for it too, with reports on the news about people getting it more frequently and harder to get rid of. Recently, I had to take my son to emergency room. There was a gentleman in the waiting room covered in poison ivy rash from head to toe. I itched just looking at the poor fellow.
The good news is P.I. Is easy to kill. Once your property is cleared, the poison ivy is only likely to reappear only around the base of trees making it easier to see and identify and kill before any contact is made. It's probably best if your Mother doesn't go on too many nature hikes while in E.Texas unless well protected.
Mibus, the last picture is Winged Elm, Ulmus alata, a Texas native tree.
Check this out, http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/63292
By the way, you have quite a jungle out there, but I bet a lot of treasures too.
Josephine.
OK, Mibus, I think I've identified some more for you.
16. Virginia Creeper- invasive
18. Partridge Pea- invasive but ok if you can collect the seeds
35. Dewberry- very invasive but in the right spot can be a source of a delicious spring crop of blackberry-like fruit that is perfect for cobblers and pies
36. Johnson Grass- invasive but good for grazing livestock
39. Wild Grape- I like them but they are prone to disease that can spread to other grapevines
These are just my guesses from what I could see.
#24 looks like Winter Jasmine (Jasminum nudiflorum). I bought my WJ a couple of years ago at Blue Moon Nursery. Welcome to Texas, Mibus2.
Carla
# 21 Soft Golden Aster, Chrysopsis pilosa;
http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/62782
#26 Carolina Buckthorn, Frangula caroliniana;
http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/58428
#46 Eastern Redbud, Cercis canadensis;
http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/217
All Texas Natives, Congratulations.
Josephine.
thanks! for the id's and the welcomes!!!
we have plenty of the elm all over the place ...from what my boss says it puts out a ton of seeds in the spring after flowering? But they make a great shade tree.
I've already grabbed seeds from the blackeyed susan and soft golden aster and figured I would get some of the pea ones too and mark the bag.
Dew berries are all over and I mean ALL over even in the paths of the picutres I posted you will see them as you walk. so I'm sure I can dig a few and make a spot to try and keep them in as I want to do with the mustang grapes.
#32 I'm told is a grape also and there is another one I didn't' get a picture of yet but it reminds me of 3 fingers webbed together.. My boss says it is a type of grape as there are several varieties around here. I would like to get them in an area and grow them for jams jellies etc.
the wisteria I am going to mark and this winter go back and dig up the roots if I can and replant them together so hopefully I can train them to inner twine to support each other to be more like a tree, then keep them trimmed so they don't take off and run over everything.
Hubby got his mower and they deliver it tomorrow so good thing it is my day off so I can keep an eye on him and where he is mowing. I want to try and get slips of things to try and root to be planted next spring if they don't have seeds to them.
Now as for the redbud the link says it is a tree but this is growing like a vine by the front door..should we transplant and stake it up?
Do any of you know about growing hibiscus and gardenia's in this area?
I'm not sure if I should plant out side ( boss at work says I can) or into Pots to bring in ...boss says I can do in the ground but heck even at the walmart price I don't want to lose them lol
Hi Mibus, what kind of hibiscus did you get? Some hibiscus in zone 7 need to be brought indoors over winter.
Gardenias can be planted out, September is better then Spring in Texas for establishing shrubs and trees. Less heat, less stress. Gardenias need moist friable, well drained soil, a raised bed is best. I mix in peat and compost. They're prone to chlorosis, use bloodmeal and epsom salt in the spring to keep lush and green. They grow best in 50-60 percent shade.
Now, we need to discuss this wisteria. Lol
I like the way you think, pretty wisteria shrubs by the curb are really charming and great tame varieties are available. But senisis is a beast. If you dig it up and try to move it, you're just going to have it in two places. It's not a strong bloomer, a single bloom per 100 feet of vine. Who needs to bloom and reseed when you can travel 30 feet underground in a year. If you try and force blooms by root pruning, you just end up with 10 more vines. Don't worry you will see plenty of it in bloom next spring. Thousands of blooms lining the roadsides, that's billions of miles of vine.
The Hibiscus all it says on the pot is hibiscus bush I got them at walmart..I posted in the hibiscus forum too but I thought it wouldn't hurt to ask here with it being a Texas forum. I love the flowers on them and have always wanted them and gardenias so I couldn't pass them up the other day. Right now I have the pots siting out the back door so they all get the morning sun and shade in the hottest part of the day...one hibiscus is a single flower and it looks like the other is a double flower
The terrace in the back is actually raised beds I guess or else they were put there as more of a retaining wall and planting beds????
Heck I don't know other then there is sand of course and maybe there were put there to keep the rain from washing the sand down? if the dang bamboo didn't' stop it???
Picture below
as for the wisteria with hubby getting the mower tomorrow he is going to mow the yard and then start on anything under trees. so any of it on the ground will be cut with the mower and I have already started cutting it out in the trees we want to keep....there is soooo much of it.
so you are telling me get rid of this stuff and find the tame ones to plant and grow into bushes. lol.....and diggin up any really wont do any good in removing it from where it is now other then add more of it to grow wild through my yard...mmmm would make a pretty ground cover ...hehehehe....but I want more of a landscaped yard so to speak.
Sounds like you have a lot of jewels on there... and yes NEVER plant a wistera unless you are going with the native - even then think twice and try to go with something else.
IMHO
ok here the bad things are going out then or getting mowed over for now.
Here is a picture of one of the hibiscus plants I bought and I'll post the other one next both have been blooming.
here's the other one
