More Texas interest

Some months ago there was a plea for more Texas threads. We know you are out there. Biggest, most diverse bunch in the whole USA, right? So where are you? The Tropical Gardens are climbing way up there and I love them. Everyday I check to see if we are still on the map. Come on, guys.
No more lurking.....speak up. Looking forward to meeting more of you.

Push...push...shoove...shooove....push.,...push

This message was edited Sep 10, 2007 8:48 PM

LouC, are you talking about threads? or posts. I you are talking about what is listed in the newsletter I think it is posts that they count.
Josephine.

Jo, thinking about different threads. We have so many, many parts of geography that are different...maybe more than the rest of the states all combined and yet it is just a few that continue to post and I have no doubt there are lots and lots of others just lurking. I love all of us and want the others to stop being so shy. Come on, guys. We are interested in any and everything you have to say. Not interested in competition as pertains to posts. Meant that the subject matter in "Tropical Gardens" continually changes and is so varied. From El Paso to Texarkana, Brownsville to Lubbock and everything in between we in Texas have such different weather conditions and challenges. I want to know. Never mean it to sound as though I am tired of those that continue to educate and share. Just want others to feel free to do the same. No wallflowers.

Well, you are absolutely right, we do have so many diverse areas and climates, that there could be a lot to talk about, maybe people will respond, and we will have a lot more varied topics to talk about.
Josephine.

Hope so....

Is it just me? Or does the Texas interest just seem to run through zone 8a?
I will attest to the different planting needs of Texans. I moved from 9b to 8a and you won't believe the difference. I killed all of my Hibiscus plants the first winter. I also killed Dilanta, Esperanza, plumbago and a few others. I am learning though and would love to know more about how others in zone 8a deal with Hibiscus plants and a few others also. The Hibiscus has always been a fav of mine and I havent bought anymore after the death of my beloved ones I moved here with. I would like to try them again, but as I drive around this area, I don't see them growing in anyone's yards.
Charlene

Charlene, you don't have your zone posted with your name although you did just tell us what it is. Can you add that on your profile? Will help with future posts. My point exactly that we need to help each other more. Glad to see your posts.

Right I see the same hand full of us posting over and over and over with here and there "I was lurking and never posted..." I find a lot of Texans out in other forums too - they never come here and I try to get them over here but they dont want to try...

I will keep trying!

I don't think we are unfriendly, and we quit posting personal Happy Birthdays as many forums still do to make room for more gardening threads. Maybe because there are so many special interest forums, the questions go there. When I want to know something about irises or daylilies or hostas, that's where I go.

pat, same here---if about a specific plant I check that forum.

right... I do think for me there are to many forums to keep up with still when I have had Iris or Daylily questions I look to the Texans first - we have diffrent growing needs here (at least that is what I tell myself)

soooo how to we get more threads going? What about some Iris, Daylily, and Hosta threads to go with our native ones?

Charlenesplants ~ Welcome to zone 8.

So sorry you have lost so many lovely tropicals. I too seem to gravitate to the tropical plants and keep them in pots so I can shelter them thru the winter. There are some like the hardy hibiscus that will do all right. The related Texas Star and Confederate Rose are also hardy.

The tropical hibiscus as well as one I am growing this year ~ H sabdariffa just cannot bear the colder weather. If you love them and want to exert the effort of moving them in and out, you should still be able to enjoy them. Definitely worth doing the research. pod

That's a good one. I'll start a Hosta thread. I've heard and read that Hostas don't do well here in DFW even in mostly shade (due to frequent droughts) I tried hydrangeas twice and then gave up (always looked like they were suffering in the summer). After giving up on hydrangeas, I didn't want to make the same mistake with Hostas.

I agree, because Texas covers zones 6-10, we are faced with a unique challenge when covering group discussions.

You are the most wonderful people......I love you so much....

collin, Mitch is trying to encourage Hostas but I have such bad results. The hydrangeas have been super disappointment and the peonies make me want to cry. Maybe we can help each other with the unique problems we all face.

Here's some hardy hibiscus for zone 8
flare hibiscus http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/40953/

lord baltimore http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/40923/

moy grande http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/40936/

Unfortunately, I don't think these are the ones I have. Trying to decide whether to dig and pot or just cover with heavy blankets and lots of mulch on the really cold nights.

Thanks for adding the links info. This is the one I pictured http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/40919/ and it was hardy this past winter even in a pot outdoors. Being potted can make it a little more weather sensitive tho.

Texas Star ~ Hibiscus coccineus ~ in the ground will bloom all summer...

Best wishes on the hibiscus. Unfortunately, hibiscus are often poorly labeled at nurseries. I bought some three years ago and planted them in the ground. They look awesome in the summer here. I left them in the ground and heavily mulched them. I cut them to the ground after the first freeze and then mulched some more (they were most likely one of the tropical varieties). They were slow to break dormancy and SLOWLY grew back in the spring. The next winter was colder, and they didn't come back.

If you really like them and they don't make it through the winter, you could just buy hardy varieties in the spring. Give them until May to see new growth.

Charlene--
This is a great link that shows which drought tolerant plants grow best in which zones in Texas.
http://extension-horticulture.tamu.edu/extension/xeriscape/xeriscape.html

Sorry ~ I need to quit stepping on this thread.

Because I feel no queries should be ignored, I started this thread...
Hopefully it will help all of us in the cooler zones of Texas and it will also be a step toward LouCs' desire to see more threads... http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/770031/

Well, if you guys want to talk about Hostas, here is an excellent article about them;
http://davesgarden.com/guides/articles/view/145/
and also one about Hardy Hibiscus;
http://davesgarden.com/guides/articles/view/129/

Josephine.

I do have the Texas Star. It dies to the ground every winter and comes back with even more shoots every Spring. Even my DH is enamored with it. Thank you for the links, Jo.

On the side here - I have never grown a hosta... ever... but my good friend Sylvia loves them so I did the article for her.

I've been keenly interested in buying a Texas Yellow Bells (Tecoma). Or would really love the orange Tecoma if I could find one.

I knew you were there all along. Been out birthday shopping for DH today and just now getting a chance to catch up. We all seem to try to grow everything even though we (I) always think I'm going to do just natives. I see something or read a post with a picture and right away I have to have it. Sometimes it is against all odds. Then someone tells how they managed to raise the same plant and away I go again.

Going to sheer the peonies and relocate this afternoon for sure. They can't do any worse. Does anyone know if they pout the first year after being moved? That would mean I have to start all over before I get a bloom.....oh well, not going anywhere else.

LouC

They dont like being moved... can take up to 3 years to bloom after being moved.

Collincounty, there is alot of info on hostas if you check the sticky in the hosta forum. Some are much hardier in Texas than others because of the specific species of hosta they are descended from. Plantagenea is one of the hardy ones and I'm trying to collect its descendents because they are they ones that are supposed to have good scents. And Mitch is right, Sylvia grows lots of hostas and lives in the Dallas area.

Well, I did sheer the Peony but will wait a couple of days to decide whether to move. Thank you, Mitch.

Thanks for all the help on hostas. I may bravely purchase two or three of the hardier ones soon or in the spring for my shade bed.

Collin, before you buy hostas you might want to check out the threads on the HVX virus. First advice is don't buy from a big box store and maybe not even from a nursery, unless you know they are concious of the virus problems. There's lots of info on this on the sticky in the hosta forum and there's atleast 1 thread about it also.

Silverfluter ~

There are a few nurseries that have it. I think the northern nurseries are the least likely to have it because it simply doesn't grow well enough in the north for them to try to grow it. That's a good sign for us in the south.:) Tomorrow I'll look and see which ones have it. I'm too tired right now. I bet Sylvia would know right off though.:) The offspring of plantegenea are easy to find though and some have been around along time so they have proven themselves.

I decided to look it up anyway. Honey Hill Hostas has it on their website. Bridgewood Gardens and Foxfire might also.

I just found it on the Plant Delights website. Sorry I haven't got the hang of doing hyperlinks, but just google those names and you should get the websites.

This message was edited Sep 11, 2007 11:10 PM

http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/b/Liliaceae/Hosta/plantaginea/cultivar/0/

Thanks so much for the links and the nurseries... I will tour them tomorrow.

Have ordered from PDN this year with no complaints but didn't see this hosta in their catalogue. Will look closer.

Appreciate your effort ~ you too ~ V ~ Thanks... pod

Dmail Sylvia she is selling Hosta now and I know hers dont have the virus. Her prices I think are fair too...

Yes they are great prices, but I don't think she's selling plantagenea. They are probably varieties that have multiplied so much that they've outgrown their space. So that's a good sign.:)

I've been registered here for years but only paid up to join in this year. Since I'm a Backyard Wildlife Habitat Steward, wildlife friendly (native plants) gardens are my main interest.

There don't seem to be a lot of threads that deal with these areas so I don't contribute much.

Texas gardening is so different from other places I've lived that I started my own website about Hill Country gardening. I'm trying to save others from making the same mistakes I did. And there were many!!!

Y'all talk about zones but 8a in the Hill Country is much different than 8a in East Texas. I've seen Texas divided in to 10 basic ecological regions; Pineywwods, Gulf Coast praries & marshes, Post Oak Savannah, Blacklands Prairies, Cross Timbers & Prairie, South Texas Plains, Edwards Plateau, Rolling Plains, High Plains and Trans-Pecos.

When I read the threads I mentally locate the writer by the city listed (sometimes I have to look it up on a map). Perhaps we should identify ourselves by the eco-region in which we garden..

Ok I am still somewhat new here but yeah I lurk around some.
Between going to work, gathering wisteria vines to make baskets, figuring out ways to use the bamboo in the yard, working on clearing things up and being on dang dial up that likes to cut me off unles I stay up late I've been in and out reading posts.
Oh and I am zone 7b I think it says when I post...lol

I guess I am still somewhat overwhelmed by our land , but we did find out today from one of the neighbors that the back half that is so over grown ...has always been that way other then several years ago the people that lived here and 2 of the neighbors had some lumber people come in and take out a big chunk of pine trees so that explains what we thought were landscaping ridges..they are actually left from the trucks. lol

In clearing out alot of the green briar vines and Virginia creeper today I found what I think is prickly pear cactus'
I jumped hubby thinking he had mowed over them but he hadn't been in that area yet ..it was just the way they were with the vines growing all over them.

I want so bad to work in the yard and make "beds" and plant stuff but I know now is not really the time to dig up stuff and move it and I am just not sure where to even start.

I am really looking forward to getting to meet people at the round up in October. the only people I talk to in person are the ones at work and that is only at work.