great point regarding the different soil types/bed rock and eco-regions affecting plant health in the same zone. For example, traveling in a straight line from Weatherford to Canton you pass through the following:
Western Cross Timbers (dolomite and limestone) in Weatherford
Grand Prairie (a narrow strip of shale/clay and then limestone/clay mix) in FortWorth
Eastern Cross Timbers (shale/clay) in Euless/Hurst/Bedford
Trinity river bed--mostly sand (and old refrigerators---just kidding, parts of the Trinity River are really nice)
Blackland Prairie-sandy dolomite and then sandy shale/clay in Dallas
Post Oak Belt-sandy shale/clay and silty sandstone in Canton
So that's six eco-regions and ten bedrock regions in 70 miles from Weatherford to Canton
Then as you travel from Canton to Tyler, you go into Piney Woods and conglomerate bedrock
More Texas interest
jabee, welcome to our crazy mixed up world of climates. Obviously, you have studied us, maybe more than we have ourselves. Your input would be more than helpful. Obviously, Texas is not the norm when it comes to zones. Your information is just exactly what we need. I, too, try to mentally find just where the poster is. Zones don't give the same information that other parts of the country do. Texas is definitely a different sort of place.
It takes all of us to put this together. We welcome your input to help each and every one of us to understand our gardening situations and try to help us all do the very best we can.
Welcome, again and again.
And those of you who are still lurking.....please realize how much your have to offer. We are depending on you....all of you....to help us put all of our knowledge together so we may continue to enjoy gardening in the great State of Texas.......and all of the rest of you....
God Bless America
Christi Lou
Colin, we cross posted once again....and you are so correct.....
That's me. I can take fifteen minutes typing something, getting books off shelves for reference, etc. This afternoon, I was looking for lakes to go camping. One book had eco-zones and bedrock maps for central Texas (bedrock map quite complex). Then this thread mentioned the variety of zone 8a, so I had to go get the book and find the maps again.
anyhow, gotta go---early day tomorrow.
LauraHarber... I have an orange Tecoma. I'd try to root one for you if you'd like. It sulked all summer, and has only begun to bloom now that the monsoon rains have stopped in Austin. Just let me know....it's fairly gangly now, but shouldn't miss a couple of stems.
Jabee ~ you are sooo correct on zones which I believe are based on temperature only? The variants are many soil, moisture etc.
That line of thinking is valid and will put me in zone 8a SOF ~ Sweet Gum Oak floodplains. This line of thought also makes delineating the Texas gardens even more difficult. pod
CollincountyTx ~ sadly not just kidding on the old refrigerators and not just the Trinity. Litter in east Texas will be an uphill battle...
Hey, Colin.....got to recommend Lake Tawakoni State Park....about 2 miles from my MIL.
However, we have been to almost every State Park in Texas. There are no bad ones.
Laura,
On your Tecoma stans or yellow bells I wanted to mention that I tried one along with a friend down the road a piece. We neither one had luck with it coming back in the spring. However, I took a nice drive around town this year and noticed that several people have good luck with it coming back again and again. So I bought another one at Lowes this week. I think I am going to keep it inside this winter and feed it well in the spring and put it out. Maybe if it is a little bigger and has a better root system, it's roots will overwinter for me and return in the spring.
Just a thought you may want to consider.
Charlene
Towakani is great---went a few times growing up here. We're probably heading north and west to escape the tropical humidity coming in from the gulf (lake Bridgeport vs Ray Roberts, vs Tacoma vs Turner Falls.
Jabee - I'd love to see you start a Texas backyard wildlife thread and share your great info. with us. Sometimes when I get on DG, I get interested in areas I never even thought of. That's part of the fun of new threads. I would read and participate on any thread you start. Your expertise would be very welcome.
Jabee, Please do that and start another thread. We face so many challenges in Texas that are unique to other areas. Sometimes information from California on a particular plant won't fit the growing situation in the Texas panhandle at all. Although with modifications it will grow and thrive. My personal reason for wanting the people in Texas to post their experiences so we may all benefit.
I agree! Please do Jabee. Whatever topic you choose, I'll be there!
Hi, book. Hope you are doing ok. Been to the doc yet. My back is so much better.
Hi LouC - so glad to hear you are better! I went to yoga yesterday and took it really easy. The stretches helped so much, I'll go back. I'll dmail you with the yoga results after I go a few more times. Thanks for asking!
Ok someone tell me is there any thing special I should know about pricky pear cactus...and I don't mean the fine hairs that grow on them instead of the "needles"
I do know part of them is edible but I'm not planning on eating any lol
Oh and for those not knowing or wondering Flint is located Near Tyler so I am real close to Chamlee's Roses and the Rose Garden.
Funny where we are located we are closer to Chandler and Tyler then Flint and I do know it is the Piney Woods area.
Mibus - that would be a great thread topic. I would love to know about prickly pear cactus. They are used in cooking and I'm pretty sure I've had them as a topping for chicken in an authentic Mexican restarant, here. I'm all for reading a thread on your cactus, even though I can't grow them here.
I can start a thread but, believe me, I'm no expert (except for what to do wrong!). I kept trying to start my tomatos in June and grow fushias and geraniums as I had in Colorado. I hate to think of the $$$'s I wasted!
The only thing I've become really expert at is gardening with deer. "Texas Gardening" mag even used me as a resource for the cover article in January....braggin' here.
Anyway, got to get ready for work but I'll give it some thought. Thanks all.
Jabee ~ I will dig out my January issue. That magazine has been an excellent educational gardening source for me!
Besides, you don't have to be an "expert" to start a thread! I learned long ago many know more than I do ~ lol
bookworm,
Cactus grow great in Houston. You just need to elevate a little and provide sufficient drainage.
Would you like some?
I keep chopping mine back - two groups - both about 3-4 feet tall and just as broad. Long leaf prickly pear; some thorns and plenty of glokids (sp). I use gloves and a machette to prune.
Both the pads and the tuna (the fruit) are edible. I have not tried to make any prickly pear jelly yet, but I have consumed a bunch of it. Most Houston grocery stores carry nopalitos which is prepared cactus pads, ready for cooking or use in recipes.
Wish I had harvested last year - must have had over 30# of tuna. Gotta get a new propane bottle for my torch - burning the thorns off is he easiest way.
jabee, We have friends in Georgetown and they continually complain about the deer coming directly onto their porches.....not afraid of anything. That is one thread that would be the top of the list immediately. I would bet there are few counties in Texas that don't have deer in one part or another.
Bubba - they sound like a bit much to keep in control, and I don't have any room. Thanks for the offer! The green sauce it makes is really good on grilled chicken. I think it must've been made like tomatillo sauce. Are the tuna sweet? I've seen them growing in the wild, and wondered about the red fruit.
They'er wonderful. When we kayaked the lower canyons of the Rio Grand, we used a couple of knives, and gloves to harvest and slice some for our group. Very sweet and juicy - stained everything they touched - never did get the color out of any clothing. Even beards were red for a day or two. The cafe at Langtry had some jelly and we polished off a new jar with a loaf of toast. There were 5 in our party.
Mibus2, I live in Buffalo. I go to Tyler occasionally and have passed through Flint on occassion. Hello neighbor!
We have a few of those cactus plants in the pasture. I have never dug any and brought up to the house. I started to one time and they stuck me too bad for the trouble LOL.
Charlene
Sounds like you need some heavy duty gloves before tackling that fruit! I guess I'll buy mine already "defanged" at the grocery store and try to make that sauce.
http://www.desertusa.com/magdec97/eating/nopales.html
Just found this great website with information all about the prickly pear cactus. Usually found in the ethnic part of the grocery store either in produce (de-thorned) or pickled in a jar.
called NOPALES
This message was edited Sep 14, 2007 2:59 PM
Thanks, LouC! That nopales salsa is probably what my favorite restaurant uses on the grilled chicken! Great site! Those things look wicked - wonder who the first person was that had the gumption to try to eat one... Must've been really hungry.
Well because of where they were growing in the over grown area behind the house and hubby panned on going in there and cleaning things out we dug them up and moved them to the terrace area behind the house which has alot of sand in it as does all the yard. Anyway he is keeping them watered not alot just to keep it a lil moist so the roots take off in the sand .... oh and I had on my leather gloves since we were gathering up the vines he had cut out.
I'll have to check out the link LouC Sunday on my day off I have never grown them or tasted them so it will be new to us and I am thinking maybe this spring on trying some bamboo shoots too since we have plenty of bamboo ...which reminds me I found a site called
bamboocrafts.com
and they have alot of info there and a forum for questions, answers, stuff to do and care.
I'm not sure where Buffalo is yet I'll have to look it up and if ya come this way holler and maybe we an meet someplace.
I work at "The Ranch on 7 mile Hill" in the restaurant... the assistant to the chef or as they call it down here the sous chef.
www.withclassspa.com
Hey sounds good to me, I'll e-mail you when I come that way.
About Chamblees roses, I bought twenty from them. They had a $5.00 special. They were supposed to have three canes each. Well the canes looked kind of small, but I didn't know too much about roses at the time.
When I put them out the first one out of the pot separated from the dirt and I found not a three cane rose, but three rooted cuttings. All of them were that way.
I bought some at Wal-mart for $4.97 not in pots, but packed in compost and wrapped in plastic around the roots. They had three nice large canes on one plant each.
I am sticking to Wal-mart. If I need a rose that they don't have, at least I now know what to watch out for.
Charlene
Charlene, I hope you let them know about it...Chamblee's that it. I wouldn't care if they were 50 cents apiece they were misrepresented. If you haven't already, please put this in
the forum where vendors are rated.
You know Lou, I thought about calling them on it, but they are so well known and I am just a peon. I figured that I wouldn't make any difference at all.
I went to a Garden show in Dallas last year and they were set up there. They had the same spindly little roses and were selling them for $6.97 and they actually had people buying them. I figure they must be like I was and just not know about the fact that if there are three canes they are going to have more than a 1/4" diameter because they have been growing for a while. I don't like to stir up trouble, but maybe you are right, I will put it on the ratings just to protect the unknowing like myself.
Don't get me wrong, they had some nice three cane roses for sell, but they were much higher priced. I of course don't know for sure if they were really three canes or if they had three cuttings that had been growing for a very long time.
I definetly learned to check way down on the bush to see that the "canes" come from one stalk when I buy roses now.
I don't know how they can be so popular and get away with doing this. Unless of course everyone like myself is just quite about it.
Charlene
The good news was that I got three time the rose bushes. The bad news is they were not mature enough to overwinter outdoors and I could only save about 1/2 of them.
I have discovered that one voice is louder than a crowd sometimes. Ever been in an auditorium and someone yelled out? In the years I have left I determined to never let anyone step on me again. I refuse to lie down and they are going to have to hit me real hard to push me down. As it stands now....you have told hundreds of people because DGer's take care of each other. Promise....the word has been passed. Thank you very much for warning us so we won't be taken. And you have done it in a kind, gentle manner.
I did not mean that I intend to be abrasive just for the sake of it. That never accomplishes anything for either party. Chamblee owes you replacement. How long ago was this?
This message was edited Sep 16, 2007 9:42 AM
Charlene - I agree with LouC - if we don't tell others our experiences, how will they know they may not be trading with fair and reasonable companies - especially with the internet. So - even though we may be peons to them - we have over 300,000 gardening friends that may care what our experiences are.
I have rated several companies in Garden Watchdog on the basis of their helpulness, truth in descriptions, and healthiness of their plants - local and internet. Mostly good - but one negative on a company that some folks rave about. They never replied to my emails or the DG rating, and I will never trade with them again. I use the Garden Watchdog to choose new companies I will trade with - it's like talking to your neighbors about which dry cleaners or grocery is worth frequenting.
So - I wasn't successful copying the link, but go to your tabs and choose "Products and Sources" and choose Garden Watchdog. I use it all the time, now.
Wow and I am planning on going over to Chamlee's to check things out ..I've been looking at their website dreaming of roses and thought I would get a few mini ones to put in the well in front. ...online the cost is $8.95 - $9.95
I need color and flowers here I am tired of looking at grass and trees ...hahaha...
Charlene I would definatley be calling or emailing them and let them know just what you got and how it was presented to you as being. Regardless of what they were doing they need to keep in mind how it sounds and what the truth is.
Word of mouth good or bad advertising holds alot more water then something the store says.
I'm going to start a post on the Prickly pear cactus .....that way we can all learn from anyone that grows them and I can post on how mine do ...hubby says he found 2 more plants out back so I am moving them in the terrace with the others
Great, mibus2. I'm interested even though I don't have space for them!
Mibus and all ... there is definitely strength in numbers, here on DG.
Ok...Ok...I'm posting...lol
I'll admit it.....I'm a lurker! :-P
I too would like to know more about the Prickly pear cactus. Heck!! It grows around here everywhere!!
I went out to Palo Duro canyon in the spring hoping to find some jelly in the little shops there, but none of them were open. It must have been a Sunday.
There is an abandon house down the street from me that has a very large stand of it. I don't know if it's the same thing. It's much larger than the ones I have seen at the canyons and it has much longer and thicker thorns on it. I'll have to get a pic for an ID.
Ok here is the thread I just started.
http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/771541/
Hey bookworm have you ever gone to a place called the Red Lion (I think that is the name of it) It is a British pub there in Huston ... I was there last August visiting my daughter and we went there with some of the people she worked with at Baker Hughes they have good fish and chips there.
Glad to see the Texans finally crawling out from under the cactus? Oh, LouC? tee hee hee....
This message was edited Sep 15, 2007 11:22 PM
Ain't it great. I knew we had lurkers. drsaul, so glad you have joined us. Every single one has had experiences with their plants that could help someone else. Or OT is fine.
When we first moved to our home the desert look was all the rage. Good thing because we didn't have a tree or plant one. Planted several kinds of cactus. The way to propagate a prickly pear, other than dig the roots of the mother plant, is to just lay a patty on the ground. It wil sort of rot and put down it's own roots. Actually, once it is started, it is very hard to get rid of it. Oh, should have posted that in the new thread.
Update. My daughter and I ended up going to Ray Roberts in Sanger. Great lake and professional camp grounds. Isle du Bois park has a nice beach/park/swimming area. Will definitely go back.