Finally Got Here!!! New In Town.

Hello everyone. I just recently moved to Texas and just wanted to say hello. After growing up in New England I am enchanted by all your tropical and cactus plants. I live in the Houston area in a rental for the time being and my landlord was a great gardener. He left me a great garden to tend to and yesterday I found some garden critters not found in NE. The neighborhood was built in the 70's so there are lot of mature plants, bushs and trees. I think I'm in Heaven!!!! Here are some critter photos I took in the garden yesterday. This one is of a very colorful spider. (hope it's not poisonous)

I found this cute little guy on a board and he was brown. By the time I took his photo he had turned green.

Welcme, fancyflea! I'm a transplant to the area myself. I've been here 'bout 30 years, now. I'm in the Sugar Land area. I know all the best nurseries.... LOL

Jo

Welcome to Texas, fancyflea!

Here's a guy that kept me company in the garden a few weeks ago.

This message was edited May 17, 2008 12:49 PM

He actually stayed still while I took his photo.Oh how I love TEXAS!!!!

Thanks. I live in Missouri City. I tried to change my setting but to no avail I guess. Back to the drawing board. JO_ please let me know the good nurseries.


There...the setting is correct now.

This message was edited May 17, 2008 11:55 AM

Well, welcome to Texas, Fancy flea.

My DH and I are transplants as well, been here in Austin about 3 & 1/2 years.

Here's one of our little guys.

Pam

welcome fancyflea--they also like to hang out in Louisiana Iris in early spring

Welcome to the neighborhood, Fancyflea. I'm a native Sugar Lander...not far from you at all. There are a few other DG'ers in your neck of the woods. I'm sure they'll see you in no time. We have a great group of DG'ers that get together in the Houston and surrounding areas. You'll have to join us! Sometimes we visit the best nurseries, sometimes we have garden parties and swaps and sometimes we just have lunch or dinner or wine!

I guess you already know this, but many books about growing plants in Texas are talking about the hillcountry and the soil there. As you are in Missouri City, you are near the Gulf Coast, and it's a whole 'nother world.
Lou

Welcome Fancyflea! I'm a transplant too - lived all my life in Southern California until I moved here 4 years ago.

The best nursery in the immediate area I've found so far is Enchanted Forest in Richmond. It's so beautiful and pleasant to just walk around and look at all their mini garden settings. And of course, you just end up wanting one of everything.

There are some other really good ones closer to downtown, but to me, Enchanted Forest is just as good and so much easier to get to (a lot less traffic).

I believe the green lizard is a Green Anole. We have those at my house, too. I love those little guys! I tell them to move in, have lots of babies and eat all my mosquitoes. I haven't seen them around lately though, which is weird after having seen them a lot earlier this spring. I hope nothing happened to them!

My husband drove me to Enchanted Forest today for a talk about butterfly gardening. I LOVE that place. Yep, it's my favorite, too. I can't wait until my eye is healed so I can drive myself again. This is really cramping my style. :(

Jo

Get togethers!!!...oh boy..I'd love to meet some local gardeners, Knolan. Louparris, I have been looking for some good books on gardening in this area as Texas has so many zones. digigirl, thanks for the info on the Enchanted Forest nursery. I will definately check it out. Syrumani, Morgane, dmj1218...love your photos of the green lizards.

Welcome to Texas! It's the bestest place on earth to live!

I found this guy hanging around my daisies a few weeks ago. He reminds me of the GEICO gecko! LOL

Welcome to Houston! :-) I love the Houston Gardening Book by John Kriegel (Garden Bookworm entry: http://davesgarden.com/products/gbw/c/767/). Our realtor gave it to us when we bought the house, and I've used it so much it is falling apart. I'm going to need another copy pretty soon! I've seen it at Barnes & Noble, and at various nurseries, so I'm sure you'll be able to find it locally fairly easily. If not, it's definitely on Amazon. :-)

This message was edited May 17, 2008 6:52 PM

Stephenietx...oh gosh..that gecko is tooooo cute. They all have their own personalities I have concluded. Marylyn_Tx..I just purchased a used copy of that Houston Gardening book real cheap on Amazon. Can't wait to get it. Thanks for the info.

Stephanie--he does look just like the Geico gecko, good catch there with the camera!
Debbie
=)

LOL! Stephanie, that is a GREAT shot, you should send that to a magazine or something; tooooooo cute!

OOPS, almost forgot my manners, "Welcome to Texas, Fancyflea!!!!!" We've been here 31 years in July, so it's been more "home" than anywhere else we've been! We love it and hope that you do too!

Houston is a great area! There is so much to do here! ENJOY!

This message was edited May 17, 2008 9:15 PM

That's a great book! I've had it for several years and love it.

There are 2 Enchanted's (owned by the same folks). The one in Richmond is Enchanted Gardens and the one in Booth is Enchanted Forest. Enchanted Forest is a lot larger than Enchanted Gardens. I go to the 'Forest' almost weekly now. Anyone that wants to go, let me know.

You'll find that a lot of us do butterfly gardening and caterpillar rearing. It's a fun hobby!

Well, I guess we have to start planning a get together.

Randy, Bubba....ya'll 'out there'?

Yeah, I think that Enchanted Forest is much nicer than Enchanted Gardens. I can't quite put my finger on why, exactly, but it just is.

Knolan, maybe we should plan a group Enchanted Forest visit. Maybe we can get them to give us a tour or a little workshop or something? What do you think?

I think it's a spectacular idea. I have several friends from my master gardener class that work out there now. I can find out when some are working and see if they could be 'assigned to us'. Even if not, ALL of the folks out there are so helpful. If we just showed up with a group they would be tickled pink.

They usually have workshops on Saturday mornings. This Saturday is 'Escape to the Tropics' fro 11:;00 am until 2:00 pm.

I prefer EF over EG because it's a lot larger and they have done a lot more landscaping to show you good plant combinations and what should be in full sun vs. shade, etc.

Also, the Vintage Roserie in Needville has closed down due to the passing of the owners wife. While they aren't open for business any longer, he will be selling off all of his roses for $10/ea on Memorial Day weekend. He'll be open from Saturday thru Monday. I'll be going on Saturday ad already have 3 people riding with me but anyone that wants to caravan behind us is more than welcome.

I'm sorry, Jo. I didn't read far enough up to see that you have something wrong with your eye. Best wishes to get well soon. If we do plan a date to EF and you aren't able to drive, we could always make arrangements for you to join us, whether you would like to have DH drop you here or be picked up.

Welcome Fancyflea to TX and Houston in particular. You'll love it here and on DG. Ladies, I have never been to Enchanted Gardens or Forest. Know where Richmond is, of course, but had never heard of that place while I lived in Meadows Place. As for Enchanted Forest, don't know where that is either. Is there anything out here near me in far west Houston or the edge of Katy? I don't enjoy fighting traffic going into Houston. I know there is a feed store somewhere near me in Katy (another one just closed) and there is a tiny nursery on Franz @ either Westgreen or Mason. Other than that I am clueless except for Houston Garden Centers and the box stores. Of course I've only been in this neighborhood 3 yrs. +/-.

Ann

Franz and Mason
there is a big auto repair shop diagonally across the street

Hey! Glad to see you finally made it FancyFlea! About 3 or 4 hours north of you but we still got them varmints!

Welcome to TEXAS... 8 )))) pod

Ann - and whomever else might not know - there is a zip code search for nearby nurseries here on DG. I don't think it necessarily has *everything* since it relies on people to enter their local nurseries, but it does have a pretty good list for Houston.

Go to the Products & Sources tab
Click on Go Gardening (third item down)
Type in your zip code at the top right of screen and hit enter

You'll get a list sorted by proximity of all the local nurseries in your area that have been entered and/or rated by other DG'ers.

That's how I found Enchanted Forest.

y'know, I knew that but the "dumbs" must have hit me. Why can't I think of what I need when I need it? Going to look it up now. Thanks for the nudge, didigirl.

Ann

Re books for the Houston area, the Bible is the A Garden Book for Houston by the River Oaks Garden Club. Mine is rather old, but it's my favorite. My husband's favorite is Houston Garden Book (also old and long out-of-print but has been reprinted). There are a couple of others but really, not that many. There is a brand new book (2008) by Howard Garrett called Plants of Houston and the Gulf Coast, but I'm not sure how good it is. I do see some misinformation. You might be better off talking to some of the gardeners in your area. I know I am in the northwest corner of Houston, and our soil (rather Sandy and very acid) is more like that in Montgomery County than in Houston proper. Soils differ quite a lot throughout the Houston and Gulf Coast area.
Lou

The Houston Garden Book 'A Complete Guide to Gardening in Houston and the Gulf Coast' by John Kriegel is rather old and outdated and I, personally don't find it useful; but it does have some really nice color pictures of old gardens in the River Oaks area. Which might be useful for hardscaping ideas. If anyone wants it, I have a copy that you can have. But you will have to come pick it up.
=)

Hi podster. Yes I finally got here and as they say in Texas "Wasn't born here but I got here as fast as I could"!

Just in time for the heat... you poor dear. Not to worry, we will help you suffer thru it! Looking forward to hearing what all your landlord left in the garden for you...

That's the way I felt about it. Nobody asked me if I wanted to be born where there was ice and snow! I did get a really good Mom, so can't complain. We've all been "Texasized" since and consider this "home"! Even Mom would not return to the COLD weather. Love the warm weather!

We put something in the water in Texas that makes people stay here....granted, some escape...must develop immunity to our top secret elixir. Oops, wasn't supposed to tell about that! I'm a lifer myself. Escaped for a few years, but had to come back for a Texas-talk fix and never could leave since. If anyone could figure out how to air-condition the outdoors for 6 month out of the year....oh well, maybe you'll acclimate. Some do, some don't.

LOL! Funny....Not to mention that most of the people here are really nice and friendly....that good ole "Southern Hospitality"!

Hey Fancy, you made it! How nice of your landlord to plant all of that propagation material...um, I mean landscape... for you.lol

Tee hee hee cocoa_lulu...my sentiment exactly. I've been looking up how to propagate this and that, from the garden. Here are some of the goodies he left me(I mean to take care of). Persimmon tree, Peach, Red Grapefruit, Gardenias bushs, 2 kind of Jasmine bushs, Iris(not sure what kind but they have massive seed pods on them now), Roses(nice smelly ones) Guava, Epis and Aloes(already took cuttings from these) tons of Kholanchoes(sp?). But these babies I really need to aammmm...thin out. He didn't know what they are called but he brought them back from Hawaii on several trips he took. He said they have great flowers. They have rhizone type roots. Here are the two kinds he has. They are everywhere.

And this type which have reached about 5 feet tall right now.

And these are rather interesting. He told me the Vietnamese(he is Vietnamese) use these leaves to roll rice and such inside and then cook them. They have an interesting taste. Not sure what to do with them and not sure what they are called. I'll have to investigate these.

WOW what a deal!!!! That is wonderful! Alot of things you can cut just above or below a node, stick it in root tone, and then in potting soil and it will take root.
It would be worth giving a try!

I would love to have a start of the jasmine, and gardenia! I have banana trees.....to trade.....want one, or two, or three?