February/March 2012:
Planting Time is almost here, although, we can still have a freeze past Valentines Day and into mid-March.
Plant some colorful annual plants. For spring and summer color, try carnations, mums, petunias and bluebonnets. A small bed or some pots with some annual flowers provides a spot of color for your yard at a nominal cost. They are more visible and easier to maintain if they are near a door or window to enjoy and to remind you to water, fertilize, and deadhead them periodically.
Most of the herbs do well in pots and make your front entrance smell great after a rain or when you water them. Try Rosemary, Thyme, Basil, Mints (a dozen types, great for adding to tea), or a couple of Chile Pequin (has small red peppers). Use pots bigger than you think you need,(but small enough to move in or out of the sun) remember, plants grow, and several plants in a pot make a bushy bouquet quickly. A pot can make a pretty touch to the front sidewalk, deck, patio, or driveway. Improve the look and value of your home.
Perennial flowers and shrubs will come back each spring and provide many years of enjoyment.
For full sun areas there are the lemon colored and the hot pink Verbenas, Blue and White Mistflower, several types of Lantana, Mealy Blue Sage that spread well and bloom all summer in full sun.
For partial shade the red and yellow Texas Gold Columbine are great plants (mine usually stay green all winter), nice lacy, blue green foliage and they bloom most of the summer with an occasional foliar feeding of liquid seaweed or something. They really need compost for mulch to do well in mottled shade. The Fall Asters, Purple Coneflower, Tropical Sage, Turks Cap and Zemenia all bloom in partial shade and will attract and feed butterflies and hummingbirds and birds to your yard. A very relaxing sight.
Trees - It is always time to plant trees so if you have been putting it off, select a few 1 to 5 gallon trees and start growing the beauty and shade you’ll enjoy for years. Remember, deciduous trees on the South and West side of the house to block the summer sun and let in the heat after the leaves fall in the winter. Large shade trees include the Cedar Elm, Chinquapin Oak, Bigtooth Maple, the Chinese Pistache, and the large Burr Oak.
Some of the evergreen favorite trees are: Large Live Oaks, and smaller trees Texas Mountain Laurel (for a small tree with beautiful and fragrant blooms in the spring), Cherry Laurel, Southern Wax Myrtle, Yaupon holly , Montezuma Cypress do lose their leaves for a short time,(plant in a low spot, they need a lot of water to stay green).Some pecan trees but require a lot of spraying etc, so check with the Travis County Extension office for a variety that will do well in your neighborhood.
For under story size trees with beautiful spring blooms, plant and enjoy the Mexican Plum, Texas Redbud, Texas Persimmon (a bit dirty with dropping fruit, so put one or three in a corner), or Desert Willow in full sun, or the Possumhaw with the scarlet red berries visable this time of the year.
Shrubs for sun/part shade include the Argarita, Bear Grass, Cherry Sage, Dwarf Wax Myrtle, Dwarf Yaupon Holly, Evergreen Sumac, Glossy Abelia, the Hawthornes,and a large bush with green changing to white to purple berries that the Mocking Birds love, the American Beautyberry.
Remember to water new plants weekly to monthly during dry spells for the first year, periodically for the first 2 years to establish the roots. Based on how fast you want the plants to grow, you can be cut back your watering after the first 2 years.
Tree folks says to be sure to have a wide ring of soil covered with mulch around the base of the tree, at least 3-4”deep mulch will stretch out the time between waterings. As it decomposes it provides food for earthworms and other little soil builders. Earthworms bring rich subsoil to the soil surface and decompose organic matter into invaluable compost. They also leave tracks in the soil which allow moisture and air deep down where your tree roots need them.
Check the moisture level of your tree at least once per week, when the soil is dry 1” below the surface, water the tree slowly and deeply. Recommend at least 5 gallons per week for the first year and double that the second. That’s for a well mulched tree. It takes much more water for trees without good mulch cover of the soil.
Adding Compost - As always, add composted material to beds and lawns for slow release fertilizer and to add organic matter to our Blackland Prairie heavy clay soil. If you have very little soil over layers of limestone, you need organic matter also. The nurseries have composted material by the bag and by the truck load. Several of our neighbors would split a 6 yard truck load of Dillo Dirt to share the cost of the delivery truck every year or so, in the spring or fall. It sure makes great looking flowers and grass and helps lower the pH of our alkaline soil which releases the nutrients to the plant roots. Dillo Dirt is available in bags now at many of the local nurseries.
Tree Care Should Wait – We can still have a freeze through Valentines day so pruning fertilizing and cleanup of yards should wait until at least late February. These activities stimulate new growth that can be easily killed by a late frost. Most plants require warm nights (when the soil is really warm) before much growth starts in the spring.
If you have compacted soil in your yard where the water and air do not reach the roots, the best treatment is to rent an aerator, run it over your yard and then fertilize with 1/8 to 1/4 inch of Dillo Dirt. If you have a sprinkler system, mark the location of the heads before you start and stay away from the sprinkler heads.
Do NOT smother tree roots, with more than 2 or 3 inches of soil, mulch, rocks, or anything over the roots of trees (especially Live Oaks). It will reduce the ability of the roots to gather oxygen, exclude carbon dioxide, and limit water flow. This greatly slows the growth of the tree and some trees will die.
Early spring fertilization usually does wonders for the strength and growth of live oak trees. Put 2 or 3 inches of compost and 4 inches of mulch under the tree extending 1 1/2 times beyond the drip line. I was surprised to learn that the Austin area native trees have such a wide spread root system to help the tress to quickly capture rain water before it runs off.
Prune Trees and Shrubs – Prune now only to remove dead branches, diseased, crossing, rubbing, damaged branches, narrow weak crotches, or multiple main stems (try for only one main stem). When pruning, make the cut beyond the branch collar leaving a small stub. A flush cut requires the bark of the trunk to eventually close the wound and is much slower growing than the branch collar bark, which will quickly enclose the nub. Do NOT paint the cuts on any trees (except for live oaks to keep away the beetles carrying the live oak fungus).
Late February is time to prune the lovely crepe myrtle trees/bushes that can be pruned down to wood the size of a pencil. They bloom on new wood, so pruning helps the new branching and the blooming if not done too severely.
If they are the large variety and must be made smaller, use the old maintenance trick and cut off near the ground at an angle, 1/3 of the largest trunks. Next year, prune the new growth for shape and cut out another 1/3 of the largest trunks. In 3 years you will have a healthy new cluster of trunks with heavy flowering provided by the massive root system developed over the years. Aggressive top pruning will work ok but it makes ugly stick trees for a few months.
Plant some things now and begin to build the future yard you want. Your kids will even want to help if they get to participate in the planning, buying, planting and watering. Enjoy gardening it improves your outlook and life — you deserve it.
Happy Gardening,
“The Gardening Guy”
By Chuck Simms
