Texas Attacked by Giant Spider!..... Just Kidding, Fall Garden Tour and Open Threads

What's on your mind?

After 4 months of the worst summer weather anyone can remember here, rain and much cooler temps finally arrived in central Texas 3 weeks ago. This enormous, female Zig Zag Spider or Argiope aurantia has called my front porch home for the entire summer and is a most welcome guest! I think of these spiders as a good omen.

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The female Zig Zag, measuring about 3.5” across, showing her characteristic web pattern. These used to be abundant on my property back in the 90’s but have declined as grasshoppers and other insects they depend on have slowly declined.

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The day the rains came. We hadn’t seen a drop here in 4 months with temps substantially over 100 for nearly the entire time. I had put this umbrella in front of the porch to help shield it from the sun.

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In Texas only the toughest plants can be used in gardens. It is a brutal, Schizophrenic climate even in an average year. It’s much like a tropical, African savannah in Summer with sub- freezing temperatures in the winter. Humidity can be sky high with no rain for months at a time. Volatile and sudden temperature changes in early Spring and late Fall are the norm. Winters are chilly but normally very mild by northern standards. This is climate at the crossroads.

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A dramatic evening sky as very welcome rains storms roll in from the west.

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I’ve been letting Boris outside more and more. Here he discovers nibbling on Purple Fountain Grass.

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Two native stalwarts. Texas Palmetto and Cenizo share this border at the back door. In Texas native plants form the backbone of most gardens. Many Mexican and Carribean as well as some Mediterranean plants also fit the bill.

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I recently planted this cenizo hedge down the side of my neighbors very long gravel driveway. Cenizo or Luecophyllum species are native to north-east Mexico and far south Texas. They always bloom right after it rains here. This rapidly growing hedge will soon by 7’ tall and nearly as wide. These were never watered this summer.

The blooms are a magnet for butterflies, bumble bees and my neighbors honeybees.

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A festive favorite here is the Carribean native known as Pride of Barbados or Caesalpinia pulcherrima . These survived record temperatures down to 3 degrees here in 2021.

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A mixed planting of natives and subtropical shrubs and perennials. Our native, mealy blue sage or Salvia farinacea is in the foreground. I designed landscapes and ran a specialty nursery on this property for many years. Now it is just my home.

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Gomphrena globosa or Globe Amaranth is an easy, Mexican summer annual here that I allow to reseed itself in gravel areas around the property. It prefers the gravel over garden soil. The palm tree is Phoenix canariensis or Canary Island Feather Palm. It is the most winter hardy feather palm in the world. This one survived multiple, record nights into the single digits in 2021.

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A fall delight of Mexican, Queens Wreath Vine or Antigonon leptopus and Dwarf Pomegranate shrubs.

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Native, Maximillian’s Sunflower is another Texas fall garden treat.

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American Beauty Berry is native to the eastern half of Texas and is at its best in fall.

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Texas has several nice native Hibiscus family members that are tough and outstanding. This is Malvaviscus drummondii or Turks Cap Hibiscus. This clump exceeded 6’ this year.

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I let this area at my back door be home to this mixture of Basil and pale colored Gomphrena. It reseeds every year.

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This is a very dry part of the garden that I never water. In the foreground is another native Hibiscus called Pavonia lasiopetala. This area came right to life again with the recent rains.

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This crazy, burgundy colored grass is fairly new to the nursery trade and is like purple fountain grass on steroids. It is oblivious to the heat here and completely winter hardy. Behind it is Pride of Barbados cousin and Texas native, Mexican Poinciana.

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This guest cottage has become my sleeping haven where I have tried to eliminate as much EM radiation as possible. No smart meter, no Wi-Fi, no phone, everything shut off and quiet as much as is possible. Cats Smokey, Mattie and Shadow are chowing down as little Boris looks on to the left.

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The silver form of Meditteranean Fan Palm is extra winter hardy. It has no trouble with our winters.

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This time of year grasses can start to steal the show from other ornamentals. In the foreground is one of our native Mullenbergias.

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5-month-old Boris was enjoying the fine, 70-degree weather we had this evening. October is almost always very nice here. The rose Old Blush was brought to the west from China in the late 1700’s. It was the first reblooming rose Europeans had ever seen and its genetics are in every rose in existence now. This 25-year-old specimen is 7 feet tall and is oblivious to the worst conditions imaginable.

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So, now readers know what I’m doing when I’m not writing or commenting here. It’s this garden, family, friends and God that keep me sane. I am designating this piece as open threads for readers to tell all of us what’s on their minds today. Every day I learn things from commenters on Substack. Others often hold the key to things I’m already looking at or have completely new informations or perspectives I haven’t thought of. I’m all ears…………

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