efprince's Blog

Gardening in Texas
Feb 26, 2009 | 9:37 PM PST
Tags: Texas , Texarkana , Seattle , snow , spring

Gardening in Texas is going to be very different from what I am used to. Back home in Seattle, they were getting snow today and here in Texas it was 77 degrees today. But my Texas gardening book and local folks tell me we can still expect a frost or two until March 10th here. So the weather is very unpredictible to me. The nurseries have bedding plants already set out and I'm eager to buy and start planting, but I noticed that some of the plants already have frost damage on them because we've had a frost since they put them on display. So even they put their plants out too early. 

The house we are living in has no flower beds whatsoever - just the 14 pecan trees, some daffodils planted around the bases of a few of them and five roses along the front of the house. That's it. I am itching to plant and make beautiful flower beds, but first I have to learn what will grow here and what won't. I have started all my seeds inside like I usually do back home - I'll just have to see what grows and what doesn't. I am keeping records of what I see blooming and at what time, so I'll know what to plant. Everything seems to be blooming a little earlier here than back home. Right now I see flowering pear, flowering quince, forsythia, magnolia trees, camelia, daffodils and today I even saw some white irises blooming in one yard. Now that surprised me. I even have one little red tulip in bloom in one of the pots I planted last fall. It's very stunted though - as if it were very eager to bloom! 

I did buy some azaelas the other day though - they have been overwintered outdoors and I think they will do fine. I also bought a hydrangea - I love them and I had to leave a beautiful hydrangea behind in Seattle, which I miss a lot. I hope that it will grow well here. I do not recall seeing any growing in anyone's garden when I first got here last year, but I will give it a try and see if it survives. I am going to make a list of the plants that I want to buy - it is going to be a LONG list! I know for sure that I want forsythia and there is a lilac that is supposed to grow here in the south - I want to try to find it and grow that also. I DO so love lilacs.