Nursery notes: as the temperatures drop, and the lull of the
summer months drifts behind us, we enter the perfect time of
year for tree planting. This week's special offer is about trees:
Buy one tree, get a second one (of equivalent value) for
25% off. Please drop by to see our selection of beauties: fruit
trees (peaches, plums, apples, figs, loquats: $24.99 - $34.99)
and oaks (Monterey, burr, chinquapin, red $125 - $250.) $1
off all mints! Sale price $2.59. / Five weeks left to nourish
your lawn, and control weeds with corn gluten: $49 bag will
cover 4,000 square feet. Please note our new winter hours:
9 a.m. - 5:30 p.m. Thank you! 
10 recipes for purslane: with beets, in salads, with linguine...
this superfood can be used in a myriad of ways in the kitchen.
You can also change the flavor, depending on the time of day
you pick it: gathered in the morning, purslane will be tangy;
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How to build a twig trellis: bring charm to your garden with
this beautiful diamond-shaped creation. All of us have little
piles of branches and twigs somewhere in the garden, and this
article will show you how to get creative with them. From
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Central Texas Gardener: Flowers aplenty this week! A visit
flowers.' Saturday: 4 p.m. Sunday at 9 a.m. on-line: KLRU
by Amanda Moon
If you love flower bulbs, now is the time to plan and plant for the
spring of 2017. Although we will never be able to create the rolling
fields of hyacinths and tulips like the Dutch, there are still many
wonderful bulbs that thrive in our mild winters and hot summers,
and return bigger and better every year.
Many gardeners like to add them to their existing beds as seasonal
spot color, since most of them bloom for just a short period and
then enter dormancy until the following year.
The ten bulbs listed below are easy to care for. Generally speaking,
southern bulbs flourish in any well-drained soil. You can water them
a little to help them bloom, but drought will usually not kill them.
Some just wait patiently until the first good rain and then shoot up
a bloom stalk within days. After blooming, allow the leaves to die
back naturally and leave them alone. They are storing up energy
for next year.
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1. Daffodils/Narcissus: Many of the hybrids, such as the pink or
double varieties, will return to bloom for a few years. The heir-
looms – standard yellows and paperwhites – will blossom for many
years with little assistance.
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2. Bearded Iris: Although a rhizome and not a true bulb, you can’t
get a better performer for central Texas gardens. They're mostly
evergreen and I have yet to find one that doesn’t love our climate,
whether the old-fashioned purple and whites or the fancier hybrids.
Irises are highly fragrant when they bloom and are beautiful as cut
flowers. Plant leaving half the rhizome exposed and with enough
sun to ensure blooms.
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3. Peruvian Daffodil, Spider Flower: These bulbs grow into large
stands of white flowers atop long, strapping foliage and can be strik-
ing accent plants as well as a small 'hedge' if happy enough. Their
downfall (like many bulbs) is too much water, so make sure they are
not planted in a low-lying area as some of our years are quite wet.
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4. Amaryllis: These traditional Christmas flowers are actually warm
season bulbs that are bought during the Holidays to enjoy, but then
can be planted outside in the spring. Amaryllis are traditionally
forced (tricked into blooming outside of their natural bloom cycle)
so that they flower in winter even though they normally bloom in
the spring and summer in Texas. Pot them into a container and then
transplant them to a morning sun bed in the spring.
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5. Spider Lilies: (aka Hurricane or Schoolhouse lilies) They bloom
after heavy rains in late summer or early fall and go dormant until
the next summer. The foliage is an attractive green with a pale green
central stripe. Lycoris is easy to grow and a great heirloom bulb.
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6. Crinums: These lilies are an old plant that many of our grand-
parentshad in their gardens. The flowers are a starry bell shape and
come in hues of pink and white and some are even striped. Crinums
need a sunny spot to bloom and many can get quite large . . . so
give them plenty of space! (pictured above)
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7. Muscari (grape hyacinth): These smaller plants make good filler
and bloom in the very early spring. I have some growing under
the water faucet in the flowerbed for a beautiful punch of color
every spring.
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8. Lily of the Valley, Snowflake Leucojum aestivum: These old-
fashioned bulbs should be grown more. They are the first to bloom
in the spring (late winter for us) and the white/green flowers last
for some time. They can be grown in shade or sun and are very
tolerant of a wide variety of soil types and moisture levels. Note:
There is a larger-leaved bulbous plant also called Lily of the Valley
that struggles here, so make sure the genus (Leucojum) is correct
when buying.
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9. Oxblood Lilies Rhodophiala bifida: An heirloom flower found
in many old cemeteries and homesteads. The red flowers appear on
naked stalks in September or October depending on rainfall. Al-
though the flowers are fairly short lived they look stunning when
you see them blooming under an oak tree en masse. Shade and
neglect are not a problem for these hardy bulbs; in fact they thrive
under these conditions.
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10. Species Tulips: Although hybrid (florist-type) tulips are short
lived here in Texas, we can do quite well with species tulips. They
are more natural-looking and a little looser in form, but will bloom
for many years in the right spot. I have mine mixed in with pots of
spider lilies and amaryllis and they are quite happy. Happy garden-
ing everyone! (We have selections of bulbs for $2.99 - $4.99)
