tel: 512 280-1192                                         Thurs, Oct. 16, 2014

Nursery Notes: 25% off pottery (except talavera) this weekend.
25% off all palm trees - prices range from $40 to $250. All 2. gal.
Esperanzas (yellow bells) on sale for $9.99 (reg. $14.99). We are
fully stocked with all winter veggies right now, including kale and
spinach. If you're creating a fall vegetable garden, we have every-
thing that you need!
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A Guide to Fall Tree Planting: free lecture by Amanda Moon, 
2 p.m. this Sunday. Learn when and how to plant new trees: best
planting practices; best trees for our area; best understory trees;
care for trees during times of drought; best ways to fertilize and water. 
Apart from writing for this newsletter, Amanda has also appeared
many times as a special guest on KLRU-TV's Central Texas Gard-
ener, and is an expert in her field.


Swiss Chard Pancakes: from the Splendid Table comes this interest-
ing French recipe for these large supper-time pancakes (or farçous).
Serve with a salad. You can also make variations on this theme. Writes
Dorie Greenspan: "I'm sure that somewhere in the rule book it says
that farçous can only be made with Swiss chard, but spinach, however
unorthodox, is also awfully good." Splendid Table
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Help Installing Trees: Alex Gomez works at our nursery during the
weekends, but also has a business called Alex's Landscape Services.
Apart from creating flower beds, vegetable gardens and general yard
maintenance, he also installs trees. Typical prices:15 gal. tree $70;
30 gal. tree $125. (Compost, mulch, staking posts etc are all extras.)
Call Alex at 512-809 0362.
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 Central Texas Gardener  Mix Edibles with Wildlife Food. Let your  
lettuce and broccoli mingle with wildlife food plants and winter’s
dormant perennials. Visit a modern-styled new build where raised
food gardens join native plants against a recycled fence design. 
   Sat., 4 p.m., Sun. 9 a.m. www.klru       
  
 
Now's a Good Time to Plant Trees
by Chris Winslow 
 
First time visitors to the Austin and Hays County area are often aston-
ished by the number of trees that we have in our gardens and parks. 
National Geographic magazine noticed recently, and ranked Austin as
a city with the second highest urban tree canopy in the nation, with
37% coverage.

Maybe we take them for granted, but the presence of these glorious oaks,
elms, mesquites and pecans creates a beauty, and a quality of life that
we should be thankful for every day.
 
With cooler temperatures and the recent rainfall, this month is the
perfect time for us to introduce more trees into our landscapes. Below
is a list of some of my favorites. Once established, these trees are
drought tolerant and thrive in our central Texas landscapes.

Southern Live Oak (Quercus virginiana) – One of the leading native
trees of our area. It can grow to 30 to 40 feet in height by 50 feet in
width. Its’ evergreen canopy provides generous shade as well as a
windbreak from the winter cold when planted on the north side of
the house.
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Mexican White Oak or Monterrey Oak (Quercus polymorpha) –
Another evergreen oak from northern Mexico that’s gaining in popu-
larity because of its large leaves and great pyramidal shape. It has
the added benefit of being resistant to oak wilt disease which has
taken many a tree in our south Austin and northern Hays County
neighborhoods.
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Red Oak or Spanish Oak (Quercus shumardi and Quercus texana)
– The Shumard red oak reaches a height of 50 feet in time, and can
make a magnificent specimen.  They are deciduous, and turn a brill-
iant red in the fall.

If you plant one on the south or west side of the house, it will provide
shade in the summer months, and in the fall and winter months it allows
the warming sunshine to heat your house.

Quercus texana is a smaller version of this oak. It grows to a height of
20 feet and is a good choice for a small area. It also has a showy display
of red leaves in the fall.
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Bur Oak (Quercus macrophylla) – A stately, deciduous shade tree
that’s named after the large acorns it produces. (It is also called mossy
cup oak.) It can grow to a height of 50 feet and is very drought tolerant.
They form a taproot, which makes them a little slower in the begin-
ning, but they always catch up after a few years. To flourish, this oak
needs lots of space.
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Chinquapin Oak (Quercus mulenbergia) – My favorite oak because
of its large and shapely leaves. It is a moderate grower that can reach
a height of over 35 feet. Chinquapins have a beautiful white bark and
turn a reddish bronze in the fall.
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Cedar Elm (Ulmus crassifolia) – An under-used native tree that’s
tolerant of rocky soils and thick clay. They grow 25 to 50 feet and
about half as wide. Their small leaves turn a gold color in the fall.
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Honey mesquite (Prosopis glandulosa) – This ever-present, although
hard to find native, is a very drought tolerant tree. It has beautiful
yellow flowers in the spring with light green foliage and a weeping
character. The bean pods provide forage for wildlife and flowers
are a great nectar source for butterflies.
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Remember, for these newly planted trees, they need to be watered
on a regular basis. I let water trickle at the base for half an hour to
an hour once a week when we have rains, and for two hours when
we don’t. The establishment period is getting them through their
first summer. The more consistent and regular the watering, the
faster they will grow.

Let's all plant a tree, and take our tree canopy to the 40% mark.
Happy gardening everyone! 
    
  Visit the website: www.itsaboutthyme.com
 Visit the nursery:11726 Manchaca Road, Austin, 78748  Like us
 
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