the Austin Garden | the garden in July | the Winslows on the Coast

Plunging into the shocking cool waters of Barton Springs or Deep Eddy has always been part of the equation for making it through the torrid central Texas summers. But with pools closed as 'Covid - the Reprise' returns in full force, we are back to where we stood a few months ago. However, on the plus side, the nurseries are all up and running, and full of wonderful plants. Some nursery news:

Far South Nursery: open weekdays; some fine specimens in stock: pride of Barbados, purple heart, white tropical sage, star lily, and muhly grasses. Seeking temporary workers (full and part time). Far South

Barton Springs Nursery: 30% off select pottery this weekend. Barton Springs Nursery

Natural Gardener: open Tues - Sat, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. All expected Covid restrictions in place: all pottery & fountains 25% off from today until July 18. TNG

Wimberley Gardens: "We are rocking and rolling right now," writes owner Matt Horvath. "Currently our store is bursting with color. And we just received our first load of fall veggies: tomatoes, peppers, squash, and pumpkins. And as hot as it is, we are already gearing up for the holiday season. Our fresh-cut Christmas tree order has been placed! Crazy, but mentally it helps get through these hot days." Wimberley Gardens

Wildflower Center: open, but reserve a spot ahead of time: Admissions

Drifts & masses: If you are looking for a natural Oudolf-style garden that is low maintenance, try planting in "drifts and masses," suggests Benjamin Vogt in Houzz ❦

________________________________________________

Foods for fertilizer: egg shells, coffee, bananas, fish and milk can all be used to give your plants an organic boost, writes Lindsay Campbell in Modern Farmer ❦

Central Texas Gardener: On tour, a visit with some gardeners who replaced an old tennis court with a fruit orchard. In the studio, Jay Arredondo (Desert to Tropics) pairs succulents of all kinds for eye-popping foliar and color combinations.Sat. 4 p.m. and Sun. 9 a.m. KLRU ❦

_________________________________________________

Thursday Morning Landscape

design + installation + maintenance

free consultation call Dwight: 512 913 2189

Lunar paintings: "I am now keeping a moon journal from my garden view for the month of July," writes artist Linda Anderson. "A moon painting a day." ❦

The Garden in July

by Chris Winslow

1. Survive! Want to avoid heatstroke? Three rules for central Texas gardeners: a. Wear effective sunscreen and a large brimmed hat. b. Garden early in the morning. c. Drink gallons upon gallons of water.

2. Vegetable Garden: The timing always feels a bit strange, but this is actually the month to renew your vegetable garden for the fall harvest season. From seed, plant snap and lima beans, sweet corn, Swiss chard, cucumbers, summer and winter squash (my favorite), black-eyed peas, okra, cantaloupe, pumpkin and watermelon. For transplants, it is the right time for tomatoes and peppers.

3. Tomatoes: Be sure to plant determinate varieties with reputations for heat survival. (Spot the clues in their names.) My favorites are surefire, solar fire, solar flare, celebrity, heatwave, sunmaster, and BHN444 (healthy surprise).

4. Water: To survive in central Texas, your plants will need water. Not just a splash on the surface… but a profound watering. This will give them a more established root system and a better reservoir to draw from. Try to water on a 4 to 5 day schedule. Don’t run automatic sprinkler systems during the day. (Loss to evaporation is too great.) And if it rains, just sit back and enjoy watching your garden grow . . . all by itself.

5. Mulch: Keep all flowerbeds, vegetable gardens and trees mulched. This will conserve water, cool the root zone and generally relieve heat stress.

6. Mow High: Choose the highest setting for your mower. Longer grass blades will help shade the roots and conserve water. ❦

Diane and Chris in Rockport yesterday afternoon

The Winslows: Notes from the Coast

From their south Texas home, the Winslows send their warmest wishes to all customer friends from It's About Thyme, the beautiful south Austin nursery that they ran for 39 years (writes Darrel Mayers).

In terms of plants, Diane and Chris are enjoying living in a different hardiness zone. (The winter temps in Aransas County only fall to 20 F, compared to Austin's 15 F.)

"Just walking around Rockport you see fiddle leaf figs, rubber plants, plumerias and ponytail palms that would never make it through an Austin winter," marvels Chris. It is normal to see American beautyberry, little pea vine and passion vine and button bush growing wild in the county.

With the pandemic still in the headlines, they feel safe in their sparsely populated, "eleven-traffic-light" county of Aransas. And while relieved not to have to navigate the choppy waters of the Covid crisis as business owners, they experienced a great loss in April, when Diane's 90-year-old mom Nancy Barnes passed away from Covid-19 in a nursing home in Austin.

"My mother was a great woman, with many talents and interests," said Diane earlier this week. "Everything she did was with exuberance. She especially loved her gardens - and orchids - and passed that love of plants and nature on to me. I am forever grateful to her for that. Thanks Mom!"

But life continues. They walk every day, and enjoy the extraordinary birdlife that south Texas is famous for. They often see the gregarious roseate spoonbills and black-necked stilts wading in the shallow waters, along with black-bellied whistling ducks (see photo above, by Chris).

Chris also has a big garden project underway and talks excitedly about all of his plants: Port Aransas mistflower, Meyer lemon, golden thryallis, sweet almond verbena, and a fan and dwarf pygmy date palm. "I also bought some arbequina olive trees from Lowes . . . but boy, I sure hate to pay retail!"

Chris and Diane send their love to all in the 'Thyme community.' They miss the social aspects of the nursery as much as all of the plants, and plan to open the little 'casita' next to their Rockport property as a bed-and-breakfast for visitors from Austin, once the current crisis is over. ❦