Planning for Spring Gardens NOW

Every Spring like clockwork - Big Box Stores put out their prettiest chemically enhanced plants with perfect blooms and not a bug in sight. Local nurseries do their best to stock just enough for the rush. And I feel a sinking feeling about the next 4 months. It's not that I don't enjoy the hard work - every yard that gets a native makeover puts my name higher on the list for Heaven's Gates.

It's that I would like to get a microphone and alert the masses

Spring is NOT the best time to plant.

Fall; however, is.

Perennial natives, trees, and shrubs are best planted in the cool, rainy Fall weather of Central Texas. If you think about it - they have October - May to reach those roots way deep down as far as they can to develop some drought tolerance. If you plant after our last frost in March? Maybe three months before they have 100+ degree weather, infrequent rain, and strict watering rules in neighborhoods and cities.

I like to start right about Mid Summer for a new client to have time to check the irrigation, complete any hardscaping, eradicate any leftover Bermuda grass, and have a clean slate to pop new plants in right as we hit that late October cold front and the temperature drops.

Trust me, if you see me in a hoodie while gardening - especially one that looks like it came straight from 1999 - that is a happy day in the garden.