Red
2-3 feet Pocomoke
3-6 feet Dwarf Low Flame
5-12 feet Cheyenne, Tonto
10-20 feet Comanche
20-plus feet Arapaho

PINK
3-6 feet McFadden’s Pinkie
5-12 feet Caddo
10-20 feet Osage
20-plus feet Biloxi

PURPLE
2-3 feet Velma’s Royal Delight
3-6 feet Dwarf Royalty
5-12 feet Zuni
10-20 feet Lipan
20-plus feet Muskogee, Wichita

WHITE
5-12 feet Acoma
10-20 feet Byer’s White
20-plus feet Fantasy, Kiowa

You will notice not all sizes have all colors available. Take your pick of size and color. Buy from a reputable nursery. Ask if they will take it back if it is not the right size and color. Good nurseries will! Plant the tree in the full sun and water thoroughly each week until the days no longer hit 85 degrees or higher. All new plants need special care and crape myrtles are no different. Your investment in thought, time and money will bloom and bloom and bloom!

Written by Nancy Fenton,  Master Gardener.

The Master Gardeners’ standard is http://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu. This site includes areas on disease identification, as well as a great search tool called the Plant Selector, located in the EarthKind section. This search tool takes your requirements for the color, size, water available, sun, etc. and comes up with a list of several that will do well in your ZIP code area.

For lovely pictures, brief descriptions and plant features and requirements visit ;www.Monrovia.com or www.davesgarden.com.

ecmga.com is a great place to look for relevant information about local plants, concerns and events.

The Master Gardeners of Ellis County have a great monthly e-newsletter free for the asking on that same site. When all else fails, you can search the Internet for the plant name, type or location and ask for images — sometimes that works! There are many pages to go through so be prepared. Do not let your questions go unanswered. If you are not in the computer mode or do not have access to one, call the Ellis County Master Gardeners at the AgriLife extension office, (972) 825-5175. We may not know all the answers, but we can do some searching or may know someone who can help.

Written by Nancy Fenton, Master Gardener

They are also known as sages. The most common are: Pineapple Sage, Mexican Bush Sage, Autumn Sage, Scarlet or Lipstick sage, Mealy Cup Sage and Garden Sage. These plants make up an increasingly popular group of shrubby perennials, which do well in alkaline soil and dry conditions. Growing from 15 inches to 6 feet high, depending on the type you select, they can fill blank spots in your home landscape with color. All they need is sunshine, and not even a full day at that, for they will do well in light afternoon shade. Once established, they take little care or water. This is one of the plants I use to get my landscaping to the point that it can do without me, if heavily mulched, for at least three weeks in the hot Texas summers!

Most salvia will die down in the early winter. After the foliage dies back in the late fall, I cut them back to within two or three inches of the ground and remulch them for a little extra winter protection. But in true perennial form, they rise again with the coming of spring! New growth comes from the roots. Any longer limbs that get stuck under the mulch will root and start their own little plants to be shared with friends if the plants do not fit in your flower bed. Try some of these Texas-friendly plants. You will not be disappointed, and they can be with you forever!

Written by Nancy Fenton, Master Gardener.

Wet to wet is the usual thought in planting, so soak the potted
plant right before you plant it. Dig a hole not much larger
than the pot — about two inches larger than the diameter of
the pot usually works. Separate the roots gently, cutting only
if the ball is tightly packed. Set the plant in the hole so the top
of the root ball is even with the surface of the soil; then push
soil around and over the top of the root ball. Water well and
stand back!
Woody plants, which are planted in unimproved soil like
our yards, need a much wider hole (three to five times the
width of the pot.) Break up the root ball as before and spread
the roots out. Plant high and backfill with the soil that came
out of the hole. Water well and make a large basin like ridge
around the plant to funnel water to the roots.
Bare-rooted plants need a large hole to enable you to spread
out their roots. Remember to soak the bare roots. Make a
cone in the center of the hole and spread out the roots evenly.
Once again, plant high and push soil gently over the crown
of the plant. If you are unsure which end is up, do not worry.
The plant knows, and will send shoots up and roots down!
Water the plant each day for seven days to give it a little extra
chance. Fertilizer is appropriate after the first signs of
new growth.

Written by Nancy Fenton, Master Gardener

It is a bit easier to know when to cut
grasses. If they are brown, cut them to
the ground. Lantana also likes to start
over again. While it may look bare for
a short time, you will be rewarded with
lush, green growth as spring approaches.
I usually use a weed eater to trim border
grasses like mondo and liriope down to
one inch or so. As with pruning, it will
stimulate growth and blooms for the
coming season. Because this new growth
is tender and very susceptible to the late
hard freezes, it does not hurt to wait until
the end of February to do major chopping.

Trimming is important to maintaining
a healthy tree. All the little growth needs
to come out of the tree, as well as the
limbs that hang down. My rule of thumb
is that “suckers” smaller than my thumb
need to be removed, as well as limbs that
cross and rub. Choose a tree professional
to do the areas you cannot reach from
the ground. The key words are licensed
arborist. I use an arborist who will grind
the limbs and leaves into mulch for me.
This is a great way to return the natural
elements to the soil, and it does
not involve a trip to the store or
recycle station!

Cut back now for lush growth as the
weather warms up.

Written by Nancy Fenton, Master Gardener.

With the cold weather, it is a good time to review all those plants you have brought into your nice, warm house such as ivies, poinsettias or Christmas cacti.

All will add oxygen to your recycled inside air and can go outside again in March. I also bring in my Chinese Evergreens to provide some color and oxygen for the colder months, but I have to wait to put them back outside until the leaves on my pecan trees come out so they will have shade and avoid burning their tender leaves.

If you received azaleas for Christmas, enjoy them in the house and then throw them away unless you are willing to change out the soil in a flowerbed for
them. They love very acid soils and just “turn up their toes” at our alkaline soils.

When plants are brought inside the house, they need a bit more attention when the heat is on because they have a tendency to dry out quickly. A good technique to determine if they need water is the weight test. If they are light when lifted, water them. If they are heavy, wait a day or two. After soaking my plants in the kitchen sink, I let mine drain in the second sink before sticking them back in their container or foil to avoid water in the bottom that might cause root rot. A good soak for 15 to 30 minutes when dry (usually once a week) will help keep them in fine form throughout the winter months.

Written by Nancy Fenton

There are some new things on the market and lots of old standbys, such as medium-sized tarps to pick up all those pesky leaves and weeds that come out of the flower beds.

Good gloves are always nice. Both Amaryllis and Paper White bulbs are fun gifts, and after several months of indoor enjoyment, they can go into the yard come spring.

The indoor/outdoor weather station allows you to check the temperature outside without leaving the house. I am going to ask for several Slinkies (metal ones) this year. I have it on good authority that a metal Slinky attached to the bottom of a bird feeder surrounding the pole
will deter squirrels and raccoons.

New this year is a butterfly habitat, complete with a
coupon for cocoons to be ordered when your gardener wants
to watch them hatch. Planting bags are another new find.
These are bags with handles that hold between 16 and 45
quarts of soil that can be planted and then moved around.
They sound perfect for porches, balconies, and small patios
or yards.

A rain barrel is also a great gift, and you can go a step
farther and install it on your gardener’s downspout or under
a valley in their roof. Rain barrels can be purchased online
or from catalogs, but they are a lot more expensive than
those made in the rainwater harvesting classes currently being
held around the area. Half-day workshops run between $30
and $50 and participants come out with a 55-gallon rain
barrel ready to attach to their downspout at home. Catalogs
charge $150 and up plus shipping. Check with the following
people for a workshop in your area: Waxahachie: John
Smith, Waxahachie Parks Department, (972) 937-7730 ext,
181; Cedar Hill: Josh McLerran, (972) 291-5126 ext, 2818;
Midlothian: Kathleen Hamilton, (972) 775-7123.
Have a great holiday and enjoy the cooler weather.

Written by Nancy Fenton, Master Gardener.

See also Garden Variety Organics for gardener gifts.

Such a project begins with reducing the size of your grass areas. Start with areas that are tough to maintain anyway, such as areas under heavy shade trees, pet runs and high-traffic areas. Go for easy-care beds with native perennials and lots of mulch. Wood ferns are great under trees, as are inland sea oats, and they do not require extra water after the first year. Mass planting of bulbs that will naturalize like jonquils and daffodils, will give you a lot of color early in the spring before the trees leaf out. Daylilies will start blooming later in the summer, continue to bloom through the fall and come back stronger year after year. Irises are hardy, easy and tough, just right for low-maintenance beds. Turk’s caps and lantanas are two hardy natives that grow almost in spite of our efforts and provide lots of color during the hot days of summer.

Plan to mulch heavily and sit back with nice cold lemonade to enjoy your renovated landscape. You will have less mowing, trimming and edging plus more time to enjoy if you plan now
and get started while it is cool. Plants and flowers planted now will have a head start next spring and bloom while you watch.

Do not forget about the Master Gardeners’ Great Iris Giveaway, Saturday, October 3 to be held at the
Farmers Market in Waxahachie.

— Written by Nancy Fenton, Master Gardener.

They bloom much better if they have some space to “stretch their roots.” Irises are perfect to dig and replant or share in the fall, and Shasta daisies are good to work with in the spring.

If you are really organized, you may have labeled the colors of each of your irises last spring when they were blooming — sorry, not me!

One of the keys to having great blooms year after year is having the rhizome (the brown thing that the roots grow from) on top of the ground. If you plant too deep and cover it up, the plant will not bloom as well.

My iris idol, David Smith of Waxahachie, tells me he checks his irises four times a year to make sure no leaves or anything else is on his rhizomes. If his blooms are any example, his technique must work, and I am going out right now to pull all those leaves away! It goes without saying there should be no mulch anywhere around irises. The mulch will hold the moisture, causing the rhizome to rot — something we sure do not want to happen.

Irises can grow literally in spite of some of us, but they do benefit from a little balanced fertilizer in the fall and early in the spring. I use Halloween and Valentine’s Day as my guideposts for iris fertilizing. Irises are great plants to pass along to others; let’s all have one or two in our yards

— Written by Nancy Fenton