October 29 , 2020
Treats and a Few Tricks from the October Garden
No Halloween conjuration here : just high dividing line afternoon sun on my redolent aster ( Symphyotrichum oblongifolium).you could count on its astral lavender blossom from late September to November , depending on conditions . This native , drought - hard perennial ’s a sure dainty for bees and butterfly , like Checkered skipper . It colonizes easy for eye - catch borders in Lord’s Day to part tint . In late wintertime , you’re able to divide the rose window to hand along to another spot or to neighbors . The trick for a dense display is to slew back robust leaf a few inches now and then from former spring through late June or early July . Here ’s my homegrown videopruning aster last March .
Shrubby treeBarbados cherry(Malpighia glabra ) , native from south Texas to South America , pops flowers and Ni - sized fruit from recent spring through declivity . Although extremely drouth resistant , this summer ’s high passion and deficiency of rain shorten its common profusion in my garden . Thyrallis , another in the familyMalpighiaceae , also heralds from South America , thriving on little water supply and blasting heat . Abundant yellow flowers late outflow through summer do n’t benefit pollinator , but it makes an gentle - care accent or screening shrub . Since I neglected trimming this summertime , Iceberg rose flop in like a footling moon . Thyrallis and Barbados cherry generally lose their leave in wintertime . I chop up them back badly in March , partly to insure their size of it . Iceberg perplex its trim in January or February . A few old age ago , I planted a Yucca gloriosa ‘ Variegata ’ for bluff foliar contrast . Unafraid of my heavy territory , it address winter without a root rot whine . Then it magnetize me with a surprising , towering stiletto heel of inflate bell - corresponding flowers!It ’s totally cold hardy . For a lean of succulent inhuman hardiness temps , check out theAustin Cactus & Succulent ’s list .
The conjuration to plant wintertime annuals like pansies , Viola , and snapdragons is to hold off until we ’re past scorch temperatures . In container , swap out summer ’s sport or cast into borders for moth-eaten weather colour like inElizabeth DeMaria ’s gardenwhere she also seeded larkspurs and poppy . Julie Nelson and Kay Angermanncharm up an quondam galvanized bathtub with cyclamens . One of my faves is long - lasting calendula . Its flower petal are edible ( great in salad ) or tomake your own skin ointment . Plus , since Central Texas winters trick us with warm and even raging days , calendulas serve up food for thought for bee and other pollinators . November intend that all of us grow citrus can look succulent harvests soon . My ‘ Miho ’ satsuma orange is so modest that a offshoot drooped with its fruitful load . In September , I propped them on some brick to avoid grime liaison . I ’ll be cutting them by the time you show this!Established ‘ Mr. Mac ’ still has another hebdomad to go before we tuck into these mellisonant , easy - Sir Robert Peel satsumas . The trick with citrus is a high - N fertilizer .
Thanks for stopping by ! See you next workweek , Linda
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