Texas Bluebell: Tough, Beautiful -- Texas Gardener

By Terry Keeling , Freelance Writer Anytime you see the word “grandiflorurn” included in the scientific name of a flower, it should get your attention — the word indicates large blooms. This is certainly an accurate description of Texas bluebell (Eustoma grandiflorurn), sometimes called “lisianthus.”…

Reviving A 'Lost Cause'Garden

Reviving A Lost Cause Spring Garden! Reviving A ‘Lost Cause’ Garden By: Skip Richter, Travis County Extension Horticulturist If your spring garden spot has become a weed-infested wilderness where even the family cat fears to tread, now is the time to clean up your act!…

Hollyhocks: Sentimental Beauty

By Jay White Contributing Writer I have a “thing” for tall plants. I don’t know where it comes from, but if you look around my house it is undeniable. Each year I grow things like castor beans (this year’s castor bean grew more than 12’…

My Tub Garden vs. the Martian Plateau

By John Simpson Freelance Writer Gardening in the high Chihuahua Desert deep in the Highlands of the Big Bend is certifiable masochism. I face critters from mice to mule deer, high summer temperatures abetted by desiccating wind and drought. We live upon the Marfa Plateau,…