Landscaping.... (Houston, River Oaks, Center: sales, buy, maintenance)

[ise2006]

Hi there,

Recently, we noticed that some our neighbors started to work on their landscaping such as replaced mulch, flowers, plants, trees, and so on....
Is it good time to do those jobs(I thought now it's too hot for those)?
We have no any experience and idea about dealing with garden jobs.
If it is good time, what kind of flowers, plants, or trees which we can start to plant?
Thank you.

[Meyerland]

Yes, it is the perfect time to do things in the garden. We have a "second spring" in Houston. You may plant any trees, shrubs, and roses now. Crepe myrtles, Vitex, Yaupons, etc....You will have to water it at least every other day until it is established. Cool season annuals may be planted now. You can also plant spring bulbs like daffodils in early October.

Warm season annuals and perennials may not survive the winter, so use caution with: lantana, hibiscus, butterfly weed, asparagus ferns, grasses, etc...

Lots of Garden Centers are having 70% off sales.

[Svensk08]

Before you start planting anything in Houston, go to an independently-owned nursery (NOT one of the chains or a Bigbox Store!). Look around at what's available. Talk to the staff. Ask questions. Take notes. And buy a recent, comprehensive gardening book written specifically for the HOUSTON area -- not just Texas or the South.

There's a lot more to gardening here than simply plugging new plants into the soil and watering them. Also, it's probably still too hot right now to plant many fall annuals -- wait until mid-October.

[crone]

Get yourself a copy of the River Oaks Garden Club book. A new addition came out in the early spring. Read it.

[trbstang]

I would not do transplanting right now,(moving things in your yard) but dropping in new plants and cleaning up the beds are good things to do now, as long as you water them enough. Most people are working on the yards because of the 70% off sales at the garden centers and you can get a lot of good deals. Sept/Oct is usually when I buy anything that I need a lot of. Last year we replaced some bad looking shrubs with about 25 giant liriope grass plants at $4 each. They were $10 prior, so that saved me a good $150+. Several years ago I got a ~20 gal oak tree for $75, regularly over $200.

KTRH 740's Randy Lemmon's Gulf Coast Gardening books are good also since they concentrate on our area too.

[ise2006]

Thanks a lot for all information.

It seems we will be busy for them this weekend!!!!!

[testmo]

for native plants it isn't a bad time to plant at all. i planted some things in the throw of summer and just required a little more maintenance than my established plants. wait a few more weeks to plants trees and more delicate or expensive items

i dont feed my citrus or tropicals in the summer for fear of burning them. some non-organic mulches can do something similar so just be careful what you buy and dont bury your plants

things are on sale now but dont buy any annuals or put down any serious money. some of the plants are so horribly pot bound the transition is difficult or just not going to happen for some plants.