NATIVE & GULF COAST HARDY PLANTS (LIKE GINGERS!) JUST WAITING FOR YOU TO PLANT THEM 

 
BY BRENDA BEUST SMITH

It boggles my mind when gardeners say they don't know how to find, or can't find, super-hardy plants for their home landscapes.

This area is rich with sales put on by great organizations you can trust to sell you ONLY plants that will do well here, are great for our wildlife, and good for our environment.

On top of that, they're usually the very folks to whom I, and most local horticultural authorities, would send you for advice on gardening in this area.

Fall is our very best planting time. That's because our winter is almost always what Northerners experience as "spring." Our ground never freezes. Winter in the garden here is a gradual soil cool down until late January or early February. Temperatures then gradually rise until around March - when the warming up process moves into warp speed.

That's why we plant most things now. By April, roots need to be super healthy to make it through the heat and drought of our summers. Most seeds - especially wildflower seed - need that slow cooling down-slow warming up process to germinate properly. They can't get that in our springs when the soil heats up very quickly.

Visit as many of these upcoming sales as you can. Talk with folks selling each kind of plant and, most important, tell them your drainage situation. The majority of Texas natives in retail trade these days requires EXCELLENT drainage and don't really like our spring and fall monsoons.

Before you buy natives touted as great landscape plants, always ask:

* Does this plant need to be in a raised bed?
* When does this plant bloom?
* What does it look like in its down time?

Almost always those selling the plants will be able to suggest companion plants that will draw the eye away from faded foliage. Another trick: stick signs in the faded foliage: "Wildflowers napping!" or "Wildflower setting seed - be patient!"

I am all in favor of planting more natives. But in promoting planting of more natives, we need to talk about the picture! We need to more specific about what to expect and how to plant these in ways that are not going to negatively affect area property values - or scare the bejeebers out of our neighbors!

Slowly but surely our tolerance of more natural landscapes is growing. We're learning to see the beauty in the "wabu sabi" of the cycles of nature. But we're still in a transitional period. All it takes is a little compromise and a little common sense. I hope all of you will use your POA, HOA, civic clubs, garden clubs, etc., to bring in experts to teach residents how easy and effective these compromises can be.

In the meantime, these organizational sales not only introduce new-on-the-market plants that will usually later be available in our better nurseries, they offer access to folks who can help you join the movement to encourage and expand our awareness of not only natives, but of what I like to call Gulf Coast Hardies - plants that have adapted so well to our environment, they do not require any (if much) supplemental water, fertilizers or other treatments.

Take rough sketches of your most "difficult to landscape" pockets. Ask for help. Listen to what they tell you!

September 26, in particular, is a tightly packed Saturday with six of our major entities scheduling huge plants sales. I hope, in future years, our great calendar below will enable all these fabulous resources to spread out their sale dates a little more efficiently. In the meantime, make as many of these sales as you can.

* SAT., SEPT. 19 - WILDSCAPES SALE. You can still sign up for the big Wildscapes Workshop at the Houston Zoo in Hermann Park (detailed in my Sept. 4 column. The natives-ladened plant sale will be open to the 1-3pm. Details: www.npsot.org/houston

* SAT., SEPT. 19: MONTGOMERY COUNTY MASTER GARDENER FALL PLANT SALE, 9am-1pm, PROGRAM, 8am, Montgomery Co. Extension Office, 9020 Airport Road, Conroe. 936-539-7824 or mcmga.com

I've divided the Sept. 26 sales into regions to help you find ones close to you:

NORTH GREATER HOUSTON AREA:

* SAT., SEPT. 26 MERCER BOTANIC GARDEN'S SEPT. 26 AUTUMN PLANT SALE & MARKET. Think of Mercer as our living plant library of great bloomers for this area. Be sure you tour the gardens if you can make this sale. Included in the extensive inventory, for example, will be 20 different varieties of camellias. In our Spotlight below, noted ginger specialist/photographer/writer Ceil Dow gives a sneak peak at some of the first-time-available-in-the-States gingers in her Spotlight article below. For example, Curcuma 'Sulee Princess' is available at the Mercer sale for the first time ever in the United States. Details: www.hcp4.net/community/parks/mercer

 

 

 

In addition to the gingers "Spotlighted" below, Mercer Botanic Garden's Sept. 26 sale will offer a wide variety of container gardens, left, and native plants, such as this pigeonberry (Rivina humilis) at center. Right, the Houston Arboretum & Nature Center's big sale will focus on the best native Texas butterflyweeds for this area.

CENTRAL GREATER HOUSTON AREA:

* HOUSTON ARBORETUM & NATURE CENTER'S SEPT. 26 BUTTERFLYWEED SALE  If you've been keeping up with the monarch-triggered butterflyweed concerns, you know how hard it is to find asclepias plants not subject to OE invasions. The Houston Arboretum & Nature Center is coming to the rescue with a sale on Sept. 26 focusing on hard-to-find native milkweeds (Asclepias / butterflyweed). From 11am-2pm, some 200 plants will be available, including Asclepias viridis, A. tuberosa and A. perennis, all gallon-sized. Milkweed is the only plant on which monarch butterflies lay their eggs and caterpillars feed. It also attracts beneficial pollinators, including many types of bees, while providing beautiful color to gardens. Details: houstonarboretum.org

* SAT., SEPT. 26 COCKRELL BUTTERFLY CENTER FALL PLANT SALE, 9am-noon, Houston Museum of Natural Science Parking Garage/7th floor, 5555 Hermann Dr. Free parking with $30+ purchase. hmns.org

Choice plants from the Cockrell Butterfly Center's sale, l to r, Asclepias verticillata ,
Asclepias viridis, Verbena xutha and Vernonia (ironweed).

 

* SAT.-SUN., SEPT. 26-27: HOUSTON CACTUS & SUCCULENT SOCIETY SHOW/SALE. 9am-5pm. Metropolitan Multi-Service Center, 1475 West Gray. Free. http://hcsstex.org


SOUTHWEST GREATER HOUSTON AREA

* SAT., SEPT 26: HARRIS COUNTY MASTER GARDENERS FALL PLANT SALE. 8am overview; 9am-1pm sale, 3033 Bear Creek Drive. Free. hcmga.tamu.edu/Public/pubSales.aspx; 281-855-5600

* SAT., SEPT. 26: THE GREAT GROW FALL PLANT SALE & FESTIVAL. 10am-5pmeat Grow, Inc.'s Fall Festival and Plant Sale. 10am-5pm, Houston Museum of Natural Science/Sugar Land, 13016 University Blvd., Sugar Land. Free. Choice plants such as, left to right above, zinnias, firetails and Celosia Purple from Treesearch Farms and Brookwood Community Plants. www.TheGreatGrow.com

* * *

Before we look at Mercer's exciting Ginger Spotlight . . .

* TIP O' THE TROWEL TO THE CITY OF HOUSTON'S GREEN BUILDING, overseen by Steve Stelzer for helping all of us learn to be more Earth-friendly gardeners. A major opportunity is coming up (and you don't have to live inside Houston city limits to sign up). On the agenda are some of Houston's top notch composting experts, including Dr. Bob Randall, John Ferguson, Sarah Mason, Joe Blanton, Pat Greer and Lora Hinchcliff. The Thurs-Sunday, Oct. 15-18 Master Composting Program will meet at the Green Building Resource Center, 1002 Washington Ave. For reservation information, contact Steve Stelzer, 832-394-9050, steve.stelzer@houstontx.gov

* SPEAKING OF DR. BOB RANDALL, HE GREW COFFEE HERE! I wondered if we can after reading that Rich & Cheryl Vega are giving a program on "Growing Coffee in Equador" at the Sept. 14 Houston Urban Gardeners (HUG) meeting (6:30pm, Moody Park Community Center, 3725 Fulton; www.houstonurbangardeners.org

Of course, I asked Bob - my go-to guru for growing anything and everything edible. Bob wrote back that, yes, he successfully grew coffee here "...for three years in the warmest most protected place I had." Sadly it passed away during one of our hard freezes, despite heavy protection. But Bob is not discouraged!
He said coffee plants should be very easy to grow here in a lightly protected plastic greenhouse or hoop house. But, he also points out, "You need a lot of coffee cherries to make a pound of coffee. Perhaps it would cost $150 per pound if you charged $20 per hour for labor."

On the other hand, Bob thinks coffee plants could be grown easily outside without protection in Galveston or Bolivar if you can deal with the salinity and wind. And, he adds, "given the way winter cold has been declining in our area, even in my yard by 2020 or so."

Gardening's never gets boring! Now, gingers for collectors . . . and the rest of us!

* * *

  

 

Among the outstanding gingers that will be available at Mercer Botanic Gardens' Autumn Plant Sale & Market, Sept. 28, will be (top l to r) Curcuma Laddawan,' Curcuma 'Fireflies' (with butterfly ),and Hedychium 'Kong' (up close and showing off its height!) Below, Kaempferia 'Alva' and Zingiber 'Twice as Nice.'

GINGERS LIKE IT HOT!  

BY Ceil DOW  

MERCER HORTICULTURIST \ HARRIS COUNTY MASTER GARDENER

Bring on the heat! Gingers wait out the drab, cold winter days and rainy spring just to bloom when our weather gets nice and hot! Try a variety of rare and exclusive ginger plants:

HIDDEN GINGERS:

* Curcuma 'Sulee Princess', a new introduction all the way from Thailand and its Curcuma hybridizer, Annop Ongsakul. This stunning petite ginger has never been offered for sale in the United States prior to its availability at the Mercer Botanic Garden sale. The new Hidden Ginger, Curcuma 'Sulee Princess' stands only 18" tall and blooms with a stout, pretty, pink and white inflorescence throughout the summer months.

* Curcuma 'Cherry Pink,' another brand new Curcuma, is also perfect for in front of the border, This prolific bloomer stands 12" tall with soft pink blooms all summer

HEDYCHIUM HYBRIDS

* Hedychium 'Kong' is a landscape giant at 12' tall but the 2' tall inflorescence is worth giving it a little space. Not that it needs much; it seems to grow like a giant vase. The pseudo stems grow close together so it is tight at the bottom and opens wide at the top.

* If you are short on space and love a butterfly magnet, try Hedychium 'Fireflies'. It stays at 4' and waits until August to bloom with creamy white blossoms and pink stamens. It will continue to bloom until frosts nips its buds.

PEACOCK GINGERS

"Peacock Gingers" diminutive height make them the perfect "front of the border" plant or ground cover for shady areas. Kaempferia 'Flat Leaf' is a giant favorite. Its name describes its growth habit of hugging the ground. There are three forms of K. 'Flat Leaf': maroon-red colored leaves, green leaves with a maroon outline or a patterned leaf with bands of soft silver brush strokes.

* * *

For a more extensive list of Ceil's favorite gingers that will be at the Mercer Sale: http://themercersociety.org/2015/08/gingers-like-it-hot/.  Sat., Sept. 26, The Autumn Plant Sale and Market, 10am-4pm, Mercer Botanic Gardens, 22306 Aldine-Westfield. Limited supplies. Go early!

Please help me honor the MOTHER OF TEXAS by sharing this information on your Facebook, etc., page! The 6th Annual Jane Long Festival, will be Sat., Oct. 10, at historic Fort Travis on Bolivar Peninsula, Jane Long Highway (87) near the Bolivar Ferry Landing. Free - 10am-4pm. Want to know more about Jane? www.janelongfestival.org or www.facebook.com/janelongfestival. Or, for a complete Jane Long Festival kit, email: lazy gardener@sbcglobal.net