Herself’s Houston Garden

One of the first things I noticed down here was the landscaping was all backwards. In New England we put large trees and shrubs at the outer edge of the yard and progressively smaller plants working in towards the house.

Down here people put trees, bamboo, large shrubs right next to the house and progressively smaller plants working away from the house.

We work so hard to keep the windows clear of plants in New England to let in light and provide a view. Here windows get covered up so when you look out the window you see the plant.

I hated it at first. I could not imagine why you’d cover up all those wonderful windows. I have to say it is beginning to grow on me over time.

There is something nice about looking out a window into a stand of bamboo. Or looking at bird sitting on a branch in a tree just inches from your window. It feels like you are living in a jungle or forest rather than a city.

Another thing that jumps out at you is large leafed plants. You don’t see many large leafed plants up north. Planting plants with large leaves always gives a tropical feel to a garden. And large plants jump out at you. We have large trees and shrubs at home but it is rare to see non-woody plants in large sizes. They look prehistoric to me. I love them all and am intentionally adding super sized plants to the gardens. While hunting for some new oddities for the garden I ran across this:

Super Size Elephant Ear

How cool is that? And as soon I can purchase and bulldoze the neighbor’s home to make room I’m going to plant one. Just kidding, I am actively looking for an interesting location for one in my garden. I also ordered their catalog so I can see what other odd, very large plants they might have of interest.

See also:
Timor Black Bamboo
Golden Hawaiian Bamboo

We picked this up at a Mercer sale a couple of months ago. It is settling in just fine. We often find mosquito larvae in the water so a few grains of insecticide or drops of oil have to be added as needed.

It will not survive a frost so must be protected on cool nights or brought in if you have it in a pot. Ours did not winter over. You may want to pop it up and bring it inside when the weather cools down.

It will grow to about 18″ across and send out offsets to form children when happy.

They prefer light shade to full shade. When placed in sunnier locations they grow more spread out, in darker locations they grow more upright.

Tiny purple flowers form in the center where there is water now. You might also find an occasional small frog, toad or lizard hanging out and getting a drink.

Bromeliads are epiphytes, which means they do not get nutrients from the soil. The roots they grow are to anchor them in place. They will feed a bit through roots if they have them, but the main source of food is through scales on the leaves.

See also
Bromeliad Biota has some interesting bromeliad information.

I love all these swamp plants I can grow in my yard.

This horsetail rush is growing near the water runoff ditch that runs under the fence. I just put him in the ground a week or so ago. Eventually the rush will get about 3′ tall and the stems will be about 1/3″ thick. I’ve seen them growing near buildings where the landscapers trim the tops level and it looks really cool.

No flowers, no seeds and the leaves are tiny and what form the ridges along the stems.

Rush can handle full sun to part shade.

Ground should be wet, do not let rush dry out. It wants to grow in wet soil - not in a pond or underwater. It will turn yellow and die under those conditions.

Early settlers used the stems for scouring pots and pans. Non-toxic to humans it has been known to occasionally poison live stock.

Can be invasive if conditions are right.