Herself’s Houston Garden

This month’s Lone Star Gardener put out by the Texas Garden Clubs had a couple of interesting over lapping articles. One was on ‘pocket gardens’. I found little to no information on line about pocket gardens so I guess we’ll have to start.

A pocket garden is a small growing area that usually has a theme or a purpose. There are butterfly pocket gardens, guerrilla pocket gardens, mail box pocket gardens &c. A butterfly pocket garden might have a tall feeding plant for butterflies and smaller host plants around it all wedged into some small corner of your yard. A mail box pocket garden might be a few flowers and a flowering shrub to brighten up your mail box area. What a great idea for all our tiny lots we now live on.

I’ve already been doing that a bit; I’ve a rose pocket garden, a fern pocket garden, a wetland pocket garden, an herb pocket garden and a vegetable pocket garden. I just didn’t call them pocket gardens.

Guerrilla pocket gardens are gardens set up on public property to brighten an spot. Some are planted in the dark of night by flashlight to surprise the natives in the morning, some are done during daylight to enlist the community to help care for the garden. Signs are usually left saying something like ‘This garden brought to you by YourTown Guerrilla Garden Club — please water me”. I noticed Houston does not yet have a group. Right now it seems more popular in Europe and the North East. Maybe this post will catch a few eyes and that will change?

More information:
Guerrilla Gardening
Make: Guerrilla flowerboxes
Conscious Urbanism: Guerrilla Gardening

This too was picked up as a bee, hummingbird and butterfly attractor. Not only does pentas come in red, but also white, purple and pink. It can reach 3′ tall and 2′ wide. The flower clusters can reach 4″ across, flowers are quite tiny individually. Dead head frequently to keep pentas blooming.

The more sun the pentas receives, the more blooms you will receive. It will bloom all summer. Pentas loves the heat and humidity.

Moist soil is preferred. If you see yours wilting, give it some water.

Pentas can be easily rooted from cuttings placed in a glass of water.

It prefers basic not acidic soil. Which shouldn’t be a problem anywhere you water frequently since tap water is so basic. If you just rely on rain you may want to add a bit of lime around this plant. Leaf tips tend to brown when soil is too acidic.

Pentas are from Africa and distant cousins of gardenias.

Pentas can reach 3′ tall when happy. It may get tall enough that stems refuse to remain upright and need to be trimmed.

Somewhat cold sensitive, rated for zones 8-11, should survive winter in Houston with out protection.

Occasionally some sphinx moth caterpillars will find your plant and eat it to the ground. Not too worry the Sphinx moths are beautiful and the plant will come back.  Keep an eye out for spider mites and aphids.

More information:
Floridata: Pentas lanceolata

Cigar cuphea - butterflies love this bush Aug 17th '09

The plant has wonderful long, bright orange flowers. I purchased it as an addition to my bee pocket garden. Butterflies and hummingbirds will also be attracted to this plant. I’m told hummingbirds love this plant so much they will fight over it. The name comes from the flowers which look like the burning end of a long cigar. This is a shrub which will grow to about 3′ tall and about 3′ across.

Pinch back stems occasionally to keep it from getting leggy.

Cuphea prefers moist soil, but will tolerate drier soil once established.  It is often found growing along the edge of streams so it is a good choice for the wetter parts of your garden.

Cuphea prefers full sun, it will tolerate some shade. It will become fuller and busier the more sun it receives.

Flowers will appear sporadically in the spring, then profusely late summer into fall.

Cuphea is very cold sensitive, it seems to only grow well in California, Texas and Florida. I’m told it will come back in the spring after a minor cold spell. Tips of the plant may freeze if the temperature drops to 20′F.   It is rated for zones 10-12 only. So if you are in north west Houston like me, you’ll be pushing the edge a bit with this plant. It’s so cool I figured I’d take a chance on it.

More information:
Floridata: Cuphea ignea

See also:
Cuphea lluvea

The back bed is now full of crotons, snake plants and a tree fern. That should cover up the equipment before too much time goes by. It also wasn’t expensive. I didn’t want to put expensive plants in a location the utility company might someday have to tear it up again. I only had to purchase one croton and snake plant. Both were easily divided.

The Woodlands Garden Club is meeting again monthly through May. We had some short talks this past meeting; one of which was on garden art. An interesting art piece was a bird bath made from extra clay flower pots. You’ll want 4 pots of increasing size. Stack the pots upside down largest on the bottom. The you’ll want two of the clay saucers you usually put under the pots. Put the smaller of the two upside down on top of the pots. This helps to stabilize the top larger saucer which you then place on the top and fill with water.

I also attended the orientation for the ‘Master Gardener’s Class’ in Conroe this week. They had a full house, too many attendees in fact. They will be drawing names to see who gets a seat in January’s class. I’m really hoping my name makes the cut. We’ll be notified by mail some time after Sept 28th.

And just a reminder that mid to late Sept is the time to be giving everything a good dose of fertilizer for the fall growing season.

… in my email box this week…

“THE GRASS!”

GOD: “Frank, you know all about gardens and nature. What in the world is going on down there on the planet? What happened to the dandelions, violets, thistle and stuff I started eons ago? I had a perfect no-maintenance garden plan. Those plants grow in any type of soil, withstand drought and multiply with abandon. The nectar from the long-lasting blossoms attracts butterflies, honey bees and flocks of songbirds. I expected to see a vast garden of colors by now. But, all I see are these green rectangles.”

St. FRANCIS: “It’s the tribes that settled there, Lord. The Suburbanites. They started calling your flowers “weeds” and went to great lengths to kill them and replace them with grass.”

GOD: “Grass? But, it’s so boring. It’s not colorful. It doesn’t attract butterflies, birds and bees; only grubs and sod worms. It’s sensitive to temperatures. Do these Suburbanites really want all that grass growing there?”

ST. FRANCIS: “Apparently so, Lord. They go to great pains to grow it and keep it green. They begin each spring by fertilizing grass and poisoning any other plant that crops up in the lawn.”

GOD: “The spring rains and warm weather probably make grass grow really fast. That must make the Suburbanites happy.”

ST. FRANCIS: “Apparently not, Lord. As soon as it grows a little, they cut it-sometimes twice a week.”

GOD: “They cut it? Do they then bale it like hay?”

ST. FRANCIS: “Not exactly, Lord. Most of them rake it up and put it in bags.”

GOD: “They bag it? Why? Is it a cash crop? Do they sell it?”

ST. FRANCIS: “No, Sir, just the opposite. They pay to throw it away.”.

GOD: “Now, let me get this straight. They fertilize grass so it will grow and when it does grow, they cut it off and pay to throw it away?”

ST. FRANCIS: “Yes, Sir.”

GOD: “These Suburbanites must be relieved in the summer when we cut back on the rain and turn up the heat. That surely slows the growth and saves them a lot of work.”

ST. FRANCIS: “You aren’t going to believe this, Lord. When the grass stops growing so fast, they drag out hoses and pay more money to water it so they can continue to mow it and pay to get rid of it.”

GOD: “What nonsense. At least they kept some of the trees. That was a sheer stroke of genius, if I do say so myself.

The trees grow leaves in the spring to provide beauty and shade in the summer. In the autumn, they fall to the ground and form a natural blanket to keep moisture in the soil and protect the trees and bushes.

It’s a natural cycle of life.”

St. FRANCIS: “You better sit down, Lord. The Suburbanites have drawn a new circle. As soon as the leaves fall, they rake them into great piles and pay to have them hauled away.”

GOD: “No! What do they do to protect the shrub and tree roots in the winter to keep the soil moist and loose?”

ST. FRANCIS: “After throwing away the leaves, they go out and buy something which they call mulch. They haul it home and spread it around in place of the leaves.”

GOD: “And where do they get this mulch?”

ST. FRANCIS: “They cut down trees and grind them up to make the mulch.”

GOD: “Enough! I don’t want to think about this anymore. St. Catherine, you’re in charge of the arts. What movie have you scheduled for us tonight?”

ST. CATHERINE: “Dumb and Dumber, Lord. It’s a story about…”

GOD: “Never mind, I think I just heard the whole story from St. Francis.”

See also:
Australian Tree Fern
Snake Plant