Did you know that there are 5 different varieties of Bluebonnets or Lupinus Subcarnosus???

The Bluebonnet became our lovely state flower in march of 1901. Other varieties include Lupinus Texensis, Lupinus Havardii, Lupinus Concinnus, Lupinus Plattensis.

Something else people don’t realize is that the best time to plant Bluebonnets is in September and October.

This allows the root system to fully develop through winter & then surprise us with outstanding color in March, April and even May.

Many of the Spring blooming wild flowers follow the same rule and germinate in the Fall for that burst of Spring color.

I LOVE TEXAS!!!!!!

You are a great & much needed addition to our New Year!

Change has finally come and I am looking forward doing my part in making America a better place.

It is great to be an AMERICAN!!!!!!!!

Photo credit: Reality Photography (& i was there!)

Happy New Years Eve everyone!!!!

This is one of my favorite fountains in Houston. It is on Allen Parkway and it is so much fun to go and watch people playing with their dogs.
The dogs actually get in the fountain and then run like crazy. It’s great!
I will probably drive by it today and take advantage of it’s calming effects.

Can’t wait for 2009 to get here

Who said you can’t have some color in the Winter time.

Here in the Blue Glazed pots (pots – Joshua’s Native plants in the Heights) we have a variety of texture and color. I recommend a little bit of fern texture, some bold foliage, a bit of Variegated
material and something creeping or cascading.

* Starry Eyes Nierembergia
* Thelmas Pink jacobinia
* Nierembergia garacilis / Pink Buttons
* Variegated Pedilanthus/ Lady’s Slippers
* Kingwood Torch Coleus
* Bellis-English Daisy

Thanks to Tree Search Farms, where the pickin’ is good when other nursery’s tend to be
bleak this time of year.

If you have any questions on what works this time of year, feel free to contact me through this blog or email me.

Happy Holidays!!!!!!

Jatropha integerrima:
Common names are Peregrina or Spicy Jatropha
Family:Euphorbiaceae
Zones: 9-10 (sensitive to frost)

Peregrina is a evergreen shrub or small tree with glossy leaves and clusters of small star shaped bright scarlet flowers.

A native to the West Indies and is especially known for being cultivated in Cuba and Florida.

This wonderful plant has also been discovered to be a great source of Bio fuel. It is being grown and harvested in large capacity throughout many parts of Africa just for this sole purpose.

Peregrina is a spectacular shrub when in bloom, attracting many varieties of Butterflies and Hummingbirds.

Jotropha is a very diverse genus which includes cactus like succulents, herbaceous perennials and woody trees. It can be trained or pruned easily to form a single trunk tree/espalier, or it can be trimmed as a dense flowering shrub. It likes well drained soil and can be drought tolerant.

Please Note:
Keep all parts of this plant out of the mouths of people and pets, for it is extremely toxic if ingested.

Please feel free to write me to ask any questions you might have and I would love to hear your comments on my blog.

All the best,
Portia

Autumn in Houston can be just the best. Not too cold and not too hot.
Perfect weather is what I would call it. A certain briskness in the air, suddenly I see more people out walking their dogs and couples holding hands while taking their walks.
Plenty of flowing moss blowing in the breeze, as you see here.

This Sunday morning I read an article in the New York Times on an amazing and talented artist/architect.

Her name is Maya Lin.
An Asian American women who started out designing and building monuments.
The article left me wanting to find out more about Maya.

Maya developed a passion for both art and architecture and refused to decide to specialize in one or the other and by doing this she defied the rules.
Most people told her it would not work to her benefit and that she was making a grave mistake by not choosing Art /verses/ Architecture.

Now Maya spends equal amounts of time creating both, in fact, she has taken it a step further by implementing an environmentally conscience mind to the equation.

Maya Lin, an amazing woman, environmentalist & Art-chitect!

I hope she inspires you as well.

What a great day in Houston, Texas.
There seems to be hopeful energy in the air and people are happy and excited.
It proved to be a good day in the stock market with a strong rally.
So, all in all it has been a very positive day.
Who will be president??? Hmmmm???

Here is the Templet project after a spruce up for the season.

This property faces East and can handle full sun or partial shade.
The palms are Dwarf Pygmy Dates and will not stay small forever but will look great for a very long time.
We will transplant them later when we are ready for a change.

Decorative Cabbage and Kale are wonderful accents for the cooler weather.
We also added some Sweet Alyssum for some white.
This is newly installed but will fill out the space quickly and will look even better in a couple weeks!

Dark green, gray, dark purple, silvery green and white are the color elements we used here.
A good combination.

It was time to start trimming the trees damaged from Ike.

We noticed lots of men in uniform walking around.
It felt like a military base.