Firewise Landscaping
Maintaining a defensible space around your home can save it from a wildfire. By clearing your yard and property of fuel sources and selecting the right plant for the right space you can create clean, lean and green space that is easy to maintain and protects your house from wildfire. Spring is the ideal time to plan and implement a “firewise landscaping”.
Focus on Native - Spanish Dagger
The Spanish Dagger, Yucca treculeana, is a common sight along rural Texas Hill Country highways, especially in the southern portion of the Edwards Plateau. This shrub or small tree-like member of the Agave Century Plant family is also known as Spanish Bayonet, Don Quixote's Lance, Palma Pita and Palmito. Its native range extends from the Edwards Plateau, throughout the Rio Grande Plains and into northern Mexico. In the last 75 years or so it has experienced a decline of about 30 percent, mostly due to habitat loss.
For more information click HERE.
Creepy Crawler
The Cabbage Looper
Damage is caused by the larvae feeding on foliage with their chewing mouthparts. Smaller larval stages feed on the underside of leaves and tend to feed more on tender parts of the plant while larger stages chew large holes in leaves and can bore into heads of cabbage. When looking for cabbage loopers, you may not see the caterpillars, but may instead find their frass which look like small brown pellets.
Click HERE to learn more about the Cabbage Looper
Tips from the Garden
"From December to March, there are for many of us three gardens: the garden outdoors, the garden of pots and bowls in the house, and the garden of the mind's eye." ~Katherine S. White~
There will hopefully be those glorious days this month that will be perfect for digging, sowing, mulching, and transplanting beautiful things for our spring gardens. Many selections of transplants are arriving in garden centers, and stocks of packaged and bulk seeds for this season have arrived. As a precaution, tender plants need to be protected from freeze, as well as from damaging wind. The last frost date for New Braunfels, elevation 620 feet, is March 15; for the higher elevations of Comal County, it is March 30 or later.
Veggies, Q&As, and Native Plants
Happenings and Harvests in the Veggie Garden
A weekly log of veggie garden activities
Native Plant Gallery
Visit our gallery of native plants--and Go Native!