It’s time to plant these things in your North Texas garden. Yes, in the August heat
“I rather thought Neil had been out in the heat a bit too long. He was trying to tell us there are things we ought to be planting here in mid-August.”
It wouldn’t surprise me a bit if those words — or some very close to them — will be uttered around North Texas in the next day or two after reading this column. But I can make a strong case for each of the plants I’m going to list for planting here in one of the hottest times of the year. Trust me just a couple of minutes. I won’t let you down.
▪ Marigolds, zinnias and celosias (cockscomb). You’re not going to believe this one! Imagine marigolds without spider mites. Zinnias without powdery mildew. Celosias with burgundy red foliage contrasting with their rich red flowers. In fact, all of these plants with flower colors so much more intense than their counterparts of the spring. That’s because they’re doing their growing and blooming in fall’s cooler conditions.
What’s the secret? You set out new, vigorous transplants now — in bud but preferably not yet in bloom. Perhaps you heard horticulturist Stephen Haydon from the Fort Worth Botanic Garden telling my radio audience on WBAP this past Sunday morning that they’re planting 45,000 marigold transplants out there this week. Follow their lead!
▪ Cabbage, broccoli, Brussels sprouts and cauliflower. These “Cole” crops grow best in cool weather. Plant transplants from the nursery now and you’ll be harvesting crisp, fresh heads in October and November at the peak of perfection. Your only concern will be to watch for the white butterflies that will find them and lay their eggs on them. Cabbage looper caterpillars will hatch out of those eggs and try to chew holes through their leaves. Be at the ready with Bacillus thuringiensis (“B.t.”) biological worm spray or dust at first sighting of the loopers and their chew holes. It’s an organic remedy that can be applied right up to harvest.
▪ Crape myrtles. Nurseries still have good supplies, and the plants are still in bloom so that you can see the colors you’ll be getting. Check, too, on each type’s mature height and width so you won’t be in for any surprises years down the road. There are 50 to 75 varieties of crape myrtles in nurseries. They range in mature height from three to 33 feet, so there’s no reason to settle for anything other than exactly the size that you need.
▪ Turfgrass from seed or sod. It’s hard to imagine that six weeks from now the soil will be starting to cool enough that even sod, especially St. Augustine, won’t have time to develop roots deep enough for winter survival. That window is even shorter for seeding bermudagrass. Let’s just put it this way: If you are planning on planting new turfgrass this year, you need to get it done in the next week or two if at all possible.
▪ Fall-flowering bulbs. There’s a very good chance that you don’t even know some of these bulbs by name. You may never have seen a couple of them, but our great grandmas here in Texas knew them very well. These are legacy plants, and if we drive to their old neighborhoods, odds are that we’ll see them in bloom in the next couple of months. But these plants fell from favor for whatever the reason, but they still exist in the lives of pass-along plant people who share their plants with their friends.
Most common among them would be spider lilies (Lycoris radiata) with their showy red flowers that remind you of fireworks when they pop out of the ground. They’re affordable and widely sold, both in stores and online. It’s best to plant them where they can remain undisturbed for years. Plant them in drifts and prepare to love them forever.
Sternbergias (lilies-of-the-field, also called fall crocus) are much less common, but when you see them you’ll be rushing to order them. I’ll warn you that they’re hard to find. There’s a drift at the Fort Worth Botanic Garden that has bloomed reliably for many years.
Oxblood lilies (also called schoolhouse lilies or hurricane lilies, Rhodofiala bifida) are more common than one might imagine in North Central Texas. They’re just not large enough to scream out in the garden. In bloom they’re about 15 inches tall with amaryllis-like flowers of rich red. The foliage doesn’t appear until after the blooms, and then it persists all winter and into the spring. Plant these in a mass along the front side of the perennial garden and leave them alone for years.
Naked lady lilies (Lycoris squamigera) are the queens of the fall. They look nothing like spider lilies, their sisters in this genus. Their flowers are also amaryllis-like (trumpet-shaped) and soft pink. They’re rarely sold and expensive when you do find them, but they’re worth the hunt. Their leaves appear in the spring and are totally gone by summer. The flowers pop out of nowhere, hence their common name.
▪ Fall-flowering perennials. Nurseries will be stocking mums, fall asters, Mexican bush salvias, Mexican mint marigolds and other fall-blooming perennials in pots. This is the time to buy and plant them.
▪ Spring wildflowers. In nature these would have been sown by the dried, dying plants last spring. In our gardens, however, we get the advantage of bypassing the insects and birds and planting them at just the right time for them to sprout — late August into mid-September as the weather breaks and (in nature) fall rains might be expected. One tip in particular: if you’re planting bluebonnets, buy “acid-scarified” seeds that have had their seed coats etched by an acid bath prior to packaging. It’s a process you don’t want to try at home, so buy pre-treated seed. Sow the seeds onto lightly tilled soil and keep the ground moist (not wet) at all times.
