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Our February garden talks wrap up this Saturday, 2/25/23 at 10am! Join us here at Gill’s for Planting to Support Our Local Ecosystem with Sara Jose, Preserve Manager at the Oso Bay Wetlands Preserve & Education Center. Sara is an avid gardener, birdwatcher, and environmental educator who encourages the community to think of nature as something that happens IN our yards, not something we visit on vacation. She’ll discuss how to choose and incorporate native plants, why we should be growing “bug food”, and the importance of creating habitats that support birds, bees, and other plant pollinators. If you want to learn how you can make a big impact on our local ecosystem, even in small spaces, don’t miss this talk! As always, Saturday’s talk is free and open to everyone, and one attendee will win a $100 Gill’s gift card!

Spring is here!! Look around and you’ll see lots of happy and healthy plants enjoying the sunshine and putting on fresh new growth. We hope you feel the same way! Here are our top must-do’s in the garden this month to help you have the best Spring season and beyond.

Check out our March Garden Guide for more tips!

1. Plant Level – Not Too Deep!

When planting this Spring, DON’T PLANT TOO DEEP! Plant level with the surrounding soil (or even slightly higher) and don’t cover the top of the root ball with soil. Most plants have tiny feeder roots on the surface of the root ball that are critical for taking up nutrients and for oxygen exchange. If you bury these surface feeder roots, the plant will suffocate and decline. After you plant, remember that plants need long, deep drinks of water. Watering often does not equal watering well. Use a moisture meter to be sure you’re getting moisture down into the ground when you water.

2. Start Your Spring Veggie Garden!

It’s time! We are thrilled to have a big healthy selection of Spring veggies and fruit trees this year. One thing we recommend for starting all veggie gardens is Nature’s Blend compost – the closest thing we’ve seen to ‘magic in a bag’! One bag improves about 12 sq ft of clay or sandy soil and gets it ready for planting. That’s a good approximate ratio if you make your own compost too. Remember that you can grow food almost anywhere! Re-watch James Gill’s container gardening video for tips and inspiration.

3. Invite Pollinator Friends to Your Garden

Now is a great time to incorporate plants into your garden that attract & feed the birds, bees, butterflies, and other pollinators. They need your help finding food and shelter, and you need their help pollinating your blooming plants, increasing your veggie production, and eating bad bugs. Bees are drawn to most anything with a bloom but some fav’s are native Gregg’s Mist Flower, Esperanza, & Lantana. Butterflies love Salvias and Mexican Flame Vine too. Native plants like Turks Cap and Yaupon Holly produce berries for birds, and Hummers love Duranta, Mexican Honeysuckle, & lots more! Keep in mind that pollinators need help locating these food sources. Think about planting several of the same plant together to help make them more visible to our pollinator friends.

4. Fertilize Now – Except Lawns

Spring’s here and plants are actively growing. That means they need food, just like us! Flowers and veggies are especially heavy feeders because they’re working to produce a bloom and fruit. And you will certainly notice a difference with your ornamental plants as well. Apply a good all-purpose organic food like Plant Tone or Medina Growin Green once a month for great results. Don’t sprinkle your granular fertilizer right up against the trunk of the plant. Instead, sprinkle at the drip line, aka where rainwater would drip off the outermost leaves. That’s the zone where plants take up nutrients. After you’ve applied your granular food, circle back every 2 weeks to supplement with liquid Hasta Gro. Almost everything should be fed this time of year, except lawns. More on lawns below…

5. Apply Pre-Emergent Weed Control Now and Wait to Fertilize Lawns

Lawns are coming out of dormancy and just now starting to actively grow, which means we need to wait a few more weeks before applying fertilizer. But right now is the time to apply pre-emergent weed control to kill weeds before they emerge. We recommend Hi Yield Weed and Grass Stopper with Dimension. Remember that pre-emergent weed controls are root growth inhibitors. They work by penetrating down into the top layer of soil where weed seeds are, but not down deep enough to affect grass roots. They should only be used in areas where you have thick, healthy grass with established roots, not areas where you plan to plant more grass this spring or thin areas where you want grass to fill in. If you have weeds that have already sprouted, spray lawns with Weed B Gon, Image, or organic Captain Jack’s Lawn Weed Brew. All three are safe for Floratam St. Augustine lawns. Or you can spot treat weeds with organic Captain Jack’s Dead Weed Brew. Bottom line: control weeds now BEFORE you fertilize in late March/early April. This is why we don’t recommend using “weed and feed” type products.

We’ve been talking to lots of local gardeners who are totally rethinking their landscapes this year. After 2 cold winters in a row, you might be wanting more cold-tolerant plants. Understandable! We think that’s a great idea – start with some good bones, then add color and accents to suit your style. Here are some options to consider.

Small Trees Make Good Focal Points

Crops of blooming ornamental trees like Texas Mountain Laurel, Yaupon Holly, Vitex, and Redbud look fantastic this year. All of these will attract and support birds, as will other interesting native trees like Spiny Hackberry and Kidneywood. They can handle freezes and hot summer temps too. In nature, these are understory trees, so they can tolerate some shade. Look for a spot with good sun to partial shade where you’d like to create a focal point in your landscape. For example, plant a Yaupon Holly and add a birdbath where you can see it from your living room window and you’ll have live Mockingbird TV!

Add Structure with Cold-Hardy Shrubs

You can’t go wrong with cold-hardy, tried and true shrubs like Indian Hawthorn for creating structure in your landscape. Yes, they may still get a little browning on the tips after a freeze, but not severe damage. Shrubs frame the house and give you that classic evergreen look. Other classics like Wax Leaf Ligustrum, Viburnum, Pittosporum, and Dwarf Burford Holly are great for our area.

Bring the Butterflies with Cold-Tolerant Perennial Color

Lantana, Blue Daze, Salvia ‘Love and Wishes’, Salvia ‘Black and Bloom’, Gregg’s Mistflower,
Blackfoot Daisy

Once you’ve got some good structure, you can make your landscape sing with blooming perennials! If you already had plants like Lantana, Salvias, Blue Daze, you’ve probably saw them look rough this Winter, then start to grow back rapidly this Spring. If you cut them back in the wintertime, they’ll look even better in Spring and Summer. Expect most blooming perennials to look their best for 2-3 years, sometimes longer. Keep in mind, if you’re planting to attract pollinators like hummingbirds, butterflies, and bees, plant several of the same plant in a group. For example, plant 6-8 Gregg’s Mistflower together in 1 bed to help butterflies easily find it. Mass-planting like this tends to look really nice to humans too.

Accent with Tropical Plants and Annual Color

Jatropha, Bougainvillea, Mandevilla, Hibiscus

If you’re adventurous, creating an all-tropical landscape can be lush and beautiful. Just know that you’ll likely need to replace plants if we get too cold, or wait a while until they grow back from the roots. Instead, you might consider building the bones of your landscape with cold-tolerant trees, shrubs, and perennials, then accenting with tropical plants. A Bougainvillea splash against a background of evergreen shrubs, or a small area full of philodendrons and Jatropha can create a tropical feel with less risk. And don’t forget about annual flowers! Pots or beds exploding with Zinnias, Begonias, Celosia, and Sweet Potato Vine will look amazing this season, then you get to pull them up and plant something new.

We’ve been blown away by the amazing Spring blooms at Gill’s this week! We’re always on the go, but no plant person can resist stopping to smell fresh roses or to brush against a Copper Canyon Daisy to release the wonderful scent. If you want to bring some fragrance to your landscape, here’s what we’d recommend planting now.

Sweet Mademoiselle Rose

The cool weather this week really brought out the color of our Sweet Mademoiselle Rose blooms! This is a new variety bred for the color and excellent disease resistance. The scent is soft, delicate, and unique – sort of like a rosy tea.

Almond Verbena

Almond Verbena blooms might be our favorite scent in the garden. They really do smell like sweet almonds, and when the wind is just right, you can smell them all the way across the garden center! Great cold hardy, tough, and drought tolerant plant for shady/partial sun spots. Easy to prune to your desired shape, and to encourage more blooms.

Maid of Orleans Jasmine

Maid of Orleans aka Arabian Jasmine is a vining evergreen shrub with wonderfully fragrant flowers that are used for tea and in the perfume industry. The fragrance is similar to Star Jasmine – sweet and intense! Hummingbirds and butterflies love it too.

Night Blooming Jasmine

Night Blooming Jasmine is not a true Jasmine, but it gets its name from the fragrant white blooms. It’s actually part of the Solanaceae family which includes potatoes and tomatoes. The blooms open at night an emit a very strong (in a good way) scent. Think of Night Blooming Jasmine as more of a sprawling woody shrub than a vine. Once established, they’re cold tolerant down to about 25 degrees.

Copper Canyon Daisy

Copper Canyon Daisy aka Mountain Marigold is native to the Southwest US and Northern Mexico. The bright yellow flowers are attractive to bees and butterflies, but its the foliage that smells so good. The fragrance that’s released when you brush against the plant is difficult to describe. Maybe fresh rain + a hint of lemon?

Arp Rosemary

We rarely meet a rosemary variety that we don’t like – they all smell great, and they have subtle differences in scent and flavor. We’re excited about Arp Rosemary this Spring because it’s cold hardy down to 20 degrees! Great in the ground or in a pot with an upright growth habit.

Citronella Geranium

Some would call the scent of Citronella Geraniums pungent, and others adore it. The most common use of the plant and it’s strong scent is to repel mosquitoes. Place it near the door or along walkways, and periodically disturb the foliage with a broom to release the fragrance.

Texas Kidneywood

Kidneywood is a Texas native shrub/small tree with delicately fragrant blooms and leaves. Kidneywood likes a location with dappled light (some sun/some shade) and is both cold hardy and drought tolerant. The blooms attract bees and butterflies and the wood is sometimes used for dyes.

Mexican Mint Marigold

Mexican Mint Marigold aka Mexican Tarragon or Texas Tarragon is an aromatic herb with beautiful flowers and a fragrance similar to anise or licorice. Great for a full-sun location, and makes a great potted plant since it needs good drainage. You can use it in the kitchen as you would tarragon with chicken, fish, compound butter, etc. And we think it makes the BEST salad dressing.

Sansevieria??

Did you know that Sansevieria sometimes bloom?! This is rare, but we have 1 here at Gill’s right now that’s about to flower. If you’ve never smelled a Sansevieria bloom, be sure to stop by in the next few days. We plan to keep it here until the blooms fade so everyone has a chance to smell the incredible (and incredibly strong) fragrance. If you want to encourage your Sansevieria to bloom, keep the roots constricted in a small pot and give it more light. No guarantees, but it’s magical when it happens.

Spring is in full swing! Everyone’s busy planting, re-designing, fertilizing, and getting ready for holidays and weekends with family and friends. Here are our top tips in the garden this month.

1. Feed Your Lawn and Plants

Fertilizing/feeding your plants this month is a must. This includes lawns, trees, and most plants. Everything is actively growing, which means they’ll need more food to continue looking their best. For lawns we love organic Medina Growin Green once in Spring (now), once in Summer, and once in the Fall. Medina Growin Green is a great multi-purpose food for shrubs and trees too. For blooming perennials, annual flowers, and veggies we really like organic Plant Tone by Espoma and Medina Hasta Gro liquid. Feed with Plant Tone on the 1st of each month, then follow up with liquid Hasta Gro on the 15th.

2. Water Slow and Low

Proper watering, along with proper fertilizing, keeps plants and lawns healthy and resistant to pests and disease. Here’s a tip to remember: water “slow and low”! Watering slowly (by turning down the pressure on your watering wand or kinking your hose) ensures that more water gets down to the roots instead of running off the surface. Watering plants low to the ground keeps water from escaping via wind and evaporation and keeps water off the leaves which can invite fungal issues.

If using sprinklers or an irrigation system, be sure they’re working properly and always check current City of Corpus Christi watering rules here. For new landscape projects that require irrigation to get established, and some other situations, you can apply for a temporary exemption to watering restrictions with the City. We can help you with that if you need.

3. Plant for Nature

Add some blooming perennials to attract pollinators like butterflies, bees, and birds to your garden. You support them (and the planet!) and they help you have more blooms and better production on your veggies! By including plants that provide food for pollinators, and meeting a few more simple criteria, you can even make your garden a certified wildlife habitat with the National Wildlife Federation. We just certified our pollinator garden here at Gill’s!

4. Plant Your Warm Weather Veggies

It’s time to plant hot peppers, squash, zucchini, basil, beans, and more! Tomato time has almost passed, but we still have a few if you still really want to plant a tomato. When starting veggies, the trick is to get the soil as active and alive as possible. Amend your existing soil with Nature’s Blend Compost (about 1 bag per 12 sq. ft.), then add a little Bio Tone starter fertilizer with mycorrhizal fungi and a good handful of worm castings when you plant.

5. Get Ready for Guests

Bamboo Muhly Grass, Mexican Bush Sage, Yaupon Holly, and American Beautyberry cuttings

April is time for holidays with family and friends. And a great time for plants! For the quickest and easiest impact outdoors, think hanging baskets overflowing with color + fresh mulch in your beds. For indoors, our favorite flower arrangements are those cut fresh from the garden and landscape.

Check out our April Garden Guide for more tips!

May means Mom’s Day, graduations, and more BBQs and family holidays outside! May is also Mental Health Awareness Month. As gardeners, we know growing plants and being outdoors are necessary for our wellbeing…and so much fun! As one of our customers put it recently, “I believe that people who garden are the most hopeful and positive individuals.” Here are our Top 6 Must Do’s this May to keep you and your garden feelin’ good.

1. Join Us for Garden Talks and Events!

We’ve got a fun May planned here at Gill’s, and we’re kicking it off this Saturday, April 29th, 2023 at Be My Neighbor Day! This is a community event at KEDT Studios at 3205 S. Staples from 9am-1pm. Gill’s will have a booth with seeds, plants, and goodies for kids who attend. Then every Saturday in May, we’re hosting garden talks and events here at Gill’s. Sure to be lots of fun and lots to learn and discuss! Stay tuned for more info!

2. Plant Blooming Perennials and Trees

It’s still time to plant lots of different blooming perennials and blooming trees. Get them established now so they are better adapted to withstand warmer temps this Summer. Staples like Esperanza, many varieties of Salvia, Jatropha, Lantana, and more are all blooming beautifully right now. And blooming trees like Crape Myrtles, Vitex, Retama, and Wild Olive are looking great right now too. Added bonus: these blooming perennials and trees attract lots of butterflies and hummingbirds!

3. Plant and Harvest Veggies

Warm weather veggie time! Plant peppers, zucchini, squash, and okra this month for continued harvesting into the Summer months. If you planted tomatoes, cucumbers, and other early Spring veggies, you’ll be harvesting now or soon. Be sure to harvest often! It keeps birds & insects from finding them first. If you do have insect issues in your veggie garden, our go-to organic control is Spinosad – safe for food but takes care of bugs. Recent rains have been great for veggie gardens. Remember to keep watering as the weather warms up and dries out to maintain depth moisture. Soaker hoses are great to snake around your plants keeping water close to the ground and root systems.

4. Tend Your Lawn

In Spring and Summer, water your lawn once a week unless we have rain. Invest in a sprinkler that’ll do the work – we have them. Hand watering the lawn may feel therapeutic, but you won’t get good coverage and depth. Once a week, nice and deep for a healthy lawn.

When mowing, the proper height for St. Augustine lawns is around 3 inches. For Bermuda lawns, keep mowed to around 2-2.5 inches.

Feed with Natural Fertilizers: Medina Growin Green or Milorganite. These feed the lawn and the soil with great results. Water in to get them started.

Watch for lawn insects & treat when needed. Grub worms & chinch bugs are easy to control when caught early but there’s no need to treat unless you have them. Bayer Season-long Grub Control will do the trick for grubs. Cyonara takes care of chinch bugs. Reminder, you can bring us a grass sample any time you suspect a lawn disease or pest. We’ll diagnose (using our microscope if needed) and get you what you need to knock it out.

5. Set Your Mosquito Traps!

We are big fans of the simple bucket mosquito trap. Just fill a bucket 3/4 with water, add a good handful of lawn or plant clippings, and toss in a Mosquito Dunk or Mosquito Bits. These dissolve in the water and release bacteria that target mosquito larvae and kill them before they hatch. And they’re organic and not harmful to birds, bees, pets or humans! Set a few of these traps, sprinkle some organic Mosquito Beater granules around walkways and patios, spray organic Cedar Repel on your lawn, and use Skeeter Screen incense sticks near where you’re working or hanging out outside. Remember that using chemical mosquito foggers kills all the good bugs too, some of which also help control mosquitos and other bad bugs.

6. Gifts for Moms and Grads

Let us help you find something pretty, useful, or both for the gardening moms and grads in your life. Pottery, birdbaths, wind chimes, garden tools, hats, gloves, garden decor, gift cards – lots of options. Check out this new cyanotype print kit – take cuttings and make cyanotype prints using sunlight! Or find the gift that gardeners love most – plants 🙂

Visit our May Garden Guide for more tips! Happy gardening!

It’s National Pollinator Week and summer is officially here! Just like gardeners adapt to summer temps, so do pollinators like bees, butterflies, birds, and all kinds of insects. They need our help finding food, shade/shelter, and places to raise young. Good thing there are lots of plants that love our South Texas summer AND help meet these needs for pollinators. Here are our top 10!

1. Native Texas Sage

Texas Sage aka Barometer Bush flowers are a big food source for a variety of bees, butterflies, and moths in our area. Hard to find a tougher (or prettier!) shrub for full sun areas. The blooms open in response to changes in humidity and barometric pressure, typically just before or after a rain.

2. Golden Thryallis

Native to Mexico and well-adapted to South Texas, Thryallis is almost always blooming! Hummingbirds, bees, and butterflies can stop for a meal in spring, summer, and fall.

3. Basil

Of course we love eating and cooking with Basil, but it’s also a magnet for pollinators! A few Basil plants in your garden, especially the big-blooming varieties like Magic Mountain, will bring you lots of pollinators and more blooms everywhere.

4. Zinnias

Zinnias are a summer classic for South Texas. They’re easy to grow from seed or transplant, they love warm weather, and they just make you happy! They make bees happy too!

5. Turk’s Cap

Q: What blooms in the shade, blooms in the sun, provides food and shelter for birds and butterflies, doesn’t need much water, and is native to a huge swath of Texas?

A: Turk’s Cap!

6. Eleagnus

You may not think of Eleagnus when you think of pollinator plants, but we think you should! The flowers attract bees and other beneficial insects, and birds love the berries. And Eleagnus grows big enough (10’x10′) to create plenty of shade and shelter and a place to nest and raise young. Not to mention that Eleagnus is excellent for the coast due to it’s high tolerance of salty conditions.

7. Henry Duelberg Salvia

Henry Duelberg is one of our native Texas salvias that hummingbirds, bees, and butterflies adore. They’re great on water and they just keep on blooming!

8. Firebush!

We consider Firebush to be THE hummingbird plant for South Texas. They absolutely thrive in summer – you’ll see them starting to bloom right about now. The tubular blooms are perfect for a hummingbird’s beak. Big, goofy carpenter bees love making their homes in the hollow branches of an established Firebush.

9. Esperanza

Carpenter bees love Esperanza! And we love watching them buzz and knock around all over the flowers. The big, bell-shaped blooms are perfect for big, round carpenter bees. Esperanza will keep blooming through the summer and fall.

10. Grasses!

Planting grasses like our native Coastal Muhly grass or Purple Fountain grass, provides great shelter for birds and other small wildlife. And summer is a great time to plant so they establish roots and get ready to bloom beautifully in the fall.

I always make it a point to garden in a way that works with nature and promotes life. Using the least toxic products when I have a problem or a pest in the garden is a big part of that equation. All pesticides and fungicides are killers, organic or not, so it is important to choose a product that is selective in what it kills. Bee Safe 3 in 1 Garden Spray is relatively new here at Gills and has quickly become one of my favorites for a few reasons:

It works. I use Bee Safe to treat aphids, mealy bugs, and powdery mildew with great success. It is also labeled for spider mites and fungal issues like black spot on roses – hence the name “3 in 1”.

Bee Safe is not a kill all. Bee Safe will not harm bees, butterflies, or hummingbirds. This is important because pollinators play a critical role in a healthy thriving garden.

It’s totally organic. Bee Safe is OMRI certified for organic gardening. The active ingredients are sesame oil and fish oil, which are very safe to use around your pets, your family, and the bees! It is also labeled for “same day use” which means you can spray your veggies and eat them in the same day. I’d still recommend washing them of course. And keep in mind that Bee Safe is an oil-based insecticide, which means you should spray it in the evening to avoid burning.

Promoting life in the garden is the best way to prevent pests in the first place. Make sure you are attracting pollinizers (like bees, birds, and butterflies), promoting beneficial insects, and adding compost to encourage healthy microbial activity in the soil. All these living things will work together to maintain healthy plants which are not as susceptible to pests.

-Wyatt