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It sure feels like summer outside, but in order for fall tomatoes and peppers to have time to produce lots of fruit, we gotta plant em now! Here are a few tips for growing the most and the tastiest tomatoes and peppers.

1. Count Your Days to Maturity

The average tomato, like our beloved Celebrity slicing tomato, needs about 70-80 days to mature and produce fruit. That means they’ll be ready around the beginning of November if we plant today. Similarly, Jalepenos and bell peppers need 60-80 days to maturity. Be sure to get them planted now or very soon so you can get a good harvest before we have chances of cold weather which tomatoes and peppers can’t handle.

2. Adequate Spacing + Cages for Support

When planting, keep in mind that tomatoes should be planted a good 4 feet apart, and peppers should be 2.5-3 feet apart. This gives them room to grow to their full potential, ensures good airflow around the plants, and helps prevent pest outbreaks. Remember – tomato cages are your friends! It’s important to cage the tomato right when you plant so you don’t risk breaking branches if you try to add a cage later. A tomato cage works great for supporting pepper plants too. And be sure to have some flexible green garden tie tape to help secure floppy branches, especially when they get heavy with fruit! The flexible tape is nice because it’s soft and won’t cut into the plant like string or wire would. Yes, we have some!

3. Follow DeAnna’s Tried & True Feeding Schedule

Remember that plants use lots of energy to produce fruit, so they need plenty of good food! Use compost and Biotone Starter Plus you plant to promote good soil microbes and bigger roots. Then take DeAnna’s advice on feeding: apply a quality granular fertilizer (Plant Tone or Medina Growin Green) on the 1st of the month, then supplement with liquid Hasta Gro on the 15th. Add these reminders to your calendar to make it easy. Follow this schedule and you’ll have tomatoes & peppers to share!

It’s almost that magical time of year again when ruby-throated hummingbirds make their way through the Coastal Bend on their way south for the winter! Expect to start seeing hummingbirds around town any day now, with peak numbers around mid-late September, right in time for the Rockport-Fulton Hummerbird Celebration. With our hungry guests arriving very soon, it’s time to set the table with all the right hummingbird plants! Here’s what and how to plant to make your yard a preferred stop on the migration path.

1. Plant Tubular Blooms in Shades of Orange and Red

If we think about our list of top-notch hummingbird-attracting plants like Firebush (pictured), Flame Acanthus, Firecracker (russelia), Salvia greggii, and Coral Honeysuckle, to name a few, they all have tubular blooms that are perfect for a hummingbird’s long, skinny beak. And their blooms are all shades of orange and red! Hummingbirds have a high concentration of cones in their retinas which filter color differently than what we see. To hummingbirds, the red spectrum appears more vividly while blues appear more muted. That said, scientists have run experiments with different color blooms and found that hummingbirds learn very fast which blooms have the most nectar, regardless of bloom color. As a local example, we know that hummingbirds also love Duranta‘s blooms which are purple and not tube-shaped. Lantanas are another plant that hummingbirds seem to love in all colors.

2. Plant in Groups, Not Just 1 or 2

When planting for hummingbirds and other pollinators, make your food sources easy to find. Instead of planting 1’s and 2’s of hummingbird plants spread out across the yard, plant a few or several of the same plant in a group. This helps mimic how most plants are found in nature, helps the hummingbirds spot them more easily, and provides a higher concentration of nectar. If you have limited space, go with 3 of the same plant rather than 1 of each. We had a customer call Gill’s this week to ask about hummingbird plants for her balcony…on the 13th floor! That may seem like a stretch, but hummingbirds can fly up to 500 feet – if they have a good reason to fly up to your balcony, they can and will!

3. Supplement with High Quality Organic Food and Shallow Water

The right plants will get you more hummingbirds, but it doesn’t hurt to supplement with some feeders too. They need all the energy they can get for their long journey. Place your feeders in easy to access spots since they need to be cleaned regularly. And don’t use the fake red dyed “nectar” that you might find at big box stores. Use a high-quality, nutritious food that’s truly made for hummingbirds. We’re big fans of organic Hummingbird Momma, which is the only nectar we carry. And don’t forget about water! No hummingbird haven is complete without a shallow bird bath or fountain. They can’t stand in deeper water, so look for something very shallow!

Fall planting season is here!! September is the best time to plant almost everything. And the recent rain is excellent news for getting started! Here are our top 7 must-do’s this month as we head into our favorite season in Corpus Christi and the Coastal Bend.

Check out our September Garden Guide for more tips!

1. Ready, Set, PLANT Veggies, Herbs, Citrus, and Fruits!

It’s time! Tomatoes, peppers, & warm weather edibles should be planted by now, or at the latest, early September. Plant cool weather veggies & herbs anytime in September and remember to shelter them from still-intense sun and keep watered. When planting, you can’t go wrong with organic BioTone starter fertilizer + a good handful of Earthworm Castings. Neither of these require precise measurement, and they make an incredible combo for building stronger, deeper roots, preventing pests, and creating an active soil environment for plants to thrive.

Here’s our Fall veggie planting schedule. And save space for citrus trees, figs, and other fruits to round off your garden grocery store! They’ll all be arriving before or right around mid-September.

2. Plant Trees and Shrubs for the BEST Start

Plants that are cold hardy (trees and woody shrubs) will benefit greatly by planting during our fall season. They’re under less heat stress, and they grow more roots through the fall and winter, making them stronger and ready to take off next spring. More roots, stronger plants, and less watering! Oak trees, Crape Myrtles, Hawthorns, Yaupon Holly, Plumbago, Boxwoods and a host of other trees and shrubs should be planted starting this month for the best start.

3. Plant to Support Pollinators!

We’re bringing in lots of new plants this month with our pollinator friends in mind! While you’re choosing what to plant, consider adding Texas Natives like Turk’s Cap and Lantana that birds and bees love. If you want to attract and support butterflies, try native butterfly weed (Asclepias tuberosa), Gregg’s mist flower, and lots of different blooming salvias. So many gorgeous options! Bring in some pictures of your outdoor space and we can help you plan the perfect pollinator garden – big or small. You can DIY or we can plant it for you!

4. Set the Table for the Fall Hummingbird Migration!

Ruby-throated hummingbirds will soon make their way through for the fall migration! These tiny birds are BIG eaters. They stop here in the Coastal Bend to fuel up before their non-stop flight across the Gulf of Mexico. Host them in your yard by planting some of their favorite foods! Hummingbirds find plants using their excellent vision and are attracted to bright colored blooms, which indicate a high-sugar food source. Some of our favs for South Texas are Flame Acanthus (aka hummingbird bush), Salvias (like native Salvia greggii and Salvia leucantha), Cape Honeysuckle, Firecracker plant, Coral bean – the list goes on! Plant a few of these and hummingbirds will find them. And don’t forget to visit the Rockport-Fulton HummerBird Celebration September 19-22!

5. Make Way for New Growth with Light Pruning and Clean-up

Chances are you have established plants that could benefit from a clean-up after working so hard all summer. Wait until about September 15th and give them a light pruning to make way for new growth this fall. A good rule of thumb for most plants is to prune up to 1/3 (not more) in the fall, then wait until January to do a heavy pruning/cutback. If you have questions about how to prune specific plants, you know who to call!

6. Watch Your Watering and Adjust as Needed

We’ll keep repeating – water to maintain depth moisture! That means water slow and deep. Conserve water and force those roots to dive deeper for moisture. If you use an automatic sprinkler system, take some time this month to give it a good audit. Make sure all your sprinkler heads are working properly, and make sure you are applying a good 1″ of water, evenly, when you water your lawn and established landscape beds and trees. The easy way to do this is to get some simple sprinkler gauges (pictured) and place them in different locations. You may find that different sprinkler zones need various different run times.

7. You’re Invited! Gill Garden Talks and Events this Fall!

Gill Garden Talks and Events are back this Fall! We’re kicking it off with Kids Fest at KEDT studios on September 14th where we’ll be on hand giving away plants, seeds, and other fun garden stuff! Stay tuned here and on Instagram and Facebook for details of each event. We’ve got a few more that we can’t announce just yet 🙂

Now it’s safe so say…Spring has SPRUNG!! After a cold and cloudy February, sunshine and gorgeous weather feel so good! The birds are chirping, people are smiling, and plants are coming out of winter dormancy and starting to grow. Here are our top must-do’s in the garden this March – time to get planting!

Check out our March Garden Guide for more tips!

1. Get Your Veggies Going Now!

We must say…our veggie and herb section is looking mighty good right now! We’ve got tons of different tomatoes, jalapenos, super hot Carolina Reapers, cucumbers, squash, eggplant, asparagus, lemongrass, lemon balm, and lots more ready for your garden. Be sure to get your tomatoes going early this month so they have time to produce before it gets too warm. The rest of these can be planted any time this month, but you don’t want to wait much longer. Take advantage of the perfect weather!

2. Fertilize Regularly Starting Now (except for lawns!)

The time to fertilize is when plants are actively growing. That’s when they take up nutrients and get the most benefit from a good feeding. 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 landscape plants as well. Apply a good all-purpose organic food like Plant Tone, Medina Growin Green, or Rose Glo 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 the most nutrients. After you’ve applied your granular food, circle back every 2 weeks to supplement with liquid Hasta Gro. Almost everything should be fed starting now, except lawns! Wait to fertilize lawns until late March/early April.

Added bonus: When planting, add a little Bio Tone starter fertilizer to the soil when you backfill. It contains all sorts of beneficial organic matter, including mycorrhizal fungi which help stimulate better root growth. Amazing stuff!

3. Whatever You’re Planting – Add Compost!

Whether you’re starting a veggie garden, planting trees or shrubs, annual flowers, or blooming perennials, add some compost to improve the quality of your native soil. We love our Nature’s Blend or Cotton Burr Compost, and we’ve added a new one to the lineup: Expanded Shale and Leaf Mold Compost from Heirloom Soils. The addition of expanded shale helps even more to aerate our heavy clay soil. Whichever you choose, 1 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. Adding compost not only improves the consistency of your soil, it adds LIFE! All those beneficial microorganisms help turn your soil into the perfect environment for plant roots.

4. 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. 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, use a moisture meter to be sure you’re getting moisture down into the ground when you water.

5. Invite Pollinator Helpers to Your Garden

Now is an important time to incorporate plants into your garden that attract & feed the birds, bees, butterflies, moths, 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 Hummingbirds 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.

p.s. If you want to learn more about bees, join us here at Gill’s this Saturday, 3/1 at 10am for Support the Bees with the Coastal Bend Beekeepers Association!

6. Looking for Drought-Tolerant Color for Your Landscape?

Q: Can I use far less water and still have a gorgeous landscape bursting with color? A: Absolutely, you can! Given our drought situation, we’re sourcing even more of the tried and true, top-performing plants that don’t require much water once established. Think about a rainbow of Coreopsis (pictured), native Blackfoot Daisy, Mexican Heather, Bulbine, and all the different color Salvias and Lantanas – all very tough and water wise perennials that will carry you through the seasons. Think about creating some areas of interest in the ground or in pots with Gomphrena, Bluebonnets, and Pentas, all of which thrive with little water. Speaking of pots, even bright sweet potato vine is a low-water winner.

One of the most common questions we get from DIY gardeners and landscape design clients alike…”Can you recommend blooming plants for the shadier areas of my yard?” Great question! Most blooming plants want lots of sun, but there are still some great options for shade. Here are 10 of our fav shade bloomers that we have in stock and ready to plant right now!

1. Gregg’s Mist Flower

Do you have shady spots in your yard where you like to hang out and cool off? Would you like to enjoy the company of dozens of butterflies in those chill spots? Then plant a bunch of native Gregg’s Mist Flower! It can handle full sun, but it loves morning sun and afternoon shade.

2. Shady Salvias, like ‘Black & Bloom’ and ‘Plum Crazy’

We have quite a wide selection of salvias this spring, including gorgeous varieties that prefer more shade, like Plum Crazy (pictured), the darker purple Black & Bloom, and even the native Tropical Sage (Salvia coccinea) which like dappled light under tree canopies.

3. Celosia

The problem with doing a general web search for gardening tips is that the info rarely applies to our area specifically. Celosia is a good example – most gardening sites will recommend full sun, but they don’t mean South Texas full sun! In our area, Celosia makes a bright and fun addition to shadier spots in the garden with blooms through spring into early summer.

4. Blue Plumbago

We like to call Plumbago the South Texas Hydrangea. We can’t grow Hydrangeas very well in our area (wish we could!), but Plumbago thrives here and gives you a similar effect in the landscape with TONS of big, gorgeous blue blooms. Think part sun/part shade spots. There’s also a white version if blue’s not for you.

5. Begonias!

Begonias might be our fav annual flowers for shade. They’re awesome in the ground or in pots, and can even be brought indoors. And there are tons of varieties to choose from with different foliage and different blooms.

6. Firespike

Here’s one we don’t see too often – Firespike! Excellent 4-6′ tall and wide shrub that hummingbirds and butterflies adore. We wouldn’t recommend it for deep shade, but it’ll be happy and bloom in some shade.

7. Blue Daze

It’s a bit tricky to find a low-growing, heat-loving, drought-tolerant plant that can bloom in the shade, but Blue Daze checks all those boxes. This Texas Superstar thrives in our area and makes an excellent groundcover. Great in pots too!

8. Turk’s Cap

Texas Native Turk’s Cap is one of the most versatile and easy landscape plants there is. You can plant it almost anywhere, including deep shade, and it will bloom like crazy. Plus, it’s a magnet for hummingbirds. Did you know that Turk’s Cap is part of the mallow family and that the fruit and all parts of the plant are edible?

9. Texas Betony

Texas Betony is another native that hummingbirds and butterflies adore. And it’s an excellent shade bloomer. We don’t see it super often, so it’s a treat to have some in the garden center right now.

10. Shrimp Plant!

How could we talk about shade bloomers without mentioning the South Texas classic, Shrimp Plant! It comes in different colors, hummingbirds love it, and grows to about 4′ tall and wide.

Recent rains + lots of sunshine + a cool front coming this weekend = AMAZING time to garden! We’re all busy planting, re-designing, fertilizing, and getting ready for holidays and weekends outside with family and friends. Here are our top tips for making the most of a very important month in the garden.

1. Feed Your Plants, Trees, and Lawns Too

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. Medina Growin Green is a great multi-purpose food for landscape plants, shrubs, trees, veggies, lawns, you name it! For blooming perennials, annual flowers, and veggies we really like using a good organic granular food like Medina Growin Green, Plant Tone by Espoma, or Rose Glo in combination with Medina Hasta Gro liquid. Feed with the granular on the 1st of each month, then follow up with liquid Hasta Gro on the 15th. Add these reminders to your calendar and you can’t go wrong!

Yes, you can still fertilize your lawn, even though our lawn watering is limited. Using a good organic lawn food, like our go-to Medina Growin Green, promotes root growth and long-term health, which makes lawns more tolerant of less water. Ideally you’d want to water the fertilizer in, but you don’t have to. Medina Growin Green is gentle and won’t burn your lawn. You can apply it now and water it in slowly over a few weeks. If you have trees in your yard, keep in mind that fertilizer and water need to be applied at the drip line, aka where rainwater naturally drips off the outer edge of the canopy. Therefore, if you apply fertilizer to your lawn and water it in for the trees, your lawn will get the benefit too. You can also try to time your lawn fertilizing with a light rain. We typically don’t recommend waiting for rain to fertilize since a heavy rain would wash most of the fertilizer granules away. But, given the watering limitations, taking advantage of a light rain is a good solution.

Homeowners can also collect free effluent water at the Oso Wastewater Treatment Plant to use to water lawns. Apply for a quick and easy residential permit from the City of Corpus Christi here.

2. Watering Wands Win!

Hand watering with a watering wand that has a cutoff valve is the most efficient and best way to water, especially for new plantings. 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. 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.

Keep in mind that hand watering and drip irrigation are allowed during current watering restrictions. You can hand water any day before 10am or after 6pm, and you can supplement with drip irrigation once every other week. We carry the pro watering wands that we use here at Gill’s as well as moisture meters, timers, and soaker hoses.

For any new plantings, including turfgrass, you can apply for a temporary exemption to watering restrictions and use sprinklers and irrigation systems in order to help get plants, lawns, and trees established. We can help you file for the exemption if you like – it’s a straightforward process.

3. Plant Blooming Perennials for Pollinators

April is time to add some blooming perennials to attract pollinators like butterflies, bees, and birds to your garden. You support pollinators (and the planet!) and in return they help you have more blooms, better production on your veggies, and a more vibrant landscape! Remember – April is when we start seeing hummingbirds! We’ve just seen our first hummingbirds of the season here at Gill’s this week! Add a few of their favorites like this native Salvia greggii, native Flame Acanthus, or firebush and make your backyard a preferred stop.

4. Plant Your Warm Weather Veggies

It’s time to plant hot peppers, squash, zucchini, basil, beans, and more! 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 each plant. Then follow our trusted fertilizer schedule – Plant Tone on the 1st of the month and liquid Hasta Gro on the 15th! Remember that veggies use a lot of energy and need these regular feedings to produce. Plus, strong, vigorous veggie plants are less susceptible to pest damage.

5. Mulch! Not Just for Good Looks…

We all know that fresh mulch is like a fresh coat of paint for your garden – instant makeover! But did you know that applying a proper 3” layer of natural mulch keeps underlying soil temps more than 20 degrees cooler?! A good mulch layer keeps weeds at bay, and as it breaks down over time, it add nutrients to your soil. And perhaps most importantly right now, a good mulch layer retains moisture, which means big water savings.

6. Get Ready for Guests

Get outside and enjoy the gorgeous weather and prep for gathering with family and friends! For the quickest and easiest impact outdoors, think hanging baskets full of Impatiens, Vinca, Purslane, Geraniums and more overflowing with color. Some pops of color plus fresh mulch in your beds and you’re ready to host! For indoors, our favorite flower arrangements are those cut fresh from the garden and landscape.

Check out our April Garden Guide for more tips!

Yay for May! Everything’s growing and blooming and we hope you are too! May is Mental Health Awareness Month, which is a good time to think about the peace of mind that gardening brings us. Gardeners know that all the research is true – gardening is good for you! Here are our Top 7 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 big May planned here at Gill’s, and we’re kicking it off this Saturday, May 3rd with a fun cyanotype printing event with the TAMUCC Student Art Association. Stop by and create your own cyanotype prints using leaves and flowers! Then next weekend we’re inviting kids to come pot up a flower for Mom for Mother’s Day. Sure to be lots of fun and lots to learn and discuss! Click here for more info and tickets!

2. Plant Blooming Perennials and Trees

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

3. Plant and Harvest Veggies

Warm weather veggie time! Plant all kinds of peppers, zucchini, squash, melons, 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 very 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. Remember to keep watering your veggies as the weather warms up to maintain depth moisture.

4. Mulch for Many Reasons!

5. Transition Your Lawn to Summer

Feed with Natural Fertilizers: Medina Growin Green or Milorganite. Yes, you can still fertilize your lawn, even though our lawn watering is limited. Using a good organic lawn food, like our go-to Medina Growin Green, promotes root growth and long-term health, which makes lawns more tolerant of less water. Ideally you’d want to water the fertilizer in, but you don’t have to. Medina Growin Green is gentle and won’t burn your lawn. You can apply it now and water it in slowly over a few weeks. If you have trees in your yard, keep in mind that fertilizer and water need to be applied at the drip line, aka where rainwater naturally drips off the outer edge of the canopy. Therefore, if you apply fertilizer to your lawn and water it in for the trees, your lawn will get the benefit too. You can also try to time your lawn fertilizing with a light rain. We typically don’t recommend waiting for rain to fertilize since a heavy rain would wash most of the fertilizer granules away. But, given the watering limitations, taking advantage of a light rain is a good solution.

Watering: Homeowners can collect free effluent water at the Oso Wastewater Treatment Plant to use to water lawns, which is a great option. Apply for a quick and easy residential permit from the City of Corpus Christi here. If you do so, keep in mind that 1,000 gallons can water 1,621 sq ft of lawn at a nice 1” depth or 3,225 sq ft of lawn at ½” depth.

When mowing, the proper height for St. Augustine lawns is around 3 inches. For Bermuda lawns, keep mowed to around 2-2.5 inches. Buzzing lawns shorter than that will cause lawn stress, and stressed lawns are more susceptible to pests, weeds, and disease.

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. BioAdvanced 24-Hour Grub Killer or Season-Long Bonide Insect and Grub Control will do the trick for grubs. Diatomaceous Earth, Spinosad, or 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.

Consider reducing your lawn space! Does all this lawn stuff sound like a lot of work? It can be! Many of us are reconsidering whether we really even want all that green lawn space. Why not start converting small portions of lawn to planting beds filled with blooming perennials that benefit the environment and use far less water? One way to start would simply be to deepen existing landscape beds to reduce some lawn.

6. 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.

7. Gifts for Mother’s Day and Graduations

Let us help you find something pretty, useful, or both for the gardening moms and grads in your life. Pottery, birdbaths, wind chimes, quality garden tools, hats, gloves, garden decor, plantable greeting cards, gardening books – lots of options. You can purchase Gill gift cards online here and we’ll gift wrap and mail them to your loved one. Or come find the gift that gardeners love most – plants 🙂

Happy National Pollinator Week! Gardeners know that planting to support and protect pollinators like hummingbirds, bees, butterflies, and good bugs creates a healthy local ecosystem. And pollinators return the favor by making our gardens and landscapes so much more beautiful with healthier plants and more blooms. Here are our top 11 summer-tough plants to create a pollinator-friendly habitat in your yard – in stock at Gill’s and ready to plant now!

Firebush (Hamelia patens)

Pollinators: Hummingbirds, butterflies, and bees
Why We Love It: Bright orange-red blooms all summer long!
Planting Tip: Loves full sun. Foliage dies back in winter. Cut back hard in early spring and it grows back very fast.

Purslane

Pollinators: Native bees and small butterflies
Why We Love It: A low-growing, drought-tolerant succulent with vivid blooms in lots of different colors. And Purslane is edible! High in omega-3s and minerals.
Planting Tip: Tuck it into hanging baskets, borders, or between rocks—just give it sunshine and dry feet.

Esperanza – all varieties

Pollinators: Bees, butterflies, and hummingbirds
Why We Love It: Comes in several different varieties from the tidy, dwarf ‘Sparklette’ with orange blooms to the large ‘Yellow Bells’ with bright yellow blooms.
Planting Tip: Full sun and low water needs. Plant in your sunniest spots.

Texas Native Milkweed (Asclepias tuberosa)

Pollinators: Monarchs (host plant!), bees, and other butterflies
Why We Love It: Orange or yellow blooming varieties + life support for monarch caterpillars = must-have native!
Planting Tip: Full sun, well-drained soil, and very little water—this one likes it tough.

Gregg’s Mistflower

Pollinators: Queen butterflies, monarchs, skippers, bees
Why We Love It: Soft lavender puffs that butterflies go wild for.
Planting Tip: Likes part sun to full sun and moderate moisture. Give it some space—it spreads!

Texas Sage (all varieties)

Pollinators: Bees and butterflies
Why We Love It: Lavender blooms that pop before and after rain, and it’s practically unkillable.
Planting Tip: Plant in your hottest, sunniest spots and avoid overwatering.

Firecracker Plant (Russelia)

Pollinators: Hummingbirds and butterflies
Why We Love It: Cascading coral-red blooms that hummingbirds can’t resist.
Planting Tip: Likes moist, well-drained soil and full sun. Looks stunning in containers or hanging over walls.

Pride of Barbados aka Dwarf Poinciana

Pollinators: Bees, butterflies, and hummingbirds
Why We Love It: Tropical drama with vivid red-orange blooms and feathery foliage.
Planting Tip: Needs full sun, good drainage, and a little patience in spring—it doesn’t start to perform until temps reach 90!

Texas Native Flame Acanthus

Pollinators: Hummingbirds and bees
Why We Love It: Red tubular flowers that keep hummingbirds zipping around all summer.
Planting Tip: Drought-tolerant and easy-going—cut back in winter and it bounces back fast

Salvia Mystic Spires

Pollinators: Bees, butterflies, and hummingbirds
Why We Love It: Spiky deep blue blooms and non-stop action from all pollinators. Our best-performing blue salvia for South TX.
Planting Tip: Plant in full sun and deadhead for more blooms.

Texas Native Frogfruit

Pollinators: Butterflies (especially Phaon Crescent), bees, and skippers
Why We Love It: A native groundcover with charming flowers and big ecological value.
Planting Tip: Use as a living mulch or lawn alternative. Thrives almost anywhere – sun or shade and spreads quickly.