christmas

We know that watering restrictions, especially the new Stage 3 ban on most outdoor watering, are cause for alarm for gardeners. We are in close contact with City leadership, and we’re here to help you navigate the situation. As always, Gill’s is here to show you what you CAN do in the garden, not what you can’t do.

1. URGENT: You CAN (and should) Ask City Leadership to Revise the Drought Contingency Plan

At a minimum, we need to be able to hand water to keep trees and established landscapes alive through the drought. We all need to continue to contact City leadership to urge them to make necessary revisions to the Drought Contingency Plan. We wrote the letter below as a template for you to use. We recommend copying it, customizing it however you wish, and sending it via mail and/or email to City Council members, Mayor Guajardo, City Manager Peter Zanoni, and Corpus Christi Water COO Drew Molly (their contact information can be found at these links). If you can contact the new incoming 2025 Council members, reach out to them too! Here’s our letter template for you to use:

Dear City Council Members, Mayor, City Manager, and Corpus Christi Water:

The Stage 3 ban on all outdoor water use is not compliable for citizens or enforceable by the City. We need a Drought Contingency Plan that citizens can comply with and conserve water while still protecting their investments in their property.

We ask that you review and revise the Drought Contingency Plan. Specifically, section 10.3. Stage 3 Response should be revised to include:

Allow irrigation of landscaped areas on any day if it is by means of a hand-held hose (with positive shutoff nozzle), a faucet filled bucket or watering can of five gallons or less, or drip irrigation system with a positive shutoff device.
Allow temporary exemptions to watering restrictions for new plantings for up to 60 days.

Since we know that residences account for less than half of city water use, and we know that only some of those users water their landscapes, the Stage 3 ban on hand watering and drip irrigation would save only a very small portion of overall water use. These small water savings are not worth the negative environmental impacts and economic hardships they will cause.

Please revise the Drought Contingency Plan as soon as possible.

Respectfully,

[Your Name]

2. You CAN Water Potted Plants, Food Gardens, and Food-Bearing Trees

We confirmed with City leadership this week that you CAN water all potted plants, food gardens, and food-bearing trees by hand-held hose with positive shutoff nozzle at any time without the need to apply for an exemption to watering rules. That means winter veggies and herbs, citrus and fruit trees, and all your festive potted arrangements are all safe. We’re envisioning lots more food gardens and edible landscapes in 2025!

3. You CAN Still Apply for Watering Exemptions for Other New Plantings

For any new plantings, you CAN use the City’s form to apply for an exemption to the watering restrictions to help get the plants established. We handle these exemptions for our landscape clients, and we can help you with the calculations and technical information depending on the type of watering you’ll be doing. Just give us a call or stop by!

4. You CAN Collect and Recycle Water to Use Outside

There are no limits or restrictions on the use of rainwater, A/C condensate, dehumidifier condensate, or gray water (recycled water) for outdoor watering. Consider adding a few rain barrels or investing in a larger rainwater harvesting system like the one we have at Gill’s – yes, we sell stainless steel cisterns in lots of different sizes and our landscape department can install them for you. Some of us have also been experimenting with gray water collection from our washing machines and dishwashers. A single washing machine load can produce 15 to 40 gallons of gray water! As long as you use chemical and salt-free cleaning products, most plants and lawns will do just fine with recycled gray water.

5. You CAN Still Make Big Landscape Improvements While Saving Water

There are still lots of options for adding new functional landscape design elements and improving your property. Now’s a great time to start planning new projects like patios, walkways, pergolas, outdoor seating and dining areas, new raised beds, and new layouts accented with smart plant choices. Think low-water Texas native plants, big statement cacti and agaves, replacing lawn areas with native groundcover plants like Frog Fruit or Wooly Stemodia…we’ve got options!

Happy Holidays, gardeners! We hope you’re having fun with family and friends and enjoying this warm weather outdoors. We’re back open regular hours December 26th through December 30th. We’ll be open 9-2 New Year’s Eve and closed New Year’s Day. Cheers to 2025!

Good news! We have been working with City of Corpus Christi staff and other local green industry leaders to revise the Drought Contingency Plan, particularly Stage 3 restrictions on most outdoor water use. Thankfully, City leadership has been open to discussing revisions, acknowledging the concern for water shortages as well as the need to keep our city alive and vibrant. As of January 17th, City leadership has agreed to revise the rules and present a new Drought Contingency Plan to City Council for approval. Here’s what you need to know!

New Stage 3 Rules Allow Hand-Watering and Drip Irrigation

Under new proposed Stage 3 rules, hand watering is allowed any day before 10:00 a.m. and after 6:00 p.m., and drip irrigation systems can be used to water landscapes on your designated watering day every other week. We feel very good about these changes – they will allow us all to keep landscapes and trees alive through the drought. The City has also agreed to grant temporary exemptions to watering rules for new plantings for up to 30 days, which will allow homeowners to continue investing in their property. Homeowners should use the City’s form to apply for an exemption to get new landscapes established, then once they’re established, hand watering and drip irrigation will keep them thriving.

New Stage 3 Rules Still Need to be Approved by City Council

The new draft Drought Contingency Plan will be presented at the next City Council meeting on Tuesday, January 28th. We encourage you to contact your City Council members and Mayor Guajardo to express your support for these changes to the Stage 3 watering rules. Better yet, sign up to make public comments at the Council meeting! We plan to speak at the meeting on the 28th, then again at the meeting on February 11th, where Council will vote to adopt the new plan. If the plan is adopted, the new rules will be effective in time for spring!

The City is Planning to Make Recycled Effluent Water Available for Residential Use

Since spray irrigation will still be prohibited under new Stage 3 rules, using recycled water is a great option for lawns. The City is currently building a tank farm to hold recycled effluent water which can be hauled and used to water residential lawns and landscapes. Once this water becomes available, Gill’s will provide this service. If you’d like to get on our list for lawn watering, please get in touch!

This year for Christmas we mailed 9 boxes of Myer lemons to family & friends around the country with our favorite lemon yogurt cake recipe. The Myer lemon is native to China and is a cross between a true lemon and mandarin orange. We have 2 Myer lemon trees growing at my family’s home, producing over 400 lemons a season.

And you’re wondering, what the heck do you do with that many lemons. Squeeze and freeze in ice cube trays for lemons all year long!! So here’s a great lemon cake recipe; easy and delicious plus photos of cakes our friends made! Enjoy!!

Makes 1 Loaf, Barefoot Contessa

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1 cup plain whole-milk yogurt
1 1/3 cup sugar, divided
3 extra large eggs
2 teaspoons grated lemon zest (2 lemons)
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/3 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice (meyers lemon best!)

For The Glaze:

1 cup confectioners’ sugar
2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease an 8 1/2 x 4 1/4 x 2 1/2 inch loaf pan. Line the bottom with parchment paper. Grease and flour the pan.

Sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt in one bowl. In another bowl, whisk together the yogurt, 1 cup sugar, the eggs, lemon zest, and vanilla. Slowly whisk the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients. With a rubber spatula, fold the vegetable oil into the batter, making sure it’s all incorporated. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for about 50 minutes, or until a cake tester placed in the center of the loaf comes out clean.

Meanwhile, cook the 1/3 cup lemon juice and remaining 1/3 cup sugar in a small pan until the sugar dissolves and the mixture is clear. Set aside.

When the cake is done, allow it to cool in the pan for 10 minutes. Carefully place on a baking rack over a sheet pan. While the cake is still warm, pour the lemon-sugar mixture over the cake and allow it to soak in. Cool.

For the glaze, combine the confectioners’ sugar and lemon juice and pour over the cake.

-Sally

Our Thoughts On Living Christmas Trees:

There are some great alternatives to cut Christmas trees. Norfolk Island Pines are one of the most popular because of their look. They are layered like many fir trees and resemble a Christmas tree. Hollywood Junipers and Blue Point Junipers are another alternative with the look of a true Christmas tree. They grow well in our area and can be planted in the ground after the holidays or kept as a container plant and used for years to come. Yaupon holly trees are also great with their red berries this time of year. Magnolia and Ficus Trees can also be used. All of these can be strung with lights and used indoors for a couple of weeks before needing to be put back outside in their normal environment. Be creative. Look around the patio and see what you have to decorate. It’s always fun to decorate a non-traditional tree and surprise your family and guests!

Bugs On Your Garden Greens?

Thanksgiving morning James noticed inch worms and flea beetles on his coveted greens he is growing in pots. He grabbed his trusty Natural GuardNeem Ready To Use and with a couple of pumps of the spray bottle, problem solved! The Neem acts as a repellent for beetles and caterpillars and kills soft bodied insects like aphids. It also helps to control powdery mildew.

Some Cedar elms have gold leaves, some just starting to turn!

This photo was taken at our Airline store this past Monday. This is a great example of how like plants, growing right next to each other, behave differently. One has turned gold, the other is still very green. Both are very healthy, just on a little different time schedule! And…please note, it’s the same in spring – there’s always one to leaf out later that causes concern but more often than not, it just decided to sleep a little longer!

Some of you remember Stuart as an infant in his baby carrier, plopped on the sales counter at our Airline store while I ran the cash register. Some of you remember his working in your garden or helping you select your Christmas tree or coming to your home with James on a house call. We laugh out loud when we recall Stuart, around 10 at the time, diagnosing chinch bugs in a customer’s yard. He clearly was paying attention to his dad. And then there was the time, at about the same age, when he suggested that we start staying open 24 hours a day, allowing inventory to be stocked while customers were asleep! We haven’t implemented his system, but we recognize it has merit. As a young boy, Stuart travelled with us on tours of plant growers around Texas. James, Stuart and I would jump in the grower’s vehicle and drive the fields, trying to find the best plants for our garden center. James and I devised a system for grading plants, A+ being the best to F being the worst, all recorded on paper, but never revealed to our salesperson. On one of these trips, Stuart announced to the group that he thought the dwarf pittosporum was a C grade. We covered up his comment as best we could, but laughed later. Bottom line, Stuart lived Gill Landscape Nursery from a very early age.

Stuart has always been adventurous. I’m embarrassed to say friends would report seeing him on his bike, all over Corpus Christi. He loved exploring. He loved seeing other neighborhoods. He loved seeing the way others lived. His earliest out-of-town adventures included fishing with his brother Trevor at his uncle Lanny’s “Baja Laguna”, kayaking on Texas rivers, exploring around my parents’ cabin in Colorado, camping with his dad, brother and grandmother on Matagorda Island, exploring South Texas brush in Ingleside, and many, many trips to the beach with his dad. As he got older, he worked to travel, often alone. Between school and jobs he travelled to countries in Europe, Central and South America. On one of his surf trips with his dad to Ecuador, he met two women from Seattle. After getting to know Stuart, they recommended he move to Seattle. They thought he would like it. He had finished his degree at the University of Texas and was working in Napa, California.

Stuart packed his bags and moved to Seattle. He started working in the landscape industry, and then moved into carpentry. Stuart has always had a great appreciation for fine craftsmanship. He found good people to work with, he started from the bottom learning the trade, and eventually began purchasing his own tools, the best he could find. He now works with Ambrose Construction, managing beautiful residential remodels and additions.

Stuart met Anne in February of 2013. She hadn’t been in Seattle long. They found they had a lot in common. They both love good food and literature; they both love the outdoors and adventure. Plus she’s very pretty with beautiful blue eyes. Anne also has travelled to many foreign destinations with her parents and lived in Indonesia. Anne works in a public relations firm, representing independent restaurants in Seattle. She is a skier, runner & yoga instructor. She is kind, gentle and smart, she loves Stuart, and she’s about to become our daughter-in-law!

So…that’s an update on our son, Stuart. You know, the day he was born, James’ and my lives changed forever. He has truly been a joy for us, someone who is always on our minds, someone with whom we look forward to spending time with. Even though Stuart doesn’t live in Corpus Christi anymore, he is still a part of Gill’s. He knows and loves our Gill family. He continues to help us think through work challenges. He is always there to celebrate our successes.

One more thing… Anne and Stuart are doing a bike tour of Indonesia for their honeymoon. Happy, Happy!

-Sally

I spent much of last Saturday cleaning up the front yard, making plans to hang Christmas lights in another week or two. I had someone stop and ask me about my cutting back the Purple Showers ruellia along the sidewalk. It has taken over about half the sidewalk. I explained that this plant can take shearing back most any time of year and that by cutting it now, it has time to regrow some and be nice for the holidays. Most all plants can be trimmed to shape right now. Roses and most winter hardy shrubs can take a harder prune but no more than a ¼ of the plants’ size. Plants that are sensitive to cold, like ixora, hibiscus and bougainvilleas should not be pruned hard. They need their foliage to help stay warm. Plus new growth that appears after trimming is more sensitive to cold damage. If you’re not sure to prune or not to prune, check with us…we are always here to help!

-Debbie

If you are like me, then the day after Thanksgiving is when the Christmas decorations come down from the attic. Of course, at the bottom of the box are ornaments that for some reason or another don’t end up getting used. Instead of throwing them out or repacking them for another year, use them in your garden! Plastic ornaments glued or wired onto green bamboo stakes can be put into any container to spice up an evergreen plant, or you can use clusters of them in those empty pots you’ve been meaning to replant. It’s a quick and easy way to add some Christmas cheer!

-Marta