Gill Garden Center + Landscape Co.
Corpus Christi, TX Garden Center
Happy Holidays, gardeners! We hope you’re having fun with family and friends and enjoying nice 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 2026! p.s. – check out these amazing cookies from our Gill holiday party!
Spring has SPRUNG!! Gorgeous weather, rain in the forecast, and the nursery is bursting at the seams with all kinds of blooms! Here are our top must-do’s in the garden this March – time to get planting!
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, basil, 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 – don’t miss your window. 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!
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!
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. 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.
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.
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, 3/7 at 10am for a special garden talk: Beekeeping & Honey Processing with Hebert Honey!
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.
Keep in mind – turfgrass lawns are by far the thirstiest part of our landscapes. Now’s a great time to reduce lawn space by creating or expanding planting beds, converting to native groundcover like Frogfruit, or adding pathways and other features. How much of your lawn space are you actually using?
Did you know we’re hosting our first-ever night time shopping event at Gill’s next Thursday evening, March 12th?! Stop by and see the nursery lit up at night – it’s magical! Stay tuned to all of our upcoming talks and events here, and follow us on Instagram and Facebook for updates.
p.s. Now you can sip and stroll at Gill’s any time – we’re stocked with cold drinks including beer & wine 🙂
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 tons 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 right now!
Why We Love It: Pentas are often thought of as just being a gorgeous and easy bedding plant, but they actually attract a ton of pollinators!
Planting Tip: Plant in full sun to partial shade. Excellent in beds or containers. Mulch with pine straw to add a bit of acidity to the soil.
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.
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.
Pollinators: Butterflies, hummingbirds, carpenter bees
Why We Love It: Cultivar of our South Texas native retama, but without the thorns and a longer blooms cycle. Blooms all the way into the fall!
Planting Tip: Plant high for better drainage, especially in clay soil. Berm or mound up so water runs off and away from the tree. Loves hot and dry. Grows to about 20′ tall and wide.
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.
Pollinators: Bees, Butterflies, Sphynx Moths
Why We Love It: Delightful and plentiful white blooms, extremely tough, very low water
Planting Tip: Full sun + good drainage. Excellent for rocky beds or containers.
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 once established.
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. Plant about 3 feet apart and it will spread and fill in beautifully.
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. Choose the right variety for the right space – some stay 3-4′, while some grow 8-10′.
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.
Pollinators: Nectar source for bees in the spring and food source for birds (especially mockingbirds) in the fall/winter
Why We Love It: Grows wild all over our area. Versatile and sculptural in landscapes. The only plant native to North America that contains natural caffeine! The leaves can be used for tea.
Planting Tip: Thrives in clay or sandy soil. Full sun to partial shade. Keep bushy or trim up to create a tree form.
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!
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.
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.
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 ground cover in beds, lawn alternative, or spilling out of raised beds and containers. Thrives almost anywhere – sun or shade and spreads quickly.
Sally and I recently tripped up to “San Antone” to celebrate my sister Marie’s 70th. So much to see and do, but since all three of us are “plant people”, I think the highlight of the trip for all of us (besides the cake, of course) was the San Antonio Botanical Garden. We have been visiting since it opened in 1980, and have always enjoyed the 33 acres of plants, walkways, stone, and sculptures. On this trip, though, we were surprised to find it received a $22 million expansion this past fall!
The original garden includes a sensory garden full of textures and smells in addition to the visual, a striking fountain, and wisteria arbor, a hilltop overlook, rose gardens and perennial gardens, East Texas and South Texas habitat areas of native plants and pioneer-era cabins, and a lot more. Subsequent additions include the Kumamoto En Japanese Garden, and the Halsell Conservatory, several greenhouses containing exotic cacti and succulents, palms and tropicals, bromeliads and orchids.
The new expansion includes a very attractive entry garden and a culinary garden/teaching center, and a great new gift shop, with more on the way. Next year will see the opening of a new Family Adventure Garden, with nature play and learning areas. We can’t wait to go back, and I highly recommend this trip. Hopefully you can share it with your kids, or grandkids, a niece or nephew, or a friend. Spread a little plant joy, it’s fun and easy at the San Antonio Botanical Garden.
Here is another great article from My San Antonio for more info: First look at the $22 million San Antonio Botanical Garden expansion ahead of its opening.
Great memories of family trips to the gardens back in the 80’s with our son Stuart!
–James
Hot weather tropicals such as hibiscus, bougainvilleas, esperanza, plumbago and many more suffer from the sudden temperature drops in the winter. Even though we have not had a freeze, the last really good cold snap made our plants look pretty bad. The leaves turn yellow and brown and most plants also suffer lots of leaf drop. This is normal so don’t be alarmed. In late February to early March you should cut all these plants back one third to half their size and fertilize. They will flush out with new spring growth and you will never know they looked so bad over the winter. The beauty of spring!!
Since the temperatures are no longer in the 90’s and plants are not actively growing they require less water. This includes the lawn. Change your watering schedule on the lawn and established shrubs to every 2 weeks slow and deep instead of once a week. Potted plants no longer need to be watered everyday. Most could go every 2-3 days. Night-time dampness and fog helps to keep moisture in the soil. By changing your watering habits you help to reduce fungal problems which are prevalent with these conditions.
Start trimming back now your ornamental grasses (like purple fountain grass and muhly grasses), trees, woody shrubs and vines (except indian hawthorne, azaleas, carolina jasmine that bloom in early spring). I would recommend waiting on the tropicals just a few more weeks, just in case we have a late cold snap.
We all want our lawns to look lush and green all the time but it can’t be in the winter. Don’t think you can “wake up your grass” with fertilizer; fertilizer is taken up with growth, and since the grass is still dormant, it will do no good to feed now. It is best to wait until the grass comes out of winter dormancy which is usually mid March. The best way to tell when to feed is when you need to mow the grass (and not the weeds) every week or so. If you wait to feed, you will see the results you are looking for. It’s also best to attack existing weeds in warm weather (not hot) and sunshine. Since February can be our coldest month, it is usually March before we can take care of those weeds. My thought is, kill the weeds in early March and then fertilize the lawn afterwards. There is no sense in feeding the weeds.
If you missed sowing your wildflowers in the fall, you can try to sow them out right
now. We also have bluebonnet plants in 6 packs ready to transplant, your favorite Ladybird Blue and Aggie Maroon. Seeds of sweet peas and nasturtiums can also be sown in the garden now for spring blooms.
Time to fertilize your lawn, trees & shrubs! Hopefully by the time you get this, the sunshine will have warmed and dried the soil enough to fertilize. Use Gill Lawn and Garden for all your trees, shrubs, vines and groun
dcovers. Also feeds the vegetable garden. Covers 6000 sq. ft. per bag.
-DeAnna
For weed control in your lawn, use Weed B Gon for St. Augustine. We have a new formulation that is safe to use on Floratam St. Augustine Grass. Treats up to 2500 sq. ft. and comes in a ready to spray hose-end bottle. Image will kill some broadleaf weeds (dollarweed) as well as a few grassy weeds (grassburrs) without hurting your St. Augustine. Another new product we have is Topshot. It also kills all broadleaf weeds in the lawn and comes in a package with 2 ampules which cover 5000 sq. ft. Simply add 1 ampule with water in either a pump sprayer or Dial n Spray to cover 2500 sq. ft.. For best results apply weed killers when weather is warm (not hot) and sunny for 3-4 days. Do not use in flowerbeds for weed control (except Image), only as a lawn application.
-DeAnna
For insect control, use Bayer Tree and Shrub Protect and Feed Liquid. Mix according to directions and drench at the base of your trees and shrubs to prevent aphids, borers, caterpillars, scale, whitefly, mealybugs and more. Plants that are prone to getting bugs, like Hackberry trees that get wooly aphids every June, Hibiscus, Jatropha and other tropicals that get mealybugs every summer, and Bougainvilleas that are constantly eaten by caterpillars can be protected by using this product. If you have ever noticed black soot on your plants, this is the product to use since sooty mold is caused by insects.
your clothes will always smell great!
