Texas

[electrycmonk]

Hi @Aggiedusty ! Im from Deep South Tx! I also plant lots of milkweed and raise monarchs for educational purposes. If you are looking for seeds check out the fb group Monarchs and milkweeds Houston Network they are always sharing all kinds of mw and nectar seeds.

Coolness. We have a slice of our backyard I love to saturate with milkweed and wild flowers for them & our other "bucket list" bee hive(s).

 

[Aggiedusty]

Hi @Aggiedusty ! Im from Deep South Tx! I also plant lots of milkweed and raise monarchs for educational purposes. If you are looking for seeds check out the fb group Monarchs and milkweeds Houston Network they are always sharing all kinds of mw and nectar seeds.

You know, as really great a butterfly plant Asclepia incarnatta, aka Mexican milkweed, is , there are no packets of seed for it that I’ve seen in the many seed racks in Nurseries or feed stores. It germinates so easy. Also the old fashion ‘pinks’ (mixed dianthus) that would be naturalizing itself in family and neighbors flower beds , I do not find either on racks. I know internet !

 

[Aggiedusty]

Coolness. We have a slice of our backyard I love to saturate with milkweed and wild flowers for them & our other "bucket list" bee hive(s).

A plant that all large butterflies are greatly attracted to as a nectar source is the old fashioned y’all perennial Summer Phlox . Once established in your garden , they will reseed themselves freely in the area planted in increasing their mound diameter yearly. It’s Phlox paniculata. I moved some with me from Dallas this year. Also brother, if any of your family is still in Michigan, I would bet they have peonies in well established clumps that smallish chunks could be divided off and shared with you. Your Baba is bound to have had them! You are just far enough north that they would grow for you. It’s a perennial that can live up to 75 years and more.

 

[oldhen2345]

I have rose bushes that I rooted just out of college that came from my grandmother’s polyantha rose bush from her garden in Lunbock . I had never known conscious life without that rose bush being a part of my life.

One of my grandma's was Italian. There was a huge fig tree behind her house and we used to climb up in it and eat the figs. I went back a couple of years ago, but the tree was gone. I planted a dwarf fig in her memory and every time I go out and get the figs, I think of her and making cuccidatti ( Italian fig cookies). My other grandma was Scotch / Irish. I have aloe vera cuttings of her plants. She loved gardening- mostly vegetables though. I get that from her- although I think when God smiled, there were flowers.

 

[Aggiedusty]

Sad to report we had to kull almost all the roses my Better-half planted when we moved out here in 2011..... Rose fungus.
We have a tone of rosemary now though.

Next year we are supposed to be able to start up with some "new to us" roses *NOT from any nursey! We have also noticed when we discovered the fungus that every nursery around us had fungus amungus all year long.

Would love to learn move of y'all's wisdom as the seasons fade thru the years.....

Can you share with me the rose name that you are wanting to plant as a replacement. Michael Shoup of Brenham’s Antique Rose Emporium has many heritage rose varieties for sale and for mail order. Good number of them are immune to the fungal atrocities that attack the more modern roses that have been bred for that exhibition bloom almost exclusively for years. Up here it’s dry enough most fungal problems aren’t a problem so I have begun adding modern roses back into my garden (landscape) design here. I fact I bought Chrysler Imperial and Miss All American Beauty today for the garden. I had a monster English Garden at my second house in Dallas and the back bone of it was roses both antique and modern. I sprayed religiously for disease and insects. 3Rd home I said, if it needs spraying, it needs to not be here!

 

[PerlyBee]

You know, as really great a butterfly plant Asclepia incarnatta, aka Mexican milkweed, is , there are no packets of seed for it that I’ve seen in the many seed racks in Nurseries or feed stores. It germinates so easy. Also the old fashion ‘pinks’ (mixed dianthus) that would be naturalizing itself in family and neighbors flower beds , I do not find either on racks. I know internet !

I grow our Native milkweed “Zizotes”
Asclepias oenotheroides) And my favorite
Tropical Milkweed-( asclepias curassavica). Also some non-native like
“Balloon” milkweed (Gomphocarpus) and Giant mw-( calotropis gigantea) Have tried so many here but this ones are the ones that thrive in our weather. here at the box stores all I find is tuberosa but that one doesn’t do well here either.

 

[Aggiedusty]

Ohhhh man @Aggiedusty when you have spare time. I'd really like to get detailed pics of it and maybe even plans pictures? I'd love to transmogrify that into a blend with the planned wellhouse.....

Sure bud! I can get you all the pics you want. What is your intended use of your future greenhouse if it’s ok for me to ask? The green house now called GH was for my succulent collection, hoping to get my mother plants at the point that dividing pups off the sides for propagation and plants large enough to remove leaves for rooting, thus produce new pups off the leaves as well. The other use is for rooting roses and collected seeds from nature, and there are some really neat wildflowers up here May to September. Also native yucca and opuntia (prickly pear), pin cushion (horse crippler), hedgehog cacti, and others. Also overwintering perennials not yet planted. I had a concrete curb installed all around my house as edging to the beds in nice large sweeping curves . Largely to keep the buffalo grass and Bermuda grass out. The GH is 15’ x 40’ and has plant benches:tables to hold plants above ground and have space below too for plants and/storage. The first set of the benches run 2’ wide all along GH walls interrupted only by doorway entrances. A center bench is 5’ wide with 2.5’ walkway all around the inside of the greenhouse separating the 5’ center bench from the 2’ perimeter wall benches and yields space to walk all around the interior to water, space, and groom and plant. Two Doors are located at opposite ends centered in the 15’ width walls.. Three screened metal windows for ventilation are spaced evenly and installed along the 40’ length walls both sides. GH has gabled roof. The construction materials mainly consist of 2” square hollow coated metal piping welded making up the frame work and a clear polymer corrugated sheeting screwed onto frame. Installed Both inside and outside creating a dead air space between inner and outer walls for insulation. Even doors are double sided. A fumeless interior propane heater is mounted on.one end. I have a strong fan near to move air. May add second heater at opposite end some day as security measure. GH is installed on a 10” x 12”-14 concrete foundation.. Flooring is 1” to 2” rainbow rock atop black plastic.

 

[Aggiedusty]

One of my grandma's was Italian. There was a huge fig tree behind her house and we used to climb up in it and eat the figs. I went back a couple of years ago, but the tree was gone. I planted a dwarf fig in her memory and every time I go out and get the figs, I think of her and making cuccidatti ( Italian fig cookies). My other grandma was Scotch / Irish. I have aloe vera cuttings of her plants. She loved gardening- mostly vegetables though. I get that from her- although I think when God smiled, there were flowers.

So wonderful to have those connections and memories for life. I bet those cookies are a real treat too! I have my grandmother’s twin sister’s potato sour dough starter from their ranch in Oklahoma. It makes a wonderful sweet bread. She and uncle Clyde In addition to raising cattle raised hundreds of turkeys for the meat market for extra cash in the 60s and 70s. As a small child in the early 60s, they scared the dickens out of me,

 

[Aggiedusty]

I grow our Native milkweed “Zizotes”
Asclepias oenotheroides) And my favorite
Tropical Milkweed-( asclepias curassavica). Also some non-native like
“Balloon” milkweed (Gomphocarpus) and Giant mw-( calotropis gigantea) Have tried so many here but this ones are the ones that thrive in our weather. here at the box stores all I find is tuberosa but that one doesn’t do well here either.

Do most of those reseed only like Mexican milkweed or have you found any that are perennial? Another super butterfly plant for fall is the native frost plant but be aware in some areas it reseed galore, like around kerville. Also the two hardy ageratums are great for fall butterflies. Can’t leave out Lantana or tall standard pentas either for excellent nectar sources!

 

[Aggiedusty]

One of my grandma's was Italian. There was a huge fig tree behind her house and we used to climb up in it and eat the figs. I went back a couple of years ago, but the tree was gone. I planted a dwarf fig in her memory and every time I go out and get the figs, I think of her and making cuccidatti ( Italian fig cookies). My other grandma was Scotch / Irish. I have aloe vera cuttings of her plants. She loved gardening- mostly vegetables though. I get that from her- although I think when God smiled, there were flowers.

They are the paints of his artistic handy work on our canvass Mother Earth.