- Howdy, I'm John Hart Asher!

This week on "Cetral Texas Gardener," jump into summer with pollinators and petals.

Robin Norton-Carranco of Rainbow Gardens pulls together colorful combinations for containers and beds.

In Lisa and Shane Lamb's backyard habitat, nature supplies their children's creative playground.

Make herb-fused honey and sun tea with Caroline Riley, plus entomologist Wizzie Brown answers your insect questions.

So, let's let growing, right here, right now!

- [Announcer] "Central Texas Gardener" is made possible by generous support from Lisa & Desi Rhoden, and by Diane Land & Steve Adler.

And by the Travis County Master Gardeners Association.

(bright music) (bright music continues) - In Lisa and Shane Lamb's backyard habitat, nature supplies their children's creative playground.

- Paddling close, she saw wildebeest, buffalo, gazelles.

(gentle harp music) (bright harp music) - I'm Lisa Lamb.

- I'm Shane Lamb.

- And we bought our house in 2013 and we always wanted a garden.

So as soon as we moved in, we kind of started putting in fruit trees and some of the long term things.

And the main goals in our yard, I would say, are growing food for ourselves, but also kind of creating a wildlife habitat.

- I can't be picky about where I plant things.

I'll try to dig a hole.

If I hit a shelf of limestone, I move on and try somewhere else, because it's very poor soil.

I'll amend with some compost and try to mix it in when I plant fruit trees, give them a little bit more nutrient.

- [Lisa] Even with the landscaping, a lot of our pathways are lined with limestone because we went to dig a garden bed and we had to deal with rocks, so we used it to border that bed.

- And the tarantulas love all the limestone.

Actually, we have a lot of tarantulas that we see often.

- [Lisa] With both kids, we recently did a botany book with them, and they've been learning how to connect the plant families.

And then as we garden and hike, we've been teaching them kind of what all the different plants are, and they know which ones are edible and enjoy snacking.

- [Shane] They enjoy foraging.

- [Lisa] Yes.

- Our neighbors have, like, last year at least, they're like a million sunflowers in that front.

- We just chop them once there and then get dried.

And then we can just use them like bamboo.

- I think being outside just inspires creativity.

They have some fairy houses they've been building.

They've got another fort that they have in the back.

They play with their friends all the time and just, they got so many hiding places for hide and seek and just, being outside inspires imagination.

- [Lisa] They also enjoy catching butterflies and other insects and putting them in this little mesh enclosure temporarily and then pulling up a little book to ID what it is, and then they'll release them again.

- We wanted to grow as much food for ourselves and our family as possible, and we started researching what would grow in our area and started learning about things like persimmons and paw paws and loquats that we had never had growing up, and just filling our yard with as much as possible.

This year we had wonderful grapes, we just had tons of black Spanish grapes.

We made jam and we were just eating them fresh every day.

But you know, this year the squirrels ate pretty much all of our peaches and persimmons.

So, it changes year by year what we'll get an abundance of.

- We had one greenhouse, but that wasn't enough because never enough.

So now we have two greenhouses with most of our tropicals, like the mangoes and guavas and that kind of thing.

- We've grown quite a few pineapples over the years.

And a number of guavas and gin berries and Suriname cherries.

We haven't had mangoes or avocados yet.

We're still hoping to one day get some of those, but we find certain things do better in pots and are happier in greenhouse culture than others.

I just also like seeing what the plants look like.

I'm always curious, like, what does a lychee plant look like?

So I plant the seed and then it grows and I see it, and it's a beautiful plant and it's got these nice leaves.

So I know the greenhouses haven't been super productive, but it's a fun collection.

So that's less productive.

The raised beds and the vegetables is really what's given us the bulk of our produce.

We get a lot of sweet potatoes, green beans, snap peas, greens, lettuce, all there at the end in the spring.

Usually we're not having to buy any vegetables.

We're feeding ourselves pretty much from our garden for a few months until summer dries everything up.

And then we have to wait till fall to start getting good harvests again.

- [Lisa] A lot of it, we just go to the Asian stores and buy interesting things and plant the seeds.

- We also collect seeds anytime we travel.

We'll bring back seeds that we collect during our trips and then plant them here.

Some of the weeds that pop up are the tastiest things.

I make a chickweed pesto every year in the spring and we like it better than basil pesto.

- It's super good.

- We always wanted a pond and it's always kind of in our plan.

And then with the pandemic, we were spending even more time in our garden than normal.

And so, fall of 2021, we went ahead and did the pond.

- We contacted Hill Country Water Gardens and they helped design and we had them dig out the pond, because it was going to be too much limestone to move by hand.

So, so they put in the pond and then we did all the planting in and around the pond.

- And then when we had the pond installed, we kind of said, we also want limestone around it.

We want to look as natural as possible, and we want the limestone as well to tie in with everything else.

- We have a variety of salvias on the berms and some lavenders and like silver ponyfoot and some- - Woolly stemodia.

- Woolly stemodia mixed in.

And then in the pond itself to either sides of the spillway, we have a big clump of horsetail.

In the back, in the bog up above everything is that papyrus and hibiscus.

- We went with kind of purple in general for the whole berm in the back, at least to kind of have a unifying feature.

We wanted to make sure we could see it from the kitchen when we're eating.

And so it's nice watching the wildlife when we're eating our meals.

And then for us when we're outside, we're not the type of people ever really just sit and relax.

- [Shane] We're always working.

- Working actively.

But it's just really nice hearing the sound of water and having that peaceful spot while we're working in the garden.

- We have a lot of hawks that like to bathe in the bog.

We go out at night with flashlights with the kids and go to see all the frogs and toads.

- I would say, with music as musicians, we're always making something that's ephemeral.

It doesn't last unless you're doing a recording.

So it's kind of nice having the garden as always changing, but it's something visual that you can see and is more permanent, even though it's always shifting.

- I often also just in the garden often have music in my head and kind of coming up, I compose music.

So I'm often kind of brainstorming new ideas or playing around with ideas as I do my work.

There's always so much to do.

And I enjoy the work.

I mean, it's peaceful.

It's meditative for me.

The weeding and the harvesting and caring for everything.

So I don't mind, you know, I that's my rest is working in the garden, even though physically it's a bit demanding at times.

- "What are you growing in the garden?

", she asked.

- "Almost all grasses have edible seeds," the Guardian explained, "but many are small and difficult to harvest.

I only plant grasses with big seeds like wheat, oat, corn, rice."

- Folks, heads up!

The Austin Pond Society's Annual Pond Tour is coming up June 7 and 8.

Find out more at austinpondsociety.org.

Now, let's jump into summer with pollinators and petals!

Robin Norton of San Antonio's Rainbow Gardens pulls together colorful combinations for containers and garden beds.

How are you doing Robin?

- I'm doing great.

How are you?

- Doing wonderful.

Well, thank you for being here today to talk about some of these plants.

But let's talk about Rainbow Gardens.

- Well, rainbow Gardens has been in San Antonio since 1976.

So 49 years.

We are the largest independently owned garden center in San Antonio.

We have two locations, one on Bandera Road and one on Thousand Oaks that is in San Antonio.

And they both have a park-like feel.

- Well let's talk about some of these fun plants.

Most of these you've brought in are deer tolerant and drought tolerant as well.

- Yes, yes.

- So that's always a big plus for folks.

But let's also talk about if they're annual perennial and what size and what sort of soil they need and light.

So you've got Duranta as well?

- Yes, yes.

All of the plants that I brought today are actually pretty easy to care for.

And most of them are pretty common to find in local garden centers.

So that was one consideration.

But speaking specifically about the Duranta, it is just absolutely one of the most fascinating plants.

It does attract the bees and the butterflies, but I've also seen hummingbirds very interested in this.

We've got the big bumblebees, we've got the small little sweat bees, you know, all sorts of insects are just very, very attracted to this plant.

You just see a lot of action with it.

Loves full sun.

It can get really, really big if it finds its happy spot.

So it will die down to the ground during winter, but it does come back every year.

- Okay, good.

What about firecracker Fern?

- Firecracker Fern is another one of my favorites and a hummingbird favorite as well.

It is also a host plant for the a buckeye.

It's a host plant for the Buckeye butterfly.

We discovered that one year when we saw a butterfly flying around and paying a lot of attention to our firecracker fern in our pollinator area.

Then we went over to the perennials where we have some more firecracker ferns in a different location, and there she was and she was just paying so much attention that we ended up and grabbed the plant and discovered that, oh my goodness, yes, in several weeks we had some babies and it was very exciting to watch.

- [John] That's wonderful.

And again, how big does that get?

- [Robin] The firecracker fern can get to be a two to three feet wide and tall and it, again, loves full sun and is just very, very fabulous drought tolerant plant.

- Okay, well what about cat mint?

- Cat mint, now that one is pretty easy.

You can do sun or shade on that one.

And it spreads pretty quickly as well.

A lot of the bees and the little tiny butterflies really, really love the cat mint, and it's usually has a lot of action on it too.

So it's another one of our favorites.

- [John] Wonderful.

And you said so it doesn't get really big but it spreads.

- [Robin] It spreads.

It's more like the ground cover, yes.

- Like a ground cover.

Okay, wonderful.

What about mystic spires salvia?

- Now that one is truly a special plant to me because we planted it in our garden bed and noticed that the big bumblebees that are on the threatened list are all over it.

And again, went over to another section in our garden that has perennials and saw them all over there.

So I have a permanent sign now next to the mystic spires that says that the bumblebees love this plant, and usually anytime you walk by, you will see a big bumblebee on there.

So that's always exciting to see.

- Okay, and that one actually can take some shade as well, right?

- It can take some shade, yes, absolutely.

And they just get really nice and big but not too big.

They're more of like a dwarf type variety.

So maybe two or three feet.

- Okay, and then I know in Austin, if we have a hard freeze, you have to replace 'em.

Is that true in San Antonio or- - Somewhat.

They are, you know, once established they may or may not make it, you know, just depending on how hard the freeze is.

Mine has come back the last couple of years.

So fingers crossed, it's one of those that most likely will do okay, just depending on how severe our conditions are.

- Okay.

How about Gregg's mist blue flower?

- Oh my goodness.

The Gregg's blue mist, they call this butterfly crack.

- [John] Absolutely.

- The butterflies absolutely love it.

Queens especially, when it's their season and you just walk by a big patch of the Gregg's blue mist, it is just the most beautiful site to see.

Butterflies everywhere.

It's also a host plant for the Texas wasp moth.

Like its name, looks very much like a wasp but it is a moth.

They have a really cute little caterpillar and also a little moth that is orange and blue.

Very cute.

- Cool.

And this one though will, if it's happy, it also kind of spreads as well.

- [Robin] Yes, it will spread as well.

It might get to be about two feet tall and then, yes, finds its happy spot, it will spread and it does well in some shade or full sun as well.

- And I found though sometimes in the summer, if it's really, really hot and it's been dry for a while, kind of helps to give it a little bit of water as well.

- Absolutely.

- Keep it flowering and- - Yes, yes, most definitely.

- Okay, and then what about shrimp plant, the most maritime of all plants, apparently?

- Yes.

(laughs) Love the shrimp plant.

That one gets action from everyone.

I have seen butterflies, bees, and hummingbirds all on the shrimp plant.

It is also a host plant for the checker spot butterfly.

So we have seen that at the nursery and we raised some checker spots last year, that was really exciting.

But this is just such an easy agreeable plant.

You can plant this anywhere.

Shade, sun.

It's not real particular about soil either.

It is very drought tolerant once established.

This is a fabulous plant.

I have several in my yard.

- [John] And how big do those get?

- Those can get to be about three feet tall, three feet wide, three to four feet wide.

Just depending on their spot, their location, and you know, how much room they have to grow and how happy they are.

If they find a fabulous spot, they can spread and get- - Okay, I was gonna ask, is it kind of his own plan or will it move?

- Yes, absolutely.

It will get bigger.

- And then, what about some Esperanza?

I think you said you had two types here.

- Yes.

There are so many different varieties and colors.

This one, I believe, it was chiclet orange.

The hummingbirds absolutely love the esperanzas.

We've got one at the nursery, and usually when you're walking by you hear the little (buzzes) you know, and they're, "Oh, I scared the hummingbird."

But they absolutely love those.

Those are so drought tolerant.

Great for our area.

We do have a lot of customers that will come in in March and say, "I don't see anything going on with my Esperanza."

They're a little more tropical, so they might not start their shooting back up the following year until April or May when it gets a little bit warmer, and when the soil temperature warms up and they will just shoot right back up.

And they can get fairly large though, right?

- They can, although with the different varieties, there are some dwarf varieties.

So if you have a small space, there are still some options for you for smaller spaces as well.

- Okay, great.

And then lastly, round things out, you brought some lantana as well.

- I did.

I brought a lantana to bring a little color in.

We love the lantanas.

They are usually, you know, there's several varieties.

There's a trailing variety and there's also the upright.

They can come in some various sizes as well, depending on which variety.

But they are generally deer resistant and just do really well drought tolerant, do really well in Texas.

So we like the lantanas quite a bit, and many color options, which is nice too.

- Okay.

Well, Robin, thank you so much for sharing these plants with us and what y'all are doing at Rainbow Gardens.

Now, let's check in with Wizzie Brown.

(bright music) - Marie Dahmer wrote to ask what she is finding on her crape myrtle.

These insects are crape myrtle bark scales and are becoming more common on crape myrtle trees across Texas, so watch for them if you have crape myrtles in the landscape.

Crape myrtle bark scales show up on the trunk and limbs of the trees and often start populations near the crotch of branches or at pruning locations.

They look similar to mealybugs with their protective coverings as immatures, adult females, or ovisacs, which protect the eggs.

Crawlers, the first stage out of the egg, are pink in color and move around to locate a site to feed.

Once settled, they feed on phloem which leads to copious amounts of honeydew.

Honeydew is an excrement from various plant parasitic insects that feed on phloem such as aphids, mealybugs, scale insects and others.

Honeydew can lead to growth of sooty mold, which is a black fungus that can block photosynthesis from occurring.

If you find sooty mold on your plants, you need to look for the insect that is causing the honeydew.

Prickly pear cactus can get cactus coreids which can also produce honeydew.

These insects suck juices from plants, cause yellowing where they feed, and can create honeydew on the plant.

You can use a high pressure water spray to remove soft-bodied insects, honeydew, and sooty mold at the same time.

You can also use a garden dedicated hand-held cordless vacuum to remove cactus coreids from the plant or you can try hand picking.

Wear gloves and kill bugs in either a bucket of hot soapy water or isopropyl alcohol.

We'd love to hear from you.

Click on centraltexasgardener.org to send us your questions, pictures, and video.

- Next, let's make herb-infused honey and sun tea with Caroline Riley from Mutable Earth Botanicals.

(bright music) - Hi, my name's Caroline Riley, and I'm a community herbalist who works with plants that grow in our bioregion.

You can find me in our garden at the Whole Life Learning Center in South Austin, and you can find our herbal remedies in adult classes through Mutable Earth Botanicals.

Today I'm gonna show you how I process and dry herbs in my home, as well as make a delicious herb-infused honey and some fresh plant sun tea.

Summer's coming, which means it's getting hot.

And I say that let's use the heat and sun to make some cooling, relaxing plant remedies to support us through the seasons.

I brought these plants from our garden, all of which love the heat.

We have tulsi, AKA holy basil, that is a plant from Southeast Asia and India.

It brings pollinators into the garden, it can grow in full sun, and it thrives in our summers.

Here we have lemon balm, which I like to say is sunshine in plant form.

It's a perennial, and it likes a little extra water and a little bit of shade.

But if you give it a little love, it'll give a whole lot back.

I also have various mints.

We have apple mint and spearmint, peppermint, and some mountain mint, all of which grow together in our garden.

I like to grow them in pots, but if you give it room to spread, it'll definitely move throughout your garden.

I also brought elderflower from our garden.

It wanted to come with me today.

It blooms late spring, early summer, and its garnet-colored fruits come just after summer solstice.

This one is wonderful for our immune system and is really quite beautiful.

I also threw in some native salvia flowers, as well as some pink evening primrose, and one of my favorites, rock rose, which is a sun-loving mallow.

We know that all mallows are edible, and so it's nice to incorporate them into our herbal treats.

I like to dry them in my house on a counter or table.

The AC is a natural dehydrator.

And so when we chop up plants into small pieces, like about a quarter inch, like this.

And I actually incorporate the stems and leaves.

The green, healthy stems, especially of the mint family plants, have a lot of flavor in them.

And after I chop them up, including the flowers, oftentimes when we think of teas, we think of leaves.

But the whole plant of many plants is quite useful.

And then I put them on a paper bag that I have cut up and laid flat.

Lay them out on the paper like this.

And in the AC, it'll dry within five to seven days.

From there, it's important to put them in an airtight container, this is actually some tulsi here that I dried just last week, like jars, or you can simply put them in a Ziploc bag.

And you wanna store them out of direct sunlight.

Dried herbs can store for a couple of years, although they never last that long in my house.

They can be incorporated into teas and cooking for spices, and as well as herbal treats, like this herb-infused honey.

Treats like herb-infused honeys are wonderful to enjoy in teas, on toast, or by the spoonful, 'cause as we know, a little spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down.

Herbs that have a lovely aromatic or pungent smell, so ones where you rub the leaf and you can smell them, can make really delicious honey extractions.

It's really simple to make.

What we do is we take a jar.

I say start small, because eight ounces of honey is a lot of honey.

Sacred honeybees work hard to make this stuff.

And you wanna know you really like it before you have it in your pantry.

And I start by layering a little bit of herb on the bottom of the jar.

And in comes honey.

Yes, that's right, a gallon of honey.

And put a little honey on top.

And we are gonna put another layer of tulsi.

Or perhaps you wanna do lemon balm.

Hibiscus is a really delicious honey.

It will also grow here.

Mint-infused honey is delicious.

Also another layer of herb, and then I'm gonna cover it with honey.

Honey is naturally antimicrobial, and since we're using dried herbs, I'm not worried about bacteria or mold growing.

It's gonna do just fine.

But what I do wanna make sure is that the herbs are covered in honey.

And then we're gonna close this, and we're gonna let it sit for two to three weeks, which is the perfect amount of time.

Every once in a while, I will turn it upside down and then turn it back.

Maybe every two or three days.

If you need to add a little bit of honey to the jar to make sure the plant is covered, that's okay too.

After two to three weeks, we are ready to go.

And we're gonna strain it using a simple sieve over a bowl.

And I have to say, on honey straining day, it's the perfect day to make a fresh plant sun tea.

So we're gonna start straining this here.

So beautiful.

Really just working with honey, brings a smile to your face.

It's kind of impossible not to smile.

And while gravity is doing its work, we'll set this aside a bit and start on our fresh plant sun tea.

This is the perfect time to take a basket or a bag and go out to the garden with a friend or family.

And we're gonna bring your herbs in.

Anything in the mint family is perfect.

Remember, y'all, ID is key.

We only wanna work with plants that we know are safe to consume.

That's the kind of mistake you only make once.

Don't do that.

All right.

So in comes tulsi.

I'm gonna start by cutting our mint here.

One of my favorite things about fresh plant sun tea is that it pulls out the delicious aromatics.

If you wanted to use dried herbs, then it would be a little bit stronger.

But this is so fun and easy to do, and it's quite empowering.

I'm gonna go ahead and put these flowers in here, too, because it'll be beautiful.

Boop, boop.

Okay, a little bit more tulsi.

(chuckles) 'Cause it's delicious.

I wish you could smell it.

And now here's the key.

Let's bring this full circle.

So we're gonna take some of these honey-soaked herbs, this delicious tulsi.

And there's still so much honey in there, and gravity will keep doing its work.

But I'm just gonna take some of this and put it in the jar.

And then, it's impossible not to do that.

(laughs) We're gonna cover it with water, put the top on, and set it out in the sun for two to three hours.

That should do a job on a hot day.

For Backyard Basics, I'm Caroline Riley with Mutable Earth Botanicals.

Thank you.

- Go beyond the show with us.

Follow our producer Linda on Instagram where she shares even more CTG content including glimpses into her own gardening projects.

Be sure to check out CentralTexasGardener.org where you can get tips, show highlights and sign up for our newsletter.

Until next time, adopt the pace of nature; her secret is patience.

(bright music) - [Announcer] Central Texas Gardener is made possible by generous support from Lisa & Desi Rhoden, and by Diane Land & Steve Adler.

And by the Travis County Master Gardeners Association.

(bright reed music)