CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — Want to spruce up your home? Add a splash of color with mother nature's paintbrush: flowers and plants!
Gardening experts said now is the time to start your early summer garden, so here’s a checklist of what you need to know before you grow.
“It’s always gardening season in South Texas,” Assistant Manager at Gill Garden Center Wyatt Page said.
He’s going on his tenth year at Gill’s and has learned how to help neighbors like Joseph Zamora make their spaces more beautiful.
“We’ve been here about fifty times in the past month. We just built a house maybe about a year ago and we started our own garden,” Zamora said.
But theres some things to keep in mind before starting or maintaining this years garden, like the city’s water restriction rules.
“You can water everyday now before 10 and after six and that’s by hand. You can’t use your sprinkler system. But you can water your landscape beds and potted plants by hand,” Page said.
Page also said there’s a better way to water your plants to keep them flourishing longer, especially in those triple digit temperatures. The lesson is low and slow is the way to go.
“You want to give plants a good, deep drink of water. Don’t just take your water wand and come on top of the plant and just water real quick. You want to go down to the soil level, give them a good drink and then come back again and hit them once or twice more,” Page said.
Corpus Christi wind will dry out plants. So if you notice yours are wilting, give them some water in the evening or morning or better yet put them in an area where the wind is not directly hitting them.
“You wouldn’t want to necessarily put them out in the middle of the field when it’s really heavy wind cause they’re going to get beat up pretty bad. So finding a protective spot for some plants is going to be very helpful, absolutely,” Page said.
And if you don’t know where to start or what plants bloom the best in the heat, Page shared a few quick options:
Texas Sage (a.k.a Barometer Bush)- “They’ll get totally covered in purple flowers all times of the year, but they are a very drought tolerant plant.”
Esperanza-“These love the summer heat. They’re going to bloom like crazy when we’re in the hottest times of the summer.”
Firebush- “They will grow up and have blooms above the fence line.”
Low Growing Flowers- “It’s only going to get about six to eight inches tall full grown, but every day they are going to open up with a beautiful bloom. They come in yellow, pink, orange and it’s just really stunning.”
Page said they have a section of their plant nursery that they water using collected rain water. He encourages neighbors to do the same next time we have a good rain. Rain water has more nutrients for your plants. Using rainwater also helps conserve water from our lakes.
Gill Garden Center is open Mon- Sat from 9-5:30 and Sundays from 10-5:30.
“Give us a call here at Gill’s and we can help you out. Or you can come in person and we can walk around with you and show you some great plants for the summertime,” Page said.
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