High Plains Gardening

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Welcome to High Plains Gardening, the free, non-commercial, gardening information website for the Texas High Plains region and surrounding area!

The purpose of this website is to promote a culture of gardening within the Texas High Plains Region by offering information on an easy and successful way to garden. My hope is that many more people will enjoy gardening, and gardening success, in the Texas Panhandle.

My Vision — Gateway to Southwest Gardens

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I have several goals, or visions, for the Texas High Plains region. I envision:

  • The Texas High Plains region will be known as “Gateway to Southwest Gardens”;
  • Area nurseries will stock and sell a huge selection of low-water use plants suitable for our area; 
  • Area nurseries will promote and sell a wide range of organic gardening supplies; and
  • TV gardening programs that focus on and highlight area gardens, as well as being informational about southwest gardening, will be broadcast locally. 

Establishing and creating this website is just one of the activities I do to draw closer to my vision for our area. I believe all four of my goals are attainable. Read through the rest of the website and give it a try. HighPlainsGardening.com is filled with information that will help you create gardens that are:

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Featured Photography

Fall images of the John Denver Sanctuary taken in October 2012, and the end of September, 2019, in Aspen, Colorado. The John Denver Sanctuary is not a memorial garden, rather a man-made wetlands and winding streams that work as an innovative stormwater filter system, cleaning water before it drains into the Roaring Fork River; a sustainable example of combining beauty, pleasure with function. The wetlands area is designed to clean stormwater while mimicking nature running from the eastern side of downtown Aspen to the Roaring Fork River. The original sanctuary opened in 2000 and features perennials and large boulders that display the quotes from notable people and lyrics to several of John Denver’s well-known compositions. The first eight photos are from the early months after the opening of the expansion in July, 2012. After seven years, the garden sanctuary displayed a mature look this September. Photos of the two visits are separated by an aspen viewed through an architectural sculpture in one of the residential streets in Aspen. To me, the John Denver Sanctuary is a prime example of creating a sustainable and environmentally friendly garden that honors a notable past resident.


Recent Garden Notes

Amarillo -- Degrees of Change: How Much Climate Change has Warmed Amarillo's Weather

02/06/2019 - 15:10

Over the past two decades, Amarillo’s weather has changed noticeably. I thought the weather in 2018 to be particularly hot, but not quite as severe as the terrible years of 2011 and 2012. I didn’t enjoy the heat of these summers. Three really hot, dry, miserable summers within a decade. Will this be our future? Should I consider moving to a milder, wetter climate? How hot will it get in Amarillo, as global warming continues to warm? This article seeks to answer Amarillo’s degree of change.

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A Visit to Longwood Gardens

09/01/2018 - 16:49

Longwood Gardens includes over 1075 acres of gardens, paths through forests, woodlands and meadow, around lakes and grand plazas, fountains and a through a series of glass houses that make up the four and a half acre conservatory complex. Longwood Gardens is composed of 27 separate outdoor garden areas, 20 gardens inside the conservatory complex and four designated fountain gardens. Longwood can boast more fountains than at any other place in America. It’s specialties are many, the most evident being the fountains, elegant European flair, the extensive conservatory complex, dramatic and varied horticultural displays in an environment that feels comfortably democratic in tone through the five Longwood Gardens seasons.

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Gardening During the Age of Climate Change

04/21/2018 - 18:21

The Texas Panhandle is known for its rapidly changing weather, where temperatures race up and down a thermometer on a somewhat regular basis. Now, global warming is bringing the additional challenge of not only changing weather, but a changing climate. Hail and long-term drought damage plants. Sudden and fierce rainstorms pound weakened plants whose root systems fail to hold the soil in place. Additionally, a warming planet doesn’t preclude early devastating autumnal freezes. Yes, we in the Texas Panhandle have struggled with these conditions in the past. They are not going away, and most likely will get worse. Gardening is not for the faint of heart. Learn how to adapt and mitigate the gardening challenges climate change presents.

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