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

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:

Featured Photography

Featured photos showcases Palo Duro Canyon, Spring 2024.

Common checkered Blue and Reakirt's blue

Featured Plants

Check out my top plants for the season

Psilostrophe tagetina

Native perennial wildflower that will bloom periodically from spring into fall (presumably when there is adequate moisture). I have seen it many times in nature in the Texas Panhandle and West Texas. After the flowers have peaked, they do not fall off, but turn light and papery. They make a good dried flower. Reseeds!

This wildflower is toxic to sheep and possibly cattle. Humans should not eat any part of this plant. The flowers are fragrant and are attractive to bees, birds and butterflies.

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Oenothera macrocarpa

Oenothera macrocarpa, and O. missouriensis have been used interchangeably. Native over a wide range including the plains and wooded areas, carries the common name, Missouri evening primrose, bigfruit sundrops and Ozark Sundrops.

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Melampodium leucanthum

Native wildflower that likes it lean and mean. Over watering and well amended soil will usually cause Blackfoot daisy to die a premature death, even for a short lived perennial, such as it is. It would be an ideal border plant, similar to alyssum, if not for its tendency to move about where it will (that is, die where you plant it and seed somewhere else). Still, it’s worth a try. Our Panhandle xeric gardens should never be without Blackfoot Daisy. In fact, once you plant Blackfoot daisy and let it seed, you should never be without it (and that’s a good thing).

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Linum lewisii var. lewisii

Linum lewisii, the southwestern and western native perennial wildflower variety of flax was named after Meriwether Lewis, who was first to describe it during the Lewis and Clark Expedition. On July 18th, 1805, near the Great Falls of the Missouri Lewis recorded: "I have observed for several days a species of the flax growing in the river bottoms the leaf stem and pericarp of which resembles the common flax cultivated in the U'States. The stem rises to the hight of about 2 1/2 or 3 feet high; as many as 8 or ten of which proceeds from the same root.

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Heuchera sanguinea

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Calylophus

The Calylophus genus is one of the best Southwest native plants for Panhandle gardens. Heat and drought tolerant, long blooming with little to no care, what garden would be without it? Sunny yellow 4 petaled sundrop flowers bloom in an explosion in spring, and respectably during the remaining growing season, especially when given a once a month inch of water during drought conditions. Each individual flower lasts only a day, tight compact mounds sport the orange spent blooms as well as the new bright yellow flower.

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Recent Garden Notes

Palo Duro Butterflies, Spring, 2024

Butterflies and wildflowers in the spring of 2019 at Palo Duro State Park were my inspirations for butterfly observations for five years 2020 through 2024. I revisited Palo Duro Canyon State Park in May, 2024 for six consecutive weeks observing and recording the butterflies bounty and other fauna. A different kaleidoscope of butterflies was observed each week. Read about my spring's naturalist quest.

Local Butterflies 2023

Butterfly observations in 2023 brought a few new species to my awareness and a new appreciation for the small sparkling jewels among the flowers. and black swallowtails confirmed "if you plant it, they will come." Read all about 2023's butterfly year.

Local Butterflies 2022

My yearly summary of butterfly and moth observations in 2022, including suggestions on best viewing periods. More suggestions on plants for your butterfly garden and stunning new research on the origins of butterflies through the ages.

News

NEW Featured Photos: Springtime in Palo Duro Canyon 2024.

New Garden Notes: Springtime Butterflies in Palo Duro Canyon 2024!

Stepping Stones to Gardening Success. Check out the updated section on Stepping Stones, -- what to do in the garden, month to month. The entire year's been updated with some new information and links, and photos added. Just scroll down the Home page; it's on the right. Click on the Intro and choose a month.

Featured Plants focuses on some Plants of coming Spring Interest.

Also Check out last year's Garden Notes on Local Butterflies

Please email comments and questions to pog@highplainsgardening.com. Angie Hanna, plain old gardener

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Plan and Design

The first vital principle of the Basic Gardening Principles is effective planning and design. Formulating your gardening management statement, determining your garden theory, settling on the style, working out the design, and deciding how the garden will be used should be settled before ground work can begin.

Soil

Understanding our soil and plants soil requirements are two vital keys for the gardener. Without a basic knowledge of soil, a gardener only plays the trial and error game. Amending the soil to conform to one's plan and matching plants to all components: aspect, location (sun, shade, wind), water needs, maintenance requirements and style criteria is vital in expanding one's plant palette.

Landscape Beds

After acquiring a basic understanding of our soils, it's time to apply your knowledge to your garden itself, whether in creating new beds or revitalizing existing beds, borders or lawns. This section discusses different situations gardeners face in creating new beds and borders in an existing landscape, particularly in regards to soil health.

Lawns

Lawns, or turf, is so important to American Gardening, that an entire principle is dedicated to these residential expanses composed of a single plant type, turfgrass. The purpose of lawns, lawnscaping in general, alternatives to lawns, turf type choices, how to take care of turf, and water-conserving tips to implement in traditional landscapes are some of the issues discussed.

Plants

Gardening is all about making choices. None of the other seven basic principles of gardening illustrates the impact of choice quite as much as our choice of plants. Plants are the focus, the purpose, and the reason for the garden and illustrate the garden of our imagination. Choosing regionally appropriate plants that match your choices are essential to success.

Plant Lists

To view lists of plants of different categories, such as native grasses, shrubs, flowers, and Southwest evergreens: cold hardy cacti, agaves, yuccas and other native evergreens suitable for the climate and soil conditions of the Texas Panhandle, click here. Often one just wants to scan a list of possibilities rather than reading through all the plant profiles, however, not every plant on these lists will be profiled.

Trees

The Texas High Plains region is part of the vast and treeless plains, at the southern end of the Great Plains. It is difficult for trees to grow effortlessly. Planting a tree is viewed as an act of hope and trust in the future. Care should be taken to match the tree to soil, location, exposure and water needs.

Efficient Use of Water

Water continues to be a precious resource on the Texas High Plains. Our average annual precipitation of 17-21 inches is sufficient for growing regionally appropriate plants, especially when moisture is used efficiently. In soil, where just adding more water is not always the answer, make every drop count, soak in, quenching the plant's thirst before it moves down the line.

Mulch

Although all of the 7 basic principles of gardening are important and will greatly enhance your gardening success, the easiest to implement is to use mulch. Appropriate mulch covers help preserve moisture, improve soil structure and quality, helps prevent weed seed germination, moderates soil temperature and much more.

Pest Management

A lethal arsenal of products have been developed to eradicate weeds, insect pests and pathogens in the lawn and garden. Integrated Pest Management is a four-step system of managing landscape problems by using the methods that are the least harmful to the environment first, before considering chemical intervention.

Maintenance

Everything worth having requires maintenance, even lower water-use gardens that follow the other six rules of gardening. When a landscape is properly designed and implemented, matching plant to location, maintenance is greatly reduced. Maintaining the garden using correct horticultural methods, not seeking control but cooperating with the normal properties of our plants, is the gardener's simple mission.

Stepping Stones

Gardening is a succession of related tasks, when combined together, orders our garden. Choice of plants, climate, location, water supply, soil type and texture affects design and style choices. Our degree of knowledge, competence and time available to give to gardening affects the outcome. These are Stepping Stones to Success focusing on the week to week, month to month gardening timeline for the Texas Panhandle.

Creating Organic Landscapes

Successful gardens are in harmony with nature, working with soil and climate conditions, not against them. For this section, I've combined the 7 basic principles of gardening and 6 principles of organic gardening and divided them into three sections: gardening practices above and below ground, practices below ground and gardening practices above ground.

Designing for Panhandle Gardens

What garden style differentiates Texas Panhandle gardening from any other region across the world? What plants, accents and hardscape, when combined, bring to mind the Texas Panhandle? I've explored the shortgrass prairie, cliffs and outcrops, the plateaus and playas and have noted features, landmarks, colors and plants to gain some insight in formulating a distinctive Panhandle garden style.

High Plains Gardening

High Plains Gardening

High Plains Gardening

High Plains Gardening

High Plains Gardening

My Vision — Gateway to Southwest Gardens

Featured Photography

Featured Plants

Recent Garden Notes

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News

NEW Featured Photos: Springtime in Palo Duro Canyon 2024.

New Garden Notes: Springtime Butterflies in Palo Duro Canyon 2024!

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