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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:
Small but tough is Perky Sue. Woody base with thin short green leaves from which many stems shoot up to display many yellow daisy like flowers from April into fall. Many people know this plant by the genus name Hymenoxys, but has been changed to Tetraneuris in the last decade. There are a few relatives that look quite similar and are all equally valuable in the garden: T. acaulis and T. odorata.
Previously known as Cowenia mexicana, it is known today as Purshia stansburyana, also, P. stansburyiana. It is still commonly called a cliffrose. The cliffrose blooms prolifically in May with creamy white to pale yellow fragrant flowers that continue blooming for several weeks. Semi evergreen, it loses it's leaves in colder winters. Upright stems and branches can appear unruly in its growth pattern; small dark green resinous leaves.
Daffodils are the most notable of the spring bulbs. Reliable from year to year, daffodils can be depended upon to bloom even when faced with late season blizzards and are unpalatable to deer and squirrels. Daffodils aren't too particular about soil, but do better in amended soil, planted about 4 inches deep in October to December. Typical bloom times are February through April, depending on the variety, and there are thousands of varieties to choose from.
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).
Mat daisy is a low growing spring blooming plant. Drought tolerant. Not exactly a groundcover, as the top growth disappears during summer and reemerges as a green basal rosette in fall, getting ready to bloom again in the spring. Blooms late March to May with small white daisy-like flowers that have pink undersides. Forms a compact ground-hugging mat. Will self seed some, but never invasively.
Spring blooming crocus is a favorite among gardeners, heralding the end of winter. Many species of crocus can actually bloom in winter months. I've seen crocus bloom as early as mid Janurary, although February and March are more common. There are many different species of crocus, most people choose them by color, height or bloom period. Their colors range from yellow to purple, lavender, violet and white, some in combination of colors. Commonly, Crocus chrysanthus, C. venus, and C. angustifolius. C.
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.
Over two dozen different species of butterflies visited my little city butterfly garden in 2021. I profile them with little vignettes in order of appearance from May through October. Also included are some of the best butterfly plants to use in making a butterfly garden of your own.
The daffodil is the world’s most popular spring flower, according to the National Gardening Association. Daffodils will come back spring after spring with the least of care. But more than that, daffodils herald the end of a long cold, dark, winter, it’s bright yellow beaming through the leaves like the sun. It is overcast today with a chill, stiff wind, and I can attest there is nothing like a daffodil in bloom to lift one’s spirit. A vase of daffodils that includes six to ten of different daffodil cultivars is the most marvelous vase of flowers one can grow in early springtime! Large and small-cupped, jonquils, doubles and split coronas in differing color patterns pair well together.
