Update : September 2014 My husband mentioned, just yesterday, that one of his favorite plants that I’d purchased was the Wandering Jew.  I, reluctantly, told him that I was fairly certain it hadn’t made it.  I am not so great at maintaining the lovely garden we are continually creating, and some things just don’t “Make the Cut.” However, as I walked through the yard this evening, to photograph some of our newest additions, I came across the scene you see on the left… Apparently, the little one survived after all!  I’m so excited.  Protected by the Texas Sage, this tough little plant seems to have survived the hot summer and…

This little beauty “should” grow 6-10 feet tall!  We purchased it at Home Depot in February and planted it in the North-East corner of our yard.  Thus far, it hasn’t grown all that much. We chose this plant for some height, and because it is an evergreen and low-maintenance.  Despite the fact that it hasn’t grown up a lot, it HAS survived, so it’s still allowed to keep it’s spot. This is a plant that needs watering weekly, during dry spells, and that we planted in a corner that gets a lot of the run off from rain and watering, so it’s often over-watered.  Also, although it does get direct…

Updated : September 2014 The little beauties that I planted last year, finally got choked out by the mums.  This is fine, as the goal was to have a self-managed bed and I now have one.  When I saw more of the little cuties at our neighborhood nursery, I seized the opportunity to pop some color into my raised bed in the backyard for the winter. We chose 4 white and 4 pink varieties and they did exactly as I had hoped!  So bright!  I know that they may not survive, as they often are listed as needing indirect sun.  I sure hope they thrive, because they are adorable!  I…

This is a plant that I had never seen, and certainly never heard of, until Texas.  For that matter, the first time I learned of it was through Ison’s Nursery & Vineyard. My husband had ordered a few Muscadine grapevines from them and we had been happy with the prices and service, so we were looking around on their site to see if there was anything else we “needed.”  There are so many cool options!  We ended up ordering a Persimmon (sadly, this one didn’t make it, despite our best efforts) a Fig, a Goji Berry, a Seedless Grape (this one we killed all on our own,) and this beauty –…

Original Post :  June 2013 I am definitely a fan of purple.  I tend to head straight toward the blues and purples in any nursery and the back part of my garden surely showed it for some time.  This plant was fascinating to me when we first saw it. The purple leaves were beautiful, and the tiny light purple / white flowers were so cute!  I was tickled to see that when the temperature changed or it rained, the leaves fell into little teepees. At one point, I was certain that they were dying off and I actually weeded them mostly out because they were failing so badly.  But the photo above…