Butterfly Host
Facts: One of the many trees grown here is the Vitex, or Chaste Tree. Native to Southern Europe and Western Asia, vitex was introduced to the United States around 1670. This tree is in demand for its range of medicinal and herbal uses. It is also well sought out for a similar look to a…
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It is Mountain Laurel season here at the farm! And this is our twentieth crop of mountain laurels! We’ve learned a few things about them these past few decades – maybe there’s something that will help you. Texas mountain laurels are tricky to propagate and even trickier to transplant. They grow naturally in the Texas…
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We hear a lot these days about how important native trees and plants are. Cedar Elms are one of my favorite native Texas trees. Here are five of the things I most love about cedar elms! GREAT FOR URBAN YARDS! Cedar Elm doesn’t grow as wide a canopy as some shade trees so it’s a…
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I am hoping that this winter the stars will align and we will have the perfect conditions for some of our trees to give us a little fall color. Cedar Elms are one of the few species that show off their bright yellow and golden orange leaves. This Texas native is often overlooked but has lovely characteristics and is…
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The honey mesquite tree (Prosopis glandulosa) is a pod-bearing tree native to South Texas. This time of year, you may notice the sap oozing from parts of the trunk and branches. Well, that’s exactly why it’s called HONEY Mesquite. Some may say it’s for the sweet, honey producing flowers but I don’t think it’s that…
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Texas Persimmons, also known as Chapote, is a small semi-deciduous tree with dark green leaves. It is often low forking or multi-trunked. In South Texas, Texas Persimmons performs much like a live oak, retaining its leaves throughout the winter and then dropping them shortly before flushing fresh leaves in the spring. It prefers well drained, alkaline soils. …
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Although not technically a tree, one of our favorite “trees” is Yucca trecleana, or Spanish Dagger. This is a water-wise plant commonly found in brush lines and in the ranch country. It has stiff wide leaves with extremely sharp tips. I’ve read that an Indian tribe used these leaves to stab around…
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