Xtremehorticulture

Xtremehorticulture of the Desert

Winter/Spring Flowering Plants to Attract Bees

Leave a Comment / honeybees, mustard, rock, rosemary, texas ranger, water, yellowbells /

Q. I’ve been trying to attract bees to my garden and thinking about a hive at some point. Need to put in some year-round flowering plants first. Rosemary comes to mind. Any thoughts or literature that comes to mind. Rosemary flowers during the winter and spring when honeybees are active and looking for open flowers. A. Rosemary is a good choice; it flowers during the winter and is lower in water use since it is a Mediterranean plant that is smaller. Any plant that has conspicuous flowers during early spring and is cold hardy will work. That is one reason roses work so well. Other plants to consider that flower during that time and are cold hardy for our climate include the different Texas sage and Tecoma types. Tecoma stans and Texas ranger also flower during the winter or spring. Don’t forget a mixture of annuals and perennials that have brightly colored flowers. Use many different colored flowers like mustards, clovers, desert bluebells and blue eyes, and the like. Scratch the seed into the soil with a rake and start watering them twice a month in December and January with 15 minutes of water from a sprinkler. Turn off the water when your fruit starts flowering. Flowering mustards, many are winter annuals that flower during the late winter. Don’t forget water. Honeybees like to haul water during the winter as the hive starts to warm up. Bird baths and plastic troughs dug in the ground help attract bees and other critters. Don’t let the bees drown. Put rocks in the water so bees have a place to land. Honeybees are active during the daylight anytime temperatures are in the mid-50s, clear and sunny and little to no wind. Night flowering plants such as some cacti don’t work because bees need to see the sun to fly. Honeybees are supplemented with sugar water when they can’t find flowers they like. Feeding the colony with sugar water helps to keep the population alive during the coldest parts of winter. Honeybees like to haul water in the summer to cool the hive. Give them a chance by putting some stones in the water and give them clean water to use.

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Texas Sage Outgrowing Its Space after Two Years

Leave a Comment / Pruning Texas Ranger, texas ranger, Texas sage, Using hedge shears for pruning /

Q. We have three Texas Sage bushes that are about two years old and doing very well – so well in fact that they are outgrowing their area. I have seen these plants where they have been trimmed back and they look very good. Is it okay to do this without harming them, and if so, should I wait until they go dormant? A. Regarding your Texas Sage, there are varieties that are smaller than others. Perhaps it might have been better to select one of the Texas Sage which are smaller to begin with so you wouldn’t be faced with this so early in its life.  Texas Sage or Texas Ranger can be pruned with a hedge shears but really should only be sheared this way if they are intended to be in a hedge. If you intend to use a hedge shears on these plants expect them last about five years before they get really woody at the base and don’t have much foliage anymore.  Larger Texas sage pruned with a hedge shears This may not work for you if these plants are placed into a location where you need to keep them small. But the best way to pruned them is by removing two or three of the largest stems at the soil level. The idea is to continue to remove the oldest wood from the base of the plant every couple of years.  This keeps the plant juvenile and doesn’t interfere with its flowering. Hedge sharing is usually done when there has been new growth which results in removal of the flowers before you can enjoy them.

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How to Prune Texas Rangers

2 Comments / pruning, texas ranger /

  Q. Last year I read in your blog how to prune texas rangers.  Now I can’t find that article.  Can you repeat it?  Thank you. A. Maybe this is it. Q. I would like to cut back some cassia, Texas ranger and rosemary plants that has grown too large. When is the best time to do so? A. There are three cassias that are commonly planted here; feathery cassia, silverleaf cassia and desert cassia. They either bloom in the spring or spring and fall. This means the flowers have to be formed on last year’s wood if they bloom in the spring.             Basic rule of thumb is that plants that are not appreciated for their flowers then prune them back during the winter months after leaf drop. However, if it is very light pruning then you can do that any time. Texas ranger sheared so flowers are removed             On those plants which are grown for their flowers then prune them as soon as their bloom time is over regardless of the time of year. If plants bloom in the spring then prune them as soon as they are done pruning in the spring. This will give them time to initiate flower buds during the late summer for next spring’s bloom.             If they bloom in the summer months, then they put flowers on spring growth. If you prune these in the spring you run the chance of pruning off all the flowers if they are not pruned correctly. This is very often done to oleanders when they are hedge sheared during the spring or early summer months. What it will look like if it is not sheared So with this in mind…. Removing wood from Texas ranger now also removes flowers so do not prune with a hedge shears or you will remove the flowers as well. Make your cuts deep inside the canopy, removing larger stems at a crotch and remove an entire stem when you do. Do not cut it just halfway back. Leave the newest growth on the remaining stems to bloom for you. By opening the canopy for light you will see new sprouts being produced deeper inside. These newer sprouts will produce wood for flowers later in the year and over the next couple of years if you do not cut off the growing tips.  Next year, remove more older wood from deep inside the canopy and repeat this each year “renewing” older wood and reinvigorating flowering. I hope this helps. I attached two pictures of texas rangers taken in april. One was hedge pruned. The other not. One is blooming. The hedge pruned one had all the growth cut off that would have produced flowers.

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