'TIS THE SEASON: PERENNIALS

Unlike the upper two thirds of this country, and points further north, our winters aren't all that hard on plants.  The ground never freezes, and if you remember to mulch, most hardy perennials will do just fine.  The summers though, they're a whole different ball o' wax.  A drippy, melty ball of hot, hot wax.  That's why, for all but the Texas Panhandle perhaps, the best time to plant most perennials is right now, in fall rather than spring.  That way they have plenty of time to get a good root system established, before they have to deal with a summer's torment.

It took me a while, but I finally came to the conclusion that I need more perennials, less veggies in the Cantina Garden, for the following reasons:

• veggies need too much water -- a mighty scarce commodity around here
• I pretty much suck at growing them
• the deer and raccoons abscond with everything I do manage to produce
• I'm sick of looking down on empty, ravaged beds

Oh, I haven't given up on an edible garden altogether!  I'm just not going to dedicate all those beds on the right as "veggie beds."  Instead I will have my edibles tucked in here and there, amongst all the perennials.  My asparagus patch is still doing fine, and I've got plenty of herbs everywhere.  The little olive tree that Paula and Tim gave us as a housewarming gift hasn't grown much, but it's still alive and green -- a minor miracle after the weather extremes we've experienced this year!

Little Olivia, the olive tree

My Texas Persimmon is going great guns.  In fact, it was a rockin' and a rollin' the other night when Dear Hubby walked past, on his way to the man-cave.  He glanced up and found three raccoons up there, partying down on all that ripe fruit!  Glad somebody enjoyed it.

See the busy little bee inside that arugula blossom?

My arugula keeps reseeding itself, popping up hither and yon, and I'm happy to let it.  The bees are happy too.  Oh, and those tomatoes which the deer pruned for me, when I first planted them last spring?  Well, they're looking mighty fit and healthy right now, and seem to be putting on lots of new blooms, so keep you're fingers crossed!

Tomato Survivors

But for this bed here -- the one that the deer love most of all, and the one that is most visible from the windows and porches above -- there will be no veggies.  Instead, I went through my handy little booklet from the Texas Cooperative Extension service, Native and Adapted Landscape Plants, and picked out some of the most deer resistent, drought tolerant, bullet proof plants I could find -- things like flame acanthus, paprika-colored yarrow, and fuzzy lambs ears -- and tucked them into all those empty spaces around the Butterfly Weed that had already seeded itself there.

Me and perennials?  We get along just fine.  They don't ask too much of me, and I leave them pretty much alone, letting them have their space and do their own thing.  It's a match made in heaven.