May 13, 2024 Cottage Butterfly Garden in Houston Texas zone 9b

May 13, 2024 Cottage Butterfly Garden in Houston Texas zone 9b
Sorry I had so many focus issues!!
‪@JosTXGarden‬

[@hollyashton7009]

Stunning!!

[@JosTXGarden]

Thank you so much! 😊😊🌸

[@kareninhtownmitchell9191]

Your garden is positively breathtaking! ❤❤❤. Mrs D loves you….i always love to catch glimpses of her in your videos.

[@JosTXGarden]

Oh, thank you so much! 😊😊🐈‍⬛

[@sandratraugott6522]

Mrs. Doubtfire is really warming up to you! She’ll be letting you pet her one day. Oh, BTW, your garden was great ,too. 😂. Always enjoy your videos.❤️

[@JosTXGarden]

Thank you! I’m so glad you are enjoying them! That Mrs D! She’s cracking me up. After six years of never getting close, she finely decided I’m ok, I guess. Well, just the bottom 1/4 of me! 🤣🤣🤣🤣 🐈‍⬛🐈‍⬛🐈‍⬛🐈‍⬛🐈‍⬛🐈‍⬛

[@HoustonKeith72]

And I'm obsessed with the carrot foliage. I am definitely doing that. That you just plant carrots from the store cracks me up!

[@JosTXGarden]

I know, right? It’s such a nutty thing to do! 🤣🤣🤣🥕🥕 🥕

[@areb3312]

Oh Mrs. Doubtfire! I assumed she was your kitty. I hope she gets more cuddly soon ❤. A garden kitty is a must.

[@JosTXGarden]

Oh, she’s DEFINITELY my kitty! She’s just ALSO a feral kitty. 🤣🤣🤣 She lives in the back yard and is available for 12 meals a day, plus treats, and has 357 warm, comfy (and heated in the winter!) beds scattered around. She also bosses me around and meows at me constantly. She just won’t let us actually TOUCH her! 🤦🏼‍♀️🐈‍⬛🤦🏼‍♀️🐈‍⬛🤦🏼‍♀️🐈‍⬛ Side note: she’s been trapped and spayed by the neighborhood TNR group, but when she arrived at our house, she literally showed up with 5 kittens. We found homes for the kittens, and mama never left. She was like, “Umm, I live here now.” We are cat people, so we understood that the universe had assigned another cat to us, and we’re like, “Well, obviously.”

[@HoustonKeith72]

I love Ms. Doubtfire updates! Love the variety in your garden. I have to tell you I went to Joshua's Native Plants last week and recognized so many of the plants because of your videos! Such a charming place. I have a very small yard but I'm going to put in a raised bed and focus on natives and plants for pollinators. Thanks for all the fun vids!

[@JosTXGarden]

Oh, yay!! That’s awesome! Thank you so much for watching and for your kind comments! That Mrs D! She cracks me UP! 🤣🐈‍⬛

[@elsahickman3379]

Thank you for sharing! Your garden is beautiful!!

[@JosTXGarden]

Thank you so much! 😊😊🌸

[@bredear]

The pale yellow sunflowers are just breath taking, love it. But everything is so beautiful. I just wish my pentas plant looked like yours, no luck with that one. Thanks!

[@JosTXGarden]

I’m so happy that those sunflowers decided to join the party! Boy, that big variety of penta is Next Level from the others I have grown!

[@cherylgardner1579]

So wild and pretty Jo, and Ms. Doubtfire has finally claimed you as hers.

[@JosTXGarden]

Thank you! That kitty! I’ve only had her for like, SIX YEARS! 🤣🤦🏼‍♀️🐈‍⬛

[@gulfcoastbutterflygardening]

Wow, Jo!!! Your garden is looking so phenomenal!!! Those sunflowers are DARLING! - Oh, my!!! I had to pause it at 3:49 and just stare! The carrots and the ammi look like a lacey, dreamscape! That is taking my breath away!!! - LOL about the tag sale at the old folk’s home! I can’t wait to see your miracle crinum lily bloom! And I love all of the pink surrounding it! - I can’t even with every turn of the camera!!! Every view is exciting and lovely and stunning! I’m sitting here drooling with my mouth hanging open! And that monarda!!! So fantastic! - I love how the hyacinth bean vine has brought in some dark color and height right there! - LOL about Mrs. Doubtfire! Oh!!! Hers loves you!!! She will be living in your house and sitting in your lap before you know it! You have been marked as her human! - Everything that you have is gigantic! Those pentas are massive! You are proving that everything in Texas IS bigger! Okay, except not your car. LOL! - You are right! Where would we be without salvia? They are a perfect background for everything else! - I’m sorry about your millet! But I’m not missing it at all! Your garden is perfection!!!!!! Penelope Hobhouse would be so proud and I bet, jealous, as well! It’s super inspiring to see all that you’ve packed in here and the masterly way you have combined the color and textures!!! Has Pam Penick from Digging seen this? She needs to!!! - Thank you for the tour!!! I’m always full of hope and ideas whenever I see what you are doing!

[@JosTXGarden]

Aw, thanks, Rachel! You always boost me up when just I see things leaning over and weeds everywhere! 🤣🤣 I hadn’t thought about the hyacinth bean as being one of the colors I was trying for! A happy accident. That Mrs D is waiting for my 100th birthday to sit on my lap! 🤣😒🐈‍⬛

[@andrearodriguez5512]

This is my first time here I love it so much I had to subscribe 💗 you have such beautiful flowers 🌻

[@JosTXGarden]

Oh I’m so glad you found me! Thanks for watching!😊😊

[@marybaudoin3711]

Beautiful! I am loving the Bog Sage too. I bought mine at the LSUAgcenter Hammond Research facility plant sale. I think it was $8. I put it in a large container. Spectacular blooms!

[@JosTXGarden]

I should try some in a container! It’ll keep it tamed. Right now, in all its glory, it’s kindof running over the gulf coast penstemon! 🤦🏼‍♀️

[@PamsMountainGarden]

Select Seeds has Salvia uliginosa. That is where I got mine. Really nice company. I buy my salvia there most years. I also take cuttings in the fall because they generally are not hardy here. Mrs.Doubtfire! How lovely that she trusts you.

[@JosTXGarden]

I’ll have to go see what might tempt me at select seeds! (Probably everything!🤣) Sweet Mrs D! I’m just letting HER pet ME right now! 🐈‍⬛🐈‍⬛

[@wendy5006]

Hopefully you and your pretty garden wasn't affected by that terrible storm which blew through Houston.

[@JosTXGarden]

The garden is a bit flat here and there, but will bounce back pretty well. We are going to lose the big silver maple tree in the front though. The last two storms have taken maybe 60-70% of the tree off. We’re not waiting for the next hurricane to send it through the dining room wall! 🤦🏼‍♀️ Heartbreaker for sure to lose such a huge tree. (Though not that huge anymore! 😞) Thanks for checking on me! Hope you are well!😊🌸

[@theplantninja-texasgardener]

Girlfriend I didn’t think your garden could get prettier than last year but somehow it is! I need to add more coneflowers. My black and blue salvias are sort of sad looking. I hope mine eventually look like yours. I put in an agastache this year and I think my dog kept tearing it up. I put a cloche over it and it’s finally gaining momentum. We’ll see how it does in the heat. Excited that Ms Doubtfire is getting friendlier.

[@JosTXGarden]

You are so kind! I’m loving it right now! Goodness, yours is going Full Force right now and will only get more amazing as the summer begins! You inspire me to add more natives so I’ll have fewer annuals that poop out in summer. Also, when my plants get too crowded, I’m like, “well my ninja friend would’ve put these further apart because she pays attention to how big they’re going to get In The Long Run.” 🤣🤣🤣 rofl I’m all about coneflowers this year! Not sure why your b&b salvia is pitiful! I keep pulling mine out of places it’s not invited to be in. lol. I’m finding agastache so tricky. The tutti frutti only likes wet weather and pouts and/or dies in hot dry conditions, and the blue fortune did well a while ago, then mostly died this winter, and is very slow to get going this year- all volunteers I have dug up out of the gravel walkway. Then there was that one tallll blue volunteer that showed up last year (I think) in a random place, bloomed beautifully for maybe six weeks, then was like, “well, today’s my last day” 😵 Do you watch Rachel on Gulf Coast Butterfly Gardening? She’s got agastache 5 feet tall and stunning - I don’t know what magic she’s working over there! 🤣

[@theplantninja-texasgardener]

Mutual inspiration is the best! Thanks for being such a bright spot in the community Jo! I need to pop over to Rachel’s channel. Her container garden is a wonder💗

[@JosTXGarden]

❤️❤️❤️ Isn’t Rachel amazing?

[@marleneegan-hm7lr]

I have had the same issue with a salvia of mine that has larger leaves like yours. I think it’s all of the rain we’ve been getting, some roads were flooding today around my parts and Katy

[@JosTXGarden]

I think salvia Amante is just finicky! It did the same thing in the drought last year! 😒🤣

[@marleneegan-hm7lr]

@@JosTXGarden ok then!

[@JosTXGarden]

Hope you made it through this storm ok! What a mess!

[@DerekDuran-jm6ny]

Fellow Houstonian. I was wondering if you have tried the Almond Verbena shrub? I planted it cause it has a strong wafting fragrance and hear it attracts pollinators by the tons so it’s a double duty benefit plant.. I just cat get mine to get bigger for it’s second year. Was just wondering as all the native plant nurseries sell it here, but I have yet to see someone with it in Houston flourishing.

[@JosTXGarden]

I have never grown it. It’s so beautiful and I’ve heard lots of good things about it, but I’m afraid I’m not much help today! 😕

[@cindyenglish3130]

Do you think I can put the Hyacinth Bean on an arbor opposite a rose? It really is beautiful. It’s a new small rose, so that would give me something showy

[@JosTXGarden]

You could definitely do it! I think it would look beautiful! It can be a somewhat vigorous, so you might have to point it where you want new tendrils to go so it doesn’t get entangled in the rose, but that’s easy enough. It’s just an annual, so by the time your rose is getting bigger, towards winter, the vine will be on its way out. (It won’t survive a frost.)

[@ramblinrosecottage5983]

I love Moonbeam Coreopsis. I had a plant when I lived in Ohio that came back every year and spread bigger and bigger. I didn't mind because the foilage was so delicate and dainty and the flowers were a lemony yellow. When I moved to Texas, I dug some up and brought it with me. It did not survive the trip. I had forgotten about it until you mentioned it today. I need to find some for my north Texas garden.

[@JosTXGarden]

I love it! Sometimes it does great in my garden, then other years it dies. I finally stopped replacing it last year, and here it is popping up! Ha!

[@user-cc1nv8wi5x]

Hi jo! Did you plant the beebalm from transplant? When is the best time to plant it? Thanks🦋

[@JosTXGarden]

Hi!! I did plant it from a one gallon pot a few years ago (bought in October I think). This one is called “peter’s purple”. It spreads easily by rhizomes. If you could find one in a pot next fall, it will be big and beautiful by spring. Even a 4” pot would get you a good stand in a few months.

[@cherylsloan1305]

How many hours a day of sunlight do your roses get? I am looking to transplant a few from containers but wasn't sure if they could handle all day sun in Houston.

[@JosTXGarden]

Mine do fine in full sun. Anything less than about 6 hours keeps them from blooming their best. Except Old Blush, which doesn’t mind half day sun. I generally plant roses on November 1-ish, so they have time to establish well before it gets hot.