Drought returns to Central Texas

The statesman reveals what many of us have already noticed. We are in a drought. Not a lot of water is falling from the sky.

As drought returns to Central Texas, relief unlikely until May.

This supports good reasoning to plant natives as they can usually live with waxes and wanes of water availability in Texas.

Agaves in the snow

Since agaves are the native plant of the week, I’m sharing a photo array of agaves in the snow in Austin, Texas. These photos were taken by my husband between 9:00-10:00 am this morning. Agaves capture water with their curved leaves. Snow is captured there, too, and will travel to the base of the plant when the snow melts.

Winter weather here and temp is dropping …

Real winter weather has arrived. Did you enjoy the 70 and 80s this weekend? I know I did while planting some plants late into Saturday night. It was such a nice day!

Well today’s another day and we’re facing freezing weather for the next few days. So … you know the drill:

• Bring in your delicate plants.
• Cover other plants with blankets, sheets, or special plant fabrics. Make sure you secure them as much as possible since it is also going to be windy.
• Unhook your hoses from outside faucets and make sure all the water is out of the hoses (otherwise, it will freeze and burst through your hose, possibly).
• Wrap your outside faucets with insulation, and open your faucet so it drips about five drips per minute. Do this when the weather is less than 28 degrees for more than 4 hours, and let it drip until the temperature raises above 30.
• Know where your water shut-off valves. If you can shut off the water to just your outside faucets, you could do that, then open the valve so all water comes out & keep it open in case there’s any water in there, it has room to expand.

There’s a more expansive list of pointers for freezing weather at KXAN. Good luck!