Aren't these oakleaf hydrangeas at my parents' house spectacular?

Despite the fact that nurseries keep stocking and selling them, traditional mophead hydrangeas are a very poor choice of plant for North Texas. They do not like our alkaline clay soil, they are very heat-sensitive, and they need a TON of water.

Oakleaf hydrangeas, on the other hand, are one of the easiest, least-needy plants you can grow here in shade to part shade areas.

The traditional oakleaf hydrangeas can grow quite large, but newer cultivars with more compact growth habits are now available. I have 'Snow Queen' growing in my yard, and it maxes out at four to five feet tall. You can plant oakleaf hydrangeas now through the end of the month.

What to Plant Now

Vegetables by transplant:
Corn, Eggplant, Peppers, Okra, Squash, Bush Beans, Melons, Gourds

Herbs by transplant:
Basil, Chives, Thyme, Sage, Rosemary, Oregano, Lemon Balm

Vegetables by direct seed:​
Bush Beans, Corn, Cucumbers, Okra, Melons, Gourds, Squash, Black-eyed Peas, Radishes

Annual flowers by transplant:
Cosmos, Marigolds, Rudbeckia, Gomphrena, Zinnias, Sunflowers, Impatiens (shade), Begonia (shade), Pentas, Vinca, Coleus, Calibrachoa, Petchoa, Petunias, Geraniums, Lantana

Annual flowers by seed:
Cosmos, Zinnias, Sunflowers, Centaurea, Amaranth, Celosia, Gladiolus bulbs, Gomphrena (best started indoors, watch for erratic germination)

All native and adapted perennials can be transplanted now through the end of the month.
Look for plant sales from master gardener associations, Native Plant Society of Texas, and other nonprofit organizations. These are good sources for hard-to-find natives.

If you need help choosing the best perennials for North Texas, you can stream my Perennial and Native Flower Gardens class right now. Enroll now to access this class, 40+ others, and unlimited help from me.

"Garden Design Basics" Tomorrow: Plant Pairings Made Easy

If you’re thinking about what to plant right now, it’s also worth thinking about how those plants will actually look together once they’re in the ground. That’s exactly what we’re covering tomorrow in Garden Design Basics, Saturday morning at 10am.

In this live online class, we’ll walk through how to combine plants in a way that feels cohesive, including how to build simple color palettes so your garden doesn’t end up looking like a random mix of plants.

If you want a clear plan before you head to the nursery, you can enroll here to join tomorrow's class. ​

You’ll also have access to the full class library and ongoing help inside the program. (Enrolled students will receive reminder emails with instructions for how to join class.)

Start Your Own Sweet Potato Slips

It’s long past the time for planting Irish potatoes (those need to be planted in February), but now is the time to start growing sweet potato slips for May planting. There are a number of different ways to go about this. Personally, I just plop a store-bought organic sweet potato into a nursery container, cover it a bit with soil, and keep soil slightly damp until sprouts appear. Once sprouts are three to four inches tall, you can gently twist them off and place into individual pots to grow on a bit more before planting or plant directly in the ground in May. (I like to put mine into a glass of water on a windowsill to put out more roots before planting.)

Here are some options: