From the Magazine

Part of Neil’s collection of 65 varieties of sansevieras await placement in Sperry garden. They offer color and interesting textures, low water usage. Photos by Neil Sperry.
More containers, less water use
Having lived in Texas for all but five of my several years, I have come to the realization that there is no “normal” Texas weather. Oh, sure – there are averages, but there is no year that stays near that median line. 2013 has been especially odd, and it’s not even half over.
We had essentially a mild winter – but it lasted two months longer than it should have! Record late freezes over big parts of a big state. Well into mid-May, I was still taking plants out of my greenhouse and into our landscape. That’s usually a second-week-of-April activity.

Smaller potted plants fill odd spots in a new Sperry garden.
And then there’s the seemingly endless drought. At least at the time that I’m writing this, Texas continues to bake. And that’s what brings me to this month’s On a Personal Note.
I posted a Garden Tip on my Facebook page a few weeks ago to introduce people to ‘Dragon Wing’ begonias. I knew that many people already had grown them, but I wanted to get everyone alerted that they really are a great source of mid-summer color. I said that all they need is “rich soil that is kept uniformly moist.” Well, those final two words didn’t set well with one of my FB friends. “That doesn’t sound very water-conscious,” she said, “recommending something that has to be kept uniformly moist in a time of drought.”
My reply to her, and my “Note” here from the Sperry gardens said that growing plants in pots allows us to add gardening interest, excitement, and yes, even color without having to plant massive beds that would indeed require a great deal of water. I told her that a ‘Dragon Wing’ begonia grown in a large pot would dazzle its part of the landscape for six months or longer, and that it would use only a few cumulative gallons of water over the course of an entire season.
We have probably 150 container pots in our landscape. Some are huge crotons that have been making the trip in and out of the greenhouse for 15 to 25 years. I have a ‘Macho’ fern with a 7-foot wingspan, and tons of aloes, haworthias, peperomias and savsevierias that add foliar interest without needing a lot of special care.
I’m purposely showing you only a portion of our landscape with its potted plants, because I’ve asked permission of our editor to do a feature here next issue showcasing a giant change I’ve made in a tiny part of our gardens. That said, I’m heading out to adjust some of the pots and start taking photos.