r/AustinGardening

I just got home from work and something (I’m assuming a squirrel??) got into my pepper plant and just completely tore it out and apart (it’s missing like half the plant) is it too late to be saved/what can I do?? This was one of my favorites 🥲

I'm pretty sure this is a red oak. Height is about 4' right now. Is it possible to relocate to a spot where it has more room to grow? This is a very confined area.

I've heard they're difficult to move and I don't want to kill it in the process.

We planted this Mexican Redbud 3 or 4 years ago. Each spring, it blooms and leafs out beautifully. By late July, however, the leaves begin to blacken at the edges and become brown and crispy. (Our neighbor's young Redbud does the same but less severe. Theirs is in partial shade, ours is in full sun.)

We water 2-3 times a week with a five gallon bucket with a small hole drilled through the bottom placed under the drip line. This is in addition to the lawn irrigation. We feed in spring and fall with Trifecta.

We'd appreciate any wisdom this community has to offer! Thanks!

EDIT: Thanks for all the helpful responses! I’ve got enough here to work with and plan next steps :)

Trying to figure out what to plant in this part of our backyard and would love some opinions!
We’re in the middle of a backyard project and just finished the retaining wall + planter this weekend. The plan is for the planter to become a pollinator garden, while the upper terrace will eventually be a fire pit/lounge area.

For the bare area in front of it, I’d really prefer some kind of ground cover rather than traditional turf, but I’m having trouble figuring out what will actually work for how we want to use the space.

A few things about the area:
- Backyard faces true south
- Terrace is on the west side
- Pollinator planter is on the east side
- This area gets full sun basically all day, aside from some morning shade from a huge oak tree next door
- We plan to get a dog in the next couple of years, so it needs to tolerate at least some pet traffic
- I would love something that feels good underfoot.
- I’d love to be able to throw down a blanket, sit in the sun, do yoga, etc., so it can’t be something that really shouldn’t be walked or lounged on

I love the idea of buffalo grass as it’s native, but I’ve heard it can take forever to really fill in and doesn’t handle foot traffic or pets well…honestly, r/fucklawns lol. Frogfruit or Wooly Stemodia are probably my top choices right now, but I keep finding conflicting information about how well it actually handles regular foot traffic and dogs.

Has anyone used frogfruit this way? Is it comfortable enough to walk on barefoot and actually use as a yard, rather than just look at? Or is there another native/low-water ground cover you’d recommend for this kind of space?

It's growing on the fence between my property and my neighbor's. It seems pretty indestructible and aggressive, with tendrils starting to meander off the fence and into my yard. I've never seen any blooms on it to help with identification. It dies off during hard freezes but comes back with a vengeance each year.

I'm a big fan of stuff that can survive this well in our brutal Augusts, but trying to figure out how much I should focus on curtailing its spread.

I’m not a gardener, but I saw a sad little cherry tomato plant on sale at HEB in June and thought, why not…

I’ve since learned why it was on sale and about how tomatoes don’t fruit in the summer heat. I’ve also read about a second growing season in the fall.

So I’m wondering, if I keep her watered will I see tomatoes as it cools? Or is she done for in this August heat? Do I want to do any pruning or something to get her ready for a fall run?

I did manage to get one cherry tomato in July, which is a personal record 😃 So regardless of how this turns out I’m counting it as a win 💫

Thanks in advance!

As the title suggests I'm looking for help and suggestions planning out how to turn my backyard into one with real grass. I assume with temps as they are this is not something to be done now but want to be fully prepared. We live in the hornsby bend/tiermo area on the east side of town if that has any sway on what I should do.

I'm not too sure what grass is already growing. There is a fair amount of weeds throughout the yard as well.

Any help is appreciated. All photos are from right after mowing what was out there when we moved into the new house.

We planted this 2 winters ago (this is its second summer) and it’s doubled in size but about two weeks ago, the leaves started curling inward and there’s some yellowing near the center. Some of the leaves are brownish on the undersides. They don’t feel mushy or spongy like overwatered redbuds are described so I assumed it’s drought stressed. I’ve drip deep watered for 1-2 hours 2x a week throughout the summer but it’s in full sun until about 4/5pm everyday. I deep watered 3x this week but am wondering if this is just normal end of season stress and I should just accept that, or if I should increase watering? Or if it could be a soil issue? The soil feels dry every time I’ve watered. Thanks for any advice!

Update: after seeing some closeup pics he sent me, I'm pretty confident it's Chinaberry and they'll be his next target. Thanks for everyone's help!

My dad is clearing out small hackberries and some other stuff from his mostly naturalized back yard and sent me these two pics. I think they're Chinaberry or Golden Rain Tree, but I don't want to tell him to cut them down until I'm sure they're not pecans. Can anyone help identify? Thanks!

I live in Austin Texas and planted some herbs in my apartments planter box. They recently got these about spots and not sure what they are. I cut it all down and they are regrowing with the same thing. I water them once a day because it’s around 100 in Austin every day and we don’t get that much rain. They are in mostly sun