Click here to read our June Newsletter on featured bloomers:

June Newsletter from Mosty Brothers Nursery

The list includes Vitex, Crape Myrtles, and Texas Betony

Read our latest newsletter to find out about St. Johns Wort Hypericum, Zexmenia, and Ajuga that we recommend this month:

July Newsletter Click Here

Our temperatures are soaring and with the heat and dry weather, we wanted to take a minute to highlight a few plants that thrive in the Texas Hill Country summer.

Caesalpenia Species

Caesalpinia Pulcherrimma

Our second species of Caesalpinia is the Yellow Bird of Paradise. The leaves of this plant are smaller and finer in size, and it tends to grow more upright instead of shrubby. We recommend pruning this species to encourage fuller growth. Like the Pride of Barbados, the Yellow Bird of Paradise also has an outstanding and showy bloom. The bloom is yellow with extremely long pink/red stamens shooting out from the center of the bloom. We don’t see this Caesalpinia as often, but it is an extremely interesting plant that thrives in hot sun. The Yellow Bird of Paradise is the most cold-hardy variety available.

Caesalpinia Mexicana

Tecoma Species

Tecoma Stans

 

 

 

Tecoma Alata

Orange Jubilee

 

The Tecoma Alata, or Orange Jubilee, is a great landscaper choice as it grows rapidly and loves the heat. Orange Jubilee grows faster and a bit more upright than Yellow Bells. The flowers start out a brilliant, bright orange in early spring and fade to light orange/yellow through the fall. It is a long and consistent bloomer. These will grow roughly 2' taller than the Yellow Bells by the end of the summer and in milder winters, will not require much pruning.

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American Beautyberry

Callicarpa americana

The American beautyberry is a native deciduous shrub, or understory tree, that works well in the shade. Right now, the beautyberry is covered with clusters of striking deep purple berries. It is an exceptional and unique plant for any landscape. As winter approaches, the shrub will loose its green leaves and hold on to the berries until late winter. The American beautyberry can grow up to 8’ tall or you can cut it back 12” above the ground in late winter and keep the shrub more compact and dense (more like 4’ tall). This is a care-free native shrub that blooms in late spring with small white flowers. The beautyberry can also tolerate direct sun but will require more water to keep it from wilting.

Gregg’s Mist Flower

Conoclinium greggii

Gregg’s mist flower is a native Texas perennial and a butterfly magnet – especially to the Monarch butterflies during their migration. The 1G containers at the nursery will be covered with hundreds of butterflies in the summer and again in the fall when it flowers. Gregg’s mist goes dormant in the winter and comes back from the ground in early spring. It’s a fast-grower and can spread, serving well as a groundcover. Once established, Gregg’s mist is drought tolerant. This flower works well in partial shade or full sun.

Mexican Mint Marigold

Tagetes lucida

It’s hard to believe, but fall is rapidly approaching and it’s time to think about your fall bloomers. The Mexican mint marigold is an outstanding fall bloomer and also serves as a tarragon-substitute for your herb garden. This Marigold is often referred to as Spanish or Texas tarragon. This plant is another perennial that freezes to the ground at our first freeze, and comes back from the ground in the spring. It grows to approximately 2.5’ tall and can be planted in full sun or part shade.  

Other great fall bloomers to consider: Fall aster, Gregg’s mist, copper canyon daisy, cenizo, Mexican bush sage, autumn sage, mealy blue sage, lantana, verbena, gaura

Fall blooming grasses to consider: Gulf muhly, Lindheimer’s muhly, miscanthus, dwarf hamlin, deer muhly

With the arrival of the fall season, it’s a fantastic time of the year to catch our native and ornamental grasses in full bloom. Read ahead to find out what grasses we recommend planting for the Texas Hill Country. Also be sure to take note that each of these grasses listed below is on the recommended Plants for Texas list. Plants for Texas is a program established in 2003, which tests and recommends plants that thrive in Texas (especially because they can handle Texas heat). 

Gulf Muhly

Muhlenbergia capillaris

• spectacular deep pink to purple blooms 
  
• grows to 3' tall by 3' wide
• drought tolerant
• Texas native
• plant in full sun to part shade
• recommended Plants for Texas: click here to read more

Maiden Grass

Miscanthus 

• beautiful cream-colored blooms
• grows 4-5' tall by 4-5' wide
• plant in full sun to part shade
• recommended Plants for Texas: click here to read more 

Dwarf Maiden Grass

Miscanthus sinesis 'Adagio' 

• smaller version of the Miscanthus with a bronze bloom
• grows to 3' tall by 3' wide
• drought tolerant
• plant in full sun to part shade
• recommended Plants for Texas: click here to read more

Big Muhly

Muhlenbergia lindheimeri 

• tan colored blooms with blue/green leaves
• grows to 5-6' tall by 5-6' wide
• extremely drought-tolerant
• Texas native
• plant in full sun to part shade
• recommended Plants for Texas: click here to read more

Happy Holidays to everyone! Winter is here and this is the best time to plant new trees. Read ahead for featured and recommended native trees to install now. 

Possumhaw Holly

Ilex decidua

Possumhaw Holly is a Texas native large shrub or small tree. The Possumhaws are beginning to drop their leaves now, which allow the brilliant red berries to stand out and reminds us that winter has arrived. The Possumhaw can be planted in full sun or part shade and will grow to approximately 15' tall. 

Bald Cypress

Taxodium distichum

Thanks to the native Guadalupe Bald Cypress, we can enjoy vibrant red, orange and yellow foliage up and down the Guadalupe river right now. And as the leaves of this conifer begin to drop, the tree continues to provide a point of interest with its magnificent large trunk, knobby roots, and layered branches. While the Bald Cypress is well-adapted along the river banks and wet conditions, they are also suprisingly drought tolerant. The Bald Cypress is considered a fast growing shade tree when watered frequently. 

Texas Mountain Laurel

Sophora secundiflora

The majority of our trees in the Hill Country are deciduous. However, the native Mountain Laurel provides us with evergreen coverage all year long.

The Mountain Laurel is a slow growing, multi-trunk tree that can reach up to 25' tall. Plant in full sun to enjoy the dense lavender blooms in the spring. The Mountain Laurel thrives in the wild in rocky conditions and therefore requires good drainage when planted in landscaped areas.

Spring is here and we have a new website – welcome to our new site! We have updated the site to include new photos, more history on the nursery, and a section dedicated to specimen trees. Take a look around and call us or email us if we can help supply plants for your Spring planting.

One the biggest challenges when planting in the Hill Country today is finding out what the deer won’t eat. I get this question daily. And honestly, it’s hard to say what they will and won’t eat, as it seems to change year-to-year depending on the weather conditions.

However, we like to use the website below as a reference to a good guideline of what the deer usually don’t bother:

http://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/archives/parsons/publications/deerbest.html

Another good resource can be found here too: http://www.wildflower.org/collections/collection.php?collection=deer

When planting trees we recommend building a protective fence around the trunk – up to 3’ tall. This will prevent the deer from rubbing the bark off with their antlers. We offer easy to install tree guards at the nursery too so be sure to ask us about these when you come in for a tree.

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Newsletter - May Featured Plants

Now is the time to get your trees installed. We have a variety of field grown Texas Natives such as Bur Oak, Cedar Elm, Spanish Oak, Texas Redbud, Mexican Redbud and more. Call us today to get more info on availabilty! 

We will also be digging Vitex, Crape Myrtles (white and red), Chinese Pistache, Easter Red Cedars and Montezuma Cypress.