Keep Wimberley Beautiful

The hot dry summer along with the early first frost cheated us out of several fall wildflowers. Copper Canyon Daisy, Lindheimer Senna, Boneset, Madrensis, Cow Pen Daisy and Palafoxia are just a few of the plants we normally see in the fall that failed to put on much, if any, show. The early frost did provide us with beautiful red sumac this year.

This past summer I suggested we cut the spent blooms from Mealy Blue Sage, Pride of Barbados, Crepe Myrtle and Lantana with the hopes that we would get a second round of flowers in the fall when it cooled off. Unless you watered these plants, you didn’t get a second show. Even the roses did not have a customary lovely fall blooming session.

Gardeners are optimistic. Maybe next time we will have a better growing season. Psychologists say that intermittent reinforcement where the delivery of a reward occurs at irregular intervals has been determined to yield the greatest effort from the subject (we gardeners are the subjects and bountiful flowers are the reward.) “The subject does not receive a reward each time they perform a desired behavior or according to any regular schedule but at seemingly random intervals.”

Okay fellow subjects, let us try planting our wildflower seeds on a drizzly fall day, as we are advised to do. Fall is supposed to be the best time to plant perennials. This week I planted some perennial Maxmilian Sunflower plants, and I hope they will survive. As usual, it is recommended we water newly established plantings to increase their chances of surviving.

Some plants can be cut back after a frost and others should not be cut back until spring. Roses are not supposed to be cut back until after Valentine’s Day.

The plants that I am currently cutting back are Lantana, Yellow Bells, Turk’s Cap, Mealy Blue Sage, Mexican Firebush and ruined Copper Canyon Daisy.

Written by Jackie Mattice, Hays County Master Naturalist