texas mountain laurel
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My Texas Mountain Laurel Tree Continues To Surprise Me
My little Texas Mountain Laurel (Sophora secundiflora) was the first tree that I planted here last spring. For any plant, I expect the first year after installation to be primarily spent growing a healthy root system, and I don’t mind if it doesn’t bloom in its first season. However, this particular tree’s first year has been filled Continue reading
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New Spring Growth: Texas Mountain Laurel
My little Texas Mountain Laurel (Sophora secundiflora) tree was one of the first things I planted here in spring 2023. Until I came to Seguin, I was unfamiliar with this tree, but it is very popular here and elsewhere in central Texas. The progress of this tree has not been straightforward, and when it’s more Continue reading
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Short-Term Effects Of The Freeze
In the past week we have had five nights of below freezing temperatures, with the lowest recorded here of 16.0 F. I expected to see some wilting, blackness, or loss of leaves and we certainly had that. With native plants, that is almost never a concern, and it’s just a part of nature cleaning up. Continue reading
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Tree & Shrub Growth Report, January 2024
I think that about once a year I will take approximate measurements of the trees and shrubs that I have here. Like children, when you see them every day, sometimes you don’t appreciate how much they’re growing (or not). The measurements were recorded on January 6, 2024 and the photos were taken a day or Continue reading
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My Propagation Station
I don’t have a greenhouse, nor am I experienced in plant propagation. However, occasionally I encounter new opportunities to try. The easiest situations are when plants self-seed, or grow runners that root. I have had success with moving baby plants of Salvia and Frogfruit to new locations, either by just digging them up in one Continue reading
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More Caterpillars On The Texas Mountain Laurel
A couple of months ago I had an infestation of Genista Broom Moths on my Texas Mountain Laurel tree. Last week I noticed a new crop of hungry caterpillars munching on the tender growing parts of the same tree. I wrote about this more in my earlier post, but the bottom line in choosing whether Continue reading
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Defining Areas For Two Small Trees
The Mexican Olive (Cordia boissieri) and Texas Mountain Laurel (Sophora secundiflora) trees were planted earlier this year, and each had vaguely defined mulch circles already. In order to more clearly separate these trees from the seeding activities that will happen near them, I’ve given them each a stone circle and added fresh mulch. Here’s the Continue reading
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Genista Broom Moth — A Choice Had To Be Made
Texas Mountain Laurel (Sophora secundiflora) trees are slow-growing and expensive. So I was dismayed to check one morning and see 30 or so caterpillars munching on the fresh new growth of my tiny tree. The second photo is a crop of the first. ID with the help of iNaturalist told me that these are caterpillars Continue reading
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How’s the Texas Mountain Laurel Doing?
A Texas Mountain Laurel tree was the first plant that I bought here and it went in the ground in March 2023. Then in July I noticed that half of the tree was paler than the other half. This photo is from that time. I asked several of my native plant colleagues as to what Continue reading
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Preparing Texas Mountain Laurel Seeds For Germination
UPDATE: The effort described in this post had zero success. See this more recent post for a different approach and better outcome: https://rewildingmylot.blog/2024/08/01/germinating-texas-mountain-laurel-seeds/ Seeds of the Texas Mountain Laurel tree are remarkably robust. Once they fall from the tree, it can take up to ten years until germination, but I didn’t want to wait that Continue reading
About Me
Nature Lover.
Inquisitive Observer.
Student Gardener.
I invite you to join me on my journey to convert my sterile (from a nature point of view) new house lot to a healthy and diverse ecosystem, as I make discoveries, mistakes, and hopefully progress. I am not an expert or professional. The project started in February 2023 and the location is Seguin, Texas, USA.
Rewilding My Lot 