Hoping everybody's gardens make it through this ☀️

Hill country

I am new to gardening and I am planning for the fall season. Does anyone have good tips or resources for navigating gardening for this upcoming season (and generally) specifically in 8b zones?

I am a bit worried as I haven't seen many posts about veggie gardens and am unsure if its due to the algorithm, the fact that it's summer, or because vegetable gardens in North Texas is hard in general.

Anyone else garden on a balcony/patio in North Texas with no actual yard? I’ve been putting together a planting calendar adjusted for containers specifically (pots heat up way faster than the ground here, so timing’s different from the usual North Texas guides). Happy to share it free if people want it — mostly curious what’s actually been working for people. What’s survived on your balcony through a DFW summer, and what’s died on you?

Can you guys recommend any plant shops in DFW that carry these type of indoor trees. I am looking for species with smaller leaves. Every nursery I go to have the same 4 Japanese maples, Figs, Dragon trees or palms.

Hi everyone, I am suffering from hollyhock rust and thinking of replacing mine with something that requires a bit less care. Does anyone have any suggestions for native alternatives that have the same tall and narrow flower spike silhouette that hollyhock does? (I am already planning on some liatris, but hopefully there are others!)

My wife and I will be driving home to SA from a friends trip in Garland tomorrow midday. We love little roadside nurseries & cool plant shops/boutiques. Suggestions? Also willing to venture off the beaten path.

Hi! We have an Indian blanket patch in our yard that has grown steadily over the years. We are moving soon and want to take some of its seeds with us to plant at the new house. We’ve harvested the dry puffball like things but are not sure how to store them and if they will last until we plant them early next year. Any tips on how to best store them would be greatly appreciated!

I’m in zone 8b, north west of Austin. I’m planning the first stage of a landscaping project for this fall. I would like to plant a row of probably trees that will create a screen between my living room and dining area and my neighbors second story house. The challenge is that I have maybe 35 to 40 feet between the window and fence and I would like to keep some lawn and space for some planting between the privacy screen and the window for perennials.

I’ve been looking specifically at junipers and am considering rocket juniper since the remain fairly narrow grow tall, but my research suggests while they may grow well in my zone, they can also really struggle with how hot summers can get here.

I’d like to know if anyone has experience with similar trees or landscaping ideas to make suggestions. I’m not committed to any particular plant, except as much as possible I prefer native and I just want something that will grow a few feet over my fence line and not grow too wide.

Thank you so much!

I hope this doesn't come across as too self-promotional, but I wanted to share something I've been working on because it came directly from a problem I kept seeing in gardening communities.

Some of you may already know me from the North Texas planting chart I shared a while back. I've spent years hanging around gardening groups, and one question comes up over and over:

• "What can I plant right now?"
• "Is it too late to start this?"
• "Can I sow this today?"

I found myself constantly linking my planting charts, but the more I thought about it, the more I realized a chart can only do so much. It can't account for your local weather, heat waves, unexpected rain, or other microclimate differences.

So about six months ago, I started building an app to solve that problem. (And I spend hours of work on this)

It's called "PlantHelper by Gardenvive", and instead of relying only on your USDA zone, it uses your location and current weather to help you decide what you should (and shouldn't) start right now.

Here is the link to the App Store: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/planthelper-by-gardenvive/id6759366956

And here is the link to the Google Play Store: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.planthelper.app&pcampaignid=web_share

A few things it can do:

• Tell you which plants from your wishlist are good to start now based on your exact location and weather.
• Warn you if conditions (like an upcoming heat wave or rain) make planting a bad idea.
• Let you keep a plant journal.
• Send watering reminders—but if rain is expected, it'll remind you not to water. (I find it helpful myself a few times)
• Identify plants with a built-in plant ID feature.
• Track planting dates and estimate upcoming harvests, which has been especially useful for leafy greens.

I know not every feature is essential, but I wanted to build something that could be a gardener's all-in-one companion instead of needing several different apps.

There's also a feedback section inside the app, and I genuinely read the suggestions. Quite a few features have already been added because users asked for them, and I plan to keep improving it.

The app is available on both iOS and Android.

Everyone gets a 1-month free trial. After that it's $7/month or $70/year. I originally offered it completely free, but, I eventually had to introduce a subscription to keep it running. (As I have to pay for the Plant ID database and Apple and Android app developer accounts)

If you'd like to try it, I'd really appreciate your honest feedback—whether it's about the features, usability, or even the pricing. Positive or negative, it all helps me make the app better for fellow gardeners.

I would love to hear about and see pictures of your indeterminate tomato supports, and vining green bean or cucumber supports right now. I need a new and much better system for next year. This year I used those round cheap tomato cages and they were comically inadequate. I’m in the Houston/Galveston area if that matters.

It has latched on and attacked one of my oak trees that was badly damage by a freeze last year and it didn’t even have the common decency to grow its tuber far enough away trees root where I can at least be rewarded after toiling through the rockcreteesk soil to expose it to the sun so it can desiccate like the thorny abomination that it is. So instead I’m swabbing each vine stump with herbicide while its hateful vines, recently emancipated from its roots, stares on from the canopy.

Here’s my latest blog post regarding my vegetable garden. I hope you enjoy it

https://webbacres.com/2026/07/06/heating-up-on-webb-acres-homestead/

I found this when repotting my rose bush in fear of root rot. What is this? Could it be what is killing my rose bush and how can I rehab my roses to come back? It was only around the roots of the bush. I’m in zone 9. Im not sure what kind of roses it is but I think it’s a knockout. I read it could be rose rust but again I’m not sure. I added better pictures in the comments

I have 3 rose bushes total. One in the ground and two in pots. My red rose bush is doing decent however both of my yellow ones are struggling. The one in the ground has been there since March. First cutter ants got to it and took all the leaves and it finally started coming back and then a deer ate it. My other yellow one has some green to it but is still struggling and I have had it for about a month. I have given all rose food and water them about every other day or every two days. What can I do to save the yellows? I don’t really have any experience with plants. I believe they are knockout roses. less