Gardening Methods

Best Bulbs to plant for novice in Texas?

Need super easy to grow and almost maintenance free flowers. I’m thinking of planting blubs. My circumstances are as follows:
1. I’m in hot, central Texas (Austin).
2. I have no experience and little time to “play” in a garden.
3. My space is approximately 12 feet x 5 feet.
4. It gets only mid-day sun (about 4 hours).
5. Probably best if it was a medium height plant.

Hello, fellow Texan…..West Texas, gardening zone 7b here. You are in gardening zone 8 or 8b. The last three cold winters have changed our zones just a bit.

One of the easiest flowers of all is vinca. They take care of themselves and are drought hardy, although they do like to be watered. There are two types, you want the vinca that grow about two feet tall. The other is a ground cover plant. Be sure to have a clerk help you find the correct one. Do not plant seeds, it takes too long. You want to buy “bedding” plants that come in a six pack or a 24 plant pack. Here are some pictures:

http://www.parkseed.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/StoreCatalogDisplay?storeId=10101&catalogId=10101&langId=-1&SearchText=vinca&mainPage=textsearchresults&RequestType=NewRequest&go.x=13&go.y=9
“““““““““““““““““““`
For a list of Austin flowers/shrubs, go to this link and fill in the form at the bottom of the screen where the Texas map is showing, click Submit at the bottom of the page:

http://www.gardenstops.com/queryform.htm

Happy gardening to you.

Landscaping Ideas for a Beautiful Yard : Dealing with Invasive Plants in a Garden