- Hi there, I'm Tom Spencer.

This week on Central
Texas Gardener,

see how to layer for
low-care dimension.

Tim Kiphart from Far South
Nursery combines succulents,

bamboo, and
flowering perennials.

On tour, a small garden
applies geometry in front,

and goes for a pet friendly
back, including a catio.

Daphne answers
your top question,

and Jeff Pavlat cleans
up succulent plants.

So let's get growing,
right here, right now.

- [Announcer] Central
Texas Gardener

is made possible in part by
Austin Area Garden Center,

sharing the joys of
gardening for over 50 years

in Zilker Botanical Garden,

home of 32 garden clubs
and Zilker Garden Festival.

zilkergarden.org.

And from the University of Texas

at Austin Lady Bird
Johnson Wildflower Center,

displaying Texas native
plants in sustainable gardens.

And with the generous support
from Lisa and Desi Rhoden.

Support for this and
other KLRU productions

made possible by the
Producers Circle,

ensuring local programming
that reflects the character

and interests of the Greater
Austin, Texas community.

(playful upbeat music)

- On a small lot in east
Austin, Briana and Mark

applied geometry in
front to boost dimension.

In back, they designed
for pet friendly,

including a catio for
rescued feral cats.

- [Narrator] This old
yard found new roots

in pieces of the past.

In 2003, when Briana
Miriani and Mark Biechler

settled into an elderly
east Austin bungalow,

they put their backs and
creativity into its restoration.

- We're just getting started
on renovating our house.

We've done other things first.

We did the yard, and then
we built a guest house

in back, because we
didn't have any room

in our house to have
anybody (laughing)

except on the couch, it's
such a small, old house.

Then the last thing, the
most recent thing we've done

is build a catio, 'cause we've
got all these inside cats.

We've got five inside
cats, four of them

came from the street and were
just not quite street smart.

So, we got them fixed
and brought them in.

And I just felt bad that they
couldn't go outside anymore.

But we didn't want
to let 'em out.

- [Narrator] Briana and
Mark have always adopted

abandoned mistreated dogs.

The cats came with
the neighborhood.

- There were a lot of
unfixed, feral cats,

probably 15 at one time,
that I set about fixing,

and the Humane Society
has a really good program

(laughs) for that,
thank goodness.

There were just so
many cats, and you see,

like in the neighborhood
there's groups

on different blocks
that look the same,

that you know all came
from the same family.

I founds homes for about seven.

- [Narrator] They were also
fixing up the small front yard.

Giving it geometric diversity
broadened its visual scope.

Mark offset the rectangular
yard and chain link fence

with curving beds and narrow
strips of Palisades Zoysia.

To echo the lines of
the fence and house,

they laid straightforward
flagstone pathways.

Their raised bed design
brings together both contours.

Graduated levels of old bricks,

given a paint brush facelift,
frame shapes of all kinds.

Rotund golden barrel cactus
and leaf-clustered agaves,

join flowering perennials.

Even edibles get a spot in
repurposed galvanized buckets.

They tucked in
foundling trinkets,

and rusty-hued small boulders.

Rather than hedge
out the neighbors,

fence beds alternate screening
plants with breezy views.

Food and water attract an
active wildlife population.

They made the
backyard pet friendly.

- And things just kind of
evolved around the animals,

it seemed like more and more.

The dogs would play
and hit any shrubs

that we put along the side,
they'd just take them out.

They're 70-pound dogs and
they'd just take them out.

So we got the watering troughs
and put plants in there.

We built the guest house in
back and we do Airbnb sometimes,

and we have other family
members, some who may be older,

and we decided to divide
the yard in half in back,

so that the dogs could be
kept out of the back area.

And that kind of started
this whole thing.

The grass didn't
grow in back anymore

because of the
shade and the dogs,

so we just decided
to mulch half of it

where the dogs played
most of the time,

and then the back half
we just did gravel

because it's shady
back there too.

It's kind of a bonus
back there too because,

one, it's easy we can
get the leaf blower out,

just to clean it off, so
it's kind of low maintenance.

Also we found that Jack,
the long-haired dog,

does not like baths.

And we found that it's
not so much the bath,

it's being restrained
that he doesn't like.

So we have to, during the bath,

we have to let him
go several times,

and then he'll just run
off and kind of shake,

and then he'll come back
to us when we call him

and we'll continue
with the bath.

But if we lock him
in the gravel part,

when we let him go, he
sometimes will roll around

on the ground, but
it's the gravel,

so he's not like
rolling in the mud,

as he would be
doing in the grass.

The mulch part has its
part for them to play,

and it's softer, and
then the back part,

also good for bathing. (laughs)

- [Narrator] Then
they built the catio,

to let their feral cat
rescues enjoy the outdoors.

- [Briana] We decided
to make it match

our back gate and our fence.

It's still kind of evolving,
there's a lot of stuff

we've learned about it, but,
it's good, they like it.

There's a small learning
curve of a couple of weeks.

They all kind of acted
like we were gonna

put them back out on the street,
(laughs) which we weren't.

But now they just go
in and out constantly.

We realized that you
have to put the shelves,

and you have to stack them
so they're like a ladder.

You know, you can't just,
they have to be able to go

from one shelf, jump
to the other shelf,

jump to another shelf, to
get to the highest shelf.

- [Narrator] She advises
to research cat doors.

- You're putting
it into your wall,

so it's gonna be there a while.

Or your door, we got
one for the wall.

I didn't want something
that's going to fall apart

and we're going to have
to open up our wall again.

But I know it's got
like a metal interior.

The flap is really thick
too, it really, and it's got,

I mean, maybe they're
all like this,

but it works really well.

And it's got two magnets,
when the cats go out

it hits those magnets
again and, you know,

in the heat of the summer,
we just keep thinking,

Oh the air
conditioning's going out,

but there's a
thick plastic door,

and it seems to
work really well.

Our house is about three
feet up, with the piers.

So for them to come out that
door from the laundry room,

it was about three
feet above the ground.

So we had to build
a little platform,

and then build a
ramp down from that.

So it ended up there's a
little doghouse kind of design

back there by chance, and
I put a little dog bed

under there, so
they do use that.

Sometimes it's cooler
in the summer, you know.

And sometimes some will
be like way up on top.

We did put grass in the bottom,

it's like the only
grass in the backyard.

It's struggling a little
bit, I think it might not

be getting enough sun.

But I'm going to see
if I can make it go,

rather than put
artificial down there.

But they do really,
they go down there

and roll in the grass.

Everything I do I have
to see if it's toxic.

'Cause they're gonna chew on it.

You know, whether it be just
a little toxic or a lot,

but years ago I had a cat
get hold of a kalanchoe leaf.

And those mother of
millions, or whatever,

that are all around here.

And he just, we brought
it in for the winter,

not knowing it was super toxic,
and he just got one leaf,

and chewed on it, carried it
around and played with it,

and I had to feed him
through a tube in his throat

for about two months, I
mean, it was horrible.

- [Narrator] In their garden,
home, and neighborhood,

Briana and Mark want to
make a positive impact.

- The Humane Society has
a free spay and neuter

for feral cats, which is
just an amazing program.

Because I'll go in there, you
drop them off between like

6:00 and 8:00 a.m., and they'll
have like 80 cats sometimes.

they do it two and
three times a week.

And in one session, they'll
have that many cats,

and I just think, what if
people weren't doing this?

Bringing these cats
in and trapping them,

what would it be like?

It's still a problem,
it's a huge problem.

It's kind of amazing,
there's a lot of people

behind the scenes
doing a lot of stuff.

- If you're tired of planting
things in a straight line,

and wanna mix it
up a little bit,

you're in the right place right.

Right now, I'm joined
by Tim Kiphart,

from Far South Nursery,
we're gonna be talkin' about

all sorts of different
plants that will work well

in combination with one another.

Welcome to the show.

- Thank you for having me.

- It's a pleasure
to have you here.

You've brought along a
lot of terrific plants.

We're gonna start by talkin'
bout things that grow tall,

and at the back of the beds.

And you've brought along
a Golden Goddess bamboo.

Tell me a little bit about it.

- In today's building
scheme, you know,

lot size is shrinking so
much that it's so important

to have plants that scale up,
and people still want privacy,

still need something evergreen.

But it can't overwhelm
the landscape.

So, we've got a couple
really nice bamboos,

the Golden Goddess
being one of 'em.

It's about eight, 10, 12
feet, if it gets really happy.

And about that wide, but
love the architecture,

it has an upright weeping
arching habit to it.

- [Tom] Very graceful form.

- Very graceful.

- And bamboos are tough as nails

and this one is a
clumper not a runner

so it will stay in a
tight space, right?

- All the bamboos we grow
at Far South are clumpers,

and so they do stay contained,

and with that being said,
you may have a spread

of one to two feet
a year on those.

But very easy to maintain,
very easy to remove,

canes, combs as they're called.

- Sure, sure, yep.

- Very easy to
control and contain.

- Now bamboos like
full sun, and I think

they like a little
bit of moisture.

- A little bit more moisture,
but are really actually

quite adapted once acclimated.

We have some planted in the
ground out at Far South,

and they've been in the ground
for about five six years,

get little to no
supplemental irrigation.

What's nice about the Multiplex,

the two bamboos that
we have here today,

is they do take some
shade, they actually prefer

a little bit of afternoon shade,

or even bright
woodland conditions.

- Okay, so underneath a
tree or something like that.

You've got this one here,
and everybody's looking

for screening in
the shade as well.

You've brought along
another bamboo.

This is Chinese Goddess,
is that correct?

- Chinese Goddess, which
for all practical purposes,

is just a smaller scale plant.

Smaller leaves, finer
leaves, thinner combs,

a little bit shorter plant.

Where Golden Goddess
gets to be 10, 12 feet,

Chinese Goddess
comes in at six foot.

- Which is a really good
height for a lot of plants.

And again, for that layering
that you're looking for

of tall, medium size plants,
these two work well together.

- Lovely.

- All right, well, you also
brought in a bunch of Nolinas

which are one of my
favorite plant families,

and I wanna dive in and
talk about one of them

is new to me, it's No-lee-na
or No-lye-na Siberica,

and tell me a little
bit about this.

When I first saw it, I
thought it was an Iris

or something like that,
it looks so lush and full.

- It's a very unique
plant, the Nolinas are all

grass-like plants, so they
give you that sort of texture.

We call this La
Siberica, it's the area

in Mexico where it's from.

Has a very nice,
weeping pendulous habit,

dark green foliage about
3/4 of an inch wide.

Will actually form
a trunk over time,

and unlike some of
these other ones,

is rather fast at doing it.

- I've heard they grow
as tall as 20 feet.

- In habitat, in
habitat, and those might

literally be hundreds
of years old.

- Okay, okay, well, I
won't wait for that.

But boy it's a
gorgeous looking plant.

And right next to
it is an all-star.

It's the Nolina texana, which
is a lot of different names,

bear brass, basket grass.

- [Tim] Bear grass, basket
grass, Nolina, you know,

Indigenous tribes
did use the fronds

for weeding purposes,
hence the name.

The Texas bear grass,
or basket grass

is one of our hill
country natives.

What makes it kind of
unique is that bloom spike

actually flowers within
the foliage of the plant.

- Interesting little
bloom spike on it.

And again, tough as nails,
full sun, doesn't need

much water at all, just as
easy going as it could be.

- Yeah, full sun, and even my
dad lives outside of Boerne,

and we have it in the
garden in several places,

where it picks up
just windows of sun

throughout the day, and is
in primarily afternoon shade,

and does just perfectly fine.

- Yeah, it's happy
going right? (laughing)

- Happy.

- The Nolina nelsonii
is a stunner.

You brought one
of those as well.

The coloration on
this, my favorite.

I love that pale gray-green
color, absolutely stunning.

- Ah it's hard to beat
that color, it's so blue.

And the fronds are so upright.

The architecture is fantastic.

This is another trunk former.

But it's slow, it's
also a great option,

as all of 'em, for containers.

You need a large container,
but you can certainly expect

Nelsonii to grow four
feet by four feet.

- Right, and it will make,
all these plants would make

beautiful counter
points or foils

to something soft and
leafy like the bamboo,

or other kinds of
tall-growing plants,

so it's a great
foreground object,

very sculptured in front of
the looseness, so it's nice.

- That's it you know,
and with the modern trend

in architecture these
days, all these plants

lend themselves to
that modern aesthetic

as well as the dry
land aesthetic.

- And they're, real
quickly, they're also

pretty cold hearty, and
pretty friendly in the garden.

It's not like a yucca
with sharp ends.

This is not something
that you need

to worry about
your children with.

- Yeah, all perfectly
hearty, no issues with cold.

You might watch the edges,
the margins of the leaves.

I've had paper cuts

on more that one occasion.
- Yeah I could grab 'em.

- But something's
not gonna reach out

and grab ya back though.

- There ya go.

You brought along a couple
different forms of agave,

which again go perfectly
with the plants

we're talking about.

The first one is
the squid agave,

which is so graceful looking.

- It is, squid agave's
a very apt name for it.

With age it does throw
the tentacles out.

Love it in containers,
love it in the ground.

This one does pup up.

What we have found though
also, is that it does best

with at least a little
afternoon shade.

You know, I think you
were mentioning that--

- Right, in my garden it
got a little sun scald

with too much afternoon sun.

And it's again graceful plant,
great low-growing plant.

It will colonize, and is
again, tough, tough plant.

- Tough as nails, 30 inches
by 30 inches, three by three.

Hearty to that certainly
10 to 15 degree range.

I think one thing worth pointing
out was some of the agaves,

even though they're hearty,

is that if we're going
to have precipitation,

that sometimes it's best
to go ahead and cover them,

because that precipitation
will freeze on the leaves

and sometimes will
scar the foliage.

- Got it, very smart advice.

Now we have another agave,
but I wanna skip ahead.

You brought something new
that we've never talked about.

This is a Eupatorium, called
viburnum-leaf Eupatorium.

It kind of blows me away,
'cause lookin' at it,

I'm thinkin' it's just a
viburnum, it's a woody shrub.

But it's a very
new introduction.

- Pretty new introduction,
certainly for us here in Texas.

It is a Mexican species,
and as you said the foliage

is reminiscent of a viburnum,

and it is a woody
mistflower or boneset.

What I like about it is it's,

again it's a
smaller scale plant,

three feet by three
feet, evergreen,

and then it is a
fall/winter bloomer.

So for us we saw it bloom this
year in November/December.

- Great for the butterflies.

- If there's any stragglers
around, you know,

and absolutely, wonderful
for the butterflies.

- Well it certainly
looks like a viburnum

with a nice glossum leaf, it
looks like a terrific plant.

Real quickly, growing
conditions for this one.

- Really not picky, very
tolerant of all sorts of

growing conditions,
all sorts of soils.

Beautiful pinkish-white flowers.

- [Tom] Ah sounds great.

- A little bit of
shade in the afternoon,

woodland conditions to full sun.

- Real quickly, you
brought along a sedum,

tell me about that as well.

- My favorite sedum in
the world Sedum palmeri.

Great for the front of a
bed, super for a container.

Blooms in February, evergreen.

- All right well, it's
been a lot of fun,

taking this little
trip with you.

Thanks so much for
coming on board.

- Thank you for having
me, appreciate it.

- Okay, and coming
up next, it's Daphne.

(fun upbeat music)

- Hi, I'm Daphne Richards,
and this is Augie.

Our question of the week
comes from John Thomas.

He has two mature live
oaks in the front yard.

One has a full canopy of leaves,

while the other is almost bare.

John says that this happened
over the last several years

and wants to know what might
be causing the leaf drop.

Well John, trees lose
their leaves due to stress,

normally related to
heat, cold, or drought,

or due to infestation by
a disease or insect pest.

If a tree is stressed, it
will drop more of its leaves,

drop them earlier in the
season, and will remain bare

longer than surrounding
healthy trees.

From your photos, there
doesn't seem to be any evidence

of disease or insect
damage, and you've said

that you're watering both trees,

so there must be an
issue with the roots

and water uptake in
the stressed tree.

This is most likely
due to soil compaction.

You can check for
soil compaction,

by taking a screwdriver or
other similar metal object,

and trying to insert it into
the soil around the tree.

If the soil is compacted,
it will be very difficult,

if not impossible,
to push down into it.

When soil is compacted,
there isn't enough pore space

for oxygen and water,
making it virtually the same

as growing in rock.

Unless the situation
is remedied,

the tree will
continue to decline.

Although many people aerate
the soil in their lawns

each year, by pulling out
small plugs of turf and soil,

it's much more difficult
to aerate the soil

around mature trees,
with their large,

extensive root systems.

We recommend you contact
several certified arborists

and consider hiring
someone to assist.

A qualified arborist
could aerate the soil

around the tree safely, using
special tools and techniques.

Our plant of the week is
annual warm weather vine,

morning glory, thanks to tips
from Lea Joy from Smithville.

First, she soaks
the seeds overnight.

Lea says she's grown
them without this step,

but germination takes longer.

After soaking, plant seeds in
a full sun area of the garden

and keep the soil moist
until they emerge.

Fertile, well-drained
soil is great,

but morning glories
tolerate, and even thrive

in rocky, poor soil.

These vigorous, fast-growing
vines must have a trellis,

fence or other climbing support.

Each flower lasts just one day,

but new ones open the very
next morning to attract bees,

hummingbirds, and butterflies,
like this Monarch.

Lea reports that she doesn't
water her morning glories,

since rainfall is usually
enough, but when times are dry,

certainly, give morning
glories a little drink.

This year, Lea reports that
she's growing several varieties.

Every summer Lea collects
seeds from the pods,

and replants the following
spring, after the last frost.

Other pods that fall to
the ground sow themselves.

And Lea notes that the
seeds are poisonous,

so do keep out of reach
of children and pets.

Our viewer picture this
week comes from Pam Beall

in San Antonio who spotted
a Monarch butterfly

on her Japanese plum tree
in November last year.

Growing successive bloomers
from spring through fall

helps all our pollinators,
including Monarchs.

We'd love to hear from you.

Visit klru.org/ctg to
send us your questions,

pictures, and video.

- Now let's check in with Jeff
Pavlat for Backyard Basics.

(fun upbeat music)

- I'm Jeff Pavlat
with the Austin Cactus

and Succulent Society,
and today I'm gonna talk

a little about pruning agaves,
whether in the landscape

or in containers, a
little bit of pruning

can help agaves look their best.

Looking at this
large agave here,

you can see it has a lot
of dry leaves lower down,

and then even up higher.

Now naturally, agaves
drop leaves at the base

and they slowly go
down to the ground

and you can cut them off
for aesthetic reasons.

On ones in the landscape,
if they're sort of hidden,

and don't bother you, it's
not necessary to remove them.

But in containers, I
usually remove 'em.

Now, this particular
agave is really dry,

which is why it has so
many leaves up higher,

but another reason agave
could look this way

is with freeze damage, and if
an agave does suffer damage

from freezing, you'll want to
wait until it dries up good,

and then you can cut
those leaves off.

So I'm gonna start
here by pruning off

one of the lower leaves.

If the leaf is mostly damaged,
I'll take it all the way off.

(sawing of leaf)

And then in this, I'll
just turn it here.

Now this one is completely dry.

The dry ones are much
harder to get off.

(sawing of leaf)

And then for tips that
are dried back like this,

I recommend cutting it
off at a bit of an angle,

because I think aesthetically,

it looks a little
bit more natural.

(cracking)

Let's see.

And then we can just
keep working our way
around like this.

(sawing of leaf)

Now on an agave when
you've cut it like this,

the sap in here can
burn a little bit

if you get it on your hands.

So you want to kind of be
careful not to do that.

If you do get the sap
on, just wash it off

with some soap and water.

And then for smaller agaves
in containers like this one,

this one is not a
cold hearty plant.

It hasn't been pruned in
probably a year or two.

You can see it has a lot
of pups growing around it

and a lot of dead
leaves at the base.

So those I'll just start
and work my way around,

and take 'em off.

(leaves crunching)

And it can be a
little bit tricky

getting your hands under here.

And for some of you, if you're
not totally comfortable,

you might wanna wear gloves.

I usually don't, but...

And then, right here you can
see there's an agave here,

so I'll just pull it out.

It doesn't show many
roots, but if you pot it up

about that deep, it'll
just start to grow,

and in a few years, you'll have

another plant just
like this one.

So, as you work your way around,

you can already see that
plant looks much better.

Now this is one
where I would just

take part of the leaf off,

and I would cut it
at a bit of an angle.

(leaves crunching)

So as you can see, with
a little bit of pruning,

your agaves will look
a whole lot better.

For backyard basics,
I'm Jeff Pavlat.

- Find out more and watch
online at klru.org/ctg.

And follow us on
Facebook and Instagram.

Until next week, I'll
see you in the garden.

(fun upbeat music)

- [Narrator] Central
Texas Gardener is
made possible in part

by Austin Area Garden Center,
sharing the joys of gardening

for over 50 years in
Zilker Botanical Garden,

home of 32 garden clubs
and Zilker Garden Festival.

zilkergarden.org.

And from the University
of Texas at Austin

Lady Bird Johnson
Wildflower Center,

displaying Texas native
plants in sustainable gardens.

And with the generous support
from Lisa & Desi Rhoden.

Support for this and
other KLRU productions

made possible by the
Producers Circle,

ensuring local programming
that reflects the character

and interests of the Greater
Austin, Texas community.

(chimes ringing)