But have you ever looked around and noticed that some vines make themselves at home on your fences, sometimes without you even lifting a finger to plant anything? There are quite a few vines that give you a sense of privacy, or just something pretty to look at, while also offering great benefits to wildlife.

Coral honeysuckle, also called trumpet vine, is native to Texas and stuns with coral-colored flowers that attract hummingbirds and other pollinators. In contrast to the invasive Japanese honeysuckle, you’ll find that coral honeysuckle behaves quite well and isn’t an aggressive grower.

Pearl Milkweed Vine. If you’re fortunate enough to have pearl milkweed vine, rejoice! You’re in the presence of a stunning native vine that’s difficult to find in the typical nursery trade. This vine serves as larval host for monarch and queen butterflies, but you’ll also find many other pollinator friends enjoy the glamorous charm of this bejeweled native.

Star Jasmine. Though not native to Texas, star jasmine is well-mannered and drought hardy. You’ll find great joy in walking by and smelling the peppery, bright fragrance of the stunning pinwheel-shaped flowers. It’s versatile in that you can use it as a groundcover (like Asiatic jasmine, but much better in my opinion) or as a climbing vine. Just be mindful that you’ll need to trim it every now and then to make sure it doesn’t climb too high.

Snapdragon Vine is another native favorite of mine that you may have seen poking out from a shrub. With gorgeous flowers that resemble snapdragons, it looks delicate but is quite resistant to drought. This vine may not provide the sprawling fence cover you’re looking for, but it’s lovely for small trellises and hanging baskets or billowing out of a pot if you need something to adorn your patio. Otherwise, you can use it as a flowering ground cover. And if you want to be extra creative, you might have it grow alongside other well-mannered vines — it’ll provide pretty pops of purple and white along your fence.

As the weather gradually begins to cool down, it’s a good time to survey what’s growing on your fences or around your neighborhood. Whatever looks successful may just be what should earn a spot in your garden next.

Malachi Leo is a public health graduate and native San Antonian, the importance of water as our most vital natural resource is not lost on Malachi. Working as a field investigator under the irrigation plan review umbrella, he helps to ensure that irrigation systems going into the ground meet state and city standards. When he’s not doing that, you’ll find him exploring restaurants in town—pointing out native plants he recognizes to his friends along the way.

Spotted across town gobbling up all the sunflowers, the non-venomous caterpillars typically have orange bodies and black bristles. Spreading like zombie slime mold as a group, they devour their host, but don’t consume whole leaves. Instead, they ‘skeletonize’ the leaf, making your plant look like it’s turning into gross, dusty spiderwebs.

In butterfly form, it’s pretty — mostly black with orange and white spots in a variable pattern — and unassuming, with a smallish wingspan of about an inch and a half. Momma butterflies lay hundreds of eggs on a host plant, where they hatch simultaneously (not creepy at all) and begin eating. When you mess with them, they start flicking their bodies in unison which I assume is a defensive measure.

Before you panic and start spraying pesticides or cutting everything back, take a minute to consider the purpose of your garden. Is it merely an accessory of your property? Or a plentiful paradise for pollinators?

Also, keep this in mind: These caterpillars grow up quickly and their host plants, particularly perennials, usually bounce back with no issues.

In my yard, they seem to prefer the abundant annual sunflowers and plateau goldeneye. I’ve also seen them go for smaller plants like straggler daisy and zexmenia, but after they eat most of those leaves, they move on to bigger sunflower plants, allowing the little ones to recover.

Annual sunflower is one of the few native plants that my landscape often has too much of. But every spring, I let a handful of them sprout as sacrificial buffets for the birds, bees and my bordered patch bros. Other abundant plants they consume are ones people usually don’t mind removing from their gardens, like ragweed, cockleburs and Santa Maria feverfew.

So, why not let these little guys chow down — then enjoy the flutter when they turn.

And when you get a chance stop by and visit Milberger’s Butterfly Garden.

Kevin Pride is a SAWS Conservation Field Investigator and a self-proclaimed nature boy. He has a background in restoration ecology and is zealous about native plant landscapes that use zero irrigation. Kevin spends his free time deep underground surveying caves or hiking barefoot with his daughter, Daisy, and their dog.

A lot has been said about the difficulty of cultivating native Texas milkweed. I’m not going to dispel the myth outright, but I do argue that it’s not hard to propagate — though it can fool unsuspecting gardeners.

This slow-growing group of plants goes dormant and retreats underground every winter. It pulls the same disappearing act during particularly hot and dry summers. And just to keep things interesting, milkweed also seems to go dormant when conditions are perfect.

In nursery conditions, with rich potting mix and precise irrigation, milkweed sometimes appears sickly or like a pot of bare soil. However, the seeds tend to sprout very easily. And if you’ve ever wonder why they’re called milkweed, that’s because of the milky latex sap and that they pop up where they aren’t wanted.

Producing thousands of fertile seeds, plants in this group are a common resident in ranges, roadsides and anywhere their airborne seeds land. Unpalatable to most four-legged grazers, ranchers have long considered it a pest.

As a casual native plant propagation hobbyist, I can tell you that milkweed seeds typically sprout very easily. But don’t worry if wild seed collection and propagation is not a side quest you want to take on. Luckily, many of our native milkweed species are becoming easier to find (with a targeted search) in nurseries.

Native nurseries are a great place to start. A few milkweed species that come to mind are butterfly weed, antelope horns, Texas milkweed and zizotes. They’re tough and require very little water (except butterfly weed (A. tuberosa), which needs a moderate amount).

What exactly is a milkweed?

Milkweed is in the Dogbane plant group aka Apocynaceae. Though there are about 350 genera in this family, Asclepias is the genus commonly known as milkweed. Funastrum, Cynanchum and Matelea are other notable genera in this group and can be found in central Texas. They’re typically not good forage for deer or cattle, which is probably why it earned the name milkweed.

Sitting staunchly at the hub of our unique Central Texas food web, milkweed persists through the worst Texas has to offer. It’s a long-lived perennial with the ability to multiply prolifically in harsh conditions.

The trait that makes it unpalatable forage for livestock and wildlife is what makes it attractive to a certain few. It’s well known that monarchs lay eggs on milkweed and the caterpillars that follow will feed exclusively on the plant.

Milkweed is so named because it contains a toxic milky sap. The monarch retains the toxins throughout the metamorphosis process and the adult butterfly emerges with quite the defense mechanism. If an unwitting young bird attempts to eat the monarch butterfly (or caterpillar) it will quickly learn to avoid anything that looks like that again. The soldier and queen butterflies also utilize this strategy. They’re less known because they don’t have the unusual migratory life cycle as the monarch. Additionally, there are butterflies that simply mimic the general vibe of the monarch, queen and soldier and benefit from being avoided by predators.

Most are familiar with the milkweed-monarch relationship, but its many benefits are not limited to the ones using it as a host plant. This broad plant group is attractive to a wide variety of pollinators and their predators.

Native bees, butterflies and beetles also feast on the flower’s nectar and pollen. Aphids feast on the milky sap, ants often feed on the aphids’ “honeydew.” In fact, aphids are so common that if I’m trying to identify milkweed in the wild I will look for aphids as a clue that it’s a milkweed.

Kevin Pride is a SAWS Conservation Field Investigator and a self-proclaimed nature boy. He has a background in restoration ecology and is zealous about native plant landscapes that use zero irrigation. Kevin spends his free time deep underground surveying caves or hiking barefoot with his daughter, Daisy, and their dog.

Even though I’m itching to get started, I’m reminding myself of one important lesson I’ve learned living in San Antonio: Summer is not the best time to plant. But it is the perfect time to plan!

Instead of rushing to plant a garden during the hottest months of the year, I’m using the summer to stay inside in the AC and plan out my future landscape. Planning now means I’ll be ready to plant during the ideal planting season in fall, when cooler temperatures and three relatively mild seasons will give my new plants the best chance to establish deep roots before the intense heat of next summer arrives.

That’s exactly why SAWS has opened the Fall WaterSaver landscape coupon application over the summer for the first time.

To qualify, you need to get rid of at least 200 square feet of grass, along with any existing irrigation in the area. This year, SAWS has increased the coupon to $150 for each 200-square-foot garden bed. Eligible customers can receive up to four coupons (that’s $600!) to replace grass with drought-tolerant plants. Apply now — coupons will be distributed starting Aug. 15!

If you’re just getting started, here are a few easy ways to prepare for fall planting:

Choose the areas of lawn that you want to replace.

Take pictures of the project areas to submit with your coupon application.

Remove unwanted grass using sheet mulching or solarization.

Schedule a free SAWS Irrigation Consultation if there’s any irrigation in your project area.

Visit the San Antonio Botanical Garden’s WaterSaver community exhibit for inspiration.

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If you’re new to gardening like me and you need some help deciding what to plant, you can check out our free Plant by Numbers plans. As someone who is still learning which plants work best together, I find it reassuring to have professionally designed garden plans that make creating a beautiful landscape feel less intimidating.

If you prefer to plan out your garden using digital tools, I encourage you to check out Texas Parks and Wildlife Foundation’s free Wild Thumb app for iOS and Android. Using the app, you can easily plan out a native pollinator garden, and it will walk you through all the steps of planning and planting your garden.

I’m looking forward to spending my summer planning and preparing so when fall arrives, I can spend more time planting.

If you’ve also been thinking about replacing part of your lawn, I encourage you to take advantage of this chance to plan out your dream WaterSaver landscape garden. A little planning now can turn into a beautiful, water-saving landscape later — that you can enjoy for years to come.

Jen Granneman began her career in marine science, studying ecosystems at the downstream end of the water cycle. Over time, her work has migrated upstream, where freshwater decisions shape everything from healthy rivers to resilient landscapes. Her appreciation of water started when she took up scuba diving as a kid, and she still prefers being in or on the water whenever possible. As a conservation manager, she oversees the rebates and coupons programs to help residents save water while creating functional and beautiful landscapes. When she is not working (or underwater), she can usually be found gardening with minimal water alongside her son or exploring San Antonio’s beautiful parks.

While there’s no perfect answer, consider the following:

• Is it raining on a regular or semi-regular basis?
• How deep is the soil beneath my landscape?
• What types of plants or grass are being watered?
• How much brown in my lawn can I tolerate?
•  

Typically, a good summer recommendation is to apply at least a half-inch of water to the landscape once a week while turfgrass is actively producing leaves, stems and roots. A slow rainfall of ½-inch or more is enough to delay irrigation for at least a week in summer. (A spot shower may not be enough to avoid irrigation; check GardenStyleSA.com for the latest weekly watering recommendations.)

Soil depth is very important in the water needs of plants and grass for summer. Soil at least six inches deep or more will hold moisture longer, requiring less frequent irrigation. Watering slowly and deeply will fill your soil’s “water tank” and allow grass and plants longer access to the water.

Shrubs and trees require less water than grass in summer. If supplemental watering is needed, use a hand-held hose to apply water to individual shrubs and trees as necessary and use sprinklers or rainfall for grasses.

The most important thing to remember about lawns in San Antonio is that, for the most part, they’re biologically able to withstand drought. Bermuda lawns may turn brown in summer but will green up when it rains and temperatures moderate. Watering lawns once a week will keep them alive and ready for cooler weather.

If you’re tired of bothering with the drought’s effects on your landscape, consider one of our landscape coupons and remove turf for more colorful xeric replacements.

Nathan Riggs is a SAWS project coordinator and licensed irrigator who also happens to have a degree in entomology from Texas A&M University. Yes, Nathan’s a bug expert, and not just on water bugs! When he’s not hard at work on SAWS conservation projects, he enjoys a wide variety of interests including: landscaping, hiking, photography of flowers, insects and other critters, and planning his next adventure with his wife Ella and family.

The Texas summer heat is on, with more triple-digit temperatures in the forecast. While we can escape the heat in our air-conditioned homes, our plants are forced to deal with the brutal conditions.

Certain ones, especially native plants, fare well during the summer and don’t show signs of heat stress because they’re adapted to our dry, hot climate. But many plants we select for our yards are not well-adapted to our scorching hot summers. These plants can fade, wilt or even die from the extreme heat.

Contrary to popular belief, giving a wilting plant extra water isn’t always the answer. Many plants wilt in the heat even when the soil has adequate moisture. The wilting process is caused by plants losing moisture through their leaves. This is a natural process called transpiration: the movement of water from the roots throughout the entire plant and its leaves. (Try this fun experiment to see transpiration in action.)

When summer conditions cause a plant to lose more moisture from its leaves than the roots can supply, the plant naturally “flags” its leaves in the afternoon heat (think of a crossing guard at an elementary school.) You can see these leaves visibly curling up to compress the surface area exposed to air, thus slowing down the loss of water. If the same plant looks fully recovered on its own the next morning, you’ve just seen “flagging” in action.

You can always check the soil moisture with your finger or a screwdriver before adding more water. In our climate, heat and wind can pull moisture out of the top 1 inch of soil within hours. Because of this, you should check 2 to 3 inches deep near plants before giving them any more water. If you see moisture at this depth, do not provide extra water.

Plants with adequate moisture may wilt in the peak of daytime and revive the next morning without any assistance. If you start adding extra water to an already moist area, you may end up drowning your plants, starving their roots of oxygen and killing them.

To reduce heat stress on landscape plants, change how you water them. When I visit SAWS customers for an irrigation consultation, I often find their irrigation system set to run three or four days a week — that’s a no-no under Stage 2 watering rules — and sometimes with multiple start times. Very few plants need this much water.

Instead, you want to encourage plants to grow a healthy root system 4 to 15 inches below the soil line where most roots are found. To achieve that, water new plants with the 3-2-1 water method. Established plants should be watered deeply, no more than once a week, and larger plants even less frequently.

Watering by hand or sprinkler system for five minutes several times a week will only soak in about one inch into the soil. You’ll end up with wet soil and dry roots, leading to plant disease or mortality.

Take those same five minutes from your several times a week and lump them all together for a once-a-week deep soaking of 15-30 minutes.

To know exactly how much water different plant types need based on irrigation head types, use our basic irrigation schedule recommendations.

Your plants will grow stronger, handle the heat better and you save water — and money.

By Gail Dugelby, a SAWS conservation consultant with deep roots in San Antonio and the Hill Country. She spent her youth climbing trees, playing in the Guadalupe River, and exploring the outdoors. This drives her passion for nature and our diverse environment, especially our most precious natural resource — water. Given the choice, she would be outside all the time.

Nutgrass showing tubers (known as the “world’s worst weeds”) are particularly difficult to get rid of because of their namesakes — the edible nutlike tubers that give way to new plants.

These tubers are clever and tricky because they wait until the time is just right. The skin on these tiny tubers has a chemical that prevents them from sprouting until soil moisture washes it off. That means the wetter your lawn is, the more nutsedge will thrive and spread.

When one of these sprouts finally reaches the surface, it forms its own basal hub with brand new roots that have their very own tubers at the ends. Each tuber has up to seven buds and enough energy to make them all sprout. If you manage to successfully eradicate one shoot, the nutsedge will simply send up another. And another. And so on, like a twisted game of whack-a-mole!

If you find yourself battling nutsedge after our recent rains, there is hope. While chemical options exist, and they do work, you run the risk of leaving behind dormant tubers that are not affected by the treatments.

It may seem like a Herculean task, but hand-pulling, rototilling and spading to bring up buried tubers are your best defense. And now is the time to start because June is when nutsedge begins to create its hydra heads, so you will be kept busy during the summer.

This attentive gardening serves two purposes: spending time in your garden to survey your plants and catching nutsedge before it gets out of control.

It takes time and effort, but nutsedge is not invincible. The more you pull, the less severe your infestation will be, until one day you finally pull the last sprout out of the ground and declare victory over nutsedge.

Malachi Leo is a public health graduate and native San Antonian, the importance of water as our most vital natural resource is not lost on Malachi. Working as a field investigator under the irrigation plan review umbrella, he helps to ensure that irrigation systems going into the ground meet state and city standards. When he’s not doing that, you’ll find him exploring restaurants in town—pointing out native plants he recognizes to his friends along the way.

You may have heard the corny boomer (me) saying “first they sleep, then they creep, then they leap.” Which essentially means that for the first year after planting, trees ‘sleep’ as they recover from transplant shock. The second year, the roots creep out from the root ball. The third year, they ‘leap’ meaning there’s noticeable growth on their branches and leaves.

Well, this year, the trees I’ve planted seemed to skip the sleep and creep and went straight to leap!

So, what should you do? Nothing. Before you start trimming trees for literally no reason, just chill and let them cook. Everything is fluffy as heck! So go out and touch grass.

Kevin Pride is a SAWS Conservation Field Investigator and a self-proclaimed nature boy. He has a background in restoration ecology and is zealous about native plant landscapes that use zero irrigation. Kevin spends his free time deep underground surveying caves or hiking barefoot with his daughter, Daisy, and their dog.

One of the most familiar plants to use this clever trick is pink evening primrose (Oenothera speciosa). Also known as buttercups, Mexican evening primrose, pink ladies or showy primrose, this beauty is one of the first wildflowers to mark the end of winter in Texas.

You’ll spot it peppering roadsides as early as February. And by May, it’s blooming by the acre with large colonies of soft pink flowers blanketing roadsides in dramatic fashion. Preferring sunny areas with lower-lying moist soil, you might not think it’s a good fit for a WaterSmart garden. Our beloved buttercup may confuse unfamiliar gardeners as it appears to succumb to the summer heat.

Fear not! Autumn rains wake it from its summer slumber, and a fresh new groundcover reappears. While most other plants start to nod off for winter, the pink evening primrose shrugs off the chill (at least around here) and grows low and spralls across the ground.

It’s versatile and easy to grow, but keep in mind it doesn’t usually tolerate completely dry soil. If planted in full sun and without supplemental water, it may struggle. The plant’s narrow, irregularly shaped leaves stay under 8 inches, with the large-petaled flowers fluttering a few inches above for a total height usually less than a foot tall. In some conditions it may get as tall as two feet.

The blooms are showy, faintly fragrant and irresistible to both pollinators and curious noses. (The pollen-covered stamens might leave a yellow dusting on your nose if you sniff too close!) Their color can range from a deep rose-pink to white, but they’re usually baby pink with magenta veins and a mellow butter-colored center.

While it does spread via runners — something that might turn off tidier gardeners — it can be a lovely addition to your lawn. It can handle occasional mowing and won’t usually outcompete established turfgrass or sturdy garden perennials.

Got a dry, shady, bare patch that’s been bothering you? While it won’t bloom much in full shade, pink evening primrose will still fill in the space nicely.

As a bonus, pink evening primrose is edible and palatable, cooked or raw. The leaves and flowers taste a bit like butter lettuce and topping a salad with the conspicuous flowers is sure to impress dinner guests. Deer, on the other hand (hoof?), tend to turn their nose up at it.

Another summer sleeper to consider is heartleaf skullcap (Scutellaria ovata), which will even bloom in shady spots—and it’s also deer-resistant. These peek-a-boo plants ensure there is always something going on in your garden year-round.

Kevin Pride is a SAWS Conservation Field Investigator and a self-proclaimed nature boy. He has a background in restoration ecology and is zealous about native plant landscapes that use zero irrigation. Kevin spends his free time deep underground surveying caves or hiking barefoot with his daughter, Daisy, and their dog.

Container gardening also makes light work of replacing winter seasonal color with summer seasonal color, heat-tolerant kitchen plants, and succulents.

Before you get your pots in gear, familiarize yourself with the needs of the plants you’re considering, such as water and light requirements, growth habit, bloom period, etc.

Selecting containers that best suit your plants will go a long way toward the success of your new garden: dark-colored pots should not be placed in full sun all day, for example. Also consider the pot material. Clay or terra cotta pots absorb moisture, so they’re best for plants that can tolerate both wet and dry conditions. (The opposite is true for plastic or biodegradable pots.)

After you choose the pots:

• Ensure each container has drainage holes. You can promote drainage — and recycle broken flowerpot pieces at the same time — by placing shards over the drainage holes to prevent them from getting clogged and prevent soil from washing away.

• Fill with a well-draining garden soil mix.

• Add plants and combine plants with similar needs (water, light, growth habit, etc.).

• Remember: since your plants will be growing in a restricted environment — containers limit the water and nutrient reservoir — their needs will be different than a garden growing in the ground. They may dry out more quickly, so pay attention to watering until you understand their requirements.

David Abrego

David Abrego is a conservation consultant for SAWS. David, a native of Panama, likes to spend his time surrounded by plants and fruit trees. So if you can’t find him at home, he’s probably working in a greenhouse. David is also an arborist and an irrigation technician.