Once fall arrives, Valley garden centers and nurseries give a collective sigh of relief.  Cooler weather allows people to emerge from their homes, eager to work in their gardens and revive their landscapes.  Newcomers have absorbed the lesson that summer is not the time to start a garden. For southernmost Texas, which is subtropical planting Zone 10, fall is the best time of year to plant trees, vegetables and flowering shrubs.

Years ago, Valley nurseries were almost as common as dollar stores are today.  Only a few family-owned, hands-on retail garden centers remain in business.

Nursery roots 

Since 1912, when Grimsell’s opened its door in Harlingen, the garden center has weathered freezes, floods and fires. “We’re lucky we’ve been able to overcome disasters over the years.  But it’s amazing that the same family owns it and we’re here in the same location,” said manager George Luna.   “You know it’s been a dry summer when you see established trees stressing out.”

Landscape lovers wander around Grimsell’s brick paved patios, eyeing rows of pots brimming with greenery:  herbs, bleeding heart vines, banana trees, snapdragons and yellow-red crotons.  “October is time to start pruning roses and fertilizing your plants,” Luna advised.  Valley nurseries no long carry citrus trees and gardeners are researching other fruit trees to plant in the winter, such as Valley-adapted figs, pomegranates and peaches.

In McAllen, Waugh’s Nursery has endured as a family-run gardening center for 63 years.  Ceciele Waugh knows why.  “We offer a level of service that nobody else can. Our people know what they are talking about,” she said.  Almost all Waugh’s 11 employees became licensed nursery professionals during their first year on the job.  And to apply for the job, they had to pass a horticultural test.

“The Valley has two seasons,” Waugh said. “Mid-September to mid-November is the best time to plant but we sell more from Valentine’s Day to Mother’s Day, because that’s when people feel like planting. Spring Break is our busiest week.”

The resident golden retriever Rosie accompanied Waugh as she moved past fuchsia and pink bougainvilleas.  “We spend a whole lot of time giving out advice.  People are welcome to walk around and get to know the plants.  We have lots of handouts on everything from water conservation to what attracts butterflies.  And because we’re small and the people who do the ordering talk to customers, we carry things others might not.”  That includes organic and heirloom vegetable seeds.

The demand for different plants cycles depending on the weather, Waugh said.  When there are water restrictions, people ask for low water plants.  After a hard freeze, people want cold hardy plants.  “When we go a long time without a freeze, people buy more colorful tropical plants.  They get tired of looking at solid green and want something with flowers.  Plants don’t have to be native to be well adapted.  Look at bougainvillea and hibiscus.”

Cooking shows have spurred gardeners to plant more exotic vegetables.  “There are regular gardeners and occasional gardeners. We appreciate them all.”

A sizable percentage of Waugh’s plants come from Valley wholesale nurseries in Los Ebanos, Mercedes and Harlingen.  “Fall is best for planting trees,” Waugh emphasized.  Most root growth happens in the winter and helps get them established.  The exception is for tropical trees, like palms and jacarandas, which like a warm soil.

Waugh’s offers accessible landscape design assistance.  “If you bring in a picture of your house and measurements of the area you want to landscape, we will help you with design and spacing for no charge,” she said. Or they can draw up a complete set of plans, with the design fee refunded if plants are purchased from the nursery.

Additionally, the nursery professionals act as plant doctors when customers bring in a sample of

an unhealthy plant for a free diagnosis.  To help keep home citrus trees viable, the nursery sells drenches that knock back the population of Asian pysllid bugs when used every six months.

Tony’s Nursery in Brownsville, Stuart Place, and Caldwell’s Nursery in Raymondville are other long established retail nurseries.  Specialty garden centers cater to niche markets.  Mid-Valley Garden and Pond Supply in Weslaco stocks a wide range of plants along with water feature equipment and plants.

Heep’s Nursery in Harlingen is the acknowledged mecca for native plant fans.

Over the past 18 years, Rivers End Nursery in Bayview has built a reputation as the source for exotic fruit trees such as guava, papaya, avocadoes and dragon fruit cactus. “In our own orchard, we have over 50 varieties of mango,” said Kathy Pechacek, who founded the annual Mango Festival.  “A big part of what we’re doing is just trialing things, seeing how they will do in south Texas.”

“More different cultures are blending in the Valley.  Adventurous people hear about or taste fruits and that creates an opportunity,” Pechacek said.  “Because of the changes with citrus, they are open to alternatives.”  The Harlingen school district has included Rivers End fruit in their school lunch program. “Black sapote and star fruit were especially received by the school kids.”

Mangos are Rivers End’s heart. “There are lot of really wonderful dooryard varieties like Carrie  and Nam Doc Mai mangos,” she said. “Usually after they tasted one, they want to grow it.”  Some fruits develop quickly, only 30 days from the bloom until the harvest. “Star fruit may have a crop within that year. But the first year you plant a tree, cut off any fruit that sets.  That lets the tree get a better root system and canopy.” When you have several trees of the same kind planted next to each other, they all do better, but it is not mandatory, she said.  Papayas, on the other hand, should be planted in pairs.

Besides flowering shade trees, the nursery also grows six varieties of clumping bamboo, which do not spread.

At Miami Palms in Pharr, royal palms and foxtail palms are the most popular, primarily because they are cleaner than fan palms, do not freeze and are more bug resistant.  Like potato chips, most people can’t buy just one palm.  Half of the nursery’s customers go beyond palms and purchase plants and bushes.

For Valley gardeners, a beautiful plant is as hard to resist as a loaf of bread fresh from the oven.  This is the time of year to give into temptation in the garden.

For more information, Waughsnursery.com, riversendnursery.com, Grimsell’s at 423-0370, midvalley-gardenandpond.com and heepsnursery.com.

October 2014 cover story by Eileen Mattei