Thanks @Plantmania refreshing doesn't work
There are others issues like the blue notifications stay up till I restart also
It's just on my computer, not the iPad, tablet or my iPhone

Bubbles said:@needrain The plant at the very bottom of the photo is a different kind of Euphorbia tirucalli. It's miniature, stays small. The light green one turns red in spring'



This big one never turns red at the top. It just lopes along with no care and little water.

I'm growing mine side x side. They both turned red this spring. The biggest difference is that my original one has more erect growth. The new one stayed perpetually wilted for weeks after I first got it. Not sure why it did that. No part of it died and it finally firmed up, but it firmed up with that wilted form. New growth on seems to be more upright. The original was bought as Euphorbia tiracalli 'Firesticks'. The larger one is about 2' tall more or less. I took two photos, one with the flash because it tends to outline the growth making it clearer. Both manage without a lot of water for me.

The Mexican Flame Vine has started blooming. I'm going to like this one if I can keep it going and it gives me a lot of blooms! Sure does like water. Guess I can't blame it since the full sun conditions are really hot. I'm wondering if the native habitat for it is a naturally higher rainfall situation. Wet, tropical plants do really well in the hot conditions here if I can just manage to provide the 'wet' . They handle the excessive heat better than some of the natives if you can just give them the water.

Hi Donald, this is from an article I kept a few years back from an Aggie newsletter. This year like the other plants this one wanted more water because of all of the rain but it is back to normal. The one in the pot always needs more water but it is a constant bloomer

Btw, my dearest friend nw of Dallas has one in the ground and she cuts it back every winter fills a 10 gallon nursery pot with leaves or hay and covers the plant and puts a brick or two on it, Love those blooms!!!

Aggie horticulture newsletter excerpt

Mexican Flame Vine (Pseudogynoxys chenopodioides) by Pat Forke, MG 2010 This showy orange and yellow vine flowers best in full sun and is a great butterfly attraction. This vine may need some help climbing in the beginning but will then grow rapidly and may need some trimming to keep it under control. It can be trimmed any time without any harm to the plant. The flame vine does not require a lot of water and will flourish with a small amount of fertilizer. When I lost a very tall Mexican palm to Hurricane Ike in 2008, I had the palm trimmed at the five-foot height the water covered my property, then surrounded the five-foot stump of the palm with wire and planted the Mexican Flame to surround the palm. The first winter the vine froze back to the ground, so I planted another one only to have the original vine sprout out shortly thereafter. It now surrounds the palm and weaves through the surrounding oleanders.

@froggardener
Jolana,
NW of Dallas? That's really interesting.

If it does well, I may try and split it and try some in ground. I use the truckloads of oak leaves I have here for insulating faucets and things. I stuff potting soil bags full of leaves and then shove those under something to hold them in place. That really works well. Would be easy enough if I could find something to work for a cover that wouldn't blow away. I've considered getting some straw hay bales and making a bale wall and filling the interior with leaves and putting a cover on. The problem would be invasion by mice and rats. That would be a certainty out here in the boonies.

I'd read once about a fellow that was doing something along those lines to protect a coral vine which he'd moved to the Sherman/Denison area from the Austin area. He was overwintering it with a lot of protection, but it wasn't doing as well as when he had it in Austin. My coral vine got killed by the first freeze, so I'm having to start over with some seeds. They have been slow to get going. I'm not sure they will bloom this year. But I know now to get them completely inside before the first freeze.

I suddenly seem to be trying a lot of vine type plants and they are a difficult problem to solve what with needing winter protection and growing in a windy climate. Combining a trellis in a container with a plant that needs the protection just doesn't work very well and they absolutely have to be anchored strongly during the growing season or they will blow over.

Donald @needrain, I understand, I'm from that area and Abilene, remember,
Do you have a barn cat? That would solve your hay bale problem, maybe
I have just covered mine with a very large terracotta pot but that is here, sometimes a really big difference.
I don't even know what to expect this winter
I remember seeing plants in early spring that should have croaked during winter in Abilene, protected by a pile of tumbleweeds,

One of the changes in my lifetime is the difficulty of having an outside cat, even one that is allowed to come and go from the house at will. Coyotes get them. Coyotes themselves are excellent mousers, but they are equally willing to dine on cat. Folks that dump cats out in the country now are just feeding the coyotes. Some last a while, but eventually they disappear. Not that an outside cat can't find trouble otherwise; I still think it's the coyotes that have tipped the scales against a barn cat. Growing up here, I never saw or heard a coyote. It would be a rare day now that went by without hearing them now. Occasionally I also see them skulking around the perimeter of the yard during the day. I'm sure my little dog is the magnet for that. I just hope his natural fearfulness will be enough to keep him beyond harm.

Yes, we have had a lot left at our house and lost a bunch, to coyotes or bobcats
When I was little, we always had barn cats and I never heard a coyote unless we were camping in Colorado
Now, I see and hear them every night also
When we move, I hope to get a cat

Hello Texas gardeners. Just to let yall know....I live in SC but follow this thread. I enjoy seeing your blooms. It gives me inspiration to try new things. I read mostly, but I wanted to let you know I am here and enjoying your pictures.

Hi Zazinnia, good to hear from you, what is the weather doing in SC?

The weather is hot and humid!!! Today and tomorrow around 100, then cooling down to the low 90s. We have 40% rain chance the next few days. We bought our house 11 years ago and it came with a pool. Me and my grandchildren (4 and 6, almost) usually swim every afternoon.

Like here, yuck!!!

I miss having a pool, but I still have a water hose,

@Zazinnia Glad you're here! South Carolina is a beautiful part of the country. You can probably grow lots more than we can here. What kind of plants do you like?

@froggardener I miss having a pool too!

Thank you for the welcome. As far as what I grow......everything I can buy, trade, swap, root, or start from a seed. I love almost all plants.
I grow Angel Trumpets, lantana, roses, day lilies, iris, ZINNIAS, cannas, various vines, sun flowers, amaranthus, rooster combs, salvia, etc.... Love to find bargains on the marked down racks at Lowes or WalMart. I also buy the mixed bags of tubers and roots. Many of my flowers are no ids and I am fine with that. This year I am loving tropicals and house plants. Of course in zone 8, most of my tropicals will come inside for the winter and become house plants.

Sounds like you have a wonderful green thumb. So happy to see you here in the Texas gardening forum. The more, the merrier!

to Texas Gardening @Zazinnia

No pools here. If there were one, you couldn't fill it up. New, stringent water restrictions arrived in the mail today. I wonder if there is a normal anywhere anymore?

@Zazinnia may just be our sister, Jolana!

I was reading her post and thinking the same thing
Zazinnia, you fit right in, we love the bargain tables Plus, you grow the same things we do, lol
Glad you are here!!

In my excitement I didn't see the last line Zazinnia. @Bubbles is the Tropical plant grower. I have a few but not 3 greenhouses full