- Howdy, I'm John Hart Asher.

This week on Central Texas Gardener, see how California transplants, Suthi and Sanjay Nagar, adapted to our soil and climate while adopting a new permaculture philosophy.

Andrew Ong and Jared Goza plotted new paths of discovery in a total makeover front and back.

John Dromgoole from The Natural Gardener investigates plant roots in nursery pots to pick the healthiest specimen.

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

(cheerful music) Suthi and Sanjay Nagar wanted more than lawn when they moved to Austin from Pasadena.

To figure out gardening in Central Texas, Suthi took permaculture classes that led to instruction in medicinal herbs.

Now their small front yard is a lively haven, filled with food for them, and for countless pollinators and birds.

- Early 2016, we moved here from Pasadena, and I spent the first year observing, just what's the weather like, when does it rain?

How does the water flow on the land?

Summer sun versus winter sun.

- [Narrator] When Suthi and Sanjay Nagar arrived in Austin, they loved their neighborly street.

But Suthi's growing vision went far beyond lawn and shrubs.

Plus, she needed help to figure out gardening in Central Texas.

- So I signed up for a class with Austin Permaculture Guild, because the final project was to design a project, so I said, "I'll take the class and design my yard, I'll do it myself."

And I learned a lot, I learned about just how to work with the environment in sort of the natural native spaces, versus trying to dominate land when you work with it.

I was very lucky that at the time I was participating in these things called permablitzes, which is I would go volunteer my time.

And after doing that for a bit, this was with Earth Repair Corps.

I presented my project and I said, "I would love this to get done", because it's hard to do something like this without help, it takes a village.

And I was really lucky that they picked my project.

My parents flew in to feed everybody, we had 30 plus volunteers, and we sheet mulched everything.

So we put cardboard down and compost and mulch, and we went from all grass, and a dying crape myrtle, to a brown space, (laughs) which sat all winter, I think my neighbors were worried.

One of the few things that was growing besides grass in this yard was a fairly established crape myrtle, but it wasn't doing so well.

So we did cut it down, but its branches were beautiful, and I didn't want to just put it in the landfill.

So I saved all the branches, and I used them along with cedar posts that a friend and I got from a neighbor's property, to just add some structure.

Because I knew that I was going for slightly wild, but I didn't want too much of my soil going into the street, or even the plants too much.

And so I just wanted a very gentle, sort of a loose structure and I thought, "Oh, how perfect to use the crape myrtle branches, they have a lovely twists and turns to them, and they can be remembered as being part of this yard before."

Over time, I installed the rain tank, and we had an old brick pathway, and so I pulled all the bricks from that, saved them, and used them to line my beds, trying to reuse, as much material as possible.

I was very inspired by the circular geometric shape, so I have a medicine wheel-inspired flower bed that points north, south, east, and west.

- [Narrator] Around the year, clusters of seasonally flowering perennials and annuals promise herbal harvests, lively beauty, and food for pollinators.

- I've got two types of thyme, I have African blue basil, I've got culinary basil, I have holy basil.

I like the basils, the mint family.

I've got lemon balm, I've got purple sage in there as well.

Sometimes I will also plant some vegetables randomly in there.

So I've had some eggplant, I've got a jalapeno plant in there, because I like to pick jalapenos.

- [Narrator] Even in this cozy circle, she's followed an element of permaculture known as stacking functions.

- And it means that one thing does multiple things, you stack the function.

And to me, beauty is a function, so I always pick things that I find aesthetically pleasing.

But then I would love it if they are native, or they're drought tolerant, or they are good for hummingbirds, or bees, or they are a dense shrub that allows birds to make a nest.

And then it's also a bonus if it's medicinal, or it produces fruit that humans can then also eat.

I just like everyone to have multiple jobs, that we can all work together and be efficient.

Water, water's life.

You can't have a garden without water, you can't have life without water.

After a few years, I saved my money and I splurged on this fountain, I wanted something continuous.

I like the sound.

And I just felt like the crossroads between north, south, east, and west was sort of perfect.

In the morning, you'll see lots of little birds, and they're all sitting on the rim, drinking and bathing, and they look so happy, (laughs) it really makes my heart sing.

And all the toads like to hang out there too, little baby toads, grandpa, grandpa toads, whole family.

And the bees and the wasp too, so I've got rocks in there, so they won't drown.

Those big, beautiful red wasps.

People are so scared of wasps, and I even had a nest right above my front door, nobody's ever been bothered.

You just let them be, they have their own job to do.

The more bugs and insects the better, I think.

- [Narrator] Through layers of walk-around viewpoint discovery, she brings dimension to this small front yard.

Instead of strict rows of foundation plants, she invites perusal among low-growing herbs and a big momma turk's cap that draws hummingbirds and butterflies to window view.

- I will say that my main pathway is wide enough for a wheelbarrow, but I definitely went a little more narrow inside, because I just wanted to maximize my plant space.

I have a stepping stone that I can step on, where I'm not hurting any plants to access plants in the back.

- [Narrator] Staggered slabs of Lueders limestone bisect the garden's partitions, where fragrance and brilliant color greet every front door footstep.

- As you guys can see, I have a very short front yard, but it's the only place with sun.

I wasn't about to chop all my trees down in the backyard, so this is where I had to plant.

And certainly, it can feel a little close to the road, but also I feel like when I'm working in the yard, because there's varying heights of plants, sometimes I'm working in the yard, and then I sort of pop up when somebody's walking by, and they're always surprised.

So it even gives the viewers privacy, and permission to look and admire the garden.

So I've only been gardening for a few years, and learning in the field, learning from the plants themselves.

Sometimes I like to buy plants in sets of three, and see, well this one likes more shade, this one likes more sun.

Mostly they're pollinator plants.

Because they're on the street, and this is a very dog-friendly neighborhood, I don't plant anything that I would eat.

The Gregg's mist is actually the first plant I bought, after we sheet mulched.

If you're trying to kill the grass, you don't want to dig through that barrier, because the grass will grow right up.

But I couldn't help myself, I bought a five-gallon Gregg's mist, and I put her in the ground right away before anything else.

And I let her grow wild because they're pollinators.

I mean yesterday she had like 20 butterflies, Queens and Monarchs, and little yellow ones, and gray ones, and a bunch that I don't know their name.

Moms will come by with their kids in the strollers often, and I can see them from the kitchen window.

And they'll just point out the lizards, and all the different life and all the movement that you just don't get with grass.

I am a Certified Wildlife Habitat, and so I try not to like cut things or leave it a little messy.

It's a little clean right now, I cleaned it up for you guys.

(laughs) But often, it's a little more wild, and a little more messy, so that everyone has a home, and that they're welcomed.

Because we're taking up their space, as the city grows, we take their space up, and so I'm just trying to give back a little bit.

- [Narrator] Pollinators love annual Hibiscus sabdariffa.

- This is an annual and I grow it every year because I love the tea that you can make from the calyxes.

This is a roselle, so also known as tea hibiscus, a hibiscus tea plant, I think.

You let it flower, so you don't have to harvest the flowers, which is good, that always breaks my heart a little, if I have to cut the flowers off before the bees can get them.

And then the seed pod is on the inside and you can just eat these, or you can dry them and make tea, and they're delicious, and they're really good for the whole cardiovascular system.

- [Narrator] She anchored that side of the garden with an elderberry tree, and what turned out to be a great surprise, a moringa tree.

- I planted my moringa tree three years ago, my friend gave me some seeds, and I just poked one in the soil and forgot about it.

So it's great for the pollinators, you'll see hummingbirds feasting on its flowers, and then of course it's incredibly beneficial as a food.

So I will harvest some leaves, and I often dry them, and put them as a sort of garden salt, that I make with different herbs with moringa, and I put that in every dish.

I have an eight-year-old, and back in Pasadena, I had a succulent garden, and I had mint and that was it, I wasn't doing much gardening.

And I taught my toddler to recognize mint, and then she would eat it.

And I thought to myself, "Well, I better learn more, so I know what's safe for her to eat."

And I took a foraging class, that's what led me to permaculture, because I met somebody in that class that did permaculture.

In my permaculture class, one of the instructors, Caroline, made medicine from plants in her garden, and it blew me away.

It absolutely, I couldn't believe that somebody could grow a plant that it's medicinal, and then you just make it for yourself and for your family, it was really magical.

The first medicine I learned was to take elder flowers, and infuse them into honey.

And you can take that when you've got a fever, along with yarrow and peppermint to help sweat out a fever.

I designed a rain garden for my elder, I really wanted a tree that would make elder flowers, and elderberries, and I was very inspired by the circular geometric shape.

I just harvested three, almost four, one-gallon bags of elderberries, so I want to make syrup and give it to the neighbors, so that everybody can have, you know, medicine.

Local, like literally local in their backyard medicine.

- [Narrator] In the side yard, an espaliered fig tree stacks function as it shades a wall.

- When people walk by, I want to give them a place where they know that they can take a deep breath, and they can feel grounded a little bit.

I have been known to take clippings, and give them, whether it's tulsi, holy basil, so they can make some tea, or I've given, we have a couple landscaping companies that live in the neighborhood, and they will come by, and I'll give them handfuls of lemon balm, and they love it, it's so sweet.

Find your happy space, and if it's in the garden, awesome.

- We love to hear from viewers to see what's growing on with them.

Attracting wildlife is tops, even in containers.

Last year, Stephanie Li and husband David moved back from Brazil to Texas.

When they bought their house in Round Rock, they wanted to create a pollinator and bird-friendly yard.

So, last November they planted lemon bee balm, and in May, were rewarded with a Hackberry Emperor butterfly.

Fall is when we plant carrots, parsley and dill.

In spring, Black swallowtail butterflies lay their eggs on the leaves for a new generation of pollinators.

In Rockport, Kim Einkauf welcomed this caterpillar on her carrots.

In Cedar Park, Angie and Jim O'Donnell were just as delighted that a swallowtail found their container herb.

Last summer was really hard on wildlife, so viewers gave them a hand.

In Mineola, north of Tyler, Jan Scurlock put out suet for hungry birds.

A grateful pileated woodpecker quickly showed up.

In Waco, when temperatures skyrocketed for weeks, Linda Piquet kindly shaded her bird feeders with an umbrella taped to the feeder pole.

Let's head over to Jared Goza and Andrew Ong's garden where they've restored wildlife habitat in a yard that used to be mostly concrete slab.

- Some people focus on a specific thing in their garden, and I think ours is a little eclectic, but that's how we like it.

I'm Jared Goza.

I've always loved plants, and my father grew vegetables in our backyard and things like that.

The thing that probably really pushed me into kind of plant crazy is when I was on a college trip into Tokyo.

There's a village outside of Tokyo that's really, really into bonsai and it's like covered in bonsai, there's bonsais everywhere.

And when I got back, I started growing a ton of trees from seed in my dorm room.

- I'm Andrew Ong, and I got into plants since I was a kid.

One of my first memories as a kid was actually walking outside and picking up one of those Mexican primrose growing wildly in the lawn.

And saying, "Oh look Dad, I got a little, little pretty flower."

We bought a house that was about 2017.

We just wanted a few plants here and there, some perennials, nothing too fancy.

Then eventually, we built this entire thing from scratch.

- When we first got here, whoever had the house for us loved cement, it was everywhere.

And it was really, really expensive to tear that all out.

- But we were blessed with good soil.

We grow native buffalo grass in our lawns.

It doesn't need too much supplemental watering, but to get established, it does need a little bit of help to get there.

But that's all because of strategy, timing of when you plant the lawn.

- But most of the back garden is garden.

We were able to fit as many plants in as possible with path being between it.

So we laid it out with the kind of island in the middle.

And I mean, we call it an island, and also have an area right here with the table where we can come out and have drinks occasionally.

This is decomposed granite.

It's probably the most affordable granite you can buy.

Rock is, until you buy it, you don't realize, but rock is incredibly expensive.

- Seeds will blow in, but you've just got to stay on top of it.

The stirrup hoe, which is my best friend, that will clear so many weeds so quickly.

- Any time we were putting out the paths and planning out where things were going to be, we wanted there to be a reason for those things.

It doesn't just have to be like because it's pretty, it could be because this area gets more shade so this can be kind of a woodland area.

When it comes to big trees and shrubs and things, they're really what you need to have placed before you start putting in the smaller tender perennials and the annuals, you have to think about the size and shape it's going to be 10, 15 years from now.

We have two redbuds, a shumard oak.

- A little gem magnolia.

We got the Mexican plum, we got the persimmon.

- Persimmon.

That's just a baby right now.

- And desert willow, and of course, mountain laurel.

- I focus mainly on native plants, but I also really love poppies.

And I also grow a lot of milkweed and lots of different things.

And then Andrew on it is on a completely different end of the spectrum with his roses and annuals and ornamentals.

- This year actually took a little different approach than I usually do, and I was trying to be as good of a planner as I could be.

I got my Excel book out, (laughs) I tried to computerize it this time, because like Jared said, we have very eclectic taste.

Variety is the spice of life, we have to try lots of different things to see what we like.

Sometimes you don't know you like it until you see it in person.

Based on my research, I plotted up pretty much the time that they usually bloomed from, you know, days of maturity, from seed to bloom, amount of sunlight, the amount of water, how much food I would need, as well as textures as well, and what they would pair with.

You'll find that as you garden, not everything goes to plan, and that's okay.

Things will either not bloom or they'll die, to they'll get eaten up by, you know, wildlife.

I think that the more diversity you plant, the more pollinators and wildlife you attract to your yard, and that's really the goal in our garden.

- We do have some netting on our peach tree.

We don't really have trouble with birds on it, but we do have a lot of squirrels in our neighborhood and it's the only thing that we've found so far that's kept them off of the peaches.

Our first foray into raised beds was when we were trying out vegetable gardening.

Realized that it's not really for us.

We do a little bit here and there.

I love heirloom tomatoes, so I grow those every year regardless, and peppers.

And the reason that you'd really want a raised bed for that is because of the quality of the soil.

And our soil here is okay, but when you do a raised bed, you can essentially give it everything a plant could possibly want.

Andrew really wanted to provide a place that had good water retention and a better soil quality for his roses and also had this really smart idea to add height to the garden as well.

- Caveat to that is that raised beds, just like container plants, tend to need to be watered a little bit more frequently because they tend to dry out a little bit faster because they're raised up and they're not on the ground.

Another thing I wanted to add is to add vertical interest, that is why I built those trellises from scrap wood so I could have these beautiful vines growing up and cascading over, and it functions to turn an otherwise boring space into a place that really captures people's attention and really draws them into the garden.

- We've used string a lot of different ways in the garden.

We had a lot of plants that fall over in the wind.

When we were at the Chelsea Physic Garden in London, we saw that they were growing these annuals that were taller than we were, and they had kind of tied them back with string to help hold them up, but loosely, so they can still move naturally.

We love British gardening.

I mean, obviously, this is kind of, there's a little bit of a cottage vibe in some of the areas in the garden.

They always have a water feature of some kind.

And what I was kind of thinking for it was kind of like the idea of this, sort of like an old country well surrounded by the old rocks and things like that.

With a spring going into it, I decided to kind of build a wall around the edges of it with patio stone.

We broke it up into smaller pieces, and then I kind of built a stacked wall, like a dry stack wall.

- A common question I get about our pond is, how you keep the koi safe from predators?

So Jared actually, he did something really smart at the very foot of the pond, he built a little fish cave, just, you know, digging out a little enclave where the fish can safely dive into.

- [Jared] The cardinals love to take little baths in the pond too, it's cute.

- On the side of the garage, we noticed that there was a very barren path that really it was neglected.

What can I put here, like storage wise or whatnot, to fill the space?

And we ended up on a chicken run.

So coming later this year, we are happy to introduce our ladies to the garden.

We've got six different chickens and they are currently inside waiting to grow up.

- There was another narrow area between the house and the garage and that when there wasn't really anything that we could do there, there was like weird lighting, and it was just rocks and cement.

And so we put in a narrow deck with a pergola, basically like a perfect place for container plants that want bright shade or indirect light.

- And, you know, as an outside living space, right?

Everyone likes a deck, because that's where you can lounge, that's where you can set up to work if you're working from home.

It's a place to experience nature without necessarily being in nature.

One of the main reasons why I garden is for mental health.

It's a place where I can escape, to be quite honest.

It's a place where I come home to, where I know I'm not being judged, I know I'm not being watched, I know that I can come here and let my creative juices flow.

- I want to bring the the beauty that I see in nature into our own property.

I want it to be a destination and a place that I can actually enjoy.

You actually enjoy the actual work that goes into it.

- I am happiest when I am productive, so why not marry that with something I love, which is gardening.

And so I feel that the more that I plant, the more productive I feel, and happier in general it makes me.

I feel like when it prospers, you know, it makes me feel like it's kind of like Mother Nature smiling back at me, saying, "Thank you, thank you for caring."

- Gardening strengthens our connection to nature's escapades.

In Arizona last spring, LaTisha Palmer's family watched their century plant send up a flower stalk almost as tall as their two-story house.

It finally collapsed when summer's monsoon winds came through.

In north central Texas, Lindsay gardeners Jeremy and Emily Rinner harvested two-toned squash.

The fun here is that these grew from seeds they saved from last summer's totally yellow squash.

Now Jeremy's dad noted that zucchini had grown nearby, so they just saw cross-pollination in action.

Georgetown gardener Carla Zavala Greathouse discovered that the right sunny window was what her phalaenopsis orchid needed to bloom for months.

Now let's check in with John Dromgoole who shows how to inspect plant roots in nursery pots.

(gentle cheerful music) - You know it's sometimes difficult to know when you're looking at a plant, what condition it's in.

It may not be in the top shape, and even though it looks that way, it may not be.

There's a couple of things you can do, and I think it's an important thing and that is look at the root system.

Let me show you here.

Here's a couple of really nice plants, growing their containers are in the shade.

One of the things that's important to do when you're taking them out.

Ask the nursery men, for sure, can I take it out of the pot, or they might do it for you, which is fine.

You squeeze it a little bit like this, you loosen up the root ball and then, let me show you this, see the nice roots on that thing?

Really nice vigorous, good growth on it, that's important.

That's a healthy plant right there.

The roots should be nice and vigorous like that and there also should be new growth.

These are two things I would look at if I were selecting a plant.

This one right here would probably be in the same flat but it's a little bit smaller and so you wonder why that one's smaller?

Let's see here.

It's because the roots aren't as vigorous on this thing, and between the two, I think I'd pick that one right there.

If there's just a limited amount, that one wasn't so bad.

Look at the difference here, these came out of the same flat.

So what's wrong with that one, why is that one so short?

I'll tell you what, once again loosen it up, put your fingers over the top of the soil.

There's hardly a root on there.

There's a little one right here, but there's not much of a root.

That limiting root also limits the size of this and the growth of it.

This is the other version of it, this is the one that's nice, healthy, vigorous.

There's that new growth right there.

I'm always looking for new growth, that says a lot to me.

Once again put your fingers over the soil, loosen it, let me show you.

There's the root system that should have been there on that other one.

That's a nice white root system.

Once again, we'll just say this over and over because it's very important, loosen it up, otherwise it will grow in that hole that you make right there.

If you loosen it up a bit, it'll have a tendency to head out of this little square area that it's in to begin with, and they'll establish themselves much more vigorously.

Here's a coleus, nice little shade plant.

Look at these two, they're the same plant right there and they, but look at that right there.

Wonder what's wrong with this one?

There's not a root on it.

This is a big problem right here.

I'd put that one back immediately.

I'd tell the nurseryman, "Hey you got some plants without roots on them."

Here's the nice vigorous growth on this one, look at that, wonderful, wonderful root system right here, that's a vigorous plant.

There's a couple of other things.

Here's this one for $5.95, and here's this one for $2.49.

The difference between these two, this sounds like a bargain, but look at the size of it.

If you're going to cover an area with a ground cover, this one's going to cover much more quickly, this is a heartier one.

If you're making a hanging basket, you've already got a hanging basket growing here.

- Find out more and watch online at centraltexasgardener.org.

Until next time, remember, adopt the pace of nature, her secret is patience.