By Ann Asher

Hummingbirds may be tiny, but they rarely go unnoticed as they dart between flowers, hover at a feeder or chase another hummingbird away from whatever they have decided belongs to them.

By September, the hummingbirds visiting North Texas backyards are starting an impressive seasonal change. Fall migration is underway, and for many ruby-throated hummingbirds, Texas is an important stop on the long trip south.

Ruby-throated hummingbirds are the most familiar hummingbird across eastern Texas. By early fall, they are leaving their breeding grounds across the eastern United States and southern Canada and heading for wintering areas in Mexico and Central America. Texas Parks and Wildlife Department notes that large numbers pass through Texas during fall migration, concentrating along the Gulf Coast before continuing south.

For North Texans, that can mean more activity around feeders in September, not less. Some birds may have spent the summer nearby, while others showing up in the yard may have already traveled hundreds of miles.

Migration follows a natural order, too. Adult males generally leave first, followed later by females and young birds. So if you’ve watched a brilliant red-throated male all summer, you may suddenly notice he’s gone while other hummingbirds keep visiting the feeder. Cornell Lab researchers note that males can disappear weeks before females during fall migration.

The size of the traveler makes the trip remarkable. Ruby-throated hummingbirds generally weigh only a few grams. Before migrating, they feed heavily and can greatly increase their body weight as they build the fat reserves the trip requires. Some eventually make a nonstop flight across the Gulf of Mexico, while others follow the coastline around it.

That makes a North Texas flower bed or backyard feeder more than a convenient place to grab a meal. During migration, it can be one of many refueling stops along the way.

Keep the feeders up

One of the most persistent hummingbird myths says you should take feeders down in the fall so the birds will know it’s time to migrate.

There’s no need. Leaving a feeder up won’t convince a healthy hummingbird to skip migration. Seasonal changes, including shorter days, help trigger migratory behavior. A feeder gives a bird another food source while it prepares to leave or keeps moving south. Audubon recommends leaving feeders up as long as hummingbirds keep using them, because late migrants may still pass through after the summer residents have gone.

The bigger concern during a North Texas September is keeping the feeder fresh.

Warm weather can spoil sugar water fast. Audubon recommends cleaning feeders every day or two in hot weather and about every three days in milder conditions. Clean any feeder that shows mold or other contamination right away.

You don’t need to buy red nectar, either. A basic mix of one part plain white sugar to four parts water works well. Avoid honey, artificial sweeteners and food coloring. The red parts of the feeder are enough to attract birds.

Natural food matters just as much. Hummingbirds don’t live on nectar alone. They also eat small insects and spiders for protein.

Flowering plants offer nectar and a chance to find those tiny insects. Native plants and flowers with tubular blooms are particularly useful, and hummingbirds are commonly drawn to red, orange and pink flowers.

If you want to help fall migrants, September probably isn’t the time to deadhead every bloom and clean out every wild corner of the yard. Late-blooming flowers can provide valuable food while hummingbirds are feeding heavily.

Then, sometimes seemingly overnight, the feeder goes quiet. The bird that guarded it all summer disappears. The buzzing and chattering stop, and another North Texas summer feels a little closer to over.

There’s still no reason to rush to take the feeder down. Keep it clean, keep it filled and give the stragglers a little more time. The next hummingbird at your kitchen window may have started its trip hundreds of miles north of Texas and still have a long way to go.

By Ann Asher

The first time I saved seeds, it felt a little like cheating.

After spending all spring and summer buying plants, watering them, pulling weeds and hoping they survived Oklahoma’s heat, it occurred to me that nature had figured this out long before seed catalogs showed up in my mailbox.

Every tomato, pepper, bean and flower in my garden was trying to make next year’s garden on its own.

Somewhere along the way, I had forgotten that.

Like many gardeners, I had always bought fresh seed packets every spring. Nothing is wrong with that. Seed companies offer incredible varieties bred for everything from disease resistance to better production. But once I began learning about saving seeds, I found something satisfying about planting seeds from vegetables I grew myself.

I also learned that not every seed is created equal.

One of the first lessons was the difference between heirloom and hybrid varieties. People often use the terms interchangeably, but they mean different things.

Heirloom plants are open-pollinated varieties passed from generation to generation, often for 50 years or more. Because they reproduce “true to type,” the seeds you save from a healthy heirloom tomato should produce plants very similar to the parent the following year, as long as they haven’t cross-pollinated with another variety.

Plant breeders create hybrid plants by crossing two carefully selected parent plants to combine desirable traits, such as better disease resistance, higher yields or improved vigor. Those qualities make hybrids wonderful garden plants, but their seeds don’t reliably grow into the same plant the following season. You might get something similar, or you might get a surprise.

Neither type is better than the other. Each serves a different purpose.

As a beginner, I found seed saving much easier than I expected.

Beans do most of the work for you. Leave a few pods on the vine until they dry completely, shell them, and the seeds are ready to store. Peppers are almost as simple. Once the fruit is fully ripe, remove the seeds, spread them out to dry for several days and store them in a cool, dry place.

Tomatoes sounded intimidating until I tried them. A gelatinous coating surrounds the seeds and keeps them from sprouting inside the fruit. To remove that coating, you usually let the seeds ferment in a little water for a couple of days, then rinse and dry them. It sounds more complicated than it is, and once you’ve done it, you’ll wonder why you waited so long.

Flowers have become one of my favorite places to experiment. Watching seed heads dry on coneflowers, zinnias, marigolds and sunflowers reminds me that every bloom is already preparing for another season. Instead of cutting everything down the moment it finishes flowering, I’ve started paying attention to what comes afterward.

I’ve also learned that patience matters.

Seeds need to be fully mature before you collect them and completely dry before you store them. Otherwise, moisture invites mold and can ruin months of work. A paper envelope labeled with the variety and the year often works better than an airtight plastic bag, especially until the seeds have finished drying.

The biggest surprise has been how seed saving changed the way I look at gardening.

I used to see the end of the growing season as the finish line. Now I see it as the start of the next one. Every healthy plant is a potential source for next year’s garden, and even the vegetables I once hurried to pull out have one last job to do.

Will I still order seeds every winter? Absolutely.

There are too many interesting varieties to stop exploring, and I’ll probably always have room in the garden for something new. But I’ll also be opening a small box of envelopes from this year’s harvest, each one a reminder that a garden can last longer than a single season.

Sometimes, if we let it, the garden grows itself right into the next year. I have to admit, that’s pretty rewarding.

By Ann Asher

Every spring, garden centers fill with shoppers loading young trees onto trailers and into pickup trucks. It makes sense. The weather is warming, everything is turning green and planting season feels like it has arrived.

But ask an arborist or Extension horticulturist when they would rather plant a tree, and you’ll probably hear a different answer: fall.

It may seem backward at first, but in North Texas and central Oklahoma, experts widely consider the months between late September and early winter the best time of year to plant most trees. The leaves may be getting ready for winter, but the roots keep growing below the surface long after top growth has slowed. That lets a young tree establish itself before the next hot summer arrives.

That’s a tremendous advantage in a region where summer temperatures routinely climb into the 90s and beyond.

A newly planted tree has one job: grow roots. A tree planted in spring has only a short window before it must also support a flush of new leaves while enduring months of heat, drying winds and occasional drought. That combination can put significant stress on a young tree before its roots have had time to spread into the surrounding soil.

A fall-planted tree has a much easier assignment.

As air temperatures cool, the soil often stays warm for weeks. Those conditions encourage continued root growth without asking the tree to produce new leaves or long shoots. Instead of splitting its energy between growth above and below ground, the tree can put most of its effort into building a healthy root system. By spring, it has settled into its new home and is better prepared for warm weather. Research and recommendations from both Oklahoma State University Extension and Texas A&M AgriLife Extension support fall as an ideal planting season for many landscape trees in this region.

You still can’t dig a hole and walk away.

Choosing the right location is just as important as choosing the right tree. Consider the mature height and spread, not the size of the sapling you’re bringing home. A small oak, pecan or cedar elm may fit comfortably today, but in a few decades it could tower over a house or tangle with utility lines if you plant it without a plan. Likewise, trees that prefer moist soils may struggle in dry, exposed spots, while drought-tolerant native species often need far less maintenance once established.

When it’s time to plant, dig a hole two to three times wider than the root ball, but no deeper.

One of the most common mistakes homeowners make is planting too deep. The point where the trunk begins to flare into the roots should sit at or just above the finished soil level. Burying that flare can lead to poor growth and long-term health problems.

Backfill with the native soil that came out of the hole instead of rich potting soil or heavy amendments. It may seem like a kindness, but surrounding the roots with very different soil can discourage them from growing outward into the ground where they’ll ultimately need to survive.

Water thoroughly after planting, then keep watering deeply as needed during dry periods through fall and winter. Even dormant trees need moisture while their roots continue to develop. A layer of mulch two to four inches deep around the base helps conserve soil moisture, regulate temperature and reduce weed competition. Keep the mulch pulled back several inches from the trunk. The familiar “mulch volcano” piled against the bark may look tidy, but it can trap moisture, encourage decay and attract insects.

If you’re unsure what to plant, consider species well adapted to the Southern Plains. Bur oak, chinkapin oak, cedar elm, Shumard oak, bald cypress, Mexican plum, eastern redbud and native pecan are all excellent choices in many parts of North Texas and central Oklahoma, depending on soil conditions and available space. Native trees generally handle local weather extremes better and provide valuable habitat for birds, butterflies and other wildlife.

Planting a tree is one of the few gardening projects that benefits future generations. Long after this year’s tomatoes are forgotten and next season’s flowers have come and gone, that tree will still be growing. It may shade a porch, shelter wildlife, lower summer cooling costs or become the backdrop for family photographs that haven’t been taken yet.

Spring may get most of the attention, but fall gives young trees their best chance to thrive. Give them a strong start now, and they’ll spend the years ahead returning the favor.