FAQs About Dorris

Who’s Dorris?

I’m an older gal who plants stuff and spends a lot of time in the garden. I live in a house in one of those densely populated suburbs just north of Big D. I have a twenty-two pound cat named Harry and a few dozen goldfish (who think they’re koi – but don’t tell them that) in a small pond in my back yard. I’m a third generation Texas gardener who paid attention when Mom and Granny said, ‘you can’t grow that here’, tried not to cry when they were right, and tried not to say ‘haha!’ too loud when what I planted survived.

What’s in this Blog?

Ramblings about my garden or Texas gardening related topics, including some of the funny things that happen to me when I go outside. Also, since this the internet and apparently plain text blogging <insert horrified gasp here> isn’t enough anymore, I’ve added my own cutesy illustrations of me in and around my garden. 

Sometimes, funny things happen to other people in their gardens and they tell me about it. Or they want my advice and invite me over for an ‘intensive gardening discussion’ which typically involves copious amounts of alcohol and cussing about Texas weather. You’ll probably see some of their stories here too.

Why did you start this Blog?

I’ve spent the last few decades trying to get stuff to grow in that black clay from hellebore we North Texan’s call dirt. Family, friends and neighbors started asking me for gardening advice a few years ago, so I thought I’d start a blog so I could write this mulch down somewhere and the next time someone asks me why all the leaves (and twigs, and stems…) fell off their Hibiscus (which they planted in the middle of their yard with no shade and no compost, in AUGUST) I can just link ‘em to this.

Help! I’m new to Texas – what should I plant here?

As I blog, I'll try to mention plants that do well here in the DFW area. At some point, I might make up a master list. In the meantime, you can always check out the Texas A & M Texas Superstar Plant list here: http://texassuperstar.com/ for a list of plants that typically do very well here. (IMHO, these are more like guidelines for selecting plants, rather than rules. Honestly, I couldn’t tell you the difference between a New Gold ™ Lantana and a Trailing Lantana if you held a pitchfork to my head – just pick up the thing that has the word “lantana” somewhere on the label, and you’ll be fine).

I plant stuff for two reasons: 1) because my mother, grandmother, aunt or neighbor gave it to me/told me to plant it (FREE! – this is my favorite option), or 2) some greenery caught my eye while wandering through my local  gourmet nursery and the little darling was so bad-aspen, I have to have one (or ten…).