It's not necessary to have a large garden to enjoy nature. A garden home may have less square footage than a city lot, but you can have just as much beauty.

In fact, there are many advantages to having a smaller space:

• Purchase only four plants instead of four flats.
• Colorful containers add accents.
• Pavers and a swing create an outdoor playroom.
• Enjoy visitors with appropriate placed birdbaths and feeders.
• Less time and money spent on maintenance and water!

Utilizing Texas Superstars™ and native plants to provide color and texture will enable you to have much to enjoy.

Silver beardgrass (Bothriochloa laguroides) and little bluestem (Schizachyrium scoparium) both provide seed for birds. Butterflies and hummingbirds enjoy sipping nectar from autumn sage (Salvia gregii) and smooth-trunk Texas persimmon (Diospyros texana) adds to the view. Turk's cap (Malvaviscus drummondii) has bright red or pink flowers and Texas mountain laurels (Sophora secundiflora) stay green year-round.

Check with your TNLA nursery for shrubs and trees to plant this fall in your petite garden. You only need a few!

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Laura C. Rogers is a Bexar County Master Gardener.