The Yard Everyone in the Neighborhood Talks About | Wichita Falls Tony #gardentour #gardening #texasgardening

This yard looks so good, people will think that this is AI, but it's not. We're at the house of the world famous Tony Lee, and if you think this is crazy, the backyard's even crazier, so let's get into it. All right, first of all, the Showstopper, the Petunias. Now, these are the proven winner, Supertunias, and you bought these as hanging baskets, right? Yes, it's the reason for it. Yeah. I feel like I get luck to get the hair bucket, I feel they grow quicker, faster, and I like it to put down and they keep going fast. So on this side, it looks like maybe one, two, three, four, five hanging baskets have filled out the whole thing, and then when you planted them this year, you did it a little bit different, right? Yes. Tell us how you did that. So I planted this last year, and I feel this year I make the hole a little bigger, wider, and then I put the fertilizer in there, in the bottom. Okay. A lot of them, I mean, it's like three hands. Of fertilizer? Fertilizer in the bottom. So I give them, because I know for sure, I don't know where it's supposed to be on the, because it grows too much, so I don't know where I put the fertilizer anymore. So have you still been fertilizing, or is this just from the beginning fertilizer? I did fertilizer with the liquid fertilizer. Okay, yeah. And I think it's once a month. Yeah. So that's the secret for those wondering for beautiful supertunias, is they are very hungry plants. Yes. So they love fertilizer, and then they love water. How often do you water these? So I go by temperature. So if under 95, I go one time heavy water in the morning. If above 95, I do two time. Twice a day? Yes. Wow, yeah. So that's the ticket for keeping them looking good. And then, are you watering by hand or sprinklers? I think by sprinkler, I feel like the water needs to be on the spot. Okay. Not all over the place. Yeah. So I just water, and I try to make a little mark right there, but every morning I have a hard time because they just cover the hole. Uh-huh. Oh, I see. You put the hose down in this little spot, right in the middle. Yeah, the supertunias are fantastic. I imagine people, they like stop their cars when they're coming by or when they're walking. Every day. Every day? They take picture, and they write a note, everything. I don't know what they write for, but they did write a note for everything. So if you're in competition with your neighbors, I think you're winning. I don't know. I just have fun with it. So over here, I love this little spot too. You did a lot of marigolds this year. Every year you do something different, it seems like. So the marigolds, you got some short ones. You got some jumbos over there. Yes. What were your thoughts on colors this year that you decided to go with? I wanted something more bright color. And I think this way, this flower, mosquito don't like them. Oh, yeah. And the more you grow them more in your garden, the less you get mosquito. You still have some, but not a lot like it used to be. Yeah. And they can grow wider, so they cover all the space. I like the contrast of the pink and the yellow. And these were new this year, right? No. Or last year? Last year. I got here last year. Okay, last year you bought these, Rosa Sharon, Hibiscus, Althea. And those have been doing super well. Full sun out here, obviously. And they started blooming early in the spring? Yeah, this year the weather is a little different. So they grow early, more early, and they get more. I have to trim them a little bit less because they go all crazy. Yes. And everybody ask me questions. So where I get a plant from? I just tell, you know, speak. All of these plants were from us, right? Yes. Yep. That looks really cool. These marigolds are huge. You see the big one over there? That one over there is fantastic. This is giant. So we've only been on one half. So on the other half over here, you kind of mirrored those one, two, three, four, five. Yeah, you can see it a little more defined here. Five hanging baskets of the mixed Supertunias, proven winners. You got your Japanese maples. You got your rose tree. Now the rose tree was blooming early, right? Yeah, we have a little bit issue. I have a bird in there. So they let me do nothing this year. So I finally have to wait them gone and I have to do something about it. Yeah, there is a bird nest. So I don't want to do mess around with them. So they gone right now. So that's why I trim them. Normally they are huge. Okay. And everybody like this one too because it's from your guy too. Yeah. So you had to take it easy because of the bird nest in there. Yes, sir. But they're gone now. This is so cool. And then you got your topiaries, your Japanese maples. Oh yeah. I forgot it. We did these too, the little Arborvitae, the dwarf Arborvitaes. So it's really fun. I like how you mix the textures, mix the colors. You added these beds along the sidewalk. You know, these are new. Most of the houses here, they just have the front flower beds, but this adds a little more flair. Yeah. This is some color in there. Because we don't want to see a lot of grass. So we're going to see less grass if we can. Less grass, more flowers. Very good. Your trees are doing good too. Crape myrtle and the red oak. Do we have a little bugs? Oh yeah. And we try to doctor them. They get better now. Okay. Yeah. Yeah, it's healing. Very cool. What else do we need to see in the front of the house or is it time to move around the side? The side, you have to really take a look at like special texture. We don't care because I, it look okay, but not the best. Okay. Do you see the pool? We're still working on it. There's something wrong with the filter. Oh yeah. We call a guy come over and fix it. So I like this little pop of color. You got a chocolate mimosa. Oh, that's beautiful. Yeah, the dark. It's amazing. Dark colored mimosa tree with some flowers around it. You got periwinkles and zinnias and marigolds and all kinds of stuff down there. Those periwinkles are really pretty. Yeah, I do a little bit different on this side of here. I just still working on it. Put a fan in here. I have a problem with the weeds and stuff and then I just put some flower right there to cover that spot, make a highlight on it. Yeah, this is great. So this is just a tiny little strip between the sidewalk and the fence. Just why not plant some flowers in there and give a little pop of color along this fence line which normally would be a boring fence line. Yeah. And then of course we got all kinds of fun stuff in the backyard. Yeah, too much. Look at this planter. It's periwinkles. It's crazy back here. It's a lot going on. We go through a tunnel to start with. You don't know what this is called? Yes, but I'm more Asian. They love that. Kind of make a soup and vegetable. Do you eat these in Vietnam? A lot. How do you say it in Vietnamese? Cold water? Bitter melon? Yes. Okay, that's cool. Like a wrinkly... Normally it'd be this side. Oh, so when it's ready, it'll get about... And we can tell when this one getting bigger, wider. Oh yeah. When it wrinkle like that, not ready yet. And this right here, you know what it is, right? Sugar cane. Yes. Wow, I've never seen anyone growing sugar cane here. Yeah, I just find out we can grow in a pot. Wow. So... We have three different kinds. Where did you get them? So I just go to the Mexican grocery store and they have a sugar cane. Yep. I just put down on the ground. So you can just root it from... I didn't know you could just root it from the cane like that. Ah, I'm gonna have to try that. First start, you have to do in March. Early in the year? Yes, March. Wow. That's cool. It's a really cool looking plant. It almost looks like corn or something like that. I did not know that you could just buy a chunk of sugar cane. I know you could buy it, but I didn't know you could just stick it down and root it like that. Yeah, you stick it down and then they go up. Okay, so we got our archway. We just came into... You've got potted plants everywhere because if you don't know, Tony's really into tropical and exotic fruits. So that's why most of his stuff that he grows back here is gonna be in pots and in planters. That way he can take them in over winter into a greenhouse to protect them. So some of the stuff is cold hardy, like there's peaches over there, right? Yep, peach. And, you know, on either side of the gate. But then you've got a lot of... Well, we're just gonna have to go see because there's a lot. That one right here, give me one this year. One. This is? I think it's a... Persimmon? Persimmon, yes. Just one. One persimmon. Well, this will be cold hardy. So that'll be good. I think we'll go in the second year. That's why they don't go crazy yet. The roots are still not big enough. Corn, I see over here. So you do have corn. A chicken? Yes. Just one? Three. Three, okay. They like some egg in there, I think. Oh, okay. So you've got little wooden planters around the edge for flowers, veggies, herbs. Oh my goodness. Look at your eggplants. Oh, this one is a lot. And pull this one up. The reason they go down like that because they're looking. Yeah, it's got so many fruit on it. It's so heavy. Right here. So many. So eggplants, I guess you already harvested most of your onions. You did a lot of onions? Yes, a lot of onions. I eat out there, buddy. Oh yeah. Oh, you got garlic drying, or some onions and garlic drying over there on the top of the chicken coop. Yes. Is this another, what is this? Forget the name, it's plum. Is it a? Plum. Plum? Yes, plum. Plum, okay. And this one go very fast. This guy go really fast. Did you get any plums this year? A lot. A lot? Good. Yeah, it's got like one year and they take off. Wow. Yeah. Yeah, plums grow really well here. And you can see though, I go all the way down around to the fan because I try to get a shade. We have no shade here. That's why I build up a lot of tree around to give all the shade and we can walk underneath and they cover all the vegetable. Yep. And then, you know, because that's a problem, right? That we have no shade. Yes. Yeah. So yeah, this is a newer house, newer neighborhood. Not a lot of shade trees yet. So you did artificial turf all through here. You did raised planters all along the fence. And then that's where we got veggies and fruit trees, apple trees, and other bird nests. Yes. Anywhere around here. The birds love your yard because it's one of the only yards that has a bunch of fruit and vegetables and shade. Look at those peppers there. It's huge. Those are so cool. Bunch of different peppers there. This one here, look at it. I don't know what it's called, but they're kind of different color. Oh, wow. I didn't see this. I had to put a hanger. Support? Yeah, because they all fall off when they're ready. So you don't know what these are called? Different mellow. You cook with those too? No, this one eat like fruit. Oh, almost like a type of honeydew almost? Yes. It's similar. Similar? Yes. What is this? It's star fruit? No, a different kind of fruit. I forget. It's just like tropical fruit too. Guava? No. No, it's take like a mango. You may know it. Okay. So you got more arches over here. Yes. More melons, more squash. You get more shade. You want to get more shade. It's a lot of squash. We didn't give a lot away. Every time we process about maybe 10 to 15, we give everybody around, because we can't handle it. It's just like one. It's a lot. These get huge, right? Yep. And this is two different ones. We have five different ones here. Five different ones. Yes. And then that number six right here, I think that's what you know. Oh yeah, that's a birdhouse gourd. Yes. I find out you can eat this too, but I don't know. I never tried it before. These are so cool. They're heavy too. Wow. So you got arches everywhere. You got your heart arch, mandevilla. This is just growing this year, right? Yes. It's growing fast. I feel like we're going to miss, there's so much to see in this one little section of yard. The hot pepper. Oh, these are hot peppers? Oh yeah. It's hot. You going to eat one? I don't think so. It's too spiky. This is the tomato. Oh yeah? Yeah. The purple tomato? Yes. Oh, wow. That's growing crazy. They do. That's why I hang them and stand up like this with the- It's a tall sunflower too. It's like nine, 10 feet tall. Yeah, get that tall. You have to cut all the rain at the bottom. So they put up. So pruning the lower branches will help it grow taller. Yeah. All right, so next segment of the yard. Not a pool because they're kind of working on it. Working. It's a work in progress. Yeah. This is new. I don't remember seeing this. No, this is new. So more shade. More shade. Kids can hang around out here. And we have a wall over here. Guava. Yeah. Guava growing there. Oh, there's a ripe tomato. I'm kind of hungry. You can eat it. One of the purple tomatoes. We give a lot away. They make a lot. Yeah, they make a lot. That's good. So you got your bougainvillea. Yeah. I'll talk with my mouthful of tomato. It's just fun to do it. I still work it right now. A lot of time we'll ask how I make the flower come up all the time. You have to go to a small pot and you let them go like the leaf goes kind of unhappy and you water them. And then that's why they push the flower, get more flower. Okay. So it's kind of stress them a little bit. Yeah, stress a little bit. Stress them a little bit, prune them, put them in a smaller pot, fertilize, water. Yeah. And then that'll get them to push more blooms like that. Like this guy right here. See, it's so green, but it's no flower. It's too happy. Okay. I got you. So you've got little figurines everywhere. Dinosaurs, deer, a lot of dinosaurs, the horny toad, velociraptor. What, you just love having just, it's kind of like whimsical, kind of magical. Yeah, I think it's just, I want this one to look more like natural. Yeah. And then fun at the same time. Yep. This is also cool. Stamped concrete all the way around. More artificial turf in the middle. Got a little putting. Easy clean. Easy to clean. Just hit the blower. Yeah. And then you made it like a little putting green too. So you got cups. Yep, can be your goal. Cups for playing putt-putt out here. Yep. This is awesome. See a peach. Pears? Pear, oh yeah, pear. So we got pears. Those are growing nice. This year we have less. Last year we have probably maybe 40. Wow. This year because we put a long time fertilizer. Oh, okay. When you do fertilizer long time, it start getting less. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. This is what? A grapefruit? Yep. That's pretty. And then those are? Kumquats. The more this side. See this guy right here? Beautiful. Yeah. Just potted plants everywhere. Oh, your bonsai. You did a different pot. I try making it smaller. Yeah. I usually make a pot, it gets smaller and smaller. Uh-huh. Bananas. And then this year you added your outdoor kitchen? Yeah. This is more like a bar. An outdoor bar. Yeah, so we can put all the stuff here because we have a lot, like we do garden, we do have a lot of junk. So we put all the junk go to the side and cover it. Oh, this, here's your onions. Yep. Yeah, tons. Oh, this is cool. I stack all the stuff here. Goldfish and then it's circulating in a little hydroponic, aquaponic system for some plants there. You got your TV. You got your outdoor stove. Yep. Grill. And then a nice, man, I just want to sit here and listen to the water. The plant look good, huh? Yeah, this looks amazing, this anthurium. I love that spot. Yeah. Yeah, that's a beautiful anthurium. But yeah, this is nice. Do you just sit here in the mornings or what? Evening. Evenings. Yeah. I remember this guy. Oh yeah, they do okay this year. Yeah, it's about to put on a bunch of new growth, I bet. I did cut them off. Yeah. Because I don't want to get too much in there. Who said this one is a, who said a pineapple can get a pineapple? Yeah, two years, there's no pineapple. Two years and still no pineapple? Yes. I said, where the pineapple? Not yet. Two years. This is so cool. This whole seating area over here. This one will pick up a lot of flowers soon. What is this? Jasmine, right? Oh yes, it's like a sandbag jasmine. Yeah. No, it's a- It should be fragrant. Smell good, huh? Yeah, really good. And they're different kind. This one different kind. Oh yeah. This one's bigger. Beautiful. Remember I told you about put the indoor plant here? Look at how they take it. They take it crazy. Wow, are these planted or in pots? They plant down. Are you seeing this? And then I take it off and I put back. So this is like a Mickey Mouse alacasia. Look at this crazy stuff. You gotta get in and look at this. They just acting like that. What is it doing? That's insane. You're gonna have to help me with some of these plant names, Felicia. Yeah, we got taikons. We got philodendron. Which one is this? Do you remember? I have no idea. Yeah, you got multiple taikonstellations. We got the Florida ghost, right? Yeah. Florida ghost. We've got Jose- No, that's not Jose Bueno. That's- It might be the Burl Marx. It's a philodendron. Gorgeous daylilies. See, this is something you don't see is the houseplants mixed in. You got strawberries hiding in here. You got daylilies in here. You got philodendrons. I try to fill up all the spots so I get more, cause I feel like if you get more plants in your backyard, the temperature is going down a little bit. That's true. Yeah. So it's two things. It feels cooler, but in reality, it actually is cooler because these plants will actually, as they're transpiring, they're releasing moisture into the air. And it's kind of similar to when we sweat, it cools us off. The plants sweat too, and it cools off the environment around them. So it's almost like having air conditioning out here. When we were in the front yard, it was hot. Back here, there's like a breeze coming. You got the water. You've got the splashing water. You got the plants around us. We got a little bit of shade. It feels 10, 15 degrees cooler here than it did in the front yard, like honestly. What's funny about it is we don't have no mosquitoes. No mosquitoes? Yeah. So maybe the marigolds are working for you. And... Here, there's totally no mosquito at all. On the front, maybe a little bit, but in back here, no. Oh, it's wet. Yeah. That's true. I felt it with my hands. Yeah. And then you have, at night, maybe you can send us some footage, cause this is all lit up at night. Solar lights. LED lights under the benches. I even sent a solar light here. A lot of solar lights. The string lights. The arches over there are lit up too. Yep. And what's going on here? So, they used to be here, used to be like a fireplace. Uh-huh. Like you do barbecue and stuff, but it's too big. Yeah. So I fill up with the vegetable or flour here sometimes. Okay. Yeah. So just change it out seasonally. This is incredible, Tony. Are these kumquats ready? Ready to eat? Yeah, this one ready to eat. Both of them. Both of them? Yeah. It's huge, right? So, you just eat the skin and everything, or you peel it? Uh, you can, this one, you can eat the skin, but better without the skin. Okay. I'll try it. It's too salty. Yeah, the skin can be bitter. Wow, it's sour. I'm not gonna do that. It's so sour. But I like sour. All the vegetables, we grow inside a pot. They have the roots, the plant is more cooled down a little bit. That's a trick we do this year, with some vegetable around the pot. And that vegetable, it don't take a lot of, kind of, they kind of help the plant grow more better. So planting vegetables inside your larger trees? Yeah. So they have the plant that's kind of... Keeping the roots cooler? Yeah. That's a good trick. They work. They work pretty good. We try everything different this year, and they work. Do you want this one? Do you want the white? It's so sour. They never be sweet. But I like it. Oh, this one will be sweet, but not this guy. What about this one? No, that's not gonna be sweet either. It's not sweet? No. But I can still eat it. Yeah, I cut the plant a little shorter, you see that? Oh yeah. Way shorter. But it look good, right? I'm gonna try it. Wow, that was bitter. Yeah. Michael try everything. That's good. I'm not gonna try that. I'm not gonna try this. I know this. Oh no. This is spicy. I didn't grow any this year. I might need to- It's hard to grow. I might need to take some of yours. Yeah. I eat charapita. It's a Peruvian pepper. No, don't eat it. No. You eat it. No. These are hot. It's hot. Okay, so you got all the potted plants, a lot of citrus. I'm gonna fertilize your plant with this. Oh, that's good. Just keep it right there. Yeah. This one, I remember this one. It's a passion fruit. Passion fruit? Yeah. It's got fruits on it too. Up here. Right here. Down there. Double. I picked out some already. They're a little bit going apart. Are they sour? It's not that bad. Not that bad. Like this guy right here. Okay. This is bad. Is this your goldfish? Yeah, that's yours. Was my goldfish. I had to buy something. So we need to put like a filter in there, get that water clear. I need to try a new filter, a sunlight, because my sun, I guess, this way. A lot of algae. Algae, so I had to buy some kind of. Like a UV maybe. Yeah, UV. Yeah, so I think if you got water moving, you got water pumping, I think if you do UV. Yeah. Your fish is happy. So that's good. The water, I check the water very good. I see the goldfish up here. That was that big one that was in our aquarium. Oh, and there's mosquito fish in there. A lot. Yeah. $20. Oh, I owe you. Okay, so this is your pool, but you're having some issues with the filter right now. So, but beautiful waterfall, beautiful stonework over there on the pool. And then of course, all the backdrop. Lemongrass, giraffe, more citrus, more guava. What was this? This is, this is planted in the ground. Yes. That flower, that big flower. I forgot her name. Is this like a, oh, this is like a Jane Magnolia. Yeah. Is that pink flower? Pink, yes. Yeah, this, I think it's one of the deciduous Magnolias here. They do better this year. Yeah. When you plant here, they act enough. They like acid soil. So, and it's getting a little yellow. So it needs like an acid loving fertilizer. Yeah. We will get you some from the snake, right? Yes, we have some. I'll get you some. Wow, that banana has gotten huge. They do. And papaya. Look at the papaya over there. They call umbrella. It does. They call umbrella. Bird of paradise with huge spider plants. You got everything here. This is small back there. I don't think you should go back there. This is not very pretty. I'm just looking at all the potted plants. I'm going to try this one. Are these ones better? No. They're not better? No, they're still the same. I'm just hungry, I guess. Fertilizer. You had one. Oh, the long one is sweet. Yeah, the long one is sweet. That one right there. But it don't take up yet. It doesn't have any fruit yet? Yeah, not yet. They will do soon. That's so cool. Such a unique backyard. So fun. It's good to go around here and just kind of pick where you need and then go around and see what you have in your backyard. That's why it's fun about it. We have no option. We can make it look like just a sawdust, but that's no fun. Yeah. Yeah, this is more thing every day. You can go around and see something you can find in your backyard. And your wife, Vicky, she loves it too, right? Yeah, she loves to pull the weed. She loves pulling weeds? She loves to pull the weed. That's her favorite thing to do. I say, that's good. Yeah, that is great. If you have, that's a good partnership. You like to plant, she likes to pull weeds. Yeah. That's why your garden is so beautiful. I think she helped me a lot for that. Absolutely, yeah. I could imagine. So, so cool. Thanks for opening up your home to us, your yard to us. Are you a first one? No, I'm not. Your neighbors, I know a bunch of your neighbors and they say, whenever they're out walking, they go, what do you have going on? And you're just like, come on in, I'll show you. Yeah, true. Can't lie to you anymore. Yeah. But maybe it's the first video tour back here. It is, it is. First, so yeah. Famous Tony Lee, follow him, Instagram. He has more followers than we do. Oh. Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, TikTok. You got it all, right? I try to get it all. Yeah. It's fun to have it. So, get your nails done with Tony Lee. Come see me.