Extension Educationin Williamson County

Trees offer a lot of great things in our world.  They provide shade on hot days, they are beautiful points of interest in the landscape, and they put off oxygen.  Trees go one step further by providing free compost every fall!

We have really had some beautiful fall color during the last few weeks, and the trees are starting to lose their leaves.  Before you purchase landscape waste bags and start raking, consider using the leaves for mulch or compost in your landscape.

Leaves can be used in the home landscape in a few different ways. (more…)

The Christmas season is here!  I enjoy using plants and natural elements to decorate my home, and during the Christmas season that means poinsettias and Christmas greenery.

Poinsettias are a neat plant to grow, and they have an interesting history as the Christmas flower.  Poinsettias are native to Mexico and were cultivated by the Aztecs for their bright colors.  The flowers were used by Franciscan priests in the 17^th century for nativity processions since it blooms near Christmas.

In 1828, Joel Roberts Poinsett, US Ambassador to Mexico, saw the brightly colored plants in bloom, and he sent some plants to his greenhouse in Charleston, North Carolina. (more…)

One of my mom’s favorite flowers to grow is a pansy.  Every year in the fall, we went on a search for the perfect tray of pansies.  Some years she liked to plant a mix of colorful pansies, and other years she planted a solid color for a big impact statement.

Pansies are in the Violaceae family, which has more than 500 species.  Violas originally come from Europe, and our modern-day pansy is a hybrid cultivar that was developed in the mid-1800’s. (more…)

The weather is finally starting to feel a little more like fall, or maybe I am trying to convince myself that 89-degree temperatures are fall weather in Texas.  The shorter daylight hours are making a difference in the weather, and I am ready to enjoy some fall vegetables.

I always enjoy planting salad greens and lettuce in the fall, and this year I am looking forward to the results of a broccoli trial in the Master Gardener Demonstration Garden.  A couple of our Master Gardeners will be attending an Advanced Training Class in Texas Superstar plants, and they are getting a head start on the class by planting Texas Superstar Green Magic Broccoli. (more…)

The month of September has rolled by quickly, and I am somewhat behind on my monthly garden task list.  September is a great time to divide and re-plant irises.  I have some beautiful white irises that need a little more room, and I will be moving some of them to a new spot in my yard. (more…)

The recent rains are a great boost to my lawn and garden.  I really am amazed at how quickly plants can recover from drought after a good, soaking rain.  My salvia plants are already blooming again, and my fall tomatoes are really growing a lot of foliage.  The rain also helped the weeds kick into gear, and they are growing like…well, weeds.

With fall just around the corner, this is a good time to talk about preventing cool-season weeds.  Winter weeds such as henbit, dandelion, annual bluegrass, rescue grass, and ryegrass will be germinating soon. (more…)

August is an interesting time for Texas gardeners.  We are trying to keep our plants alive in the heat and drought, but we also start to look forward to fall gardens and flowers.  I wrote about fall tomatoes last month, and I continue to plant fall crops of butternut squash, zucchini, Zipper Cream peas, and a few peppers.  If you have not had the privilege of a bowl full of Zipper Cream peas with ham, some sliced tomatoes, and a big piece of sweet cornbread, you have not lived.  You need to find an old-timer and fix this problem soon.

Dr. Larry Stein, Texas A&M AgriLife Horticulture Specialist, puts out a great list of monthly garden tasks, and first on the list for August is a reminder to plant seeds for cool-season plants.  We enjoy a wide variety of plants to grow in the fall and winter, everything from pansies and zinnias to broccoli and cabbage.  I planted sweet basil seed last week to get some fresh basil this fall to go in my salads. (more…)

When you have been gardening for a while, you start to notice that the weather affects all kinds of things in the garden.  It is easy to see the effects of the heat and drought on our plants as they wilt in the sun, but the weather also affects disease and pest problems.

During a rainy season, I know that we will get a lot of calls about fungus like take-all-root-rot and large patch in lawns.  Lots of rain and high humidity makes the perfect conditions for those fungal pathogens to multiply.

The heat and drought might make you think that all the pests are dying or in hiding until it cools off, but one pest really makes itself known during hot weather.  Spider mites increase in hot weather, and that is certainly true this year! (more…)