Extension Educationin Williamson County

Pill bugs, doodle bugs, roly-polies.  These little critters have some cute names, and it’s so fun to watch them roll up into a little ball when you touch them.  They are a harmless bug with no bite or sting, and I always enjoy watching them crawl around.  Pill bugs have become a hot topic of discussion in our demonstration garden after they munched their way through a few rows of tender vegetable plants.

The common pill bug, Armadillium vulgare, is an isopod.  This is a type of Crustacean that has adapted to life on land.  They actually breathe through gills and like wet environments.  Pill bugs are usually about one centimeter long and gray or brownish in color.  Their thorax is made up of seven overlapping plates and they have seven pairs of legs.  Pill bugs can roll up into a tight little ball when they are disturbed, which is how they get their fun roly-poly name. (more…)

Spring is in the air!  I am so glad to see trees blooming and starting to put on leaves, and I cannot help but stop at almost every nursery I see to check out their plant selection.  Unfortunately, springtime brings out terrible violence in the hearts of some gardeners, and they take it out on poor unsuspecting crape myrtles.  I have already witnessed several crimes this year, and I wish I could hand out tickets for the gardeners and landscape crews who insist on the crime of Crape Murder.

Crape myrtles, Lagerstroemia indica, originally come from China and were introduced to Charleston in the late 1780’s by Andre Michaux, the plant explorer and botanist to King Louis XVI.  The flowering trees thrived in the warm environment of the Southern United States.  Now they are one of the most popular ornamental trees in the US, loved for their showy blooms, interesting bark, and beautiful structure. (more…)

Spring is on the way!  I am already enjoying the warmer temperatures, and I confess to making a few impulse plant purchases.  Those new tomato plants were too tempting for this horticulturist to resist, even if I have to protect them from potential freezes this month.

While our lawns have not started to green up quite yet, this is a good time to start preparing for warmer weather.  One task to start doing now is an irrigation system check-up.  You can perform a three-part check to make sure your system is in good working order before the weather gets hot, and this leaves plenty of time to call a professional if your irrigation system needs repairs. (more…)

Every February, I start to get excited about spring and warmer weather just around the corner.  During this time of year, we start to think about pre-emergent weed control in lawns, pruning fruit trees, and trimming back perennial plants for new spring growth.  This February, I would like to put out a reminder about oak wilt prevention.

Oak wilt is caused by the fungus, Bretziella fagacearum, that invades the water-conducting vessels of the tree (xylem).  The tree responds to this invasion by plugging the tissues, which stops the transportation of water to the leaves.

Red oaks like Spanish oak, Shumard Oak, blackjack oak, and water oak are often the culprit for spreading the oak wilt fungus.  Fungal mats form beneath the bark of diseased red oaks in the spring, and the nitidulid beetle spreads the fungus from infected trees to fresh wounds on healthy trees.  Red oak trees will maintain their leaves, then drop all the leaves at once.  The leaves turn bronze, or a branch will turn brown or red.  Red oaks rarely survive oak wilt and typically die within four to six weeks after the first signs of infection. (more…)

Valentine’s Day is quickly approaching, just in time to buy your sweetheart a rose bush!  February is a good time to plant both bare root and container grown roses so they can establish their roots before spring and summer.

Texas A&M AgriLife Extension identified four varieties of roses as Texas Superstars: Belinda’s Dream Rose, Knock Out Roses, Grandma’s Yellow Rose, and Marie Daly Rose. Texas Superstar designated plants have been grown throughout the state and proven to be good performers in the diverse regions of Texas.

Marie Daly Rose was developed for Texas as a new color of the famous antique rose “Marie Pavie.”  This rose variety has good disease resistance and is tolerant of alkaline soils like we have in Williamson County.  This is a shrub rose that grows to three feet wide and three feet tall with fragrant, double pink blooms.  It blooms from spring to frost in the fall, so this is a lovely rose to keep your Valentine happy for many months. (more…)

By A. J. Senchack, Williamson County Master Gardener

Christmas cactus refers to many winter holiday plants whose common names are used interchangeably. Confusing?  Most gardeners who think they are growing a Christmas cactus are not actually growing a true Christmas cactus, Schlumbergera x buckleyi?  Ninety percent of what are sold at retail as a Christmas cactus are actually a Thanksgiving or false Christmas cactus cultivar, S. truncata var., and they are not even a cactus (an epiphytic succulent). These minor points aside (both plants look the same except for their “leaves”), we can still enjoy this month this tropical houseplant’s vibrant trumpet-shaped flowers, cascading down leaf-like stem segments. Bursting in a riot of flower colors—red, rose, white, cream, lavender, purple, peach, orange, and yellow—this “cactus” guarantees you can never have enough of them (see Figure 1).

So, what can we do to stimulate more cactus blooms next fall? The simple answer is grow it just like its wild Brazilian relatives—in a cool, shady, high humidity habitat in the crook of a tree. Not very descriptive of most homes’ indoors, is it?  Fortunately, Nature designed this succulent for containers and low maintenance. (more…)

January is the month of suspense for vegetable gardeners.  The weather is often too cold to be outside in the garden, but we all know that full planting season is around the corner.  The seed catalogs start coming in the mail, making us dream about ripe tomatoes and delicious summer squash.

We are all looking forward to spring gardening, but there are quite a few things for a vegetable gardener to do in January and early February.  January is the time to plant onions.  Many local feed stores and nurseries have onion sets in stock, and they should be planted now for a harvest in late May.  Not long after onions, it will be time to plant potatoes in mid-February.

Beyond onions and potatoes, you can also start growing some vegetable transplants from seed in late January.  Tomatoes, eggplant, and peppers are great vegetables to start from seed, and they will be ready to plant in the garden in mid-March after the last freeze. (more…)

The New Year brought some winter weather with it!  I enjoyed the warm weather through December, but I did not enjoy getting mosquito bites while I mowed my lawn two weeks before Christmas.  The recent cold front that blew in on New Year’s Day made it feel more like winter weather, and it certainly froze back a lot of perennial plants that were still green.

To get the year started off right, here are a few winter tasks to keep your lawn and garden in top shape.

First, January is a good time to prune trees because many of our trees have lost their leaves, making it easy to see the limb structure.  Winter is a good time to do heavy pruning because the trees are not using much energy right now.  Trees use a tremendous amount of energy to put on new leaves in the spring, so removing a large percent of the new foliage can stress the tree.  January is also an excellent time to prune oak trees because the oak wilt pathogen is not being actively transmitted by the nitidulid beetle.  We do not recommend pruning oak trees from February 1 through June 30. (more…)

The shorter days of winter are here, and I am not able to spend quite as much time out in my yard.  During the winter, I find myself really enjoying house plants to bring cheerful greenery into my home.  I have to admit to killing my share of house plants, usually bought on a whim when the bright foliage and cute succulents caught my eye at the grocery store.

I like to think that I have a green thumb for plants outside, but house plants can sometimes be a little more finicky.  Fortunately, I finally have some plants that seem to be thriving indoors.  If you share my trouble with house plants, you might ring in the new year with a resolution to try one of these low-maintenance plants. (more…)