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Microlife Biological Fertilizers
Nature’s Way Resources honors the contributions of our late founder, John Ferguson. “The Lazy Gardener” Brenda Beust Smith and Shelby Cassano welcome your feedback and remain grateful to the many horticulturists who share their expertise.
Published October 14, 2026
WOW! Isn’t this weather wonderful, especially after this past summer? Take advantage! Many longtime Greater Houston gardeners agree Fall (not Spring) is our PRIME planting time for so many plants — more than newcomers will certainly expect!
That may surprise those not-in-the-know, but we longtime Houstonians have learned easily that new (appropriate-for-here!) plants that thrived summer have to toughen up before our early freezes (which are usually very quick, mildly serious threats until early December. Usually rapidly growing roots underground — of the right plants! — will easily survive and toughen up before serious prolonged cold arrives).
Of course, it depends on the plants you choose. But with the right choices, most plants will go dormant or slow growth over winter and pop out just fine in spring.
Knowledgeable area plant-growers like PATTY ALLEN — best known by this column’s longtime readers for her incredible crinums (among other often-hard-to-find treasured bloomers) just starting to show color now.
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Pink Powderpuff
DON’T TRY TO TELL Patty that this isn’t one of our best flower blooming times. Instead, visualize her enthusiasm over what’s coloring her garden these days, including her (pictured above) reliable dwarf pink powder puff bush, yellow bells, bright yellow citrine rain lilies, and red oxbloods.
Red Oxbloods
Patty has been one of my major go-to gardeners for decades. A quiet gardener who sells plants privately and by appointment only, her main focus is searching out and seeing what will grow in her tiny North Harris County gardens and multitude of various-sized greenhouses. When Patty praises a plant, I listen and ever have since I first met her and her fabulous crinums (is that what we met over? I can’t remember)!
Right now, Patty’s eyes are glistening over the four plants listed here. They are what we are all looking for at this point, flowers that bloom in October and won’t be killed by the coming winter challenges.
Feel free to text or email me, and I’ll forward your notes to Patty
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“Let me tell you about the virtues
of the Dwarf Pink Powderpuff Bush!”
BY PATTY ALLEN
Guest columnist
The combination of the ‘strawberry’ color of the little ‘berries’on the bush enhances the shape and color of the small bright green leaves. Should be called Dwarf Strawberry Bush!
Second wonderful thing: the ‘berries’ burst open into little pink ‘brushes’, with little yellow tips of pollen on the ends of some of the ‘brushes’, which supplies another element of surprise to this bush.
Third: It is a repeat bloomer! Two or three times since I’ve grown this shrub, in freezing weather, it did not bloom. But if the weather moderates and gets warmer, you can count on berries and blooms being on it at the same time again, and it will do this almost continually all year long. Maybe about 2 weeks in between bloom periods. If there’s a plant you need in your flowerbeds where you can enjoy almost continual bloom, this is your baby!! No noticeable aroma, but with all this going on, who really notices? Goes from a gallon to about 31/2’ tall in 3-4 years (only because it has stayed in a 4-gallon pot til I decide where I want it or can get some new ones started from it. WINNER!!
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ATTN:
— Nature’s Way Resources offers free guided tours of NWR’s extensive nursery/soil/mulch facilities for garden clubs, plant societies and other plant-oriented, organized groups. As usual, NWR’s now-expanded meeting site is free to above groups. Reservations a must for both. Great time to visit.
- GOOD NEWS FOR BUSY/LAZY GARDENERS: Curbside pickup is now available in the Nature’s Way Resources nursery, and we’re offering plant preorders for special requests. Call in your order, pick it up when it works for you, or let us try to source the plants you’re looking for on upcoming shipments. Find inventory sheet here.
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John’s Corner
NEWS FROM THE WONDERFUL WORLD OF SOIL AND PLANTS
HARTSFIELD COMPOSTING PILOT, Vimeo.com
Highlighting Zero Waste Houston: Closing the Loop
By Shelby Cassano
Marketing Director, Nature’s Way Resources
Check out this video highlighting a pilot program between Zero Waste Houston and Hartsfield Elementary School.
Zero Waste Houston is working with this school to bring compost and recycling knowledge to the younger generations in hopes of creating young advocates for sustainability and reducing the waste cycle in our public schools.
We are excited to partner with Zero Waste Houston as their food waste drop-off site. Food waste is one of the 4 main ingredients in our famous and original Leaf Mold Compost.
Together we are closing the loop and educating the next generation of sustainable leaders. “Closing the loop” is a term used in a few settings; however, in this case we mean the recycling loop: creating high-quality material without losing the value of the product post-initial use.
Zero Waste Houston is a machine in furthering sustainability programs and education in the Houston area, and owner Leo Brito is a driving force for their success.
He has pioneered a new program with the Houston Zoo, recycling highly enriching zoo animal manure, and through our composting partnership, we now offer Wild Waste, which is our famous Leaf Mold Compost with the addition of the zoo manure.
Wild Waste on display at the Houston Zoo Plant Sale on October 3rd. Currently available for purchase at Nature’s Way Resources and the Houston Zoo. Photo: Michael Spurlock
Editor’s Note: Nature’s Way Resources offers hands-on educational tours to all age groups and regularly welcomes schools with students as young as 2nd grade to get a first-hand look at a commercial composting facility that focuses on soil health and biology in addition to closing the loop.
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About Us
BRENDA BEUST SMITH
WE KNOW HER BEST AS THE LAZY GARDENER . . .
but Brenda Beust Smith is also:
- a national award-winning writer & editor
- a nationally-published writer & photographer
- a national horticultural speaker
- a former Houston Chronicle reporter
When the Chronicle discontinued Brenda’s 45-year-old Lazy Gardener” print column — started in the early ’70s as a fun side-project to reporting, it then ranked as the longestrunning, continuously-published local newspaper column in the Greater Houston area. The name, she says, is not just fun, it’s true.
Brenda’s gradual sideways step from reporter into gardening writing led first to an 18-year series of when-to-do-what Lazy Gardener Calendars, then to her Lazy Gardener’s Guide book, which morphed into her Lazy Gardener’s Guide on CD, which she now emails free upon request.
Brenda became a Harris County Master Gardener and, over the years, served on the boards of many Greater Houston area horticulture organizations. She hosted local radio and TV shows, most notably Lazy Gardener specialty fundraisers on HoustonPBS (Ch. 8) and her call-in “EcoGardening” show on KPFT-FM.
For over three decades, Brenda served as Assistant Production Manager of the GARDEN CLUB OF AMERICA’S “BULLETIN” magazine. Although still an active broad-based freelance writer, Brenda’s main focus now is THE LAZY GARDENER & FRIENDS HOUSTON GARDEN NEWSLETTER with Shelby Cassano of Nature’s Way Resources.
A native of New Orleans and graduate of St. Agnes Academy and the University of Houston, Brenda lives in Humble, TX, and is married to the retired Aldine High School Coach Bill Smith. They had one son, Blake.
Regarding this newsletter, Brenda is the lead writer, originator of it, and the daily inspiration for it. We so appreciate the way she has made gardening such a fun way to celebrate life together for such a long time.
About her column, Brenda says: “I don’t consider myself a ‘garden writer.’ I started out 50+ years ago as a very lazy ‘gardening reporter’.” I still feel that way today. I hope my columns inspire/help newcomers, but I do not write to them. I write to very experienced gardeners who want to expand their horizons.
JOHN FERGUSON (1951-2025)
John was a native Houstonian with more than 35 years of business experience. He founded Nature’s Way Resources, a composting company known for producing high-quality compost, mulch, and soil mixes. He held an MS in Physics and Geology and was a licensed Soil Scientist in Texas.
Throughout his career, John received numerous awards in horticulture and environmental work. He represented the composting industry for many years on the Houston-Galveston Area Council for solid waste. His personal garden was featured in several horticultural books and in Better Homes and Gardens. His business was recognized by The Wall Street Journal for the quality and value of its products. He was a member of the Physics Honor Society and several professional organizations, and he co-authored Organic Management for the Professional.
John contributed articles regularly to this newsletter and oversaw its publication. We continue to share his past articles each week alongside The Lazy Gardener column to keep his passion, knowledge, and spirit alive for our readers.
SHELBY CASSANO is the communications and marketing lead for Nature’s Way Resources and the editor of The Lazy Gardener and Friends newsletter. Through her business, Leaf and Ledger, she exclusively partners with NWR to direct all marketing efforts, from campaign strategy and content planning to technical production of the newsletter. Shelby holds a B.S. in Agriculture with a concentration in Horticulture from Stephen F. Austin State University and previously managed the company’s nursery.
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Conroe, TX 77385
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