MORE READERS’ REPORT IMPRESSIVE WINTER’S END BLOOMERS
“The flowers of late winter and early spring occupy places in our hearts well out of proportion to their size.”
– Gertrude S. Wister, nationally recognized horticulturist (1905-1999)
BY BRENDA BEUST SMITH
IF YOU’RE ITCHING for Spring to come and stay, remember it’s only mid- February. Feb. 2021 brought us 15º readings. In 2022, lows hit 27º. Be glad you weren’t gardening here in Feb. 1899. Low: 6º! It may not feel like Spring this weekend. But still, many plants are a’bloomin’!
AS PROMISED, HERE ARE MORE READERS’
PLANTS blooming \even before serious cold weather departs! Pictured at right: CATHY SKIDMORE’S peach tree near Montgomery (colder than rest of Greater Houston area). Most of our popular fruit trees normally begin bloom in February with gorgeous flowers. (Want one? Check calendar below for your area sales. Where you live DOES make a difference.)
For more years than I can remember, Gudrun has been one of my favorite go- to expert gardeners — tho she would probably protest that accolade. But I’d be cheating readers if I didn’t list more of her suggestions in this category. She adds her full size Walter’s Viburnum (pictured top of column, parent to Virginia’s dwarf viburnum) is blooming up a storm. The Soap Aloes are sending up 3-foot bloom spikes! And, yes, this aloe can be used as soap
ADRIENNE QUINN, a fan of native grasses, loves native bluestems, especially the tan/copper/rusty winter colorations. After the first frost, the blue-green summer color changes to eye-catching shades of brown, copper, and crimson that will remain all winter, often with fluffy white seed heads.
While native grasses have their own special beauty, they also intensify the colors of adjacent plantings, often making them more spectacular as well.
TIP O’ THE TROWEL TO BUCHANAN’S NATIVE PLANTS FOR REMINDING US . . .
FEBRUARY IS NATIONAL BIRD FEEDING MONTH. Almost all the plants listed above are on the menu for birds. A major exception (which your birds already know!!!), are bluebonnets. Toxic for birds & humans alike. Check out plants at audubon.org/news/bird-friendly-plants-faq
TEXAS’ FAMED BLUEBONNET EXPLOSION is right around the corner, hopefully peaking for the April 15-16 “Official State of Texas Bluebonnet Festival in Chappell Hill. The Chappell Hill Historical Society will once again host this almost-50-year-old celebration in downtown historic Chappell Hill, NW of Houston off Hwy. 288. Technically that should be “Official State Flowers” – plural. Texas has six “official” bluebonnet varieties. The one we know best is Lupinus texensis. Want to try them in your yard? Read on . . .
CHAPPELL HILL GARDEN CLUB’S DALE
RAMEY shared an insider’s view of this spectacular drive-through treasure. She suggests starting to look for bluebonnet blooms the last two weeks of March. Hopefully they will peak during the festival.
“Our garden club buys about 30 flats in the fall (October) and plant the 4” starters at that time. By February/March they are humongous and beautiful when they start blooming. They last six to 8 weeks.”
Dale is not a big supporter of seeds, because of our bad freezes and droughts. Seed planted bluebonnets, she notes, “don’t seem to produce like they use five or more years ago.” She advises everyone to invest in the purchased 4” already-started bluebonnets. “Let let them reseed each year and they will give you your money’s worth!”
The club plants them at the Chappell Hill post office and it gets almost as many pictures as the canyon does…..really. “They have to rope it off, because people tromp them down trying to get the “best picture ever!” Our Main St. and Memory Garden in town is so pretty in the spring and summer.”
Want to know more? Chappell Hill Garden Club members will share their bluebonnet (and more) growing expertise on . . .
“Monarch Butterflies, Native Plants, Pollination and Bees”
Sat., Mar. 25 — 10am-1pm; First Baptist Church 7675 FM 2446, Chappell Hill, Tx
Register: chappellhillgardenclub.com/copy-of-home-tour Bluebonnet House and Garden Center. 713-562-6191
* * *
Brenda Beust Smith’s column in the LAZY GARDENER & FRIENDS HOUSTON GARDEN NEWSLETTER is based on her 40+ years as Houston Chronicle’s Lazy Gar,dener
Email: lazygardenerbrenda@gmail.com
Planning to submit calendar events?
Follow Calendar rules below to avoid publication delay.
Always check to see if accurately published.
Publicity Chairmen: order Brenda’s free Publicity Booklet at
* * *
NEWS FROM THE WONDERFUL WORLD OF SOIL AND PLANTS # 226
We continue to learn almost daily how microbes are directly related to health, from our soils to our digestive system. A new research paper has found that 1,400 genes that originated from microbes have been found in 218 species of insects studied.
These insects includes butterflies and moths and the genes originated from bacteria, viruses, fungi, and plants. The study suggests that these genes might have been essential for these species to survive. Journal Cell 2022.
Climate change is an important issue to gardeners as it causes extremes in weather as we have seen in exceptionally hard freezes to heat waves, floods, and droughts the last couple years. Gardeners can be part of the solution.
One reason to compost one’s waste, and purchase good quality compost, is that it prevents greenhouse gasses. When organic material goes into a landfill, methane is produced. We have all seen the commercials about landfills capturing the methane, however what the landfill companies do not tell you is that 90% of the methane is released to the atmosphere before the landfill cell is covered and the gas capture system is installed.
The amount of methane may seem small; however, methane is 80 times as efficient at trapping heat as carbon dioxide!
Artificial fertilizers are strongly linked to the production of nitrous oxides which are 200 times as efficient at trapping heat as carbon dioxide. Hence by just using organic fertilizers a gardener can eliminate this source of greenhouse gasses.
Fluorinated gases account for another 3% of the total climate change gasses. When we use fluorinated water the fluoride ion can combine with other chemicals to produce these heat trapping gasses. Hence getting healthy soils that capture and hold rainwater is another way a gardener can reduce their carbon footprint. One of the best ways to do this is use compost and aged (partially composted) native mulch. In addition, they provide the exact nutrition plants need as they were made from plants which then reduces the need for expensive fertilizers.
Lastly, when plants grow, especially trees they capture a lot of carbon to form their tissue. This carbon comes from carbon dioxide in the air removing it from the atmosphere. When this plant material is composted or made into a native mulch, the carbon is converted into the magical and wonderful stuff we call humus. Depending on the type of humus the carbon is stored in our soils sometimes for many centuries where it does not contribute to climate change.
Oregon State University did a study in Houston directly after hurricane Harvey. They found 162 different toxic chemicals, including pesticides, flame retardants, phthalates, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, and many industrial chemicals.
There were many sources of these toxic chemicals from industry, to homeowner’s yard gardening chemicals. Houston has 41 superfund sites 13 of which were flooded and we do not know how much toxic chemicals were released. Additionally, 89 industries reported “unintentional releases”.
Another major source of these toxic chemicals was household cleaners which residents were exposed to as they cleaned up after Harvey and which were
eventually released into the environment. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 2022
The point I am making is that we are constantly exposed to toxic chemicals and our immune system can only handle so much. Hence, one of the best ways to protect your health is to avoid as many of these chemicals as possible. In regards to gardening the modern biological methods often referred to as “organic” work better, cost far less and without the health risk.
Speaking of hurricanes, they produce a lot of downed tree limbs, pine cones, leaf litter, etc. Applying this material to our flower beds is one of the best ways to improve the quality of our soil.
The rotted bits of wood last a long time, providing energy for the microbes, as it decomposed it enhances a soils ability to hold water and nutrients. These combined help us have healthier and more beautiful plants.
Additionally, some of the fungi that decompose these woody materials produce enzymes that break apart heavy clay soils turning them into a fertile beautiful loam.
* * *
If we inspire you to attend any of these, please let them know you heard about it in . . . THE LAZY GARDENER & FRIENDS NEWSLETTER! & please patronize our Newsletter & Calendar sponsors below!
SPONSORSHIP
If you are interested in becoming a sponsor, please contact us at 936-273-1200 or send an e-mail to: lazygardenerandfriends@gmail.com
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 theboards of many Greater Houston area horticulture organizations. She hosted local radio and TV shows, most notably a 10+-year Lazy Gardener specialty shows 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 John Ferguson and Pablo Hernandez 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 have 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.
JOHN FERGUSON John is a native Houstonian and has over 27 years of business experience. He owns Nature’s Way Resources, a composting company that specializes in high quality compost, mulch, and soil mixes. He holds a MS degree in Physics and Geology and is a licensed Soil Scientist in Texas. John has won many awards in horticulture and environmental issues. He represents the composting industry on the Houston-Galveston Area Council for solid waste. His personal garden has been featured in several horticultural books and “Better Homes and Gardens” magazine. His business has been recognized in the Wall Street Journal for the quality and value of their products. He is a member of the Physics Honor Society and many other professional societies. John is is the co-author of the book Organic Management for the Professional. For this newsletter, John contributes articles regularly and is responsible for publishing it.
PABLO HERNANDEZ Pablo Hernandez is the special projects coordinator for Nature’s Way Resources. His realm of responsibilities include: serving as a webmaster, IT support, technical problem solving/troubleshooting, metrics management and quality control. Pablo helps this newsletter happen from a technical support standpoint.
Download the Newsletter with Our Events Calendar Below!
