Brenda will be back soon…
IN OUR SPOTLIGHT ARTICLE BELOW, Ceil Dow, Ginger Grower for Friends of Mercer Botanic Gardens, gives a glimpse into fabulous gingers that will be available at the 2024 March Mart, Fri.,-Sat., Mar 22 & 23.
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Brenda Beust Smith’s column is based on her 40+ years as
Houston Chronicle’s Lazy Gardener — Email: lazygardenerbrenda@gmail.com Note: This column focuses ONLY on the Greater Houston area.
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ALPINIAS: FABULOUS FLOWERS, FRAGRANT EVERGREEN LEAVES!
by Ceil Dow
Ginger Grower for
Alpinias are fabulous for evergreen gingers and all have fragrant leaves. These freeze back only in the deep, severe freezes but come back easily in the spring. They are definitely back of the border perennials. The three notable Alpinias are:
Alpinia zerumbet – Shell Ginger (above). 8-10’ – 10’ PS – S Can be grown in deep shade where the leaves appear a deep blue green. In full sun, leaves will look more peridot green. Leaves are extremely fragrant!! Fabulous evergreen that can be used as a screen. Very lush in the landscape. The beautiful inflorescence looks like a string of soft pink shells hence its common name, Shell Ginger. Excellent cut flower. Zone 7b
Note: North of Houston proper, Alpinias did freeze down but for the greater part of Houston, these guys were fine.
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EDITOR’S NOTE: All of these gingers and many more will be available at 2024 March Mart, Fri.,-Sat., Mar 22 & 23 at Mercer Botanic Gardens, 22306 Aldine Westfield Rd, Humble,TX
NEWS FROM THE WONDERFUL WORLD OF SOIL AND PLANTS # 270
Subject: sewage sludge and PFAS, Trace Minerals And Health, Glyphosate
Over the last few months there has been a lot of information and discussion about micro plastics, the forever chemicals in them, and how they harm human health.
These are per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances called PFAS for simplicity. Over the last few years new diagnostic techniques have been developed that reveal these chemicals cause many health problems.
For gardeners whom use fertilizer made from human sewage sludge like Milorganite or Houactinite or compost made from sewage sludge (aka Biosolids), this is a major source of exposure.
Note: We have several companies in the greater Houston area that use sewage sludge to make their compost and sell for use in gardening and landscaping.
Often famers use these biosolids (sewage sludge) to fertilizer their fields. One study stated that over 60% of the sludge produced is applied to farm
land. These dangerous chemicals are picked up by plants growing in them and become concentrated as we go up the food chain. When one eats the food, these particles enter our bodies and accumulate.
The only way to protect yourself and your families is to purchase organic certified foods where sewage sludge is not allowed or best yet, to grow ones on fruits and vegetables as possible.
To make health concerns worse, some are now suggesting using water treatment residuals that are high in aluminum, and apply to the soil, to slow the absorption of these PFAS chemicals. High levels of aluminum have been linked to many forms of dementia.
We often talk about the importance of trace elements sometimes called micronutrients. There is a group of 17 elements that are called rare earth
elements (REE).
On several occasions we have talked about secondary plant metabolites. These are chemicals plants produce to protect themselves from insects and disease. These same chemicals provide many health benefits to humans from fighting cancer or viruses, to helping with cardiovascular issues to liver disfunction and many more.
Studies have shown that vegetables that have been eaten (holes in the leaves) have much higher levels of these beneficial chemicals. A new study has found that when plants are grown with REE supplementation it also increases the concentration of some of these good chemicals.
This is why gardeners need to fertilize with rock dusts that provide a good trace mineral package like Re-Mineralizer. Seaweed and fish emulsion products also provide small amounts of these trace elements. Journal HortScience 2020
There has been a large increase in Childhood Leukemia and in young adults over the last 50 years.
A multi-institutional study from over a dozen universities was called the Global Glyphosate Study (GGS) was on the glyphosate used in herbicides like Round- Up, was released last fall.
It has been known for some time this rise in Leukemia was due to environmental exposure. This study found that exposure to glyphosate is a major reason of this increase. The researchers found that rats exposed to glyphosate at levels far less than allowed by the EPA caused Leukemia in rats.
They also found that glyphosate caused endocrine and reproductive toxicity in rats, at levels considered safe by USA regulatory agencies.
Note: The study was crowd funded to prevent anyone from using money to influence the results.
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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 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.
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