Lazy Gardener & Friends
Weekly Newsletter
Welcome to the Lazy Gardener & Friends Weekly Horticultural Newsletter!
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2026 Newsletters
Lazy Gardener & Friends – 644 – Summer Gardening: Heat-Proof Plants & Essential Tips
Beat the Texas heat with smarter summer gardening tips, plus learn how to identify and report the newly naturalized Chinese crown orchid.
Lazy Gardener & Friends – 643 – Wildflowers: Tips for Growing, Saving Seeds & More
Discover wildflower-growing and seed-saving tips from a determined Houston-area gardener, plus a fascinating look at how compost and soil biology can help clean up contaminated environments.
Lazy Gardener and Friends – 641 – Drought Gardening Tips: Protect Plants & Control Weeds Naturally
Prepare your landscape for another hot Texas summer with practical drought gardening tips, including proper watering, mulching, shade solutions, and selecting heat-loving plants. In John’s Corner, learn why healthy soil is the key to natural weed control and discover organic strategies that reduce weeds while building a stronger, more resilient garden.
Lazy Gardener and Friends – 640 – Overwatered Plants: What to Do After Heavy Rain & Soil Tips
After heavy rains, knowing what not to do can be just as important as knowing what to do. This week’s newsletter shares practical advice for helping overwatered plants recover, improving drainage, finding local gardening resources, and honoring horticulture legend Bill Welch. In John’s Corner, discover how microplastics, beneficial fungi, and healthy organic soil practices influence stronger, more resilient gardens.
Lazy Gardener and Friends – 639 – Organic Lawn Care Tips & Summer Plant Care for Texas Gardens
This week’s newsletter shares practical ways to protect your garden while traveling, explains which plants benefit from deadheading, and offers expert tips for helping container plants survive the Texas summer. In John’s Corner, learn the three simple steps to healthier lawns using organic fertilizers, compost, and trace minerals to build stronger, more resilient soil.
Lazy Gardener and Friends – Peggy Martin Rose: Growing Tips, Cutting Gardens & Organic Insights
This week’s newsletter celebrates the remarkable Peggy Martin rose, shares practical watering advice for surviving the Texas summer, and offers readers’ favorite flowers for creating beautiful cutting gardens. John Ferguson’s Corner examines the latest developments surrounding glyphosate while sharing research on healthy soils, beneficial microbes, growing media, and nutrient-rich organic gardening.
Lazy Gardener & Friends – 367 – Hibiscus Care Tips, Organic Mulch Benefits & Texas Garden News
This week’s newsletter highlights expert hibiscus care tips from local enthusiasts, introduces helpful Texas gardening resources like the Wild Thumb native plant app, and explores the importance of protecting fireflies. John Ferguson explains why organic mulches outperform gravel and rubber by improving soil health, conserving water, reducing temperatures, and helping plants thrive.
Lazy Gardener and Friends – 636 – Texas Gardening Tips: Prepare for El Niño & Summer Success
Prepare your garden for the potential impacts of El Niño with practical Texas gardening tips from Brenda Beust Smith, including heat-tolerant plant recommendations and seasonal garden tasks. Plus, explore John Ferguson’s latest soil science insights covering petrichor, microplastics, magnesium, pesticide-treated seeds, and how healthy soils support healthier plants.
Lazy Gardener and Friends – 635 – Earthworms in Soil, Monarch Butterflies & Spring Garden Tips
This week’s Lazy Gardener & Friends explores unusual redbud blooms, monarch butterfly conservation, and practical spring gardening advice for Houston-area gardeners. Readers will learn about flowering tree mysteries, habitat preservation, and why now is a great time to plant and train vigorous flowering vines.
In John’s Corner, the spotlight turns to earthworms and their remarkable role in building healthy soil. From improving drainage and nutrient cycling to boosting plant growth and microbial activity, earthworms are highlighted as one of nature’s most valuable gardening partners.
Lazy Gardener & Friends- 634 – Houston Gardening Tips for May + Heat-Proof Plants & Soil Health
Houston gardening tips for May, smarter plant shopping, plumeria care after heavy rains, and why healthy soil minerals matter.
2025 Newsletters
Lazy Gardener & Friends – 616 – Monarch Butterfly Update: Cautious Hope for 2026 Populations
This newsletter shares a monarch butterfly update with cautious optimism for 2026, examining recent population data, migration challenges, and the role gardeners play in conservation.
Lazy Gardener & Friends – 615 – Native Caterpillars & Birds: Why Plants Matter in Houston Gardens
This issue explores why native caterpillars Houston ecosystems depend on are critical for birds and biodiversity, alongside timely poinsettia care advice from local gardeners.
Lazy Gardener & Friends – 614 – Cold-Hardy Plants for Houston: African Bush Daisy & Winter Color
This issue highlights cold hardy plants Houston gardeners can grow for winter color, featuring African bush daisy, freeze-tolerant favorites, and tips for navigating unpredictable temperatures.
Lazy Gardener & Friends – 613 – Houston Rose Winter Care: Freeze Prep, Mulch Tips & Recovery
This edition focuses on Houston rose winter care, featuring expert advice from Gaye Hammond on preparing roses for freezes, mulching properly, and reducing cold damage during unpredictable weather.
Lazy Gardener & Friends – 612 – Houston Tree Canopy: Why Urban Trees Impact Every Neighborhood
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Lazy Gardener & Friends – 610 – Miniature Roses: Tips, Sources & Winter Gardening Ideas for Houston
Miniature roses, winter garden ideas, expert tips, and fresh insights from friends in John’s Corner.
Lazy Gardener & Friends – 611 – Happy Thanksgiving
Happy Thanksgiving from Brenda and the team!
Lazy Gardener & Friends – 609 – Houston Gardening: Winter Prep, Strawberries & Easy Roses Guide
Houston gardening tips for winter prep, strawberries, easy roses, and monarch updates.
The Lazy Gardener & Friends – 608 – Plant Propagation Tips: Seeds, Cuttings & Fall Garden Guidance
Fall gardening is the perfect time to multiply your favorite plants. This issue covers plant propagation tips using seeds and cuttings, seasonal garden insights, chrysanthemums, and guidance from SFA Gardens expert Jordan Cunningham.
Lazy Gardener & Friends – 606 – Houston Native Plants: Winter Color, Marigolds & Manure Insights
Fall is a perfect time to explore Houston native plants and winter blooms. Discover deer-deterring marigolds, tips for low-care natives, and insights on manure and sustainable gardening from Lazy Gardener and John’s Corner.
2024 Newsletters
Lazy Gardener & Friends 565
DO OUR PLANTS WISH WE’D HELP BIRDS STICK AROUND ALL WINTER? YES, THEY DO!
Compost
Lazy Gardener & Friends 564
WITH WINTER COMES DIFFERENT (NEW?)
GARDEN OUTLOOKS!
DESPITE CHALLENGES, GINGERS REALLY DO LIKE HOUSTON AREA!
Mulch
Lazy Gardener & Friends 563
NEW MOON AT WORK — MILD WINTER OUTLOOK GOOD NEWS FOR PLANTS
Molybdenum
Lazy Gardener & Friends 562
Thanksgiving Issue
Lazy Gardener & Friends 561
GRAB WHAT’S LEFT OF 2024 TO ENJOY YOUR GARDEN BEFORE PREDICTED FIRST FREEZE
BARONS – Money, Power, and the Corruption of America’s Food Industry by Austin Frerick, Island Press, 2024, ISBN: 978-1642832-693
Lazy Gardener & Friends 560
COTTAGE GARDENING TIPS GOOD ROUTE FOR ALL OUR GARDENS!
Benefits of Gardening
Lazy Gardener & Friends 559
SALUTING A GARDENER EXTRAORDINAIRE
TIME TO BE ‘FORCE-FUL’ WITH BULBS FOR HOLIDAYS!
Hybrid plants and nutrients in our food
Lazy Gardener & Friends 558
“Boo-tiful treats for the garden!
HOME GARDENS AND PRAIRIES — LEARNING TO LIVE TOGETHER
Manure-based fertilizers
Lazy Gardener & Friends 557
Didn’t realize goldenrod has so many fans — wow! Looking ahead to more color…
IS ALL COPACETIC IN YOUR VEGGIE PATCH?
CAMELLIAS: QUEENS OF THE WINTER GARDEN
Books: Soil Science for Regenerative Agriculture and The Regenerative Agricultural Solution
Lazy Gardener & Friends 556
“Ah, Walt, what have you wrought?”
Fungi intelligence fungi and sound GMO soy
2023 Newsletters
Lazy Gardener & Friends 515
Thanksgiving Issue
Lazy Gardener & Friends 514
COMMUNITY GARDENS (LIKE BEAUTY’S) GREAT RESOURCES FOR WINNERS FOR YOUR AREA
Herbicides (glyphosate) and health
Lazy Gardener & Friends 513
WE SPEND A LOT OF MONEY ON PLANTS
~THINK OUTSIDE THE BOX!
Carbon pollination plants sound black cumin ungi leather
Lazy Gardener & Friends 512
Saving our Earth, one landscape at a time
CAMELLIAS — QUEEN OF WINTER BLOOMERS! HYDROPONICS WORTH TRYING!
Glyphosate fluoride & IQ tree sweat EMF and health
Lazy Gardener & Friends 511
Lookin’ for marigolds for Dia de los Muertos?
WHEN LIFE HANDS YOU A LANDSCAPE LEMON . . .
Tires – elderberry – bumble bees leaf mulch.
Lazy Gardener & Friends 510
SECRET WISH? SECRET WITCH? SECRET GARDEN? OR, JUST AN HERB LOVER?
COOL WEATHER HERBS PLANTING CALENDAR
Straw mulch glyphosate food contamination seaweed extracts cover
crops and tarping birds and metal health
Lazy Gardener & Friends 509
‘HOUSTON’S DIVERSE ECOLOGY’ CHALLENGE FOR GARDENERS BUT NATIVES ARE THRIVING!
fungi-algae bioinoculants sprayable mulch gardening and mental bees
Lazy Gardener & Friends 508
‘I’m so glad I live in a world where there are Octobers’
TEXAS TOUGH NATIVES LIFT COLLECTION
TO NEXT LEVEL!
Fluoride Frogfruit ginger edible fungi and books diet and dementia