Texas AgriLife’s Community Horticultural OutreachTexas AgriLife’s Community Horticultural...

ECHOTexas AgriLife’s Community Horticultural Outreach

Summer Gardening

In this issue:Message from Dr. Greg Church..........................................

A Feast for the Eyes….Pages 2, 3

How Sweet it is……Pages 4, 5, 6, 7

Create a Wildlife Habitat……….7

A Trip to Lavender Ridge Farm…………………...Pages 8, 9

Book Review……………...Page 10

RIP Project Update……...Page 11

Light Quality....….…Pages 12, 13

Attack of the Yucca Bugs……..14

Garden Checklist……..Page 15

Contributors…………...Page 16

July-August 2010

Educational programs of Texas AgriLife Extension serve people of all ages regardless of socioeconomic level, race, color, sex, religion, disability, or national origin. The Texas A&M University System, U.S. Department of Agriculture, and the County Commissioners Courts of Texas

Dear Master Gardeners, The ECHO newsletter has always been a great way for the Horticultural Agent to communicate with the Master Gardeners. I would like to take this opportunity to let you know what’s new and encourage you to make an effort to get involved. We all had a busy spring with a record num-ber of volunteer opportunities: the plant sale; speaker’s bu-reau; information booths; home and garden shows; and much more. The spring ended abruptly with summer start-ing full force. It seems to me gardeners abandoned the no-tion of gardening when the summer heat came early this year. I assure you that gardening doesn’t stop when it gets hot. We still have opportunities for you to help and opportu-nities for you to get educated. The eMinder is still being de-livered to your inbox each week and continues to suggest ways in which you can help. The biggest news that I have to tell you, if you happen to miss all the e-mails, is we have officially started the first Earth Kind Perennials Research Garden. On May 29th, with the help of about 10 dedicated Master Gardeners and Dr. George, we installed the nearly 300 plants into the garden. Following the planting we topped the beds off with three inches of hardwood mulch and have been watering daily, by hand. We plan to install the irrigation in the next few weeks and we will need your help. It will be a great opportunity to learn about irrigation, “from the ground up”. Check your eMinders for updates or e-mail David Spadoni or myself if you want to help. The Earth Kind Perennial Research Garden represents a new era in the Earth Kind Environmental Stewardship pro-gram. This is not only the first Earth Kind Perennial Re-search Garden, but it is also the first garden testing plants other than roses for the Earth Kind Program. The entire Ex-tension Horticulture program is looking to us to make it a success. We can’t do it with a few Master Gardeners; we need every one of you helping. There are lots of ways to assist besides just the manual labor, although it’s what we’ve needed the most at this stage in the process. This is our garden and a great thing like this doesn’t happen with-out some really hard work. Get involved and become a part of this historic project. –Greg Church, County Extension Agent

2

ECHO Newsletter July-August 2010

Our first social event of the year was held on May 6 at the garden of Joanne Pospisil. This was much more that a garden tour! Over 45 master gardeners

were enthralled for hours by the vari-ous gardens and elements of nature. We also enjoyed delightful cupcakes and sandwiches. Joanne’s property is a certified National Wildlife Federation Wildlife Habitat. Texas toads fill the night air with their calls but were sleeping the morning of our visit.

A nest of squirrels is at home in a tree. Sounds of running water come from the Koi pond and fountains. A Red Slider turtle has recently appeared in the pond which is home to four generations of beautiful gold and black Koi. Joanne spoke about the pond’s plants and, as if on cue, the turtle swam out from un-

der the flowering lily pads. The turtle found this sanctuary and has decided to make himself at home. Paths lead to a shed that would turn Mar-tha Stewart green with envy. An inviting chair and gardening books fill the space which also has a working sink and electricity. What more could a gardener ask for?

All the fairy gardens enchanted us. We appreciated the time and care spent arranging each perfect detail. (More on next page.)

By Kathleen Brooks Photos by Steve EcholsA Feast For the Eyes: Joanne’s Garden

3


Carpenter bees buzzed through the yard. These and Mason bees are pollinators we should attract to our gardens. Joanne has pro-vided the Mason bees with houses designed for their specific nesting requirements. Both are non-aggressive species, but need to be respected.

A butterfly garden holds plants for nectar as well as host plants for caterpillars. The

Monarch’s chrysalis was just one of the sights to see. Joanne installed this garden after taking classes at the Texas Discovery Garden in Dallas.The social committee has scheduled addi-tional events this year, so be sure to look for them in the eMinders.

Contact Joanne Pospisil at [email protected] or Becky Cavender at [email protected] for additional event information.

A Feast for the Eyes: Joanne’s Garden (Continued from 2)

About the Author: Kathleen Brooks, Class of 2005, lives to read, research, and learn.

4


How Sweet it is! By Mary Nell Jackson

Plants have many wonderful properties that make us want to grow them, but Ste-via rebaudiana(pronounced STEE-via) is like having a bowl of sugar on the vine. This herb is

native to Paraguay and been used in South America for hundreds of years. It has been called sweet leaf, candyleaf, sugarbush or sugarleaf. Never heard of it? Not interested in growing it? If you knew it was all natu-ral, has no calories, doesn’t raise blood sugar levels, and can be used as a sweetener, would that perk your interest to include it in your garden? Plant Profile: Seeds from this plant may be difficult to grow. Look for starter plants at your local garden centers that specialize in herbs. Stevia should be considered an annual in Zone 7. It is very tender to any cold and should be planted late in the spring when there is no chance of frost. In most of the United States, ste-via is grown as a container plant or in greenhouses. It has bright green leaves with serrated edges, the leaves are op-posite with an oblong-oval shape. The flowers are white or pale purple. If stevia is fertilized too much the leaves will grow large, but they will have little sweetness. An organic fertilizer like fish emulsion with slow releasing nitro-

gen is a good choice for feeding your stevia plant. It is a sun loving plant and does well if it gets 12 hours of sun, but in hot summer climates it will do best in partial shade. The sun produces the sweetness in the leaves so the plant is not as sweet in the fall as in midsummer. The perfect temperature for this plant is 75 to 80 degrees and will be stunted when the temperature exceeds 90 degrees. As the fall season cools down somewhat, the plant will flourish. Stevia can grow to 30 inches tall and 18 inches wide but may not reach this size in one season. Its feeder roots are shallow, so it will benefit from compost and mulch. In Paraguay it grows over three feet in height with many branches. Harvest the tips of the plant about every three weeks for the first two months af-ter planting to encourage side branch-ing. Using Your Harvest Stevia leaves can be used fresh or dried. Add the leaves to your hot brewed ice tea or hot tea. You may have to add more or less to get the sweetener you desire. You will enjoy a sweet beverage without added calories. This plant has negligible effect on blood glucose levels and can be used by diabetics. Those with diabetes should check with your doctor before using this plant. During the growing season try drop-ping just one whole leaf in a cup of tea or coffee, remove before drinking. Be cautious about using several leaves. Sweetness varies from plant to plant, but one teaspoon of crushed dried leaves equals one cup of sugar. The experts debate the measurements;

(More on next page)

5


because this plant packs a powerful sugar punch! Kathleen Gips from the Village Herb Shop in Cleveland, Ohio, suggests making a stevia liquid extract by steep-ing 1/4 cup leaves with 1 cup warm water for 24 hours. Strain and store in the refrigerator. Some cooks experi-ment with sweetening baked goods and all sorts of beverages with this stevia liquid. Another way to use stevia fresh is to chop the leaves and add them to fruit or use it with your breakfast cereal for a no-calorie sweetener. Stevia’s Use in Other Countries In Japan, China, and South Amer-ica, stevia is a common tabletop sweet-ener and is contained in many food products. Gips writes that stevia is sold in China as a tea recommended for “increasing the appetite, to promote weight loss, for keeping one youthful, and as a sweet tasting low caloric tea”.In Japan this natural, no-cal option fills their sugar bowls and is added to ice cream, bread, candy, pickles, seafood, vegetable dishes, chewing gum, and soft drinks. Jeanne Ricci wrote in her article The Stevia Story, Herb Quarterly, Spring 2004 that the Japanese consume 448,000 pounds of stevia each year. Ricci says that the average American eats

158 pounds of sugar, 7 pounds of sac-charin, and 21 pounds of aspartame annually. She says that most of that comes from ‘guzzling’ (her words not mine) 55 gallons of carbonated soft drinks, about 10 times more than the Japanese consume. Much of this is hid-den in the food we eat and the bever-ages we drink. In the United States the FDA has not approved stevia as GRAS (generally regarded as safe) when it is used as an ingredient in processed foods. Gips stated hopefully that soon stevia may replace the synthetic artificial sweeten-ers that bring health concerns along with their use.

Fall Harvest Harvest the leaves of stevia in Au-gust or September for drying beforethe plant flowers. Cool autumn tem-peratures and shorter days increase the sweetness of stevia, so wait as long

as you can to harvest your whole plants. There are two ways to harvest:1. Cut the entire plant and put it in a paper grocery bag. Dry until the leaves are crisp. Remove the leaves from the stems. Use a small spice/coffee grinder or mortar and pestle to grind the leaves into a green powder.2. Cut the branches as far down as you can with your pruning shears, then strip off (More on next page)

How Sweet it is! (Continued from the previous page)

6


the leaves. Dry leaves on a screen or net in the sun for about 12 hours until com-pletely dry. Store whole in an air-tight container. Gips suggests about 1/8 teaspoon of stevia powder equals one teaspoon of sugar. ‘The flavor of stevia is not the same as sugar’. She says that if the rec-ipe calls for 2 cups of white granular sugar, use only 1 cup white sugar and 1½ to 2 tablespoons green stevia powder to reduce the caloric con-tent of foods.It will be up to you and your taste buds to de-termine what is sweet enough for you. Remember that sun, soil and temperature also affect the plant and its sweetness strength. Stevia on the Grocery Aisle? Lisa Turner who writes for Wellness magazine wrote an article for the spring 2010 issue and explained why you won’t find stevia on the sweetener aisle in the grocery market. As previously stated it is not FDA approved as a food additive, but it is sold as a dietary supplement. Ricci, the author of The Stevia Story, ex-plains: the 1995 Health Freedom Act al-lowed stevia to be used as long as they don’t call it a sweetener. It is on the gro-cery shelves but only as a dietary supple-ment. Turner writes that two versions of ste-via have now been approved for use: re-

biana (rebaudioside A), a highly refined component of stevia, is combined with erythritol, a naturally fermented sugar alcohol, in the product Truvia. Called the new ‘natural’ sweetener, Truvia was de-veloped by The Coca-Cola Company and agribusiness giant, Cargill. Rebiana is also used in PureVia developed jointly by Pep-siCo and the Whole Earth Sweetener Company, a subsidiary of Merisant, mak-ers of Equal aspartame.

The ques-tion remains, says Turner, ‘why after a ten-year ban on the use of ste-via in food products, the FDA has re-versed its stance after in-dustry giantsCoca-Cola, Pepsi, Cargill, and a Merisant

subsidiary entered the fray’?There is also speculation that the sugar cartels all over the world have been lob-bying to keep the natural plant stevia off the market shelves for fear of hurting their sugar sales. Stevia has had a long journey to our grocery shelves and our garden centers. In 1887 Swiss botanist Moise’s Santiago Bertoni first learned of stevia from Indian guides. In 1931 two French chemists iso-lated the chemical make up of the plant. The Japanese firm Morita Kgaku Kogyo Co., Ltd. produced the first commercial stevia in 1971 and 2006 brought approval of stevia as a safe sweetener by the World Health Organization.

More on next page

How Sweet it is! (Continued from the previous page)

7


About the Author: Mary Nell Jackson, class of 1997, is a herb lover and discovered her love for writing about the garden a few years ago when she penned an article about gardening in her p.j.’s.

(Continued from the previous page)

As gardeners we can control what we grow and consume. We know that na-ture gives us goodness in the garden. We are smart enough to know that money doesn’t grow on trees but we can’t deny that sugar can grow in our gardens.

BibliographyAmazing Wellness, Turner, Lisa, The Vi-tamin Shoppe, Spring 2010Guide to Medicinal Herbs, National Geo-graphic, Johnson, Rebecca L, Foster, Steven, M.D., Low Dog, Tieraona, M.D., Kiefer, David, National Geographic, Washington, D.C. 2010The Herb Quarterly, Ricci Jeanne, The Stevia Story, Spring 2004

How Sweet it is!

The most noteworthy thing about gardeners is that they are always optimistic, always enterprising, and never satisfied. They always look forward to doing something better than they have ever done before.

-Vita Sackville-West, 1892-1962

Do Five Things to Create a

Certified Wildlife Habitat

Provide Food for Wildlife

Everyone needs to eat! Planting native forbs, shrubs, and trees is the easiest way to provide the foliage, nectar, pollen, berries, seeds and nuts that many species of wildlife require to sur-vive and thrive. You can also incorporate sup-plemental feeders and food sources.

Supply Water for Wildlife

Wildlife need clean water sources for many pur-poses, including drinking, bathing, and repro-duction. Water sources may include natural features such as ponds, lakes, rivers, springs, oceans, and wetlands; or human-made fea-tures such as bird baths, puddling areas for butterflies, installed ponds or rain gardens.

Create cover for Wildlife Wildlife re-

quire places to hide in order to feel safe from people. Predators and inclement weather. Use things like native vegetation, shrubs, thickets and brush piles or even dead trees.

Give Wildlife a Place to Raise their

Young Wildlife need a sheltered place to

raise offspring. Many places for cover can dou-ble as locations where wildlife can raise young, from wildflower meadows and bushes where many butterflies and moths lay their eggs, or caves where bats roost and form colonies.

Let Your Garden Go Green How you

maintain your garden or landscape can have an important effect on the health of the soil, air, water, and habitat for native wildlife—as well as the human community nearby. Reducing chemical use, composting, mulching and reduc-ing turfgrass in your yard are important steps to gardening greener.

Once you have provided these essential ele-ments to make a healthy and sustainable wild-life habitat, join the thousands of wildlife enthu-siasts across the country who have earned the distinction of being part of NWF’s Certified Wildlife Habitat program.

8


Normally open only on week-ends, Lavender Ridge Farm lo-cated near Gainesville, opened es-pecially for us Master Gardeners. June 9th, 29 Collin County Master Gardeners were in atten-dance when owner Jerry Ware greeted us in the shade of oak trees on the porch of the gift shop. We then walked around the

grounds, viewed a butter-fly garden, and ended up in the aromatic lavender field. The farm has been in Jerry’s family for about 150 years. In previous years, it was a truck farm selling strawberries, water-melons, and other fruits and vegetables. The two acre lavender bed is located in a high, rocky area where

others crops would not grow. The lavender grows in sandy loam making up the predomi-nant soil type on the entire property. The pH is about 5.4. The main variety of lavender grown at the farm is “Provence” with its sweet fragrance. There is also some “Grosso” with a more masculine scent. A little English lavender is also grown. Jerry related that key factors in growing lavender are the use of compost and expanded shale. It is also important not to over-water and situate plants on a mound for adequate drainage. Jerry reports that lavender has no real insect pests; it’s true that even grasshoppers don’t like the taste.

A Trip to Lavender Ridge Farm By Mary Means Photos by Steve Echols

(More on next page)

9


An annual Lavender Festival was held over Memorial Day weekend. Jerry and his sister, Jane, estimated that about 3,500 people attended the festival this year. There will also be a festival the second weekend in October. They encourage us to visit their web site for more information. They also told us to sign up for emails, so we can stay informed about events at the farm. Their web site is http://www.lavenderridgefarms.com/index.html. We enjoyed lunch on the covered patio. Lunch was prepared and served by Jane and other family members. During the time it began to rain and the fragrance from the lavender field filled the air. After the delightful lunch we were invited to visit the gift shop and garden center which we did enthusiastically. We Master Gar-deners were intrigued by what appeared to be a trailing lavender in the garden center. Jerry explained that it had been pruned like that by the grower. As it continued to grow, it would return to the appearance of regular lavender.

A special Thank You to Becky Cavender and Joanne Pospisil for arranging another enjoyable field trip. The fragrance of the lavender lingering in the purchased soaps and lotions will remind us of our excursion to Lavender Ridge Farms for months to come.

About the Author: Mary Means is a class of 2002 CCMG; contributes the book review and is a delegate to state meet-ings.

A Trip to Lavender Ridge Farm (Continued from the following page)

10


Book Review by Mary Means

Tea Roses: Old Roses for Warm ClimatesBy Lynne Chapman, Noelene Drage, Di Durston, Jenny Jones, Hillary Merrifield, Billy West

Is there an interest for a rose book written by residing Austra-lians? Apparently so... judging from the crowd of rose aficionados at the book signing at Chambersville Tree Farms on May 30. We sipped fine wine, enjoyed good food, and listened to the authors talk about their new book. Then someone fretted that the books were in short supply. Well, that started the stampede for the stack of books. Fear not, this intrepid book reviewer was right in there grabbing for a copy. Jim Ewoldsen caught it all on camera. After great effort, this reviewer procured a signed, limited edition copy. Tea Roses is a well-researched book. The writers knew each other through rose groups and clubs. They started research for the

book in 2000. It was finished and copyrighted in 2008. The more they researched the topic of tea roses, the more they realized that further research was needed. They started out thinking that there were about 2,000 tea roses in existence, but ended up realizing there are about 200 varieties. Roses were misnamed, duplicated, and incorrectly listed. This unique book is the first to be written exclusively about tea roses in over a hundred years. The first part of the book is the history and ancestry of the tea rose. Variety after variety of roses are dis-cussed, many of which are extinct now. The next part of the book is a discussion of tea roses in Austra-lia. There is a chapter defining the attributes of a tea rose. While the explanation is not precise, here are a few of the qualifiers: a tea rose is a plant whose flowers have the smell of tea; tea roses grow on their own roots; flower colors are cream, pink, or apricot; most blooms have nodding heads; blooms repeat during the season; rose plants are not cold tolerant. At the book signing, the writers said that these roses will not grow in Oklahoma, but they will grow in Dallas, Atlanta, and San Diego. The next chapter discusses imposters; that is, roses that are not tea roses. Other chapters discuss growing condi-tions for teas, and rose names. Part Two of the book is an encyclopedia of tea roses. Tea Roses is beautifully illustrated with photographs and drawings. Many of the drawings date back more than a century. The text is well-written and somewhat technical which should be a plus for rose lovers. The

About the Author: Mary Means is a class of 2002 CCMG; contributes the book review and is a delegate to state meetings.

book contains 270 pages including six appendices and an index. Tea Roses will be in the Master Gar-dener library soon, and any lover of roses should stop by and look through this book.

Mary visits with writers Lynne Chapman, Billy West, and Hillary Merrifield as they sign her book. –Photo Jim Ewoldsen

11


Here is the later version of the gaillardia in bloom! Very impressive this year!

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/fea/lifetravel/stories/DN-youngcemetery_0530gd.State.Bulldog.123ca17a.html

Two Master Gardeners, Sandi Seiser and Don Engelbrecht, are shown digging up plants in the median in Plano and transplanting to the Young House at Heritage Farmstead museum.

Blanket flowers blooming at Young Ceme-tery where Rooted In the Past members scattered seed last fall.

Above: The plants are beautifully placed in a new location.

About the Author: Specializing in learning about native trees of North Texas, Candace (class of 2002) loves plants, birds, photography, and talking about it all. If you ask her a question, be prepared for a 10-minute answer.

Rooted in the Past Project UpdateBy Candace Fountoulakis, .

12


By John Worley

(Continued on next page)

The Color of Light

You can’t always trust your eyes. Incandescent light gives a yellowish cast, fluorescent light gives a greenish cast, and outdoor shade gives a bluish cast. Blue skylight is created as the white light from the sun is scattered off air molecules in the upper atmosphere. (The sun itself appears yellow once the blue is removed.)

This could be very confusing if our brain didn’t automatically use cues from items it recog-nizes to color correct what we (think we) see. But these color casts show up in our photos. We need to recognize situation that might need color corrections. Our camera White Balance con-trol may correct these photo problems. Or, a photo editing program can be used to correct the photos.

In the iris photos, the sun was behind a cloud in the left photo, resulting in blue-green foliage and a loss of yellows in the flower. The sun emerged from behind the cloud in the right photo.

Compare colors in the quilts. The sun was behind a thick cloud in the top photo and came out in the bottom photo. Notice the blue hue in the top photo (taken in the shade).

If you took the top photo and then didn’t have the quilts for comparison, would you know what to do? In this case, the solution is that the garage door provides a white area to use to make correc-tions. Alternatively, the grey concrete at the bot-tom could be used to make corrections. (Beware: I’m not saying the correction is easy. That’s a long story.)

And, finally, the Killdeer image is a digital photo of an old print that I made over 25 years ago. (The print color is still quite accurate.)The left image is the print lit by incandescent light, giving it a yellowish tint. The color was corrected, resulting in the right photo.

Light Quality Written and photos by John Worley

Photography - Tips and Techniques

13


Light Quality (Continued from previous page)

Polarization

Reflected and scattered light is partially polar-ized. Polarized sunglasses are designed to elimi-nate, or at least reduce, these polarized reflected and scattered light, blocking reflections from pave-ment to reduce glare.

The blue skylight created by scattering off air molecules noted above causes the sky to be par-tially polarized. A polarizer can remove the polar-ized part of the skylight, darkening the blue of the sky. As a test, take polarized sunglasses and tilt your head 45º to the left and the right, looking around the sky. Notice that the sky brightness changes as you tilt your head.

The photos at the right were made by rotating my polarized sunglasses in front of the lens. (The glasses are held very close to the lens in the bot-tom shots.) Notice the difference in the sky com-pared to the (winter) landscape.

I don’t recommend using polarized sun-glasses. (And I will deny that I’ve done it other than this one time.) A polarizing filter can be found inexpensively and held in front of the lens. A polarizer can darken the sky relative to the clouds, emphasizing them. It can also reduce re-flections off the surface of the water as shown be-low (in this view from the Heard Museum Science and Technology Center).

Min Polarization Max

Min Polarization Max

A Production Test Development Engineer in the Telecom field, John (Class of 2009) is an accomplished photographer and vegetable gardener. Other passions are writing and involvement in civic issues. He recently earned title of “Best Civic Activist” in city of residence, Princeton.

14


Attack of the Yucca Bugs

This year you many have noticed abundant numbers of yucca bugs, Hati-cotoma spp. (Hemiptera: Miridae), if you have yucca in your landscape. The adults are about ¼ inches in length with a red head and pronotum and grayish-black wings. The yucca bugs are usually found in large groups on the upper leaf surface and will tend to move quickly when disturbed. The immature stage or nymphal stage (those without wings), will also be present on the leaves. The yucca bugs have piercing sucking mouthparts so their feeding causes small pale spots or blotches on leaf surfaces where the green chlorophyll has been removed.

Some control options for the immature stage include insecticidal soap or pyrethrins. Systemic insecticide products, such as those containing acephate, dinotefuran or imidacloprid, are also effective for control of these bugs.

Haticotoma (Hemiptera: Miridae) species on yucca. Photo by Bart Drees, Professor and Extension Entomologist, Texas A&M University.

Kimberly SchofieldProgram Specialist-Urban [email protected]

15


Trim off faded flowers on crape myrtles to encourage later re-bloom.

Evaluate the volume of water delivered from lawn sprinklers to ensure healthy, stress-free grass during the heat of the summer. One thorough watering which will deliver one inch of water at a time is better than several more shallow sessions. The amount of water available through flower bed sprinklers may be checked by placing several shallow pans among shrubs or flowers

Caladiums require plenty of water at this time of year if they are to remain lush and active until fall. Fertilize with 21-0-0 at the rate of one-third to one-half pound per 100 square feet of bed area, and water thoroughly.

Prune out dead or diseased wood from trees and shrubs. Hold off on major pruning from now until mid-winter. Severe pruning at this time will only stimulate tender new growth prior to frost.

Sow seeds of snapdragons, dianthus, pansies, calendulas, and other cool-season flowers in flats, or in well-prepared areas of the garden, for planting outside during mid-to-late fall.

Plant bluebonnet and other spring wildflowers. They must germinate in late summer or early fall, develop good root systems, and be ready to grow in spring when the weather warms. Plant seed in well-prepared soil, one-half inch deep, and water thoroughly. Picking flowers frequently encour-ages most annuals and perennials to flower even more abundantly.

It is time to divide spring-flowering perennials, such as iris, Shasta daisy, oxeye, gaillardia, can-nas, day lilies, violets, liriope, and ajuga.

Make your selections and place orders for spring-flowering bulbs now so that they will arrive in time for planting in October and November.

Don't allow plants with green fruit or berries to suffer from lack of moisture.

A late-summer pruning of rosebushes can be beneficial. Prune out dead canes and any weak, brushy growth. Cut back tall, vigorous bushes to about 30 inches. After pruning, apply fertilizer, and water thoroughly. If a preventive disease-control program has been maintained, your rose bushes should be ready to provide an excellent crop of flowers this fall.

It is not too late to set out another planting of many warm-season annuals, such as marigolds, zinnias, and periwinkles. They will require extra attention for the first few weeks, but should pro-vide you with color during late September, October, and November.

Establish a new compost pile to accommodate the fall leaf accumulation.

Garden Checklist for July-AugustBy Dr. William C. Welch, Professor & Landscape Horticulturist, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX. The following information was compiled from the 2009 updates available at http://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/extension/newsletters/hortupdate/.

16


CCMGATexas AgriLife Extension825 N. MacDonald StreetSuite 150McKinney, TX 75069

Thanks to ECHO Newsletter contributors:

Kathleen BrooksGreg ChurchSteve Echols Candace FountoulakisMary Ann HickenMary Nell JacksonMary MeansKatherine PonderKimberly ScofieldDr. William C. WelchJohn Worley

The submission deadline for the September-October issue of the ECHO Newsletter is August 10, 2010. Send submissions, com-ments and suggestions to:

Editor, Mary Ann Hicken at: [email protected]

Texas AgriLife’s Community Horticultural OutreachTexas AgriLife’s Community Horticultural...

Documents

Transcript of Texas AgriLife’s Community Horticultural OutreachTexas AgriLife’s Community Horticultural...