Welcome
to the Aransas/San Patricio Master Gardeners Website
We’re your neighbors who love gardening and want to pass that love along. Here you’ll find tested advice about gardening in the Coastal Bend area of South Texas. The lack of severe winters, heat and humidity, wind, unique soil, and lack of water – all conspire to form a unique and challenging environment for growing plants. Whether you’re a newcomer or an experienced pro, we’ve got the scoop on the latest and greatest in gardening for our area.
- What to plant? Take a look at “In Our Coastal Gardens” under PUBLICATIONS AND RESOURCES at the top of the page. This booklet is available free (thank you San Patricio Water District) at the AgriLife Extension Office and covers trees, shrubs, palms, tropicals, and even what not to plant. If vegetables and herbs are your cup of tea, we’ve got the when and how for our area.
- When plants have problems. Contact our help desk, either by phone or come in to the Agrilife Extension Office. We have experienced gardeners available as well as printed articles on plant diseases, soil conditioning, insects, and all topics garden-related. Bring in a sample of the problem (in a zip-locked bag) and we’ll put our best detectives to work on it. We also come to you – request a visit from our “Tree Team” to sleuth out what ails your prized arboreal specimen.
- Meet and learn from other gardeners. Throughout the year we have talks by local and area experts. Our monthly Brown Bag talks are one hour long at noon – take a break at lunch and find out what’s new and exciting. Seminars are held at various times of the year and are a more in-depth look at timely topics.
Who are the Master Gardeners? We are members of a non-profit program of Texas A&M Agrilife Extension Service designed to increase horticultural knowledge in our area and around the state. Started at Washington State University in the early 1970s, the Master Gardeners program spread to Texas A&M University in 1978 and then to all 50 states and 4 Canadian provinces. Currently, the program has almost 100,000 members who volunteer 5 million hours of service per year to their communities. Master Gardeners is a federal and state non-profit program and depends totally on donations and fund-raising for its programs and activities.
Locally, the program is led by Ginger Easton Smith, County Extension Agent for Aransas County. To join Master Gardeners, we offer a 3-month training course starting in August, with an Introduction & Registration session in mid-July. Please contact the Extension Office, 892 Airport Road, Rockport, Texas, 78382, 361-790-0103, for more information.
We would like to thank all of the
Nueces County Master Gardeners
who helped us with our garden cleanup after hurricane Harvey!
On Friday, September 29, 2017 the Nueces County Master Gardeners came to the Aransas/San Patricio Master Gardeners Coastal Oaks Garden to assist us with the cleanup in our garden. They came armed with chain saws, pole saws, loppers and clippers. They worked hard alongside our members to help us take the first step toward making Coastal Oaks Garden as beautiful as it was before the storm. We are eternally grateful.
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Entrance to Coastal Oaks Garden with storm debris
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The tropical garden after the strom.
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Nueces County Master Gardeners working with us to help clean up the Granny’s Prairie area of our garden.
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Aransas/San Patricio and Nueces Master Gardeners work together to clean up storm debris and damage.
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Master Gardeners work to clear broken limbs in preparation for putting “Granny’s House” back on it’s foundation.
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Looking into the Children Garden Area as the clean up begins.
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Master Gardeners working to clean up the Children’s Garden.
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All the Master Gardener’s enjoying lunch that was provided by the Aransas AgriLife Extension after a morning of hard work.
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Entrance to Coastal Oaks Garden after the clean up.
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Tropical Garden after clean up.
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View looking into the Children’s area after the clean up.
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Granny’s garden after the debris has been cleared and her house standing again.
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‘Butterfly
Walk and Talk’
OCTOBER BROWN BAG
OCTOBER 17, 2017
Noon-1:00 pm
Butterflies are one of the most welcome visitors in our gardens. Learn how to identify and attract these colorful creatures during this educational program led by Marthanne Mitchell. Following the talk we will be walk through our Coastal Oaks Garden to view some of the butterfly attracting plants and hopefully the butterflies they attract.
Please join the Aransas/San Patricio Master Gardeners and our Guest Speaker: Marthanne Mitchell for our Brown Bag Lecture – “Butterfly Walk and Talk”. The lecture will be held in the conference room at:
Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service-Aransas County
892 Airport Road, Rockport, TX
For more information call:
361- 790-0103
Overflow parking is next door at the Transfer Station. It is not necessary to register, just come and enjoy this free program. Feel free to bring your own brown bag lunch.
CURRENT NEWS ARTICLES
May 2017 – Symptoms of Drought Stress by Ginger Easton Smith
June 2017 – Avoiding Lawn Problems by Ginger Easton Smith
July 2017 – Air Plants, Part 3 by Jean Chiuminatta
October 2017 – Let’s Plant Some Trees by Bernadette Brown
Events will be held at the Texas A&M AgriLife Extension-Aransas County office, 892 Airport Road, Rockport, 78382, 361-790-0103, unless otherwise noted. Overflow parking is next door at the county facilities.
COMING NEXT MONTH
Saturday, November 4 Workshop – “Making Living Wreaths”
Tuesday, November 14 BROWN BAG—“The Bonsai Guy” Bob Gordon, Noon–1:00 P.M.
VISIT US!
Coastal Oaks Garden, the demonstration gardens designed and maintained by the Master Gardeners, is now open to the public Monday through Friday, 8:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. (closed holidays). As you approach the gardens, follow the signs and continue to the left corner of the fence where there is a small gate. This gate opens out only. Please be sure to close it if it does not close behind you.
You can also find us on Facebook! |
