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THE BEAUTIFUL POINSETTIA

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By Ginger Easton Smith
Release date: December 16, 2020

It is the season of the beautiful poinsettia which ‘blooms’ at this time of year where it grows naturally. Poinsettia is a tropical plant which forms a spectacular bush,10-15 feet tall, in tropical parts of the world.

It is native to Mexico and was called Cuetlaxochitl by the Aztecs, who used it medicinally and as a dye in the 14-16th centuries. Much later, it was given the botanical name, Euphorbia pulcherrima, which means “very beautiful”, by a German botanist enchanted by its bright colors. The name poinsettia is in honor of Joel Roberts Poinsett, the first U.S. Ambassador to Mexico, appointed by President John Quincy Adams in the 1820’s. He collected some cuttings from a bush growing on the roadside and brought them to the United States.

Indoors, poinsettias need bright light and regular (but not too frequent) watering. Find a spot that is away from the heater (or air conditioning, depending on the day) vent and away from drafts from open windows or doors. Ideally, place it near a window where it gets indirect light, or even a couple hours a day of direct light. Do not put it so close that the leaves are touching the window.

The trickiest thing, to me, is watering and I think a lot of that results from poinsettias being in a foil pot wrap. If you want to keep the foil, then be sure to poke some holes in it so the pot can drain. Standing water is most plants’ worst enemy.

Water thoroughly each time you water, wetting all the soil in the pot; do not water again until the soil is dry about half an inch down. If leaves are drooping or falling, it could be due to too much water, or not enough water, but if they are falling and the soil is wet – too much (actually too frequent) water is the likeliest cause. Insufficient light can also contribute to leaf drop.

Poinsettias are often thought of as poisonous, but actually are not. Extensive studies at Ohio State University have proven this. However, their milky sap, typical of the plants in the Euphorbia family, can cause skin irritation for some people, particularly those with latex allergies. Although it is not poisonous, it is still a good idea to keep young children, puppies and kittens away from poinsettia plants. Other fairly common plants in the Euphorbia family are Crown of Thorns, crotons, chenille plant, cassava, castor bean, and jatropha.

The colored (besides green) part of the plant that we often refer to as flowers or blooms, are actually modified leaves called bracts; there are flowers–they are small, yellow and in the center of each cluster of colorful bracts. Once the flowers shed their pollen, the leaves and bracts begin to drop off the plant.

More than 100 varieties of poinsettias, of varying bract colors and patterns, sizes, and forms have been developed by breeders. The most popular is still red, but other colors such as white, pink – light and dark, burgundy, multiple colors in speckled or spotted patterns, and more are readily available.

Getting a poinsettia to “re-bloom” can be very tricky as it has to have complete darkness from 5:00 pm to 8:00 am for several months. Look into it and try it if you are so inclined, or just enjoy your plant while it is beautiful and get another one to appreciate next year.

December Garden Checklist

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Compiled by Master Gardeners – Amanda Steves and Ann Smith
 
Here’s a list of December garden tasks for the Texas Coastal Bend area from the Aransas/San Patricio County Master Gardeners.
— When a freeze is predicted, be ready to protect your tender plants and trees. Keep a pile of sheets and blankets ready to throw over them.
— Decide ahead of time where you will move your vulnerable potted plants for cold weather, and clear out some space. A garage is good, but if you don’t have one, any place that’s semi-protected is better than nothing—a covered porch or carport, under the eaves on the south wall of the house, even under other bushy trees and shrubs.
— Add mulch on your flower beds regularly—it can be up to 6 inches deep, but keep it off the stems and trunks.
— Water your lawn, trees, and landscape plants ahead of freezing temperatures to help the soil hold its heat.
— December is a good month to cut down problem trees that may be growing in your yard. If you have invasive species such as Brazilian pepper trees, chinaberry, or tallow trees, you’ll be doing yourself and everyone else a favor by taking them out now.
— Check your trees for mistletoe—it’s a branch-killing parasite with poisonous berries. Simply cutting it off stimulates more growth. The only way to eradicate it is to remove it along with the branch, cutting at least 1-2 feet in from the attachment point to get the interior roots of the mistletoe.
— This is an excellent time for planting non-tropical trees and shrubs.
— Clean your garden tools well. Rinse them off with water and remove the remaining gunk with a little oil or WD-40 and some steel wool. You can sharpen the working edges of large tools with a file and use a small sharpening stone or diamond dust stone for pruning shears and smaller blades. Then give the metal a light coat of oil or WD-40 to prevent rust, and store in a dry place. Because of our humidity, unprotected tools can rust even in a garage.
— Indoor poinsettias, succulents, and Norfolk Island pines need a little bit of water every day because of the dry, heated environment.
— Let your indoor amaryllis and Christmas cactus dry out an inch or two below the soil surface between waterings.
— You can keep most holiday plants throughout the year in their pots indoors or plant them outside. Christmas cactus, however, will not tolerate temperatures below 50 degrees F, so keep it indoors.
— December is the month to start picking citrus fruits. Many will be ripe enough to eat, but the longer they stay on the tree during non-freezing cold weather, the sweeter they will get. You can leave them until just before the tree blooms in March unless there’s a hard freeze.
— If a hard freeze is predicted, pick all of your citrus fruits ahead of it. Fruit on the tree can tolerate overnight freezes down to about 26 degrees F.
— If you have small citrus trees, protect them from freezing by covering them all the way to the ground and securing the edges with bricks or rocks. This will help trap the heat radiating up from the ground.
— You can still plant winter garden crops like broccoli, cauliflower, radish, kohlrabi, mustard greens, and turnips. They can withstand a light freeze, and they will be well-established and producing by March.
— Don’t fertilize your grass—it’s too late.
— You can apply an herbicide to your lawn to control winter annual weeds like vetch and burr clover. Be sure to use a product that lists the weeds you want to control, and follow directions carefully.
— Lightly water your lawn if a couple of weeks go by with no rain.
— If you have pansies, chrysanthemums, snapdragons, dianthus, lobelias, stock, or violas, they will most likely keep blooming right up until March. You can even plant them this month if you find them at the nursery.
 
Thanks to Master Gardeners Ann Smith, Fred Alexander, Todd Cutting, Jeanna Godfrey, and Barb McSpadden for contributing to this list.
 
Master Gardeners is a non-profit program of Texas A&M Agrilife Extension Service. Our education programs serve people of all ages, regardless of socioeconomic level, race, color, sex, religion, handicap or national origin.
 
Be sure to visit our Coast Oaks Demonstration Garden:
892 Airport Rd., Rockport, Texas
Contact us: MG Helpline: 361-790-0103
Online Plant Store: https://aspmgstore.org/

November Garden Checklist

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Here is a list of November Garden Checklist by Aransas/San Patricio Master Gardeners – Compiled by Amanda Steves and Ann Smith
 
– Be sure your flower beds are mulched to protect from near-freezing temperatures in the coming weeks and months.
– Avoid heavy pruning or fertilizing of plants to prevent stimulating new growth that will be susceptible to cold damage.
– If weeks go by with no rain, give your grass and plants some water.
– Gather old sheets and blankets to have ready for covering tropicals when a cold snap is predicted. If possible, don’t place plastic directly on the plants, touching the leaves—it can result in damage to the leaves.
– If a freeze is predicted, water everything thoroughly, drain the water out of garden hoses, and store them in an easily accessible place.
– This is the best time of year to plant trees and shrubs, with the exception of tropical plants and palms. Most woody landscape plants benefit greatly from going into the ground in early November, because their root systems can develop during the rest of the fall and be ready for spring budding.
– Remember to cut back your tropical milkweed; keep it cut back until February so a parasite of Monarch butterflies can’t accumulate on it.
– There is not much to do with your lawn once November and cooler temperatures hit. The grass generally goes into dormancy and you probably did your last real mowing in October. It is too late for fertilizer and pre-emergents as they would stimulate new growth. If you have winter weeds, all you can really do is pull them.
You can amend lightly with compost, but that is just about all you want to do. It will add a bit of insulation and decompose very slowly over the winter.
– While the weather is still reasonable, it’s a good time to check your sprinkler system or drip irrigation for problems.
– November is a great month for expanding your irrigation system or for adding rainwater harvesting—you can put in a simple rain barrel, a cistern, or a full-blown system with pumps and filters.
– Get your lawn mower blade sharpened.
– Clean your hand tools with a wire brush, sharpen them, and apply a light coat of oil. To clean and protect wood handles, sand them with fine grit sandpaper, rub on boiled linseed oil (not raw), and wipe off after 15-20 minutes.
– This month, you can plant carrots, Swiss chard, collards, garlic, lettuce, mustard, multiplying onion, radish, spinach, and turnips. Get your cool season vegetables, including cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli, and kale in by November 15.
– Keep harvesting your veggies regularly, or they will stop producing.
– Tomatoes and peppers can be protected with blankets in a light freeze.
– Plant strawberries now for your spring harvest. Here in South Texas, strawberries are annuals. You’ll get a good crop in the spring, but they probably won’t make it through our hot summer.
– This is a great month to plant herbs. Put them in as a living groundcover in your flower beds or set up a special herb garden. They will be happiest with well-drained soil and full sun.
– Good fall herb choices are oregano, pineapple sage, thyme, and chives. Parsley, dill, and fennel are especially loved by the larvae of swallowtail butterflies, and they will also attract many beneficial insects to your yard.
– Bring frost-tender succulents indoors. Many succulents, such as Echeveria, actually bloom during the winter, though some go dormant. Keep taking care of them as usual, but be careful not to overwater as the cold temperatures keep them wetter for longer. Remove dead leaves so they do not rot. Consider filling dead holes with new cuttings.
– You can largely leave your ornamental grasses alone until early spring. If native grasses need a pick-me-up, fluff them with open hands, going in an upward motion to remove dead leaves. This is especially good for muhly grasses.
– Ideal time to plant fruiting and ornamental trees! This includes cold-tolerant citrus such as Satsuma mandarins, kumquat, and tangerines.
– If you have an automatic irrigation system, turn it off. Your grass will only need light watering if there’s no rain for 2-3 weeks, and you should use the manual setting for that.
– Do not allow thick piles of leaves to build up on the lawn—the grass can be seriously damaged this way. Mow over the leaves to chop them up and improve the lawn.
– Keep an eye out for fallen twigs and branches that look like they have been cut or chewed off. Twig girdlers are active now, and they have a habit of chewing all the way around a small tree branch and laying eggs in the separated end of the twig or branch. If you find any of these branches, wrap them up and throw them away to prevent the eggs from hatching and maturing in your yard. Don’t toss them in the compost pile, or you’ll have more girdlers next year.
 
HAPPY GARDENING!
 
Thanks to Master Gardener Todd Cutting and Intern Pam Meyer for contributing to this list.
 
Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service – Aransas County Office is located at 892 Airport Road in Rockport. AgriLife Extension education programs serve people of all ages, regardless of socioeconomic level, race, color, sex, religion, handicap or national origin.

October Garden Checklist

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Here’s a list of October garden tasks for the Texas Coastal Bend area from the Aransas/San Patricio Master Gardeners.
 
– Prepare for winter: be sure your flower and vegetable beds are well-mulched to protect roots from near-freezing temperatures coming up in a couple months.
– Remove dead leaves from your lawn and use them as mulch or compost them, or just run over them with a mulching mower. In rainy weather, whole leaves that sit on top of your turf can promote fungal diseases.
– If you wish, apply a pre-emergent herbicide to control winter weeds, but never use a “weed and feed” product—it causes stress and death to trees and landscape plants.
– It’s just about time to fertilize your lawn with a “winterizer,” and the date for our area is November 1. Get fertilizer that’s in a slow-release form to help with cool-weather root development while not stimulating a flush of new growth that will be damaged by the cold. You can use 24-3-14 commercial fertilizer, or spread a thin layer of compost–about one-third inch.
– You can plant almost anything this month, except for tropicals. Avoid planting tropicals such as hibiscus, palms, etc., which will not tolerate the coming cold weather when newly planted.
– It’s a good time for planting shrubs, trees, roses, cool-season vegetables, herbs, and wildflowers (bluebonnets should have been sown in August, though).
– It’s too late to heavily prune trees and most shrubs this month. Since our weather is still warm, they will put on new growth, which could be damaged by the first cold weather.
– In October you can fertilize roses lightly.
– It’s not too late to feed outdoor plants in containers.
– Try not to water too much. With less sun and more rain this month, extra water from irrigation can create a favorable environment for fungal diseases like brown patch, black spot, and more.
– Plant cool season vegetables including cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli, kale, beets, turnips, radishes, kohlrabi, mustards, and collards.
– Onion seed can be sown on October 1, but wait until November to put in onion sets.
– If you have okra growing, you can continue to harvest it until the first frost.
– Chard can be carried through the fall for continued harvest, also.
– October is a great time to plant herbs. Chives, oregano, basil, cilantro, dill, parsley, sage, thyme, and rosemary grow well here. They need a sunny, well-drained spot to grow, and you might have to water them during dry spells.
– This is the best month to plant wildflowers, with the exception of bluebonnets. Choose a sunny, well-drained area, rake the soil surface a little, sprinkle on the seeds, and water in. Don’t put your seeds out too thickly. They need room to grow. Then keep the seeded area moist for a week or two.
– As the nights cool off, brown patch can appear in St. Augustine grass. It looks like a round spot of dead grass that increases in size and then starts greening up again in the middle. It won’t kill the grass roots—only the top part above ground, and it will go away during the winter. Brown patch is a fungus that’s caused by too much moisture, especially in low areas. To prevent the problem next year, fill in the low spots over the winter with compost or loose soil.
– Near the end of October, citrus fruits start to show a little color, but it’s best to leave them on the trees to sweeten up in the colder weather. Remember to pick all your ripe citrus fruits ahead of time when the first freeze is predicted.
– Protect citrus roots from cold weather by tucking them in with a heavy layer of mulch (up to 6 inches), or by clearing the ground underneath the tree so the bare soil can radiate heat upwards.
– This is an excellent month to plant container-grown roses. Select a site with fertile, well-drained soil, good air movement, and at least 8 hours of sunlight per day. Try the Texas Superstar roses, which are particularly hardy, beautiful, and easy to grow: Marie Daly, Belinda’s Dream, Knock Out, and Grandma’s Yellow Rose.
– Treat leaf cutter and fire ants with Grant’s or Amdro baits that are specifically labeled for each type of ant. Treat the fire ant mounds that you find, and on a dry day broadcast your fire ant bait over the whole yard. This usually results in a 90-95% reduction in fire ants over the winter. Use bait products only as directed on the label, and follow instructions carefully.

Shop at Our NEW Online Store!

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WHOO-HOO!!! It’s official… our online plant store is OPEN!!!

WELCOME TO OUR FIRST SALE

The Covid19 pandemic has made us all conscious of social distancing and contactless shopping. Sooo we decided to go virtual and our FIRST Master Gardener Association online plant sale was born!

This store will be open several times a year where plant selections will be based on what is blooming, and the ideal planting season.

All sales will be for pickup only at our garden located at the Aransas AgriLife Extension:
892 Airport Rd, Rockport, Texas

Before you shop, there are a couple of things you need to know: 

1. Place your order: BEFORE Midnight, Friday October 2, 2020
2. Pickup date: ONLY ON Saturday, October 10, 2020 (9am – 2pm)*

*This is the only pickup date/time, so if you know you will not be available; wait for our next sale to order.

3. When the store is “closed”, after the online order deadline, you will still be able to visit the site for all the informative and helpful planting & care instructions we have provided throughout!

HAPPY SHOPPING and GARDENING!

https://aransas-san-patricio-master-gardeners-association.myshopify.com/

August Garden Checklist

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Here is a list of August garden tasks for the Texas Coastal Bend area from the Aransas/San Patricio Master Gardeners.

– Monitor your trees and plants carefully for signs of stress. Give them a deep drink of water when they droop or curl up.
– Monitor YOURSELF for signs of heat stress. It can happen before you know it. Dizziness, fatigue, nausea, cramps, and headache are signs of heat exhaustion. Get out of the heat immediately and drink some water. Do not delay.
– Restrict your outdoor work hours to early morning and in the evening to stay healthy and hydrated in hot weather.
– If you have Bermuda grass, it might have gone dormant by now. If it was healthy, prior to dormancy, and is kept free of foot and vehicle traffic, it should green back up when the weather cools.
– Check the water restrictions in your area. If you’re in stage 2, you can water with a sprinkler once a week. Drip irrigation or handheld hose-watering can be used further into the conservation stages than a sprinkler.
– Water your lawn no more than once a week. This is plenty to keep it alive and green.
– Use soaker hoses for watering vegetables and flower beds instead of a sprinkler. Soaker hoses use far less water and it goes directly to the plants. Run a soaker hose for about 3 hours for a good watering—overnight is too long.
– Use a timer for your watering, so you don’t let it go for too long.
– If you have a sprinkler system, the best way to use it is to set it to “manual” and turn it on only when needed. That way you can conserve water and protect plants from being over-watered.
– Water only in early morning, to give plants plenty of time to dry off before evening. This helps prevent fungal problems. Try to keep the water on the ground and not on leaves.
– Keep citrus, nut, and other fruiting trees well-watered with non-salty water every 2 weeks.
– Water established non-fruit trees once a month.
– Landscape plants and shrubs also need to be deeply watered every 2 weeks—more often if planted this year. And tropicals need it once a week for lush foliage and flowers.
– Trim back the annuals you planted in the spring, like impatiens and petunias to stimulate growth and more blooms.
– Stake landscape plants that have become large and are leaning from the extra weight.
– It’s okay to prune live oaks this month. The beetles that carry oak wilt fungus are not active in the heat of summer or the cold of winter. Summer is the second-best time to prune—January and February are the best. Paint all cuts with latex or pruning paint as soon as you make them. If you wait until you’ve finishing pruning, you will most likely miss some cuts.
– Prune vigorous-growth shrubs like eleagnus, privet, ligustrum, and photinia regularly to keep them under control.
– Prune rose bushes lightly to stimulate fall flowering. You can trim them back by one-third. Then fertilize them and water it in. You’ll have more blooms in September and October.
– Pull up your spent annuals and vegetables. If you don’t, they will attract pests and diseases to your garden.
– Start a new compost pile with your pulled-up plants, as long as they are not weeds or diseased plants.
– Check pulled-up plants for root galls or knots before you discard them. This can be an indicator of root-knot nematodes (a microscopic roundworm). Don’t put them in your compost pile—dispose of them in the garbage.
– If you have nematodes, you can solarize the garden or plant elbon rye to reduce their numbers.
– Check plants frequently for sucking insects, such as spider mites, mealy bugs, and aphids. Treat them with horticultural oil, insecticidal soap, or with ladybugs. If you bring in ladybugs, don’t use insecticide.
– Also check for scale—waxy blobs on leaves and stems that contain sucking insects. Treat with light horticultural oil.
– Plan your fall garden, but wait until September to put in most bedding plants and shrubs. Consider low-water native plants like cenizo (purple sage), esperanza, fiddlewood, Mexican buckeye, agarito, American beautyberry, coralbean, Barbados cherry, yaupon holly, fern acacia, crucita (fragrant mistflower), heartleaf hibiscus, softleaf yucca, Texas lantana, thorn-crested agave, Turk’s cap, wooly butterfly-bush, snapdragon vine, and Texas sabal palm. NOTE: A/SP Master Gardeners will have a pop-up sale on August 18 at 1pm.
– Get your soil tested, so you know what might be lacking or what might be present in abundance, like salt. Call the extension for details. 361-790-0103
– August is a good time to plant palms, since they need warm weather to get established.
– Plant bluebonnets and other spring-blooming wildflowers. Be sure the seeds come into contact with the soil so they can germinate. Details here: https://www.wildflower.org/learn/how-to/grow-bluebonnets NOTE: article is for central texas. Our planting time is August.
– Plant zinnias and sunflowers from seed this month.
– Plan your fall vegetable garden now. Get your seeds for cool season crops, as long as they are types that will fruit within 45-60 days like zucchini, cucumbers, and beans.
– Start your veggie plants from seed in pots around August 15. They’ll be transplanted into the ground September 15, and more in October. Zucchini and cucumbers only need a couple of weeks in the pot before going into the ground. See: https://agrilifeextension.tamu.edu/…/fall-vegetable-garden…/ we are in zone IV.
– Eggplants are ready to pick when they are shiny and fully colored. Seeds should be firm but not dark and hard. If the skin has become dull, it’s probably not good to eat anymore.

Thanks to Master Gardeners Heather Bywater, Todd Cutting, Richard Snyder, Ann Smith and Amanda Steves for contributing to this list.

Looking for a Texas-tough Petunia? Tidal Wave series has you covered

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Tidal Wave Red Velour Spreading Petunia has been named the latest Texas Superstar release based on its superior performance across the state, according to a Texas A&M AgriLife Research expert.

The Red Velour joins the tough, durable Tidal Wave petunia series.

What it takes to be a Texas Superstar

To be designated a Texas Superstar, a plant must not only be beautiful but perform well for consumers and growers throughout the state. Texas Superstars must be easy to propagate, which should ensure the plants are not only widely available but also reasonably priced, said Mike Arnold, AgriLife Research horticulturist, College Station.

“Tidal Wave Red Velour’s combination of durability and toughness and the longer growing season than most petunias makes it a great Texas Superstar,” he said. “We always look for combinations for bedding plants that will give contrast in landscapes, and this red is great for that. But it’s also a fantastic container plant because of its trailing habit that cascades over the container.”

Tidal Wave Red Velour

As the name implies, Tidal Wave Red Velour offers dark red flowers that appear as if crafted from rich red velour, Arnold said.

This 12-24-inch tall dense canopied petunia spreads to 30-60 inches in width. Flowering peaks from early spring to early summer and if well-tended can survive Texas summers and return for a significant fall bloom.

Arnold said Red Velour’s heat and cold tolerance are characteristics that give it a long growing season. Its flowering characteristics provide prolific floral display throughout the season.

Tidal Wave Red Velour combines well with its earlier designated fellow Texas Superstars Tidal Wave Silver Spreading Petunia and Tidal Wave Cherry Spreading Petunia to offer great seasonal waves of Texas-tough color, Arnold said.

“The fact that we are considering it to be a companion for the Silver Wave is an endorsement of how tough and durable of a petunia it is,” he said. “Silver Wave is an industry standard and paired together gives even more contrast between the white and red, even in comparison to the Cherry Wave because the reds are darker.”

Maximize and maintain the Tidal Wave Red Velour

Full sun exposure is best for maximum floral display, though partial shade does help in over-summering plants, he said. Growth in patio pots and containers is vigorous and will benefit from occasional shearing.

Tidal Wave Red Velour is typically grown as a fall southern or early spring northern cool- to transition-season annual, but plants can be short-term perennials in U.S. Department of Agriculture Hardiness Zone 8b. Summer temperatures can limit its long-term performance in warmer portions of the state, but Tidal Wave Red Velour is more tolerant of heat than most petunias.

Arnold said to plant to avoid the final frost date typically in late winter or early spring in northern portions of Texas. Plants can be planted in late fall in warmer portions of the state for a periodic winter display.

“It’s pretty trouble free when planted in a good site,” he said. “We treat it as a cool-season plant, but it can go from late winter, early spring through fall under the right conditions.”

Tidal Wave Red Velour can be used as a bedding, specimen or an accent plant in mixed borders; plants also perform very well in containers, hanging baskets and window boxes.

Plants thrive in almost any well drained soil and do benefit from regular fertilization, Arnold said. The plant also performs best under good quality irrigation water.

“It just needs good, clean water that isn’t too high in salt or alkalinity,” he said. “It’s done well here in College Station, which has a little salinity and high pH. The plant also needs a little fertilizer to keep the nitrogen levels at a reasonable rate throughout flowering.”

Where to buy this Texas tough Petunia

Arnold said Red Velour should be widely available at specialty nurseries and major retailers. But he recommended consumers check with local nurseries because they typically have regionally adapted plants.

“We’re always looking for improvements on tried and true plants,” he said. “And adding Red Velour to the Waves series is another improvement particularly for petunias.”

Texas Superstar is a registered trademark owned by AgriLife Research, a state agency that is part of the Texas A&M University System. Plants are designated Texas Superstars by the Texas Superstar executive board, which is made up of nine AgriLife Research, Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service and Texas Tech University horticulturalists.

Article credit given to www.agrilifetoday.tamu.edu

 

March Garden Checklist

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**DON’T MISS:
ANNUAL PLANT SALE – March 14, 9-2, 892 Airport Rd, Rockport
BROWN BAG SERIES – March 17, 12-1
Here’s a list of March garden tasks for the Texas Coastal Bend area from the Aransas/San Patricio County Master Gardeners.
— It’s warm enough to move your tender container plants back outdoors.
— The time has finally come for pruning off cold-damaged branches on most trees and shrubs. Once a plant has started to bud out, you can tell which parts are dead and need to be removed. Some shrubs, such as pentas, are slower to grow back.
— Evergreens and summer-blooming trees and shrubs should be pruned by early this month. But remember—spring-flowering varieties should be allowed to finish blooming before you prune them.
— When pruning trees, don’t “top” them. When you cut the top off most trees, the new growth will be weak and spindly. This looks bad, and it weakens the trees.
— Don’t commit “crape murder.” That’s when you prune a crape myrtle down to a few bare trunks sticking out of the ground. Crape myrtles don’t really need to be trimmed, except for taking off dead or diseased wood. If you have limbs that are rubbing against each other, you can remove one of them down to its point of origin. Clip off spent blossoms to encourage lush continued flowering.
— It is too early to prune palms.
— It is too late to prune oaks. The insect that carries oak wilt is active now, and you don’t want to risk your trees getting this deadly infection. If an oak is injured or must be cut for unavoidable reasons, be sure to paint the wound immediately.
— In March, our local live oaks start their yearly transformation—the leaves turn brown and fall off, and the trees flower and bud out with new leaves. Sometimes old or stressed trees take a long time to put on their spring leaves, but be patient: it will happen.
— Spring brings the dreaded “wooly” worms to many live oaks. These are caterpillars of the white-marked tussock moth, and they have white bristles that can cause a rash when touched. Wooly worms and leaf roller caterpillars that drop from the trees are part of a live oak’s natural ecosystem, and they rarely cause lasting damage. Even if they defoliate a tree, there are back-up buds that will leaf out afterwards. You can spray the trees with Bt (Bacillus thuringiensis) while the caterpillars are young, if necessary.
— In March, you can plant most vines, shrubs, annuals, and perennials.
— To keep your plants moist and to reduce weeds, spread 1-4 inches of mulch in your beds. It’s important to keep it a few inches away from stems and trunks.
— It’s not too late to plant most trees including citrus, but not palms yet.
— After mid-month, you can plant most types of tropical plants.
— As the weather warms up and the grass starts to grow, you can start mowing. Sharpen the blade and only take off about 1/3 of the grass height.
— Don’t fertilize your lawn until you have had to mow the grass at least twice—weeds and clover don’t count. This ensures that the grass is active enough to take up nutrients, instead of fertilizing the weeds. Use an organic or slow-release fertilizer, and avoid weed-and-feed products—they can kill your landscape plants and damage your trees.
— Keep lawn fertilizer away from palms. Instead, use a slow-release fertilizer that includes micro-nutrients with a 2:1:3 or 3:1:3 ratio of nitrogen, phosphorus (P) and potassium (K). Most palms in the Coastal Bend area are dangerously lacking in potassium.
— It’s time to set out your tomato, pepper, and eggplant transplants.
— This month you can plant bush and pole beans, arugula, butter beans, corn, cucumber, lettuce, radish, squash, turnip, and mustard greens from seed or transplants.
— It’s time to start herbs, such as oregano, parsley, rosemary, chives, sage, thyme, lemon grass, and lemon verbena.
— Start feeding your roses, hibiscus, and tropical plants once a month. Keep this up through September.
— Don’t mow or cut your wildflowers. They need to bloom completely and go to seed so you’ll have them back next year.
— Avoid overwatering bluebonnets—they are xeriscape plants and need practically no water.
Thanks to Master Gardeners Todd Cutting and Amanda Steves for contributing to this list.

July Brown Bag

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Schizachyrium scoparium, commonly known as little bluestem, is a prairie grass native to Texas. It was one of the dominant grasses of the tallgrass prairies. It typically matures to 2-4’ (less frequently to 5’) tall, and features upright clumps of slender, flat, linear green leaves (to 1/4“ wide), with each leaf having a tinge of blue at the base. Purplish-bronze flowers appear in 3” long racemes on branched stems rising above the foliage in August. Flowers are followed by clusters of fluffy, silvery-white seed heads which are attractive and often persist into winter. Many consider the most outstanding ornamental feature of this grass to be its bronze-orange fall foliage color.

Native grasses such as Little Bluestem can often be a wonderful addition to the low maintenance garden.  Come learn how to identify these grasses so that you can add your favorite species to your flower beds/yard.  Ray Kirkwood, Master Naturalist, and local expert will show you how to tell the difference between the many similar species.

Join us on July 16 from Noon-1 pm in the AgriLife Conference room.  We will be glad to see you and you will be glad you came.