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Backyard Bug Hunt Recorded Series

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If you missed Wizzie Brown’s Backyard Bug Hunt webinars, below are links to recorded series to date.

Ms. Brown is an Integrated Pest Management Program Specialist in Travis County.  She earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Entomology from the The Ohio State University in 1996 and her Masters in Entomology at Texas A&M University in 1999.

When you find insects in your garden, your first instinct might be to destroy them, but that’s not always the best action.  Of the 1.5 million known insect species in the world, more than 97% are beneficial to gardens, or simply benign.  That leaves less than 3% that are agricultural and nuisance pests.

Bluebonnet Master Gardeners may claim CEU credit for these live or recorded events.

You may watch these webinars on the Travis County AgriLife Extension site or click the topics below:

Butterfly & caterpillar ID (Nymphalids & Papilionids)

Attracting insects to your yard

Veggie pests

Spiders

Fire ant biology & management

All about ants- ID & biology

Mosquitoes

Fly identification & management

Stinging & biting arthropods

 

Mexican Heather Named Texas Superstar

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Mexican heather, an old-fashioned and reliable pollinator-friendly ornamental plant that adds big color to gardens and landscapes has been named the latest Texas Superstar.  David Rodriguez, Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service horticulturist, San Antonio, said Mexican heather has been a favorite ornamental plant in Texas gardens for many years. Mexican heather plants are also a top attractor for pollinators like bees and butterflies.

Mexican heather is best used in massing beddings, borders and containters.   It also is excellent in butterfly and pollinator gardens and hanging baskets.

Mexican heather photo

Allyson Mexican heather is one of the top performing varieties of this newly named Texas Superstar. (Photo by Brent Pemberton).

“There are other common selections of Mexican heather that are great plants, and I encourage gardeners to experiment with combinations, but we think Allyson is the best performing variety at this time,” he said. “It’s perfect for all sorts of plantings and works in all the criteria we look for in a Texas Superstar, including its role as an attractor of beneficial insects and pollinators.”

To be designated a Texas Superstar, a plant must be beautiful and perform well for growers throughout the state. Texas Superstars must also be easy to propagate, ensuring the plants are widely available and reasonably priced.
Texas Superstar® is a registered trademark owned by Texas A&M 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, made up of nine horticulturalists from AgriLife Research, Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service and Texas Tech University.

This post was summarized from and the photograph was taken from AgriLife TODAY.  For more information about Mexican heather, see the full AgriLife Today article about  Mexican heather.

Small Farms & Vegetable Conference

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Small Farms & Vegetble Conference flier

 

The Horticulture Committee of Austin County will be sponsoring a Small Farms and Vegetable Conference on February 22nd at the Cat Spring Ag Society Hall. Registration will take place from 8:30 a.m. until 9:00 a.m. with the program to follow.

This year’s program will focus on fruits, nuts and bee production for South Central Texas, and strategies related to raising, marketing and the economics of production. The program will begin at 9:00 a.m. and last until about 3:00 p.m. Lunch will be served and there will also be several snack breaks built-in to help get the blood flowing again. There will be a guarantee of 3 CEU’s with a possible 5 CEU’s offered pending TDA approval.

Cost for the event is $30.00 per person, which goes to cover speaker materials, meal cost and the handouts. To pre-register for the event, contact the Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service Office of Austin County at (979) 865-2072, or visit our EVENT REGISTRATION page.

Open Full Sized Flier

 

Master Gardeners Asked to Assist in Texas/Oklahoma Pollinator Project

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Photo of bumble Bee on cowpeasBMGA members interested in bees and pollinators can assist in a project with the ultimate goal of creating a field-tested list of the best Texas and Oklahoma landscape plants for pollinators.  This is an opportunity for Master Gardeners to use their knowledge and skills in the garden to participate in a real citizen-data collection project to provide important data to scientists and researchers hoping to reduce the decline of pollinators in Texas and Oklahoma.

Michael Merchant, Ph.D, BCE, Professor and Extension Urban Entomologist with Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service, asks Texas and Oklahoma Master Gardeners and Master Naturalists for feedback about the top plants for pollinators in their gardens. In addition, he wants to assess who is interested in participating in a pollinator count this summer.  Exact details about the planned count will be provided later.  But now, to get started, Master Gardeners may complete a survey indicating their interest in participating in a pollinator count and identifying top plants in their garden that attract pollinators.

Some of you may be familiar with Dr. Merchant and his AgriLife Extension Insects in the City blog or as a trainer in the Master Gardener program on the topic of entomology.  Dr. Merchant says he knows there is a lot of collective wisdom of out there among gardeners and naturalist on what plants serve as highly attractive nectar sources for pollinators. If the project team can get a good response from Master Gardeners and others to this survey, it should give the project a good starting list of potential pollinator plants to study this summer.

Below is a link to a Qualtrix survey for Master Gardeners with an interest in bees and pollinators.  If you are interested in assisting with this project, please complete the survey.

Take the Survey

The Bluebonnet Master Gardener Association has a long standing interest in educating the public about and creating pollinator-friendly landscapes.  The Sheridan 4H Youth Butterfly Garden in Colorado County, Texas is an example of a pollinator friendly garden.   In addition, through our Kids’ Kamp summer program, Lunch-N-Learn series and other programs, we include education about the importance of pollinators to our nation’s food production and agriculture.  BMGA can continue its dedication to increase awarness of the importance of pollinators and in helping to increase pollinator-friendly landscapes in our area with a strong participate in this project from its members.

 

 

Fayette Co. Lunch & Learn – Pollinator/Bird Gardening- Trey Barron

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The Bluebonnet Master Gardener Association hosts the Lunch & Learn.

Mr.  Barron is a Wildlife Diversity Biologists with the Victoria office of  Texas Parks & Wildlife.

This month, Trey Barron will present on Pollinator/Bird Gardening. Pollination is usually the unintended consequence of an animal’s activity on a flower.  Birds are very important pollinators of wildflowers through the world.  There are 200 bird species globally that feed on nectar, the insects, and the spiders associated with nectar bearing flowers.  Learn to encourage these important visitors to your garden,

Fayette Lunch & Learn Brochure page 1

Fayetter Lunch & Learn Brochure page 2