You’re Invited! Winter Rose Pruning Demonstration

Credit: Master Gardener, George Garcia, Winter Pruning Rose Bush
(El Paso Master Gardener
Facebook)

While your roses are dormant it’s a good time to learn about winter rose pruning. Proper pruning will help ensure a healthy plant and beautiful blooms throughout the year.

El Paso County Master Gardeners and the El Paso Rose Society will present a rose pruning demonstration for the public to take the mystery out of pruning. The demonstration will be at the Municipal Rose Garden, 1702 N. Copia (Copia and Aurora) on Saturday, January 27th, from 1:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.

Join us to learn more about the “3 D’s” of rose pruning and how and when to prune climbers. Master Gardeners will demonstrate pruning techniques for hybrid teas, grandiflora, floribunda and other rose varieties. Information on rose care and maintenance will be available along with the demonstrations.

The Rose Garden is closed for the winter season while Master Gardeners and other Rose Garden volunteers ready the 1,600+ roses for spring bloom. The garden will open to the public on March 1 with peak blooming expected in April.

Related Reading:

Growing Roses (regional-appropriate advice on plant types, planting, location, irrigation, soil, fertilization, bush and climber winter pruning, dead-heading, insects) – (Click here for print-friendly PDF)
Roses for the Desert
The Best Date to Start Pruning Roses in El Paso?
Pruning Climbing Roses—Prune yearly for healthier, more manageable growth and bigger, better flowers
Rose Pruning Handout

How to Stay Busy in Your Winter Garden

It’s winter so there’s not as much to grow as in other seasons. You can stay busy by protecting existing gardens and preparing for future planting, according to Dr. Joe Masabni, AgriLife Extension small-acreage vegetable specialist, in Winter Isn’t the Time for Gardeners to Sit Back and Wait. Some tasks are to remove any weeds that continue to grow throughout the winter months and to sort out any stored vegetables like onions or garlic to remove any spoiled or rotting plant materials. It’s also a good time to take soil samples and send them off for testing. The results will let you know if you need to amend your soil to grow better vegetables or even produce a healthier lawn.

Read more »

Soil sample testing kits can be obtained from El Paso County’s Horticulture Extension office by calling 915-771-2354.

Related video from Texas AgriLife Extension: 

 Soil Testing

Grow Your Own Transplants

by Skip Richter, Horticulturist – Agrilife.org

Caring for Potted Succulents in Winter  

Credit: Jennifer Medina Salter

by Jennifer Medina Salter, El Paso Master Gardener

Over the past few months I have been collecting small potted succulents/cacti on my patio. Many of them are cold sensitive, and with colder temperatures here it is definitely time to change the plant environment. I brought my plants inside, but many people move theirs into greenhouses. Whatever the environment, remember that although most succulents/cacti are winter dormant they still have three basic requirements: light, water and temperature.

Read more »

Winter Is Not Gray 

by Maria C. Del Rio, El Paso Master Gardener

Credit: Burford Holly by Carol Foil,CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

Although many of our trees drop their leaves in autumn, winter in El Paso does not have to be gray. Many trees, bushes and plants can provide color and structure to our winter gardens.

Evergreens, both trees and bushes can delight us with their varied shapes and shades of green. Some of the native evergreen trees you may consider for your garden are Texas Mountain Laurel, Texas Madrone, Rocky Mountain Juniper, Afghan/Mondel Pine and Italian Stone Pine.

Hollies are another versatile plant with their dark green foliage and colored berries. All hollies bloom, but only the female plant produces berries, some red, some yellow; others are white or orange, a creamy color, or black. Be sure you have a male holly within about a half mile or there won’t be any berries for the winter season.

Read more »

By the Season – Gardening in El Paso

January Monthly Tips
Vegetable Planting Calendar for El Paso County
Vegetable Varieties for El Paso County
Back to Basics: How to Start Seeds Indoors
Timely Tips on Starting Seedlings at Home (vegetables and flowering annuals)
Low Desert Pruning Guide for Commonly Used Shrubs (includes Tips and Schedule)
Texas Tree Planning Guide: Planting, Pruning, and Care (text and video; Spanish version at page bottom of selected pages)
Trees for High Desert Communities
Regional Recommended Tree List (TPG List)
Help Your Tree Survive in El Paso (PDF)Follow Proper Pruning Techniques-Shrubs, Trees, Vines, Groundcovers
Hold Off Pruning Freeze-Damaged Plants
Growing and Caring for Amaryllis
Christmas Cactus Care
Poinsettias — Care of House and Garden Plants
Working with Winter Bulbs (Amaryllis, Paperwhite, Narcissus and Hyacinth)
Watering Tips for Lawns, Vegetable Gardens and Trees

Good to Grow Radio Shows  (Current and Archived)

Kids & Kows & More
Home Gardening Class + Seeds! (Archived show; current class starts 1/19/19, see above post.)
Spring Gardening Ideas
Irrigation, Part 1 of 2
Irrigation, Part 2 of 2
Cold Tree Pruning
Tree Pruning Tips – Part 2
Cold Weather Gardening Tips
Winter Tree Care
Tree Planting in the Fall
Houseplants
Proper Pruning Tips
Garden Weed Control
Watering Your Landscape

Listen live on Saturdays at 11:15 a.m. on 88.5 FM or stream from the archives at KTEP Good to Grow.  Read more about our Good to Grow Radio Show, here.

How to Pick Plants and Trees at a Nursery
by John White, Horticulturist – nmsuaces

Plant and Gardening Questions?
Ask an Expert

The Master Gardener Help Desk has closed for the winter and will reopen on February 20, 2019. Until then, please submit your gardening questions using the Ask the Help Desk form. You will receive an answer from a Master Gardener volunteer by phone or email.

Ready to Start Your Garden?

Whether you need to buy garden supplies or household items, when you start your shopping at AmazonSmile you can support the El Paso County Master Gardener Association. At smile.amazon.com, you’ll find the same convenient shopping experience as at Amazon.com, with the added bonus that Amazon will donate a portion of your cart’s value to El Paso County Master Gardeners.  Look for this upper  page banner when you donate:

You shop. Amazon gives.

Note: Only purchases at smile.amazon.com will support us or other charitable organizations (not www.amazon.com, nor the mobile app). Thank you for your support.

Newcomer’s Gardening Snapshot for El Paso County

  Many new residents arrive in El Paso each year from climates and growing conditions much different than the Chihuahuan desert. This Newcomer’s Gardening Snapshot highlights some main features of El Paso’s climate including our growing season, USDA Plant Hardiness Zones, U.S. Sunset Climate Zone, first average frost date, average rainfall and more. It also provides links to informative websites which are helpful for newcomers, identifies some local public gardens, and provides a contact for obtaining a Soil Sample Kit.

Read more »

Improve Your Skills with Our Informative El Paso Gardening Handbook

There are many types of gardeners in El Paso. Some tend to their vegetable gardens, whether in raised beds or containers, while others pride themselves in their yards that feature native and adapted plants. Some have recently moved here and aren’t sure where to start now that they’re in the high desert, don’t recognize many of the desert landscape plants, and wonder if they can have a lawn.   Read more »

Who We Are

The El Paso County Master Gardeners Association, as a member of the Texas Master Gardeners Association, is a non-profit educational and charitable organization supporting the Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service in providing quality, relevant outreach and continuing education programs and services to the people of El Paso County. Our local volunteers receive extensive training and experience in a wide range of subjects before certification as Texas Master Gardeners.

In collaboration with the County A&M AgriLife Horticultural Agent, Denise Rodriguez, we educate the community through various events, workshops, and demonstration gardens. Our Master Gardeners volunteer through our Outreach programs and community Projects to provide information and recommendations on horticultural topics to all residents of El Paso County.

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Content Editor: Marlene Stalker