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Gardening Topics-Links

To help find links for your desired topic, use the “Find” command (“Ctrl-F” for Windows and “Command-F” for Apple devices).

Basics

Recommended Plants and Plant Selectors

  • Newcomer’s Gardening Snapshot for El Paso County — Gardening in El Paso (includes plant hardiness & climate zones)
  • Ornamental Plants for Far West Texas (Annuals, Perennials, Flowers, Shrubs, Trees, Succulents, Groundcovers, Grasses, Turf, Vines, including Natives, with Water Use)
  • El Paso Desert Blooms Water Smart Landscaping Guide
  • Earth-Kind® Plant Selector
  • Recommended Southwestern Native Plants for the El Paso/Las Cruces Area (Trees, Shrubs, Perennials, Annuals, Grasses and Succulents)
  • Chihuahuan Desert Native Plant List
  • Southwest Plant Selector (NMOSE Plant List Database)-Free App-Specifically for iPhone, iPod, and iPad
  • TPG-Tree-list-Sept-2015
  • Trees for High Desert Communities
  • Texas Superstar® Plants – Annuals, Perennials, Shrubs, and Trees
  • Xeriscape™ – Landscape Water Conservation (pg 8 starts “Outstanding Plants for Texas”; consider Regions 6 & 7)
  • Pollinator Plant Recommendations for New Mexico (annuals, perennials, shrubs and trees; includes bloom season)

Accessible Gardening

  • Creating an Accessible Garden
  • Accessible Gardening Tips
  • Keep On Gardening – Create Your Own Tools
  • Accessible Gardening Tools
  • Accessible Gardening Reading & Reference Resources
  • Enjoy Gardening Benefits with Accessible Tools and Techniques – Gardening in El Paso

Garden Tools – Care and Maintenance

  • Cleaning Garden Tools
  • Disinfecting Your Garden Tools
  • Proper Handling of Garden Tools
  • Tools and Equipment (includes chain saw, lawn mower, sharpening tools, etc.)

Fitness for Gardeners

  • Don’t Let The Dirt Hurt Stretches
  • Gardening and Your Health: Protecting Your Knees and Back (Brochure)

Gardening Organizations

  • Aggie Horticulture®
  • AggieTurf
  • Become a Texas Master Gardener
  • El Paso Cactus and Rock Club
  • El Paso Water Utilities TecH2O Center
  • Chihuahuan Desert Gardens at University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP)
  • Native Plant Society of New Mexico (El Paso Chapter)
  • Texas A&M AgriLife Extension in El Paso
  • Texas Master Gardener℠ Association
  • Texas Master Gardener℠ Program
  • USDA Plants Database
  • West Texas Urban Forestry Council 

Gardening Publications and Links for Expanded Research

  • Earth-Kind® Landscape Publications
  • Earth-Kind® Principles and Practices for Urban Landscape (PDF Publications)
  • Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Bookstore
  • Texas A&M AgriLife Cooperative Extension Bookstore
  • University of Arizona Cooperative Extension Service Publications
  • New Mexico State University Cooperative Extension Service Horticultural Publications
  • New Mexico State University Cooperative Extension Service Publications and Videos
  • Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Gardening and Landscaping

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Landscape

Ornamental Grasses

  • How to Landscape with Ornamental Grasses – Gardening in El Paso
  • Ornamental Plants for Far West Texas (see native grasses in left column on page)

Ornamental Plants and Shrubs

  • Ornamental Plants for Far West Texas (Annuals, Perennials, Flowers, Shrubs, Trees, Succulents, Groundcovers, Grasses, Turf, Vines, including Natives, with Water Use)
  • Texas Superstar® Plants- Annuals, Perennials, Shrubs and Trees
  • Have You Tried Growing These Popular Perennials? – Gardening in El Paso
  • Create a Hummingbird and Butterfly Habitat
  • Shade Tolerant Plants for Far West Texas
  • Propagating Foliage and Flowering Plants
  • Fertilizing Woody Ornamentals
  • Pruning Shrubs in the Low and Mid-Elevation Deserts in Arizona
  • Follow Proper Pruning Techniques-Shrubs, Trees, Vines, Groundcovers
  • Low Desert Pruning Guide for Commonly Used Shrubs (includes Tips and Schedule)
  • Pollinator Plant Recommendations for New Mexico (annuals, perennials, shrubs and trees; includes bloom season)
  • Plant a Honey Bee Friendly Garden (includes native bees & bee-attracting plants)
  • How to Attract Pollinators to Your Garden – Gardening in El Paso
  • Get Winter Color in the Desert with These Four Plants – Gardening in El Paso

Roses

  • 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
  • Best Roses for Arizona: Roses That Love Our Heat
  • Earth-Kind® Roses
  • Growing Tips for Earth-Kind® Roses
  • Earth-Kind® Rose Cultivars
  • Landscaping with Old Garden Roses
  • Rose Pruning Handout (PDF)
  • Rose Pruning Handout (html)
  • Pruning Climbing Roses—Prune yearly for healthier, more manageable growth and bigger, better flowers
  • The Best Date to Start Pruning Roses in El Paso? – Gardening in El Paso
  • A Guide to Rose Diseases and Their Management                      
  • Why to Be on Alert for Rose Rosette Disease – Gardening in El Paso
  • Rose Rosette (symptoms, control, reporting)
  • Combating Rose Rosette | Facebook
  • Rose Rosette Disease
  • Winter Protection of Roses

Lawns

  • Turfgrass Establishment for Texas
  • Bermudagrass Lawn Management Calendar
  • Maintaining Bermudagrass Lawn
  • Fertilizing-Texas-Lawns
  • Landscape Fertilizers: Selection, Handling, Application and Storage ….
  • Urban Turf Fertilizer Calculator (use with soil test results)
  • The Fall Lawn Fertilizing Deadline Is Fast Approaching! — Gardening in El Paso
  • Apply Fall Preemergence Herbicide to Avoid Spring Weeds
  • Lawn Water Management
  • Watering Tips for Lawns, Vegetable Gardens and Trees – Gardening in El Paso
  • Watering the Lawn in Winter
  • Powdery Mildew on Turf
  • Weeds of Texas Turf (good photos for ID of weed)

Cold Damage

  • Hold Off Pruning Freeze-Damaged Plants 
  • After the Bleak Midwinter
  • Care for Storm-Damaged Trees and Shrubs – Gardening in El Paso

Flowers

  • Parson’s Archive Information about Flowering Plants
  • Constructing Your Flower Bed
  • Flowers – Annuals, Perennials, Planting, Landscaping, Problems
  • Cut Flower Gardening
  • Why Deadhead Our Flowers?
  • Wildflower Growing Information with Photos and Links
  • Wildflowers – Southwestern Mix
  • Wildflowers in Bloom – Growing Info
  • Fertilizing Foliage and Flowering Plants
  • Bulbs, Corms, Rhizomes, Tubers
  • Flowering Bulbs  
  • Summer and Fall Flowering Bulbs for the Landscape
  • Ornamental Plants for Far West Texas (Annuals, Perennials, Flowers, Shrubs, Trees, Succulents, Groundcovers, Grasses, Turf, Vines, including Natives, with Water Use)
  • Prepare for Bulbs in the Landscape Now (includes additional information on forcing bulbs)
  • Planting Spring-Flowering Bulbs Outdoors
  • Growing and Caring for Amaryllis 
  • Growing and Caring for Poinsettia
  • The Poinsettia Pages 
  • Poinsettias-Year After Year
  • Poinsettias: The Challenge of Reblooming Is Fun, But Challenging 
  • Iris – Low Water Use Plant for Desert Southwest
  • How to Grow Iris in El Paso – Gardening in El Paso
  • Forcing Bulbs for Indoor Bloom
  • Seasonal Color with Bulbs in El Paso – Gardening in El Paso
  • Daffodil Narcissus – Low Water Use Plant for Desert Southwest
  • Dividing Perennials
  • Gardening with Perennials (common types, planting, transplanting, dividing, plant care; sections in Spanish)
  • Have You Tried Growing These Popular Perennials? – Gardening in El Paso

Cacti and Succulents

  • Cactus, Agave, Yucca and Ocotillo
  • How to Care for Cacti in El Paso — Gardening in El Paso
  • Growing Cactus
  • How to Propagate Agaves and Cacti from Cuttings and Seed
  • Propagating and Caring for Cactus
  • How to Transplant a Cactus
  • Pruning Cacti and Other Desert Succulents (note photo descriptions for the right & wrong way to prune example plants)
  • PLANT answers Cactus Culture (includes succulents, photos and hardiness rating)
  • Caring for Potted Succulents in Winter – Gardening in El Paso
  • Cactus in the Garden and on Your Table — Gardening in El Paso 
  • Succulent Gardening – Dormancy Table

Trees

  • Ornamental Plants for Far West Texas (Annuals, Perennials, Flowers, Shrubs, Trees, Succulents, Groundcovers, Grasses, Turf, Vines, including Natives, with Water Use)
  • Texas Superstar® Plants- Annuals, Perennials, Shrubs and Trees
  • Texas Tree Planning Guide: Planting, Pruning, and Care (text and video; Spanish version at page bottom of selected pages)
  • Help-Your-Tree-Survive-in-El-Paso
  • Watering Tips for Lawns, Vegetable Gardens and Trees
  • TPG-Tree-list-Sept-2015
  • Follow Proper Pruning Techniques-Shrubs, Trees, Vines, Groundcovers
  • Trees for High Desert Communities
  • What Tree is for Me? — Gardening in El Paso
  • Fruit Trees for El Paso
  • Training and Pruning Newly Planted Deciduous Fruit Trees
  • Pollinator Plant Recommendations for New Mexico (annuals, perennials, shrubs and trees; includes bloom season)
  • Plant a Honey Bee Friendly Garden (includes native bees & bee-attracting plants)
  • How to Attract Pollinators to Your Garden – Gardening in El Paso

Earth-Kind®

Earth-Kind® Practices

  • Earth-Kind® Home Page-Aggie Horticulture
  • 10 Ways to Make Your Landscape Earth-Kind®
  • Earth-Kind®  Principles and Practices for Urban Landscape (PDF Publications)
  • Earth-Kind® Landscape Publications
  • Planning the Earth-Kind® Home Landscape
  • Earth-Kind® Plant Selector
  • About Earth-Kind® Roses
  • Growing Tips for Earth-Kind® Roses
  • Earth-Kind® Rose Cultivars
  • Master Gardener Online Earth-Kind® Training (Available to the public)
  • Environmental Stewardship through Earth-Kind® Landscaping – Gardening in El Paso
  • Earth-Kind®-Composting

Soils and Fertilization

  • Testing Your Soil-How to Collect and Send Samples
  • Improving Soils: Crucial to Long-Term Success…
  • Landscape Fertilizers: Selection, Handling, Application and Storage ….
  • Fertilizing Texas Lawns
  • Urban Turf Fertilizer Calculator (use with soil test results)
  • The Fall Lawn Fertilizing Deadline Is Fast Approaching! — Gardening in El Paso
  • Fertilizing Woody Ornamentals
  • How to Improve Your Soil – Gardening in El Paso
  • Soil Preparation – Easy Gardening Series

Drip Irrigation

  • Efficient Use of Water in the Garden and Landscape
  • Easy Steps for Drip Irrigation – Gardening in El Paso

Composting and Vermicomposting

  • Composting in the Home Garden
  • Earth-Kind® Composting
  • Compost, Clippings and Winter Protection of Plants
  • Worms Can Recycle Your Garbage
  • What Is Vermicomposting and How Is It Done – Gardening in El Paso
  • Keyhole Gardening – The Composting Method (Brochure, pg 1 of 2)
  • Keyhole Gardening – The Composting Method (Brochure, pg 2 of 2)

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Houseplants

  • Light, Temperature and Humidity
  • Media, Repotting and Containers
  • How to Make a Holiday Planter with Greenery
  • Growing and Caring for Poinsettia
  • The Poinsettia Pages 
  • Poinsettias-Year After Year
  • Poinsettias: The Challenge of Reblooming Is Fun, But Challenging
  • Helping Your Holiday Gift Plants Keep on Giving – Gardening in El Paso
  • Interiorscape Plants Picture Page – Common Name Index
  • Interiorscape Plants Image Gallery (photos with scientific names)
  • House Plants from Texas Master Gardener Handbook (see Index of Plant Uses at page bottom; includes special care info for seasonal plants)
  • Houseplants – Selection, Care, Types, and Propagation (click page link for Spanish version: Plantas para Interiores)
  • Forcing Bulbs for Indoor Bloom

Fruits and Vegetables

Fruits

  • Fruit and Nut Fact Sheets
  • Fruit Trees for El Paso – Gardening in El Paso
  • Pomegranate-Cultivars
  • Pomegranate-Propagation
  • Pomegranates (Texas Fruit and Nut Series)

Vegetables

  • Vegetable Planting Calendar for El Paso (in English & Spanish)
  • Vegetable Varieties for El Paso County
  • Vegetables – Easy Gardening Series (scroll down for Spanish)
  • Everything Texans Ask About Gardening
  • Getting Your Vegetable Beds Ready for Spring – Gardening in El Paso
  • The Secret to Growing Tomatoes in El Paso – Gardening in El Paso
  • Tomato Problem Solver
  • Plant a Honey Bee Friendly Garden (includes native bees & bee-attracting plants)
  • Cool Season Gardening Is Easy After the Heat of Summer — Gardening in El Paso
  • Fall Vegetable Gardening Guide (for tables, use Texas Gardening Region III as El Paso is in USDA Hardiness Zone 8)
  • How to Care for Cool Weather Vegetables – Gardening in El Paso
  • Texas Home Vegetable Gardening Guide
  • Watering Tips for Lawns, Vegetable Gardens and Trees

Gardening with Hoop Houses, Row Covers, and Cold Frames

  • Row Cover Vegetable Production Techniques
  • How to Install a Floating Row Cover
  • Row Covers – Community Horticulture Fact Sheet
  • Row Covers – WSU Extension C187
  • Our Raised Bed Hoop House and How to Build It – Gardening in El Paso
  • The Raised Bed Hoop House-El Paso, TX_printable PDF
  • The Raised Bed Hoop House–El Paso, TX (slideshow)
  • Hoop House Construction for New Mexico: 12-ft. X 40-ft. Hoop House
  • Constructing a Cold Frame Hoop House for the Backyard Gardener
  • Hotbeds and Cold Frames
  • The Cold Frame Handbook
  • The Cold Frame Manual
  • Making a Cloche
  • How to Build Your Own Raised Bed Cloche
  • Extending the Garden Season-Classic Cold Frames & Cloches; Easy Low Tunnels

Insects and Diseases (Integrated Pest Management or IPM)

  • BugBook
  • Insects in the City
  • Southwest Bugs
  • Field Guide to Common Texas Insects (includes Life Cycle & Pest Status)
  • What Is IPM (Integrated Pest Management)?
  • Landscape Integrated Pest Management (IPM – includes Turfgrass and Ornamentals)
  • UC IPM Pest Notes Library (garden insects, household pests, weeds, plant diseases, and pesticides)
  • Pests of Foliage and Flowering Plants
  • Managing Insects and Related Pests of Roses
  • Why to Be on Alert for Rose Rosette Disease – Gardening in El Paso
  • Early Detection of Rose Rosette Disease
  • Rose Rosette (symptoms, control, reporting)
  • Facebook | Combating Rose Rosette
  • Rose Rosette Disease
  • Pesticide Introduction and Safety
  • Protecting Honey Bees from Pesticides
  • Pocket Guide to the Native Bees of New Mexico (includes host plant names)
  • Earth-Wise Guide to Beneficial Insects (photos + least toxic products)
  • Good Bug? Bad Bug?
  • Backyard Beneficial Insects in New Mexico
  • Pocket Guide to the Beneficial Insects of New Mexico
  • Landscape IPM — Beneficial Insects
  • Make the Best of Beneficial Insects
  • Buzz Off! Prevent Mosquitos to Reduce Disease – Gardening in El Paso
  • DIY Backyard Mosquito Control
  • West Nile Virus is Present in Texas: Protect Yourself
  • Mosquito Control After a Flood
  • Mosquito Safari – Find Mosquitos (Interactive), Learn Symptoms & Mosquito Control
  • Mosquito Season is Here: How to Control Them and Prevent Bites
  • Leafmining Insects
  • Elm Leaf Beetles
  • Aphids (Wisconsin Master Gardener Series)
  • Aphids & Their Relatives
  • Spider Mites
  • Thrips

Propagation

  • Pomegranate-Propagation
  • Back to Basics: How to Start Seeds Indoors
  • Timely Tips on Starting Seedlings at Home (vegetables and flowering annuals)
  • Starting a Garden from Seeds — Gardening in El Paso
  • Propagation – A Variety of Techniques
  • Propagating Foliage and Flowering Plants
  • Air Layering for Difficult to Root Plants
  • Propagation Resources – Grafting
  • Rose Propagation From Cuttings
  • Whip Grafting
  • How to Propagate Agaves and Cacti from Cuttings and Seed

Rainwater Harvesting, WaterWise and Xeriscape™

Rainwater Harvesting

  • Rainwater Harvesting 
  • Rainwater Harvesting – Gardening in El Paso
  • Installing A Drip Irrigation System to a Rain Barrel (Video)
  • The Texas Rainwater Harvesting Manual 
  • A Waterwise Guide to Rainwater Harvesting 
  • A Waterwise Guide to Rainwater Harvesting (Spanish version)  

Water Wise

  • El Paso Desert Blooms Water Smart Landscaping Guide
  • Efficient Use of Water in the Garden and Landscape
  • What Is a WaterWise Texas Landscape?
  • Lawns Don’t Waste Water, People Do!
  • Lawn Water Management
  • Ornamental Plants for Far West Texas (Annuals, Perennials, Flowers, Shrubs, Trees, Succulents, Groundcovers, Grasses, Turf, Vines, including Natives, with Water Use)
  • Watering Trees and Shrubs: Simple Techniques for Efficient Landscape Watering
  • Watering Tips for Lawns, Vegetable Gardens and Trees – Gardening in El Paso

Xeriscape™

  • Earth-Kind® Home Page-Aggie Horticulture
  • Earth-Kind® Drought Preparedness
  • Xeriscape™ – Landscape Water Conservation (pg 8 starts “Outstanding Plants for Texas”; consider Regions 6 & 7)
  • Why Native Plants? – Gardening in El Paso
  • Environmental Stewardship through Earth-Kind® Landscaping – Gardening in El Paso
  • How to Have an Attractive Grassless Yard – Gardening in El Paso

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