Making My Marsh Meadow

Making My Marsh Meadow

We gardeners have focused on primping, prodding, and perfection to the detriment of bird, bees, and butterflies for far too long.  As a whole, Americans are addicted to the impossible goal of creating a manicured, pristine lawn.  This continuous failed quest is the...
Backyard Farming Workshop

Backyard Farming Workshop

In the past week, I dug Irish potatoes, planted sweet potato slips, planted two rows of purple hull peas and one row of cream peas, plus side-dressed (fertilized), tilled, and irrigated my two-row crop gardens. Any day now, when my sunflowers, sweet corn, and okra get...
National Rose Month

National Rose Month

National Rose Month Shreveport, LA – June is National Rose Month and what better way to spread the joy of roses than with the American Rose Society Headquartered in Shreveport, Louisiana, the American Rose Society is a national non-profit organization founded in 1892...
Still Time to Plant Okra

Still Time to Plant Okra

Hopefully, you grow a garden or know someone that does. Hot weather is on its way, but there’s still time to plant Southern peas, sweet potatoes, and okra. Okra is synonymous with Southern culture. The African name for okra was gumbo and subsequently gave us the name...
Beautiful Begonias

Beautiful Begonias

The genus Begonia includes 2,000 species from tropical and subtropical Africa, Asia, Central and South America, along with thousands of hybrids created by enthusiasts around the world. Begonia leaves can resemble ivies, ferns, aralias, grasses, and peperomias. They...
Houston Rose Society: June Meeting

Houston Rose Society: June Meeting

Rose Showing Party June is National rose month and what better way to celebrate than with a party to show how easy it is to show roses! Mary Fulgham and Randy Keen recently won four trophies at the American Rose Society’s National Show held in Shreveport last month....
Take-All Root Rot

Take-All Root Rot

Take-all root rot is a fungal disease that causes bright yellow, weak, brown, and dead patches in turfgrass. This disease is mostly associated with St. Augustine grass. Take-all root rot is caused by a fungus that lives in the soil. The fungus is commonly found in...
Pea Planting Time is Here

Pea Planting Time is Here

It’s finally warm enough to plant peas. When you say “pea” to most gardeners in the world, they think of green “English” peas that thrive in cool moist environments. But to most Southerners, a hot weather legume from Africa, more related to beans, is the norm. Despite...