How to Care for Orchids: Simple Tips to Make Them Bloom
Learn how a $4 grocery store orchid grew into a 4-foot masterpiece with easy tips on potting mix, outdoor light, and the right slow-release fertilizer.
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Why Less Water is Better for Your Lawn
Learn why less water creates a healthier lawn. Follow step-by-step instructions for the catch can test and build deep, resilient roots.
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Gladiolus Care and August Heat Gardening Tips for East Texas
Learn how to grow gladiolus, protect plants from August heat, and prepare your East Texas garden for fall vegetable crops with expert tips.
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Three Sisters Garden: Easy Companion Planting
Try an ancient companion planting method! Grow corn, beans, and squash together to naturally boost soil fertility and keep garden maintenance low.
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Vertical Garden Tips: Growing in Small Spaces
Short spaces cannot stop you from gardening! Learn to grow vegetables or herbs on a balcony without frequent bending with these vertical garden tips.
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Summer Gardening Tips: Keep Veggies Thriving
Keep your East Texas summer garden thriving! Water deeply, trim tired flowers, and use mulch as air conditioning to protect your plant roots from July heat.
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Texas Succulent Care: Grow Them Year-Round
Bring the joy of gardening indoors! Low-maintenance succulents survive Texas heat and thrive in winter. Learn more about succulent care here!
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La Niña – How a Warm and Dry Winter Adjusts the Garden Clock
Winter in Smith County is arriving with a different rhythm. During this La Niña season, nights are unusually warm, frost is rare, and rainfall is unpredictable. These shifts have coaxed early blooms and subtle new growth from many gardens. The garden clock seems to be ticking ahead, and attentive care will help gardeners keep pace…
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Spring Forerunner, the Azalea in Korea!
An azalea is a forerunner of spring in Korea. An azalea flower gives Koreans two things connected with happiness: the beauty of the mountains and plenty of sweet treats. When the azalea starts to bloom, the mountains are blanketed with the pale pink color of the flowers. Specifically, the azalea is the first flower to…
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Zowie Zinnias!!
Sure, “Z” may be the caboose of the alphabet, but when it comes to garden glamor, zinnias charge in like fireworks at a summer festival—bright, bold, and impossible to ignore. My own love affair with zinnias began when I was ten. We had just moved into a new neighborhood, and I remember riding past a…
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Fruit Woes
It’s been a tough year for fruit trees. Here’s an excerpt from my friend Dr. Tim Hartmann’s Texas Fruit Newsletter. Tim is our Extension Fruit Specialist in the Department of Horticultural Sciences at Texas A&M University: “As we approach the end of the spring season, it’s becoming more and more evident how yields are shaping…
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Petals of Remembrance
As late May settles over Tyler and the last of spring gives way to the first true hints of an East Texas summer, Memorial Day arrives with both warmth and weight. Here in the Piney Woods, flowers are more than decoration – they are part of how we remember. From quiet country cemeteries to shaded…
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How To Clean Gardening Tools
Cleaning your tools is probably one of the most neglected aspects of residential gardening. However, it is necessary to prolong the useful life of your tools, maintain their appearance and performance, and prevent the spread of pathogens in your home garden. Soil, contaminated water, and plant-borne pathogens (such as bacteria, fungi, nematodes, and some viruses)…
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How to Avoid Periwinkle Blight
Periwinkles have long been one of our most dependable summer bedding plants, brightening East Texas landscapes with months of cheerful color. For generations, gardeners counted on them the way we counted on bachelor buttons and zinnias. Because they evolved in a hot, dry climate, they thrived in heat, tolerated drought, and bloomed without complaint from…
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Time Well Planted
Mother’s Day in East Texas doesn’t arrive quietly – it comes in full bloom. By mid-May, the soil has warmed, the azaleas have shown off, and just about every porch in town seems to have a pot or two bursting with color. It’s the perfect backdrop for celebrating the women who, much like a good…
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Growing Southern Peas
When you say “pea” to most gardeners in the world, they think of “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 what others say about our peas being “cattle food,” many of our ancestors dined on them practically…
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Cyclamen: Vibrant Elegance for Shaded Gardens
Shaded areas brighten with the vibrant color and graceful blooms of cyclamen. Their flowers rise above patterned leaves, each vivid and poised, immediately drawing the eye. Planted in beds or containers, they enliven spaces where most other perennials have finished blooming. Three species are commonly grown locally, each appearing in turn to provide bursts of…
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Let the Rain Do the Work: A Garden Rooted in Earth-Kind, Permaculture, and Texas Superstars
On a warm East Texas afternoon, it is easy to forget that water is one of our garden’s most precious resources. The hose turns on, sprinklers spin, and we move on with our day. But research-based guidance from Texas A&M AgriLife Extension reminds us that the most successful gardens are not the ones that use…
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Spring’s Promise
There’s a certain magic to spring in East Texas—one that feels especially alive as Easter approaches. It’s not just a change in the weather; it’s a full awakening. Lawns green up almost overnight, trees unfurl fresh leaves like they’ve been saving them for a special occasion, and gardeners everywhere begin that familiar ritual of stepping…
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What’s Your Garden’s pH? Why Should You Care?
Picture this. You’re ill, in the hospital, and the nurse’s face shows concern. She reviews your lab report, which shows an abnormal pH. She informs your physician, who then determines a treatment plan, and then he calls upon the pharmacist to formulate the response. Huh? Your normal pH is 7.4 (7.35-7.45) on a scale of 1 to…
