Deicing salts are essential to winter travel and provide necessary safety in a landscape setting by melting dangerous ice on precarious steps, sidewalks, entryways, and other areas of frequent foot traffic. However, winter damage from salt can be a major problem in some landscapes by negatively impacting plant health or sometimes outright killing plants from […]
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As trees in our urban and suburban landscapes prepare for winter dormancy and cold, theycould use a little extra care from you to ensure a good start in the spring. As the seasons change, trees prepare to overwinter in a dormant state. Dormancy is not death; it is a natural state inwhich trees prepare and
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Leave The Leaves! By Justin Wheeler, Scott Hoffman Black, Deborah Seiler on October 2, 2025 Leaves are habitat, not trash One of the most valuable things you can do to support pollinators and other invertebrates is to provide them with the shelter they need to survive the winter. Thankfully, that’s pretty easy; all you need to do
Coneflower (Echinacea) Coneflowers are a favorite among gardeners for their vibrant, daisy-like flowers and ability to attract pollinators. Leaving them standing in the fall provides a food source for birds, as the seed heads offer a natural snack during the winter months. Why Not to Cut Back: The seed heads feed birds, and the dried
Plants NOT to cut back in the Fall Read More »
After the fall harvest is a great time to plant a cover crop. What is a cover crop? A cover crop is a plant or plants grown to cover the garden soil, and later may be incorporated into the soil as “green manure.” Cover crops have been used mainly by farmers, but home gardeners are
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Fall is an excellent time to grow many vegetable crops. During this season the gardener can take advantage of cooler temperatures and more plentiful moisture. Many spring-planted crops such as lettuce and spinach tend to bolt, or produce seed, and become bitterin response to the long, hot summer days. Fall gardening helps extend your gardening
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Fall is not only a time for pumpkins and mums, but it also time to plant those spring blooming flower bulbs for a much appreciated splash of color in the spring. The ideal time to plant bulbs, especially daffodils, are September to October as they need time for root growth ahead of winter freezes. These
Plant Spring Bulbs in Fall Read More »
Seeds are one of the most interesting parts of the plant world because packed into what is sometimes just the size of a dust speck is the potential for an entire plant. They are abundant this time of year on many of our garden and landscape plants – in fruits, faded flowers, or pods. There
Saving Seeds from Your Garden Read More »
The Sunflower Fair takes place in downtown La Porte in September. MGs are on hand to answer gardening questions and educate the public on numerous types of sunflowers.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SkziFTwDRQ8 Gene editing is when a scientist makes a tiny, controlled change in the DNA of a living organism. The simplest way to envision this process is to imagine editing a giant manuscript. You flip through the hundreds of pages until you reach the once sentence you wish to alter, and then carefully change a
GMOs: What Is Gene Editing? Read More »
