Texas Gardener Magazine

Texas Gardener Magazine The magazine for Texas gardeners, by Texas gardeners.
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05/27/2026

🍑🍑 Peach and plum season is almost here across the southern parts of Texas! As fruit begins nearing harvest, now is the time to keep a close eye out for brown rot — especially after periods of rainy or humid weather.

Brown rot can spread quickly on ripening fruit, turning beautiful peaches and plums into mush almost overnight. Wet conditions create the perfect environment for this fungal disease to take hold and move through your crop fast.

A good preventative spray program following rains can make all the difference and help avoid major crop losses before harvest. Remove any infected fruit you spot, keep fallen fruit cleaned up around trees, and maintain good airflow through pruning to reduce disease pressure.

A little prevention now can mean baskets full of healthy, juicy fruit later. 🍑🌳

05/26/2026

Katie makes a great point. If you want to attract butterflies to your garden, find out what family of plants they host on.

Butterflies can nectar on a wide range of plants. However, they can only lay eggs on their host plants. So, if you want more butterflies make sure you, have both nectar and host plants in the garden.

As Katie points out, black swallowtails host on plants 🌱 from the Apiaceae Genus. This includes carrots, parsley, cilantro and dill.

So, if you want more black swallowtails, and their gorgeous caterpillars, grow lots of dill. If the caterpillars don’t eat it all you can use ever is left to make pickles!


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05/25/2026

On February 24, Colonel William B Travis and his band of Texans in the Alamo were surrounded by General Santa Ana’s forces .

Seeking reinforcement, Colonel Travis wrote one of the most powerful and moving letters in military history. His letter made it clear, that despite their desperate situation, the Texas would never surrender or retreat.

Today, we recognize all the brave Americans that refused to surrender or retreat in their defense of liberty and freedom. Today, may their sacrifices fill you with gratitude for those who understood that freedom is not free.


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05/24/2026

Today at 3:00, Memorial Day customs suggest we all have a moment of silence to remember those that paid the ultimate price for our country.

General Douglas MacArthur once said “the soldier above all other people prays for peace, for he must suffer and bear the deepest wounds and scars of war. “

Today at 3:00, join me in a silent tribute to those that were willing to sacrifice their lives so we can all live in freedom and


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While great design and proper plant selection can make a beautiful garden, nothing makes it uniquely yours better than g...
05/23/2026

While great design and proper plant selection can make a beautiful garden, nothing makes it uniquely yours better than garden art. In fact, great garden art can turn an average yard into a stunning visual space.

Garden art runs the gamut from inexpensive purchased items to gorgeous pieces created by local artisans or even toward elaborately decorated structures.

If you have some great art in your garden, tell us about them in the comments below email us a picture. We would love to see the things that make your garden unique!


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May 22, 2026This weekend in the Texas garden: * Fertilize sweet corn when it a foot tall and again when the tassels appe...
05/22/2026

May 22, 2026

This weekend in the Texas garden:

* Fertilize sweet corn when it a foot tall and again when the tassels appear. Continue fertilizing tomatoes, peppers and eggplant every 3-4 weeks

* Transplants of coleus, portulaca, Esperanza, Angelonia, pentas and vincas can still be planted for warm season color

*Continue watering spring planted trees and shrubs and shrubs all the way to their drip line

*Mulch fruit trees to their drip line to conserve soil moisture

*Avoid broadleaf w**d killers when temperatures are above 80. These products will damage St. Augustine turf when temperatures are high




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05/21/2026

Have you heard the hype that chickens are great in the garden? Well I am here to tell you, it is definitely hype. I have gardened with chickens for over 15 years and they have never once been a benefit to me or my garden.

To be fair, chickens will eat bugs off your plants and they will p**p in your garden. They will also peck holes in your tomatoes, dig up your transplants and seeds and eat anything that sprouts.

In short, the only way to successfully garden with chickens is to keep them confined during much of the growing season.

Ducks are much better birds for your garden. Ducks eat bugs and p**p - a lot! However, they don’t dig and they don’t peck your tomatoes.

So, if you are of the mindset that your garden needs some barnyard fowl, choosing duck over chickens will help you



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05/20/2026

Harvest Smart, Texas Gardeners! 🌞🍑

If you want the freshest flavor and longest-lasting harvest, timing matters more than you think.

The best time to pick fruits and vegetables is early in the morning, before the Texas sun starts turning up the heat. Overnight, plants recover moisture and stay naturally cool, which means your produce is crisper, juicier, and less stressed when harvested.

Once the morning heat hits, fruits can quickly lose moisture, soften faster, and decline in quality. That’s why experienced gardeners head to the garden with coffee in hand and harvest before the day gets blazing.

After picking, don’t leave your harvest sitting in the sun. Move it into the shade, a cool porch, or indoors as soon as possible to help preserve flavor, texture, and freshness. A little extra care after harvest can mean sweeter tomatoes, crisper cucumbers, and berries that last longer in the kitchen.

🌿 Harvest cool.
🌿 Keep it shaded.
🌿 Enjoy better flavor from garden to table.

Your plants worked hard for that harvest; protect it from the Texas heat! So you can... Keep Planting Happiness, Y'all!

Kelly Shrout of is much more than a local florist. Kelly is building community by using her skills to design glorious ...
05/20/2026

Kelly Shrout of is much more than a local florist. Kelly is building community by using her skills to design glorious floral arrangements for Lufkin and she also uses her time and talents to introduce young people to the joys and wonder of cultivating the earth and nurturing plants.

Kelly took the beautiful picture that graces the cover of our 2026 Planning Guide. Our planning guide has 180 daily tips to help you in your Texas garden. The guide has room to journal, detailed planting instructions and lists of the best plants and varieties for Texas.

Our guide is on sale now for just $10. Head to our website now and pick up the tool that has everything you need to



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05/20/2026

So much fun meeting Elizabeth P. Wulf at our “Waterwise Gardening” lecture for the Angelina County Master Gardeners.

Elizabeth wins the SUPER FAN award for driving all the way from Lufkin to Alvin to attend gardening lectures from
Me, my buddy Destin and friend Jorge from

So fun to meet Elizabeth and enjoy her enthusiasm for garden. People like Elizabeth encourage me to keep on



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05/02/2026

With the price of fertilizer increasing everyday, wouldn’t be nice if there were something out there that would help you get every bit of nourishment out of that fertilizer?

is exactly what you are looking for. MitoGrow is not a fertilizer. It is a bio-inoculant for your soil. The plant hormone IBH stimulates root growth and the various mycorrhiza fungi pair up with those roots to extend your plants ability to reach out and find, and uptake nutrients from the soil. This symbiotic relationship ensures that your plants get the benefit of all those nutrients provided by your fertilizer.

This spring, if you are planting perennials, increase their survival chances by watering them in with MitoGrow. If you have a tree or shrub that is just not performing as you hoped, give it some MitoGrow. The science behind MitoGrow will help your plants thrive by making the most of the nutrients in your soil and that should help you

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