This week, I want to go over some of the benefits of one of my most requested beneficial bugs, which aren’t really bugs, but rather worms.

The latest plant-sucking pests to show up on many local gardeners’ plants are mealybugs. These warm climate-loving pests are small in size but are often found in large groups sucking sap out of a plant’s foliage.

Grasses are featured in many gardens in our area. Gulf muhly, Mexican feather grass, fountain grass and zebra grass are common names. A newly named Texas Superstar can now be added to that list — if you are looking for something big and bold.

These days you don’t usually find many gardeners outdoors working in their gardens. September is always a very hot and humid time to be doing anything outdoors. But, if you enjoy tomatoes, now is a good fall tomato-planting time that could provide you with a successful fall crop of juicy tomatoes.

If you have read my previous Gardeners’ Dirt columns, you know I usually reference growing up in southwestern Pennsylvania. When September rolls around, my thoughts begin to turn to autumn leaves, pumpkins and mums. A combination of yellow and red, orange symbolizes endurance and strength.

One of my favorite tasks at the Victoria Educational Gardens is trimming the rock roses in the xeriscape area. This year rock roses are being recognized as a Texas Superstar.

Do rows of vegetables such as green beans, squash and tomatoes interest you? Do you look with envy at farmers market produce? Does the thought of vegetable gardening scare you? Do space limitations prevent you from being a farmer?

Back in 2012, I became a master gardener. Being older, I have more stiff and sore joints than I did back then. Things change. We change. Our likes and dislikes, the time we have available to garden, moving to a more natural garden, our physical ability and, of course, our weather all change …

When Annabeth and I began thinking about putting in our garden, we decided to keep the color scheme fairly simple. We chose a triadic scheme of red, yellow and purple. How hard could that be?

The newest 2021 Texas Superstar is the ornamental sweet potato vine, Ipomoea batatas. Be aware that the ornamental sweet potato vine is somewhat different from the same species that produces spuds. This plant is grown primarily for its tropical-looking foliage and vining habit.

If there’s anything that can quickly ruin your time in your garden, it would probably be finding fire ants in the soil. I suspect the majority of gardeners have had to deal with fire ants at one time or another in their landscapes. These little guys can be very aggravating whether in our law…

What’s special about milkweed? Milkweed (genus Asclepias) is the host plant, the only source of food, for the monarch caterpillar. If the monarch butterfly does not find milkweed, it will not lay any eggs, and there will be no more monarchs.

I know it’s hot out there, but there are still gardening chores to be done. Weeding is probably the main chore most of us have been tending to, and if this rain continues, unfortunately, more weeds will show up. Remember, several inches of mulch on garden beds will help to prevent a lot of w…

I suspect the past few weeks of rain have certainly kept most lawns well-watered. Unfortunately, our true Texas hot summer weather is coming back. Temperatures are rising; days are very hot and sunny; there are very few cool winds; and more than likely, we won’t be seeing much rain for a whi…

Let’s roll out our Southern hospitality for the monarchs. Our guests from Canada and all states east of the Rocky Mountains will converge on Texas in September through early November on their flights to the oyamel fir forests in Central Mexico for the winter. Their destination is in the moun…

Each month, a Gardener’s Dirt column features a different flower color. As authors researched color topics, they discovered “interesting” information about their compositions. When I looked up “interesting,” I found 40 synonyms. I will plant some of these synonyms in this article about fasci…

Rain the past few weeks sure has caused many gardeners and farmers problems. We’ve had too much water at one time.

Editor’s note: Victoria County Master Gardeners will feature “A Color for the Month” as part of a 2021 series. July is yellow-green. Watch the colors change in Gardeners’ Dirt each month.

Not many gardeners want predators in their yards, but having insect predators can be very beneficial. Unfortunately, most people don’t even know a beneficial insect predator from a bad insect.

Happy pollinator week to everyone. Fourteen years ago, the U.S. Senate unanimously approved and designated a week in June to be celebrated as “National Pollinator Week” each year.

God bless America ...

I suppose if plant parents had high expectations for their offspring, becoming a Texas AgriLife Extension Superstar would rank way up there. On March 25, the celebrity tomato earned gold by being named a Superstar.

Many times, I find gardeners in a quandary over which fertilizer they should use on specific plants. In today’s world, there are so many different varieties to choose from. For lots of gardeners, especially those who are new to gardening, shopping for garden fertilizers can sometimes be as c…

Summers can be brutal for Victoria gardens and gardeners. It’s easy to fall into survival mode while struggling to prevent our beloved plants from succumbing to the heat and frequent drought. Here are a few tips.

If you have been looking for a beautiful, colorful, low maintenance, heat-loving plant to brighten up your yard, then I’d suggest one of the beautiful bougainvillea varieties. Bougainvilleas are tropical flowering plants, which means they are heat lovers that are great plants for our hot sum…

Living in our area of Texas, we realize that summer temperatures are are going to be hot — very hot. We also know that, more than likely, we’ll soon be back to our usual summer drought conditions, even though many landscapes might still be wet.

Yellow is the color for June, and yellow is my forever-favorite color. Since it makes me happy, I jumped at the chance to write this article. I began thinking about yellow and how it makes me feel. Then I started wondering why things are yellow and loving all things yellow.

The mosquito population the past couple of weeks seems to be out of control, but I think that every spring. People often want to know why we even have mosquitoes and believe there surely couldn’t be anything beneficial about these little blood suckers.

Good news. Lunch and Learn with the Masters is coming back this month. Yes, after 15 months of “rest” due to the pandemic, the popular series will resume on June 14. The free session will take place from noon to 1 p.m. at the pavilion in the Victoria Educational Gardens, 283 Bachelor Drive. …

The recent rains we have been experiencing have certainly caused some very soggy soils. I never like to complain about rain, but much more of it and flooding could begin to cause some problems in our soils. Long periods of standing water in our gardens, lawns and crops can suffocate root sys…

How do you turn black gumbo clay dirt into something that grows vegetables? You add chips, chips and more chips. Wood chips are one of the best kept secrets to successful gardening in the area.