December 2007 Archives

Mark your calendars for the 2008 Spring Landscape & Garden Conference on February 16, 2008 at the Tyler Rose Garden Center on W. Front Street. This annual conference brings in experts to speak on a variety of subjects that are of interest to gardeners. Regardless whether your thumb is green or brown, you will learn a lot that you can take and use in your home yard and garden.

Topics this year include:

• Texas Superstars in Your Garden
• Secrets of Successful Vegetable Gardening
• Gardening for a Lifetime (Health Tips & Benefits of Gardening)
• Landscaping with Texas Native Plants
• Common Problems with Small Engines & How to Prevent Them
• Calibrating Sprayers and Spreaders (plus a demonstration)

Speakers include Dr. Jerry Parons, Extension Horticulturist from San Antonio, Joe Novak, Senior Lecturer at Texas A&M, Aubrey King, owner of King's Nursery in Teneha, and Tim Lanthrum, owner of Cutters Equipment in Tyler.

Cost is only $15 at the door, and includes lunch. Several garden-related exhibitors and vendors will also be there. For more information on this and other upcoming gardening programs in the Tyler area, visit East Texas Gardening programs.

Despite a year-long campaign to trap moles on my 0.9 acres, the little buggers continue to invade my space. Now, you might say I should learn to peacefully co-exist with this resident mole population. If all they were doing was making unseen runways that criss-cross my yard underground, that would be fine. But, I they are causing 3 major problems (not to mention several other minor irritations):

1. Mounds are pushed up into the middle of flower beds, between cracks in paving stones, and in the middle of the lawn.
2. Runoff after heavy rains follows the major runways, causing severe erosion on several parts of my property,
3. The extensive tunneling in flower/shrub beds kills nearby perennials, and drys out roots of azaleas and other sensitive plants.

So, the hunt continues. Last week I caught 2 (# 14 and 15 for 2007) in the same run. This week I tried trapping nearby 2 mounds. Both times the trap was almost buried by a large plug of soil. I suspect I'm trying to trap too near the mounds and they are encountering the metal trap. Next time I'll go out further from the mound. However, finding the deep run some distance from the mound can be challenging.

This is a favorite time of year, when one of my favorite groups of plants stand out like shining beacons even in broad daylight. I'm talking about Japanese maples (Acer palmatum). The northeast Texas area has ideal conditions for growing Japanese maples, and Tyler is a great place to see these spectacular plants in action.

Every year it seems like they are never going to turn their vibrant reds, oranges and yellows, waiting until early December to finally make the turn. But, turn they do, and even if it is only for a few days, it is worth the wait. Fortunately, the show lasts well over a week. It almost doesn't matter what cultivar it is, even seedling Japanese maples will put on a good display.

A great place to see several Japanese maple cultivars in one place is the Tyler Rose Garden. About 7 years ago, Smith County Master Gardeners and Tyler Men's Garden Club pitched together to obtain several cultivars. The late John Kline was instrumental in this endeavor, and over the next several years, over 20 different varieties were planted, A few were mere whips, so they are still getting established and don't strut their stuff much yet.

This screaming beauty is located adjacent to the Heritage Rose Garden. It maintains a strong red appearance all year (rather than fading to green during the hot summer months), but in the fall, it just gets even more brilliant. No one is certain of the variety - it is either an atropurpureum, or possibly a seedling of 'Bloodgood'. No matter, it is beautiful to look at no matter what variety.

All of the Japanese maple varieties in the Rose Garden are labeled.