Garden Wise Gazette

My latest Guest Rant is dedicated to America’s green anole lizards, the Rodney Dangerfield of beneficial predators.

They’re cute. They eat bugs. They don’t bite people. And yet, compared to ladybugs and lacewings, they get virtually no respect/press coverage from mainstream gardening media.

A graduate of the Master Gardener training class of 2020, Jennifer Rauschmayer is a busy gardener with endless energy, talent and interests.

Gardening can be described as both an art and a science; a heart and a mind. Retired nurse, Tina Bargmann brings the qualities she learned as a nurse to CCMGA.

With temperatures hovering at around a gazillion degrees, it seems strange to Rant about a small spot of freeze damage, a spot which is not on my plants, but on the side of my neck.  

They say people who are gardeners at heart have a lot of great virtues. They are a unique blend of patience, vision, creativity, kindness and wisdom.  This surely describes Master Gardener Jim Ewoldsen!

Laura says, “I became a Master Gardener in 2015. My children were getting older and I had some time to give to a volunteer organization. I love plants and gardening, so Master Gardener was a good fit that matched my time and passion.”

May Question of the Month

Every few years my neighbors and I ask each other the same question. Where are all of the acorns coming from? Some years, my yard is covered in acorns. Can you help us understand what is going on?

A gifted teacher and natural leader, SuEllen Mooney was the 2021 Master Gardener of the Year. She is known to the Master Gardener training class leaders, students, and mentors, but not by most of the general membership. You’ll want to get to know this dynamic lady!

Master Gardener Greg Rockhold may be a man of few words, but he’s a man of action . . . a doer who gets things done. Those who know him admire his tenacity, curiosity, creativity and passion.

Greg Grant has authored and co-authored several gardening books, taught college horticulture classes, writes a column for Texas Gardener magazine, introduced plants into the Southern nursery industry including Gold Star Esperanza, John Fanick phlox and Henry Duelberg sage. He is currently the Smith County horticulturist for the Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service in Tyler.

I recently read Greg Grant’s blog post Natural by Nature in which he wrote about why people garden.

An article about Collin County Master Gardener, Joyce Cleary

An article about Mary Nell Jackson, Collin County Master Gardener