Suck it up, you live in south Texas... The only people who love mosquitoes are exterminators and entomologists. Mosquitoes are a fact of life in Houston, deal with them. Here is some basic info: Mosquito fact sheet. https://www.dshs.state.tx.us/preparedness/factsheet_mosquitoes.shtm This is an … Read more about Mosquitoes…sigh
More on Molasses
Low maintenance yard I spend a lot of time on my lawn, but I don't do much to it. Someone else mows and edges it, every other week. I pull weeds. As much as I hate chemicals, I had to spray this spring! I couldn't keep up with the weeds and there were 4 different types that tried to poke or sting … Read more about More on Molasses
What’s with that bark? #2
Apparently, this is a common question! A while back, I wrote part one of this barky topic. It reviewed how tree bark developes and how the cracks and fissures are a non issue. Since then, we have gotten tons of questions about why large chunks of bark fall off trees. I had two 60-year-old trees do … Read more about What’s with that bark? #2
You’ve got gall!
A perennial question Every year, in November, alarmed customers call or come in with the same problem. We hear "Something is wrong with my tree! It has fuzzy balls growing on the leaves" or "My tree has a disease, help!" or even "It's dying, should I cut it down?". Calm down, breath...this is … Read more about You’ve got gall!
My tree has ants crawling on it!
Do you mean "ants" or "ANTS!"? There is a difference. A close inspection will give you a better idea of what you're dealing with. If it's a "one ant here, one there, kind of thing", it could just be that they are foraging, looking for a meal. Massive colonies are another thing entirely! Deciding if … Read more about My tree has ants crawling on it!
Hoses and water breakers
We know our hoses We use about 3 million gallons of water a year, maintaining the plants at the nursery. I'm going to guess that we apply about 1 million of that by hand. Most of the rest is through the irrigation system. Some is overhead rotors, like you might have for your lawn, the trees and … Read more about Hoses and water breakers
Help, what’s happening to my plant?
Don't take it personally! My Vitex (Agnus castus)https://rcwnurseries.com/rcw/trees-detail.aspx?id=2189 goes through a "thing" every year. In August, it starts looking dreadful. The leaves start to turn brown at the edges, no matter how wet or dry it has been. Lots of the leaves get brown … Read more about Help, what’s happening to my plant?
Fall news
Hummingbirds We saw our 1st fall Hummingbird last week. They never stay with us through the summer. We think it's the freeway and the constant activity on the property. Join Journey North https://www.learner.org/jnorth/maps/Gallery.html to report your siting. It's a great family activity. On … Read more about Fall news