Dec-18-2024 | Issue 565

Nature's Way Resources is proud to produce & email you this free weekly newsletter. We have no ads, but sponsors do graciously help support this project as a public service. Please note their names below & show your gratitude for this free service by patronizing their businesses!

Nature's Way Resources owner John Ferguson, "The Lazy Gardener" Brenda Beust Smith and Pablo Hernandez welcome your feedback and are so grateful to the many horticulturists who contribute their expertise

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Winter in Houston? Mercer Arboretum & Botanic Gardens' (l to r) Gloxinia 'Bolivian Sunset,' Azalea Krumb 'Pink Pearl' and Mercer's gorgeous rose garden!

By BRENDA BEUST SMITH

DO OUR PLANTS WISH WE'D

HELP BIRDS STICK AROUND

ALL WINTER? YES, THEY DO!

Helping birds through winter isn't just being nice. In long run, they'll repay you by helping with things like plant pollination and weed control. Why & how?

• First get to know which birds over-winter in your area
• Plant more winter berry-bearing plants and trees to attract them
• Provide food and fresh unfrozen water through bird feeders and heated birdbaths
• Remember, cold temperatures force birds to use more energy to stay warm, necessitating a higher calorie intake 
• If you can afford heated birdbaths, they are available
• For shelter: Leave dense shrubs or tall grasses for birds to hide in during cold weather

Your birds should return the favors!

• In looking for seeds, they'll help decrease spring weeds that appear in lawns and cultivated soil
• As the weather warms up, new food sources (that you don't want — like insects, grubs, etc. — become more available for birds!
• Local bird identification books make great Christmas gifts!
• If you want to attract more birds in Spring, offer seeds like black-oil sunflower, white millet, sunflower chips, thistle and safflower. Also: suet, live mealworms, nectar, fresh oranges and apple halves.
• For more on attracting birds, what to plant, etc: houstonaudubon.org/

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Just a few of the colorful, cold-tolerant (so far) treasures at MERCER ARBORETUM & BOTANIC GARDEN include, l to r, China Pink dianthis; Jatrophus 'Pink';

Camellia x Ville Crawford and white Dusty Miller with Dianthus

As promised last week, here are just a few of the gorgeous flowers and plants I just photographed throughout Mercer Arboretum & Botanic Gardens. This North Harris County Precinct 3 park at 22306 Aldine Westfield Road (250 acres along Cypress Creek) has been dear to my heart for personal reason LONG before it became the gorgeous horticultural resource it is today. When you visit, be sure to stop by the Visitor's Center for specific information on the many different focal points and specialty gardens. Lots of research going on there! Join Friends of Mercer to stay up to date on coming events, and get advance notices of plant sales! (P.S. Thanks, Mercer, for all the great ID labels!)

EDITOR'S NOTES:

• Mark calendar! MERCER'S PLANT SALE FRI & SAT. FEB. 14 & 15: FRUIT & TOMATO VIRTUAL PLANT SALE, Friends of Mercer Botanic Gardens, friendsofmercer.com, 713-274-4166.
• NEW OPEN DAYS: Mercer and all 70 Precinct 3 Parks are now open from dusk to dawn 365 days a year -- including Christmas and New Years! Take the family out for a stroll around the beautiful gardens and arboretum trails! (This is new, they have always been closed on major holidays. You heard this first from the Lazy Gardener Newsletter!)

* * *

• CLUBS: YOUR SPEAKERS EVER CANCEL AT LAST MINUTE? Video/slides of Houston Botanic Garden & Mercer Botanic Garden would make a great meeting emergency program, if members who go will record what they see!

• GARDENING EVENT CALENDAR (below) Is overflowing with great plant sales and other events in almost every part of the Greater Houston area.

* * *

Brenda Beust Smith's column is based on her 40+ years as the

Houston Chronicle's "Lazy Gardener" column -- lazygardenerbrenda@gmail.com

Brenda's column focuses ONLY on the Greater Houston Area

* * *

John's Corner

NEWS FROM THE WONDERFUL WORLD OF SOIL AND PLANTS # 312

Subject: Compost

 Compost is like any other product we buy and use, there is a huge variation in price, quality and value. There are many ways to make compost which affects the quality of the material. With oxygen or without oxygen, fast or slow methods, all of which affect quality and benefits of the compost produced.

Basically, compost is the end product from biological decomposition in the presence of air from an organic material that was once alive (ex. leaves, grass, food waste, manure, etc.). It is a natural process that is managed to optimize the conditions for microbes that breakdown the material to thrive. This generally involves providing air and moisture, and achieving sufficient temperatures to ensure weed seeds, invasive pests, and pathogens are destroyed.

Finished compost bears little resemblance to the original materials from which it was created. Mature compost is normally dark brown in color and should have an even texture and a pleasant, earthy aroma. Compost products may vary since the properties of any given compost depend on the nature of the starting feedstocks and the conditions under which they were processed.

COMPOST TYPES

There are no labeling laws in Texas for compost; hence anything can be marketed as compost. However, there is an easy way to protect your family and garden.

Compost can be broken into three basic types based on its quality and usage.

These are Biological, Commercial, and Industrial.

Biological – This is the highest quality compost and therefore the most beneficial in improving soils, preventing disease, making compost tea, etc. This is the product that experienced gardeners often call black gold because it is so valuable to plants. If sold in bags the bag will have holes in it so that air can enter, and the beneficial microbes can breathe and be kept alive. It will have a rich earthy scent and be almost black in color (a very deep chocolate brown) and feels good to hold. It will have a well-balanced population of beneficial microbes like bacteria and fungi. A 40-pound bag will retail from $10- $18 per bag.

Commercial – This is a middle grade of compost made from using fast composting methods and made with less desirable materials like construction debris, etc. It will be in a sealed bag and may have a sour or stale odor. The better manure-based composts may be found here as manure-based composts are often high in salts which can harm soil chemistry and biology. It is dominated by bacteria species with very little fungi. Most annual plants and many weeds prefer soils with an abundance of bacteria while perennial plants and trees prefer a fungal dominated or balanced soil microbial population. A 40-pound bag will retail from $5- $8 per bag.

Industrial – This is the lowest grade of products called compost (often it is not true compost). It is often made by treating woody industrial waste that has been ground up with boiler ash. It is often very black and sometimes will rub off in your hand. It often contains fillers like sawdust and rice hulls which are chemically burned black from the industrial waste. It may be extremely alkaline and high in toxic salts. This is also where biosolid compost which is made from sewage sludge can be found. Due to many toxicities issues several states have banned compost made from sewage sludge. A 40-pound bag will retail from $3- $5 per bag.

For more information on the dangers of sewage-based compost visit:

https://www.natureswayresources.com/bio-solids-or-sewage-sludge-revealed/

Many products are often marketed as compost when they are not, since there are no labeling laws. Hence the adage comes into play “Buyer Beware”.

For example- Mushroom Compost is not a true compost. It is technically known as “spent mushroom substrate”. Mushroom producers use the word “compost” to help sell and get rid of the waste products from mushroom farms. It is often high in salt, chemicals, and sometimes bad for Gulf Coast soils.

As a result, many groups came together in 2017 to provide a unified definition for compost which was adopted by APFCO (Association of American Plant Food Control Officials) and came up with this unified legal definition for compost.

“Compost is the product manufactured through the controlled aerobic, biological decomposition of biodegradable materials. The product has undergone mesophilic and thermophilic temperatures, which significantly reduce the viability of pathogens and weeds, and stabilize the carbon such that it is beneficial to plant growth. Compost is typically used as a soil amendment, but it may also contribute plant nutrients.” 

WANT YOUR EVENT IN RIGHT AWAY?

FOLLOW THESE CALENDAR RULES!

ALL EVENTS MUST BE OPEN TO & CAPABLE OF HANDLING PUBLIC ATTENDENCE

• Use this 3*-line (max) EXACT FORMAT/STYLE (reformatting=delay!)

DAY, DATE: TITLE by NAME (if talk), time, address, Fee/free.

Sponsoring group (if not in title). website/phone (NO MORE!)

--*2 events same day/site, 4 lines ok (ONLY if we can't tighten text to fit in 3)--

• Only events submitted/earmarked specifically for LG&F calendar are used
• Actual gardening/plant type events only. No harvesting, cooking, etc.
• NO events picked up from general flyers. NO PDFS! TYPE IN EMAIL
• Submit: lazygardenerbrenda@gmail.com. Check published entry!
• All events on-site and in Greater Houston area ONLY!
• ALWAYS PROOF PUBLISHED WORDING & TEST EMAIL
• YOU are responsible for telling us about cancelled events

SAT., JAN 4. DESIGNING/GROWING HERB GARDENS by GALVESTON COUNTY MASTER GARDENERS, 9-11am; WEDGE GARDENING, 1-3 pm. Discovery Garden in Carbide Park, 4102 Main Street (FM 519), La Marque. Free. txmg.org/galveston

SAT., JAN 18. GROWING TOMATOES, Part 2, by GALVESTON COUNTY MASTER GARDENER, 9-11 am; ANYONE CAN GROW ROSES, 1-3 pm. Free. AgriLife Extension Office, Carbide Park, 4102-B Main (FM 519), La Marque txmg.org/galveston

WED. JAN. 8: LUNCH & LEARN – NATIVE PLANT CONSERVATION by KARI HERNANDEZ, Noon- 2pm, Mercer Botanic Gardens, 22306 Aldine Westfield Rd., Free. Register: pct3.com/MBG or call 713-274-4160

WED., JAN. 8: COMPOSTING, 9:30-11:30 am, Webster Presbyterian Church, 201 W NASA Pkwy Webster. Parking back of church. Free. Gardeners by the Bay gbtb.org

THURS., JAN. 9: SUSTAINABLE PLANT BED INSTALLLATION by LAURA NEFF, 7-9pm, Free. St. Andrew’s Church 1819 Heights Blvd.  Houston Rose Society event. houstonrose.org/hrsmeet.htm



SAT. JAN. 11: THREATENED TEXAS PRICKLY ASH by JACOB MARTIN, 11am-12:30pm, Mercer Botanic Gardens, 22306 Aldine Westfield Rd., Free.Register: pct3.com/MBG or call 713-274-4160

MON., FEB. 10: SPRING VEGETABLE GARDENING by HARRIS COUNTY MASTER GARDENERS (virtual), 10-11:30am, Free. Register in advance to receive link: hcc.idloom.events/gardening-series/register



FRI & SAT. FEB. 14 & 15: FRUIT & TOMATO VIRTUAL PLANT SALE, Friends of Mercer Botanic Gardens, friendsofmercer.com, 713-274-4166

SAT., FEB. 15: FORT BEND MASTER GARDENERS 2025 FRUIT TREE SALE, 9am-noon, County Fairgrounds, Barn H, 4310 Texas 36 S. Rosenberg. Fort Bend Master Gardeners 2025 Fruit Tree Sale-Open to the Public

TUES., FEB. 18: SPRING VEGETABLE GARDENING by HARRIS COUNTY MASTER GARDENERS (virtual), 11am- 12pm, Free on Facebook Live. facebook.com/harriscountypl/events

SAT., MAR. 8: FORT BEND MASTER GARDENER SPRING VEGETABLE & HERB PLANT SALE, 9-noon, Bud O'Shieles Community Center, 1330 Band Rd, Rosenberg. Ft. Bend Master Gardener Spring Vegetable & Herb Plant Sale

PLEASE READ BELOW

If your event didn't get in right away, one possible reason is

you didn't submit it in our EXACT - NEVER CHANGING format.

Reformatting delays publication and opens doors for errors.

Your choice! SEE TOP OF CALENDAR FOR EXACT FORMAT.

* * *

If we inspire you to attend any of these, 

please let them know you heard about it in . . .  

THE LAZY GARDENER & FRIENDS NEWSLETTER! 

& please patronize our Newsletter & Calendar sponsors below! 

If you are interested in becoming a sponsor, please contact us

at 936-273-1200 or send an e-mail to: lazygardenerandfriends@gmail.com

BRENDA BEUST SMITH

WE KNOW HER BEST AS THE LAZY GARDENER . . . 

but Brenda Beust Smith is also:

  * a national award-winning general feature writer & editor

  * a nationally-published writer & photographer 

  * a national horticultural speaker

  * a former Houston Chronicle reporter

When the Chronicle discontinued Brenda's 45-year-old Lazy Gardener" print column -- started in the early '70s as a fun side-project to reporting -- it later was said to rank as the longest-running, continuously-published local newspaper column in the Greater Houston area. The name, she says, is not just fun, it's true.

Brenda's gradual sideways step from general reporting into also doing gardening reporting led first to an 18-year series of when-to-do-what Lazy Gardener Calendars, then to her Lazy Gardener's Guide book which morphed into her Lazy Gardener's Guide on CD, which she now emails free upon request.

Brenda became a Harris County Master Gardener and, over the years, served on the boards of many Greater Houston area horticulture organizations. She hosted local radio and TV shows, most notably a 10+-year Lazy Gardener specialty show on HoustonPBS (Ch. 8) and her call-in "EcoGardening" show on KPFT-FM. 

For over three decades, Brenda served as Assistant Production Manager of the GARDEN CLUB OF AMERICA'S "BULLETIN" magazine. Although still an active broad-based freelance writer, Brenda's main focus now is THE LAZY GARDENER & FRIENDS HOUSTON GARDEN NEWSLETTER with John Ferguson and Pablo Hernandez of Nature's Way Resources. 

A native of New Orleans and graduate of St. Agnes Academy and the University of Houston,  Brenda lives in Humble, TX, and is married to the retired Aldine High School Coach Bill Smith. They had one son, Blake.

Regarding this newsletter, Brenda is the lead writer, originator of it and the daily inspiration for it. We so appreciate the way she has made gardening such a fun way to celebrate life together for such a long time.

About her column, Brenda says: "I don't consider myself a 'garden writer.'' I started out 50+ years ago as a very lazy "gardening reporter." I still feel that way today. I hope my columns inspire/help newcomers, but I do not write to them. I write to very experienced gardeners who want to expand their horizons.

JOHN FERGUSON

John is a native Houstonian and has over 27 years of business experience. He owns Nature's Way Resources, a composting company that specializes in high quality compost, mulch, and soil mixes. He holds a MS degree in Physics and Geology and is a licensed Soil Scientist in Texas. 

John has won many awards in horticulture and environmental issues. He represents the composting industry on the Houston-Galveston Area Council for solid waste. His personal garden has been featured in several horticultural books and "Better Homes and Gardens" magazine. His business has been recognized in the Wall Street Journal for the quality and value of their products. He is a member of the Physics Honor Society and many other professional societies. John is is the co-author of the book Organic Management for the Professional. 

For this newsletter, John contributes articles regularly and is responsible for publishing it.

PABLO HERNANDEZ

Pablo Hernandez is the special projects coordinator for Nature's Way Resources. His realm of responsibilities include: serving as a webmaster, IT support, technical problem solving/troubleshooting, metrics management and quality control.

Pablo helps this newsletter happen from a technical support standpoint.