VOLUME 19, ISSUE 10 • March 9, 2023

Neil Sperry editor. Gretchen Drew design and circulation.

The horticultural treadmill is really picking up speed. Spring must be upon us!

In this issue…
• Planning a garden of perennials;
• This weekend may find you busy;
• A tulip for Texas;
• Diane Sitton and weathervanes; and
• Questions and Answers.

NEIL SPERRY'S LONE STAR GARDENING
$36.95, but only
while it's on sale

• Covers all aspects of outdoor gardening for every county in Texas.
• 344 pages. 840 of my photos.
• It took me a year to write it, but a lifetime to learn it.
• It will pay for itself, or I'll refund your money.
• I sign every copy as it sells.
• Not in stores and not on Amazon.

ORDER FROM MY WEBSITE
OR CALL MY OFFICE M-F
(800) 752-4769

Photo: Dusk down the county road from our house earlier this week.

Gardening This Weekend

If you ever played dodgeball (who hasn't!), you know how it is to have things coming at you really rapidly. That's the way it is in landscaping and gardening right now. Click into this section of e-gardens each week and I'll give you the most critical tasks for that weekend.

Photo: Perk up the patio with a pot filled with coleus.

Winds of history still blowing strong

Everybody loves a great weathervane, and our friend Diane Sitton has searched high and far to find us some fine ones. Take a look!

Photo: Woodville's own Renaissance man, Ronnie Walling, crafted this "back to square one" themed weather vane for his sign shop.

Planning Perennials

I hear it a lot. "Neil, I'm tired of having to replant my annual flowers 2 or 3 times every year. I want to plant perennials so I won't have all that work. What would you say?"

I'll say it. Click through to read it.

Photo: Perennials and reseeding annuals at Antique Rose Emporium, Brenham.

Texas tulips are blooming again

We've lived in rural Collin County (northeast of Dallas) for 46 years. Each spring these lovely tulips have bloomed their hearts out, and they're currently back at it again. Let me tell you about them.

Photo: Texas tulip (Tulipa praecox) in flower as I write.

Q&A
Ask Neil

From success with crape myrtle bark scale to holly leaves that are MIA. A crooked pecan trunk to peach tree borers and their longevity. You covered the waterfront and I tried to answer. Please take a look.

And, in closing…

My radio programs are back to normal times this weekend. Give me a call and let's talk gardening:

• Statewide via more than 30 stations Saturday 11:06-noon.
(888-256-1080)

• KLIF 570AM Saturday 1-3 p.m.
(888-787-5543)

• WBAP 820AM Sunday 8-10 a.m.
(800-288-9227)

In the meantime, please visit my website. That's where you can hear podcasts of these programs. It's also where we have my 1001 FAQs. (That's lots of questions!) And I'll hope to see you in the newspaper. (I write for 12 across Texas.)

WELCOME TO CALLOWAYS! My longtime friends at Calloways Nurseries are our newest advertisers here in e-gardens. As they expand now to Austin, added to DFW and Houston/Katy/Galveston, I can’t tell you how proud I am to have them aboard. They join a fine list of advertisers that make e-gardens possible. Please tell them all “Thanks!”

Congratulations to grandson Alex and his girlfriend Sophie on their engagement. Love to you both!