VOLUME 19, ISSUE 19 • May 11, 2023

Neil Sperry editor. Gretchen Drew design and circulation.

Gardening This Weekend

Temperatures are climbing, which means our gardening responsibilities are revving up to get ready for warm months ahead. Let's look at the mid-May activities. Click through to see them.

Photo: Looking for a fine-textured, low bordering flower? Dahlberg daisy is applying for the job.

Fill your garden with flowers - no water needed

by Diane Morey Sitton
Diane Sitton, our super-creative friend from Southeast Texas, has come across some great forever flowers. Have fun “picking" your favorites!

Photo: Crafter, crafter, quite creative. How does your garden grow?

You're Not Supposed To Be Here!

Our plants surprise us. We coddle and nurture, yet some types just won't grow for us. Other types seem determined to make themselves at home beyond where they're wanted. They get stamped as "Invasive." Let's chat just a bit.

Photo: Miracles happen at the First United Methodist Church in McKinney. (Sweet alyssum)

Time Is Here to Treat Crape Myrtles

If your crape myrtles have been visited by a white pest that looks generally like mealy bugs, and if their leaves and stems have been coated in sticky honeydew, then later have turned black, you need to read what I have for you.

Photo: Crape myrtle bark scale is a relatively new pest.

Q&A
Ask Neil

Crape myrtles that won't freeze and snowball flowers that might have. Killing bamboo and peaches from seeds. It's a crazy mix of questions this week. I have my answers.

And, in closing…

And the winner is:

My wife was re-elected to the Board of Trustees of the McKinney Independent School Board last Saturday. When she is sworn in next Tuesday evening she will begin her 40th year of volunteer service to our school district. She is a hero in our town and to our family. We are immensely proud of you, Lynn! And her running mates incumbents Amy Dankel and Stephanie O'Dell were also victorious. Thank you, MISD voters!

Shout out to our waiter at Babe's in Frisco. One of the all-time great smiles as we asked Harrison how long he'd worked there. "Two and one-half years. Since the day I turned 16." What a great work ethic! Ask for him next time you're in and you'll see what I mean.

Our grandson Sam graduates from UNT tomorrow evening with a degree in Business/Finance. He's been working pretty much fulltime and being a fabulous dad as well. Yep. Lots to be proud of. Photo next week.

That's what I have. I need to get ready to help deliver 2,100 crape myrtles to every 5th grader in McKinney I.S.D. tomorrow morning. They’ll have Mother’s Day presents to plant with their moms. It's our 17th year to do so through our Crape Myrtle Trails of McKinney.

So until next week, thanks for reading.

And happy gardening!