VOLUME 20, ISSUE 33 • August 15, 2024

Neil Sperry editor. Gretchen Drew design and circulation.

We're in the home stretch of summer, looking forward to the better weather of fall. I've outlined e-gardens this week accordingly, and I hope you enjoy it.

In this issue…
• Time's here to get cabbage started;
• This weekend's other tasks;
• Zinnias planted now will shine;
• Steven Chamblee tells all about trumpetvine; and
• Your questions and my answers.

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• A 48-page, month-by-month calendar of when you need to plant, prune, fertilize, and protect all your plants.

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(800) 752-4769

Photo: Great slaw in the fall starts with healthy transplants mid-August.

Gardening This Weekend

If you're focusing on fall landscaping and gardening, this is the prime time for planning. But there are still things to accomplish now. Let me jot out a list for you.

Photo: There's still time to buy crape myrtles in bloom in nurseries. (Third round of blooms this week in McKinney.)

Native Son: August 2024

To give our buddy Steven Chamblee a little summer break, here is a fun Top 10 story about trumpet creeper (“trumpet vine”) from several years back. As always with Steven, you’re sure to enjoy it.

Photo: You love ‘em (if you have Madame Galen like this one) or you hate ‘em if you have the native ones.

Call out the cabbage

These next few days will be your prime time for planting the Cole crops, and wise gardeners will be starting with cabbage. It's one of our easiest vegetables. And this is the easiest of seasons. I'll tell you how.

Photo: Cabbage plants are pretty enough to be planted in with your flowers.

Zinnias of a different shade

Ever wonder why zinnias from your old hometown up North looked more vibrant? I figured it out the first year after we moved back from Ohio. Click through to see if you agree.

Photo: Uproar Rose zinnia would be fun in a fall garden.

Q&A – Ask Neil

Plants for an heirloom Texas garden, cracks in the pecan trunk, solids in the well water, a live oak with measles, and a bermuda lawn without the bermuda. That’s what you sent me this week. Yikes! See what I wrote back.

And, in closing…

Keep the water hose handy for your plants, your pets, and yourself. And remember the sunscreen!

Tune me in this weekend live on the radio.
• Statewide on 33 stations Saturday 11:06-noon (888) 256-1080

• Saturday afternoon 1-2
on KLIF 570AM and 96.3FM (888) 787-5543

• Sunday morning 8-9
On WBAP 820 AM and 93.3 FM (800) 288-9227

Podcasts of all programs are on my website as quickly as possible following each broadcast.

Have a wonderful, albeit warm, week. Until next week…

Happy gardening!

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