Lots Of Valuable Garden Info On Internet
Keith Hansen
August is always a tough month for gardeners in Texas. The best times to be outside are early in the morning, and late in the day after the sun lowers in the sky. Of course, that's a favorite time for mosquitoes, too, so be sure to use a mosquito repellant to keep those bloodsuckers from using you for breakfast or dinner.
Take care of yourself while outside during the heat of the day. Stay hydrated by drinking plenty of water, and protect your skin from cancer by wearing a broad-rimmed hat, and wear sunscreen on exposed skin.
During the day, retreat to air conditioned comfort, and read a good gardening book. Or, take advantage to peruse the enormous amount of gardening information available on the Internet.
There are lots of places on the web where you can find gardening help, advice and interesting information.
Many botanical gardens and arboreta have sites you can visit, viewing color photos of their gardens and plants.
Most State Cooperative Extension departments make their publications and research available over the Internet. Many specialty plant groups, like daylilies, azaleas, water lilies, African violets and roses, have places dedicated to these plants with photos, descriptions and cultural information.
I might be slightly biased, but one of the best horticulture sites anywhere on the Web originates from Texas A&M.
What else would it be called except "Aggie Horticulture?" The address is http://aggiehorticulture.tamu.edu.
Aggie Horticulture is now logging over 20 million "hits" every month, and is the most visited noncommercial horticulture Web site in the world, according to Dr. Dan Lineberger, Aggie Horticulture's webmaster.
Maintained by the Department of Horticulture at Texas A&M with many contributors, Aggie-Horticulture has many sections of interest for both home gardeners and commercial growers.
Here are just a few of the subject areas you will find at Aggie-Horticulture:
Home Gardening (vegetable) Guides;
EarthKind Gardening Guides;
Texas Urban Landscaping Guide;
The Southern Garden (with articles and videos by Dr. Bill Welch);
Landscaping & Home Gardening Fact Sheets;
Commercial Nursery/Floral Crops; Vegetable Crops; Fruit Production;
Integrated Pest Management (IPM) strategies for Crops;
PLANTanswers;
And much more.
"PLANTanswers" (aggiehorticulture.tamu.edu/plantanswers) has a huge question and answer section on vegetables (from asparagus to watermelons), fruits and nuts, trees, shrubs, flowers, etc.
This Q & A area can be searched using keywords to go straight to the subject you are interested in. And if your question has not already been answered, PLANTanswers provides a forum where you can ask vegetable and ornamental questions to the moderators of this site, and get a quick electronic response.
Plantanswers TV are short, informative and entertaining videos covering a wide range of topics by Dr. Jerry Parsons, Extension horticulture specialist in San Antonio.
The "Extension Publications" section of Aggie-Horticulture is another section where the home gardener will find a wealth of information on gardening, vegetables, landscaping and other categories.
East Texas Gardening
Closer to home, check out the East Texas Gardening Web site for local gardening information (EastTexasGardening.tamu.edu). I developed this site to provide educational information on various gardening subjects, upcoming horticultural programs in the area, along with cultural information on all aspects of gardening in East Texas.
For example, the "Outstanding Landscape Plants for Northeast Texas" plant list is available in the "Home Gardens" section of this site, with photos linked to most of the plants listed.
A large section in EastTexasGardening contains all of the Smith County Master Gardener "Tip of the Week" articles that have been written over the last 13 years. They are grouped by subject matter for easy browsing.
The "Links" section provides a very large number of links to other Web sites in many different gardening categories relevant to East Texas gardening conditions.
The Smith County Master Gardeners have developed their own web site loaded with information. One of the newest additions features the IDEA Garden, including a new database of plants which is still under development. Look for the Master Gardener link in East Texas Gardening, or go to http://grovesite.com/mg/smg.
Back at Aggie-Horticulture, in the Plant Picture Pages section, there are several plant databases, including: "Benny Simpson's Texas Native Plants," the "Interior Plant Database," and "Aggie Horticulture Picture Pages" (for landscape plants). While there look for the link to the Crape Myrtle database.
For information on lawns and turfgrass, click on the "Aggie Turf" link at Aggie-Horticulture. There you will find cultural information on lawns, pest control recommendations, and much more. Many more publications on lawn care can also be found in the "PlantAnswers" section in Aggie-Horticulture.
With fall and wildflower planting time right around the corner, one of the most popular areas in Aggie-Horticulture is the "Wildflowers" section which contains photos and cultural information on over 70 specific wildflowers, general growing suggestions, sources of seed and more.
There are also special sections "Just for Kids" at both Aggie-Horticulture and East Texas Gardening. There you'll find information about the Junior Master Gardener program, fun activities for kids, and tips on gardening with youngsters.
For more information on the 4-H Youth Development program, visit the Smith County 4-H site at: http://smith-tx.tamu.edu
The Entomology Department at Texas A&M has a very interesting site - http://insects.tamu.edu - where you can view pictures of insects, learn about insect life cycles, find pest control options, obtain classroom entomology activities, and a lot more. Be sure to check out the "Publications" and "Entomology Outreach" links.
Another entomology site with lots of homeowner insect information is called "Citybugs" from Texas A&M at Dallas, located at: http://citybugs.tamu.edu.
Many Texas Cooperative Extension educational bulletins and leaflets are available on the Internet at http://tcebookstore.org where you browse by category or search using common keywords. The publications are in the Acrobat pdf format, requiring you to have the free Adobe Acrobat Reader installed on your computer.
And, don't forget the Tyler Morning Telegraph's http://tylerpaper.com Web site where you can find archived "Keeping It Green" articles, and Mary Claire Rowe's "What's Blooming in Our Garden" in the Features section.
There's much more interesting information to be found in Aggie-Horticulture and East Texas Gardening.
If the oppressive heat of summer is stifling your outdoor activities, cool off in the air-conditioned comfort of your home and engage in some virtual gardening. You will probably only scratch the surface of the mountain of reliable information available.
Keith Hansen is Smith County Horticulturist with Texas Cooperative Extension. His web page is http://EastTexasGardening.tamu.edu Texas Cooperative Extension educational programs are open to all individuals without regard to race, color, sex, disability, religion, age or national origin.
Take care of yourself while outside during the heat of the day. Stay hydrated by drinking plenty of water, and protect your skin from cancer by wearing a broad-rimmed hat, and wear sunscreen on exposed skin.
During the day, retreat to air conditioned comfort, and read a good gardening book. Or, take advantage to peruse the enormous amount of gardening information available on the Internet.
There are lots of places on the web where you can find gardening help, advice and interesting information.
Many botanical gardens and arboreta have sites you can visit, viewing color photos of their gardens and plants.
Most State Cooperative Extension departments make their publications and research available over the Internet. Many specialty plant groups, like daylilies, azaleas, water lilies, African violets and roses, have places dedicated to these plants with photos, descriptions and cultural information.
I might be slightly biased, but one of the best horticulture sites anywhere on the Web originates from Texas A&M.
What else would it be called except "Aggie Horticulture?" The address is http://aggiehorticulture.tamu.edu.
Aggie Horticulture is now logging over 20 million "hits" every month, and is the most visited noncommercial horticulture Web site in the world, according to Dr. Dan Lineberger, Aggie Horticulture's webmaster.
Maintained by the Department of Horticulture at Texas A&M with many contributors, Aggie-Horticulture has many sections of interest for both home gardeners and commercial growers.
Here are just a few of the subject areas you will find at Aggie-Horticulture:
"PLANTanswers" (aggiehorticulture.tamu.edu/plantanswers) has a huge question and answer section on vegetables (from asparagus to watermelons), fruits and nuts, trees, shrubs, flowers, etc.
This Q & A area can be searched using keywords to go straight to the subject you are interested in. And if your question has not already been answered, PLANTanswers provides a forum where you can ask vegetable and ornamental questions to the moderators of this site, and get a quick electronic response.
Plantanswers TV are short, informative and entertaining videos covering a wide range of topics by Dr. Jerry Parsons, Extension horticulture specialist in San Antonio.
The "Extension Publications" section of Aggie-Horticulture is another section where the home gardener will find a wealth of information on gardening, vegetables, landscaping and other categories.
East Texas Gardening
Closer to home, check out the East Texas Gardening Web site for local gardening information (EastTexasGardening.tamu.edu). I developed this site to provide educational information on various gardening subjects, upcoming horticultural programs in the area, along with cultural information on all aspects of gardening in East Texas.
For example, the "Outstanding Landscape Plants for Northeast Texas" plant list is available in the "Home Gardens" section of this site, with photos linked to most of the plants listed.
A large section in EastTexasGardening contains all of the Smith County Master Gardener "Tip of the Week" articles that have been written over the last 13 years. They are grouped by subject matter for easy browsing.
The "Links" section provides a very large number of links to other Web sites in many different gardening categories relevant to East Texas gardening conditions.
The Smith County Master Gardeners have developed their own web site loaded with information. One of the newest additions features the IDEA Garden, including a new database of plants which is still under development. Look for the Master Gardener link in East Texas Gardening, or go to http://grovesite.com/mg/smg.
Back at Aggie-Horticulture, in the Plant Picture Pages section, there are several plant databases, including: "Benny Simpson's Texas Native Plants," the "Interior Plant Database," and "Aggie Horticulture Picture Pages" (for landscape plants). While there look for the link to the Crape Myrtle database.
For information on lawns and turfgrass, click on the "Aggie Turf" link at Aggie-Horticulture. There you will find cultural information on lawns, pest control recommendations, and much more. Many more publications on lawn care can also be found in the "PlantAnswers" section in Aggie-Horticulture.
With fall and wildflower planting time right around the corner, one of the most popular areas in Aggie-Horticulture is the "Wildflowers" section which contains photos and cultural information on over 70 specific wildflowers, general growing suggestions, sources of seed and more.
There are also special sections "Just for Kids" at both Aggie-Horticulture and East Texas Gardening. There you'll find information about the Junior Master Gardener program, fun activities for kids, and tips on gardening with youngsters.
For more information on the 4-H Youth Development program, visit the Smith County 4-H site at: http://smith-tx.tamu.edu
The Entomology Department at Texas A&M has a very interesting site - http://insects.tamu.edu - where you can view pictures of insects, learn about insect life cycles, find pest control options, obtain classroom entomology activities, and a lot more. Be sure to check out the "Publications" and "Entomology Outreach" links.
Another entomology site with lots of homeowner insect information is called "Citybugs" from Texas A&M at Dallas, located at: http://citybugs.tamu.edu.
Many Texas Cooperative Extension educational bulletins and leaflets are available on the Internet at http://tcebookstore.org where you browse by category or search using common keywords. The publications are in the Acrobat pdf format, requiring you to have the free Adobe Acrobat Reader installed on your computer.
And, don't forget the Tyler Morning Telegraph's http://tylerpaper.com Web site where you can find archived "Keeping It Green" articles, and Mary Claire Rowe's "What's Blooming in Our Garden" in the Features section.
There's much more interesting information to be found in Aggie-Horticulture and East Texas Gardening.
If the oppressive heat of summer is stifling your outdoor activities, cool off in the air-conditioned comfort of your home and engage in some virtual gardening. You will probably only scratch the surface of the mountain of reliable information available.
Keith Hansen is Smith County Horticulturist with Texas Cooperative Extension. His web page is http://EastTexasGardening.tamu.edu Texas Cooperative Extension educational programs are open to all individuals without regard to race, color, sex, disability, religion, age or national origin.
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