Brownwood Garden Club

TikTok · Gatlin Didier 10.5K likes, 336 comments. “There is NO EXCUSE for this stat! 😤 ”

Some interesting facts about bees 🐝
Here are 20 interesting facts about the importance of honey and bees:
1. Did you know that honey never spoils? Archaeologists have found pots of honey in ancient Egyptian tombs that are over 3,000 years old and still perfectly edible!
2. Did you know bees are essential for growing many of our foods? They pollinate about one-third of the food we eat, including fruits, vegetables, and nuts.
3. Did you know honey has natural healing properties? It can help soothe sore throats and even speed up the healing of wounds and burns due to its antibacterial qualities.
4. Did you know bees produce a tiny amount of honey in their lifetime? A single worker bee produces only about 1/12th of a teaspoon of honey in her entire life, but together they make a lot!
5. Did you know bees communicate through dancing? They perform a "waggle dance" to tell other bees where to find the best flowers.
6. Did you know honey can help your brain? It contains antioxidants that may support brain health and improve memory.
7. Did you know beeswax, made by bees, is used in many everyday products?** It's found in things like candles, lip balm, and even some types of food packaging.
8. Did you know honey can be a natural energy booster? It provides a quick source of energy because it's packed with natural sugars.
9. Did you know there are over 300 types of honey in the United States alone? The flavor, color, and aroma depend on the flowers that bees visit.
10. Did you know that beekeeping helps many communities around the world? It provides income, supports agriculture, and helps improve food security in many regions.
11. Did you know honey can be used as a natural preservative? Because of its antibacterial properties, honey has been used to preserve fruits and other foods for centuries.
12. Did you know that some bees can recognize human faces? Studies have shown that honeybees can remember and recognize human faces, much like they remember different flowers.
13. Did you know honey can improve your sleep? A spoonful of honey before bed can promote relaxation and better sleep by raising insulin slightly and allowing tryptophan to enter the brain.
14. Did you know bees are colorblind to red? Bees can see ultraviolet light, which humans can't, but they can't see the color red. Instead, they see it as black.
15. Did you know honey can help with seasonal allergies? Consuming local honey is believed by some to help build immunity to local pollen and reduce allergy symptoms.
16. Did you know that royal jelly, produced by worker bees, is fed to all bee larvae? However, only those destined to become queens are fed royal jelly throughout their development.
17. Did you know honey has different medicinal uses in various cultures? For example, in Ayurvedic medicine, honey is used to treat digestive issues, and in ancient Egypt, it was used to treat wounds.
18. Did you know bees have a built-in GPS? They use the position of the sun, the earth's magnetic field, and their own memories of landmarks to navigate and find their way back to the hive.
19. Did you know honeybees are the only insects that produce food eaten by humans? They are unique in their production of honey, which has been a staple in human diets for thousands of years.
20. Did you know that honey can vary greatly in taste and texture? The type of flowers the bees pollinate affects the flavor, color, and texture of the honey. Some honey can even be creamy or spicy!
Thank you, precious bees!

The sick tree treatment is good to apply to woody plants in general, shrubs as well as trees. They don’t randomly succumb to insects, pests and diseases. It happens because they are in stress and sick. Mother Nature responds by sending in the clean up crews. Pest insects and pathogens are just doing their job - trying to take out the unfit plants.
Most plant sickness is environmental - too much water, not enough water, too much fertilizer, wrong kind of fertilizer, toxic chemical pesticides, compaction of soil, grade changes, ill-adapted plant varieties and/or over planting single plant species and creating monocultures, as was done with American elms in the Northwest and the red oak/live oak communities in certain parts of the South.
Here are some answers to how to help those plants.
https://www.dirtdoctor.com/.../Tree-Sick-Tree-Treatment...

I wanted to tell all my friends on here that I took this lost remedies academy and passed. I got my pretty certificate! I’m so excited to build my apothecary!

Become a Certified Herbalist | Enroll Now 100% Money-Back Guarantee

Happy Earth Day 2024

One of the most common species in North America.

What's "bugging" your garden? As the weather warms up, so does insect activity. Be vigilant by checking your plants daily.https://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/.../2013/09/EHT-072.pdf

The Plant Breeders' Secret To Getting Your Peace Lily To Flower: https://www.ruralsprout.com/peace-lily-bloom/

https://simplifyplants.com/how-fast-does-snake-plant-grow/

Yup, gardening tools left outside to weather the elements will soon look like old pieces of junk.
Rusty hand shears with a dull blade certainly take all the joy out of pruning. Not only does it make cutting more difficult and time-consuming, the jagged cuts aren’t good for the plant either.
A good set of hand pruners are made to last a lifetime, so don’t chuck ‘em away. It’s really easy to restore a used and abused pair of shears back to nearly new condition.
Supplies:
Large glass jar or casserole dish
White vinegar
Table salt
Baking soda
Multipurpose oil
Carbide sharpening tool or diamond file
Steel wool
Clean rag
Remove the Rust with Vinegar and Salt
To bring your snips back to their former shiny glory, all you need to do is soak the rusted parts in a solution of white vinegar and salt.

This trick works will any metal tool that’s corroded with rust – hammers, wrenches, loppers, scissors, and the like – by following these same steps.

My pruning shears are in pretty bad shape so I disassembled them first by removing the bolt that holds the blades together. It’s not strictly necessary to do this, but I wanted to make sure the solution would reach all the inner bits.


Next, fill a glass jar or baking dish with vinegar. Add roughly 2 tablespoons of salt and stir until the granules are mostly dissolved.

Add your pruners to the mix and top up with vinegar, if needed, to completely submerge the metal. Toss in the bolt and nut too.


I used an old pickle jar, which was the perfect size for my clippers.
After a few hours, you’ll see little bubbles working their magic on the rust:

Let the pruners soak for 12 to 24 hours. I left mine immersed for a full day.

After 24 hours, the vinegar-salt solution caused most of the rust to flake away.
The remaining rust can be scrubbed off using steel wool.

Once the pruners are rust-free, we’ll need to neutralize the acidity of the vinegar by plunking the clippers into a jar with filled with water and 2 tablespoons of baking soda.

Leave them in there for about 10 minutes. When time’s up, take them out and let the pruners dry completely before proceeding to the next steps.

Sharpening the Shears
When your pruners aren’t so rusty, you can skip the vinegar dip and clean the blade and mechanism with soapy water. Scrub with a toothbrush to remove dirt, sap, and plant debris from all the nooks and crannies, and then wipe it down with a clean rag. Use steel wool to clear away light rust.

To get your pruners snipping smoothly again, you’ll need to use a sharpening tool along the beveled edge of the blade. In bypass pruners, you only need to sharpen the upper blade.

I used a carbide tool because it’s so simple to use, but any sharpening stone or diamond file would do the job.

Match the sharpener to the angle of the bevel – around 10 to 20 degrees – and draw it along the edge from the back of the blade to the tip. Do it in one smooth motion with a moderate amount of pressure on the tool.

You only need to do 4 to 5 swipes across the bevel. You’ll feel the burs being removed as you run the sharpener across.

Flip the pruners over and do the other side. This side is flat so run the sharpener flush to the blade. When both sides are smooth to the touch, you’re done honing the edge.

Apply a Coat of Multipurpose Oil
Prevent future rusting and keep the squeeze mechanism moving seamlessly by applying a thin coat of multipurpose oil as the final step.

Using a rag, rub the lubricant all over the blades and moving parts. Work the pruners back and forth a few times to disperse oils through the closing mechanism.

Clean and sharpen your pruning tools in fall before tucking them away for the winter season. Add this task to your autumn to-do list and you’ll hit the ground running every spring.

Hard working club members at Veterans Memorial Garden. Weeding and planting - the ground was hard and the w**ds stubborn. Still had a good time. From left Kathy, Kelly, Wanda, Betty, Anne, Loretta, and Rhonda plus the photographer Thurman.

Thanks, everyone for your time and hard work.

Did you know the pollen in a bluebonnet is bright orange? Bluebonnets are in the pea family, and when the bee lands on the flower, the little pea-like petals open to reveal the pollen. As such, they can’t be wind pollinated. You can thank the bees for all the bluebonnets you are seeing along the roads in Texas!!

Cat's Pajamas Catmint is another of our Top Performer perennials, and trust us when we say this is a well-earned award! Here's a no-fuss, color all-season option that will also attract bees, butterflies, and hummers, but not the deer or bunnies. Hardy in zones 3-8 and so easy to tuck into the small areas of your landscape. Or consider planting en masse to enjoy this rich Indigo blue through the season! Learn more, or order online... hardy in zones 3-8.

If you’ve also been growing irises, you’ll have noticed that, as soon as the plants make themselves at home in your space, they quickly become true landscape workhorses.

As long-lived perennials, irises reliably bloom year after year without much fuss and bother. They come in a variety of colors and hues (purple, yellow, peach, pink, magenta, blue, white, and different bicolor combinations) and range in size from a ten-inch-tall dwarf iris to a five-foot-tall bearded yellow iris.

Generally, iris flowers will start showing up in April at the earliest (often in warmer climates), but there are cultivars that start their blooming period as late as June. This blooming period varies depending on what zone and microclimate you’re gardening in, but it’s safe to say that for most of us in the Northern Hemisphere, irises are an early-summer flower.

So it’s even more disappointing when, all of a sudden, your irises fail to bloom. Or, more commonly, you only get a handful of blooms from a large iris patch.
In this guide, we’ll be talking about rhizomatous irises, such as bearded irises and Siberian irises, since these are the most popular with gardeners. These are also irises that grow in soil, not in water (such as the Japanese iris), so keep this in mind when you do your troubleshooting.

Let’s have a look at the main reasons why your irises aren’t blooming:
1. Your irises are too crowded.
Let’s start with the most common cause of irises not putting out flower stalks – they’ve grown too crowded. There’s a simple solution to this problem: you can divide your irises into several clumps and replant them.

If you want to prevent the disappointment that comes with overcrowded plants, you should divide your irises every three to four years by default. You can go longer between divisions if you’re gardening in a cooler climate, but you’ll most likely need to divide more frequently if you’re in a warm, humid climate where your irises are bound to grow faster.

Your irises are planted too deep.
Hopefully, dividing your irises will encourage new blooms. But there’s a secret to (re-)planting irises that may feel counterintuitive, especially if you’re used to planting a spring bulb garden.

2. The second most common reason why irises fail to bloom is because they’ve been buried too deep.
Unlike their bulbous spring counterparts, iris rhizomes should be planted horizontally in a shallow hole. You want the roots to still be underground, but the rhizome should protrude out of the soil. Do not bury the bottom part of the rhizome in more than a couple of inches of soil. Often only one inch of soil will be enough, depending on how thick the rhizome is. This setup allows airflow to circulate around the rhizome, as well as sunlight that keeps the structure dry in wet weather. If you’re creating a larger patch, you can plant groups of three rhizomes together for a fuller look. However, remember to give them a bit of breathing space and keep the groups roughly 12 to 20 inches apart. As a general rule, the taller the iris cultivar you’re growing, the farther apart you can spread it. Don’t worry, they’ll keep growing and you’ll have to repeat the division process every three years.

Avoid replanting irises in a spot where you’ve found diseased rhizomes.
Keep the newly transplanted rhizomes well-watered, watering them a couple of times a week until you start noticing new growth. Do not water straight on top of the protruding rhizome, but keep the soil around it moist.

Irises are one of the few plants in our gardens that are best left unmulched, as a mulch cover may cause rhizomes to rot, especially if your site doesn’t drain well or doesn’t get enough hours of sunlight.
The young rhizomes you’ve just planted, especially the ones that have been cut small, will need at least a year to get reestablished and grow robust enough to produce blooms.

If you’ve moved into a place with established irises, but you can’t see the rhizomes sticking up horizontally from underneath the soil, then you’ll still have to dig them out and replant them at a more shallow depth.

3. Your irises need more sun.
You’ll be able to grow lush iris foliage in the shade, but don’t expect too many flowers.

In order to bloom, irises should be getting at least six to eight hours of full sunlight. In climates with extreme heat, they’ll need some afternoon dappled shade to keep them from getting scorched. But as a general rule, the more sun they get, the better.
That’s why you should try to plant your irises in an open space. You may have done this when you first chose their location initially but, over time, other surrounding trees, shrubs or manmade structures may have started to cast a shade over your irises.

Irises don’t like to compete with stronger surrounding plants or trees, both in terms of light and water needs, so pairing them with plants that have the same requirements (such as daylilies) is your best bet at keeping them happy.

If you’re not sure how much sun your irises are getting, pick a sunny day in mid-spring to early summer and, starting in the morning, record every hour on the hour if sunlight is reaching the spot where your irises are planted.

The simplest way to remedy this problem, but perhaps not the easiest way, is to relocate your irises to an area that gets as many hours of sunlight as possible.

4. Your irises are not getting enough water.
I’ve seen irises pop up on several xeriscaping gardening lists. If you’re not familiar with this term, it refers to a gardening philosophy that encourages the use of drought-tolerant plants in dry climates. It’s a gentler way to garden, both in terms of water conservation and costs for the gardener. So if you can use irises in xeriscaping, what gives? How could a plant that’s drought-tolerant suffer from a lack of water? Well, the plant itself can handle a good amount of stress caused by the lack of water. But one of the main ways it will be conserving its energy is by not putting out flowers. Not only should you water your irises after you’ve transplanted them in order to to help them get established, but you should also keep watering them twice a week if you’re not getting enough rainfall during late winter and early spring. This is when irises wake up from their period of dormancy and start putting out flower stalks. It’s worth reminding you that too much water is just as detrimental to the plant as too little water, as excessive moisture can lead to rhizome rot and even leaf spot. Only water your irises if you’re not getting enough rain and the top three inches of soil are dry. You can reduce your watering frequency in late fall and throughout winter.

When you water your irises, don’t pour directly on the rhizomes and do your best not to get the leaves wet. Pour the water in a circle around the rhizome in order to avoid dampness from pooling around them and keep them permanently damp.

5. Your irises are getting too much nitrogen.
Like most blooming plants, irises that have been fed too much nitrogen will use that to grow richer foliage at the expense of blooms. So fertilizing irises is a balancing act between adding enough phosphorus to encourage flowering, but not an excess of nitrogen (that encourages foliar growth).

Sometimes, irises that are grown in or around a lawn will suffer from a lack of bloom. Even though you may not have fertilized your irises, if you’ve used lawn fertilizer, you may have added too much nitrogen to the soil.

Fertilizing irises is only really necessary if you’ve been growing them for a long time in the same spot. The area has become depleted and will need some soil amendments, especially phosphorus. If you’re not sure whether your soil is still good enough, a soil test is the best way to determine what your soil needs. If you do decide to fertilize, we recommend you use a low-nitrogen organic slow-release fertilizer, such as a 6-10-10 mix or a 5-10-5 mix. You can fertilize the irises once in the spring right before bloom and one more time once the blooms have fallen. When you fertilize your plants, never apply the feed straight on the rhizomes. You can soak the soil around the rhizomes with the liquid feed or use slow-release pellets. Always follow the instructions on the package when you feed your plants and err on the side of using less fertilizer and feeding less frequently than indicated on the bottle. However, a better way to ensure that your plants have a balanced diet is by amending the planting site with organic compost when you divide and transplant your irises.

Like most blooming plants, irises will thrive in well-draining soil. If the soil is too compacted, the water won’t drain, leaving the rhizomes soggy, which may lead to rot. If you need to make your soil looser and more absorbent, you can add compost or leaf mold.

However, be careful if you’re adding manure, as some manure that hasn’t been aged enough may contain too much nitrogen for your irises.

6. You have cut off the iris leaves too early.
I left this reason last on my list because it’s less likely to happen. But if it does, you’ll know why.

Some people are in the habit of trimming off the iris leaves in the shape of a fan once the blooms are done for the season. Gardeners do this mostly for aesthetic reasons because they believe that irises blend into their landscape better. But I think this is a bit of a misguided habit. The only scenario in which you’d want to cut off the leaves is if you’re dividing your plants, the way we described above. That’s because the plant needs the leaves to stay attached as long as possible to soak up the sun which is much-needed for photosynthesis to take place. This helps the rhizomes store energy for next year’s bloom. If you’re cutting off the leaves prematurely, this downsizing of foliage may impact next season’s bloom.

I suspect that this piece of advice has been initially disseminated mostly by growers and hybridizers. With hundreds of plants to take care of, cutting off the foliage makes the task manageable. And in their case, they want the energy of the plant to go into strengthening the rhizomes (which is what they’ll be offering for sale) and are less concerned about bloom. If you still want to prune back the foliage, wait at least two months after the blooms have faded (or count from the time they should have faded, if you didn’t get any blooms this year).

These are the main reasons why irises will not flower during their blooming period. With irises, as well as with most plants that we grow in our gardens, the name of the game is patience.

Signs your houseplant soil is compacted and how to fix it easily >

Why You Should Aerate Your Houseplant Soil (& How to Do It Properly) Soil aeration will help your houseplants stay healthy. Here is how to aerate your plants soil step by step.

What kind of wildflowers are these?
A. While driving down the highways, you may have noticed thick stands of brightly blooming yellow flowers. Although they may look like typical spring wildflowers, these particular plants are an invasive species of w**d known as Bastard cabbage. Bastard Cabbage (Rapistrum rugosum) is an annual w**d in the brassica family, which includes cabbage, broccoli, mustard, kale, and others. You can see the similarities to our common garden vegetables by observing the flowers and leaves, which resemble bolting turnips or cabbages. Other names for this plant include False Turnip, Ball Mustard, and Giant Mustard. In botany, the term “bastard” can mean “false,” and may refer to a plant that is considered a variety or inferior version of another species.
Bastard Cabbage is a non-native w**d, accidentally introduced to North America from Europe, the Mediterranean and North Africa. This plant is an example of an early successional species, meaning it is one of the first plant species to grow on land that has been recently disturbed. Normally, early successional plants are considered beneficial to wildlife, but this plant is different because it forms dense monocultures which crowd out more desirable warm season grasses, cool-season wildflowers, and important forb species. In some areas of Texas, Bastard Cabbage is crowding out the Bluebonnets and other native wildflowers. https://foragefax.tamu.edu/.../bastard-cabbage-a.../
Bastard Cabbage is considered an invasive species by the Texas Invasive Species Institute and removal of the plants is recommended if possible. Hand pulling is the preferred method of eradication as this w**d is known to develop resistance to conventional herbicides. Researchers at the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center report success in suppressing populations of Bastard Cabbage with planting of native Gaillardias. For more detailed information about identifying and controlling Bastard Cabbage, visit:
https://www.wildflower.org/.../eradicate-bastard-cabbage
https://www.invasiveplantatlas.org/
https://tsusinvasives.org/home/database/rapistrum-rugosum
https://texascooppower.com/its-wild-out-there/

Happy Easter.

Spring has sprung, and with the warm weather, rain, and plants coming back to life you're likely to get some visitors in your garden beds.
Did you know that 97% of the insects most commonly seen in homes and gardens are considered either beneficial or innocuous? Learning how to put these “beneficials” to work is an important Earth Kind practice that can help reduce the use of chemical pesticides in the environment.
Beneficial Insects come in a remarkable variety of sizes, shapes and func- tions. Using function as the determining criterion, they can be divided into 4 basic types: predators, parasitoids, decomposers / recyclers and pollinators.
Here's a link if you'd like to learn more!
https://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/.../10/beneficials.pdf

Are you tired of fire ants ruining your beautiful Texas yard?
Introducing the Texan Two-Step Method - a game-changer in fire ant control that's less labor-intensive, less toxic, and more environmentally friendly.
👣 Step 1: Kick things off with fire ant bait. As temperatures rise and ants start foraging to feed their brood, this first step is your initial strike against these pesky invaders.
👣 Step 2: With fire ant mounds more visible, especially after rain, it's the best time to target the largest or most troublesome mounds. Use an individual mound treatment like a liquid drench or a granular, non-bait insecticide to deliver the final blow.
Click the link to read our full article on AgriLife Today and step into a fire-ant-free future!
https://agrilifetoday.tamu.edu/.../spring-is-the-time.../

Natural Easter Egg dyes!