-- The Fault in Our Stars by John Green 

STILL GIVING THANKS . . . that two wonderful folks we sadly lost this holiday season came into my life. I feel so lucky to have known them:

 

 

Julyette was a strong proponent of Kwanzaa (this year: Dec. 26 - Jan. 1). Many of our articles and her lectures at local upscale plant, food and decor sites focused on using African native plants such as African violet, airplane plants,  aloes, amaryllis, agapanthus (lily of the nile), asparagus fern, bird of paradise, black-eyed Susan, cacti, calla lilies, caster oil plants, clerodendron, crinum, crossandra, crotons, dracaenas, fiddle leaf fig, geranium, gerbera daisy, gladiolus, hibiscus, impatiens, flax, kalanchoes, lobelia, nemesia, nerine, some orchids, pencil cactus, mother-in-law's tongue, plumbago and string of pearls.

Julyette truly opened my eyes to how many of our favorite garden plants are actually native to Africa. In one article I will always remember, she focused on the bane of many apartment/condo owners: those tiny, walk-out patio areas that are so hard to landscape - narrow strips of grow-nothing soil or solid concrete, both of which trap summer heat, baking plants. One trick: cover concrete slabs and/or with woven mats that tolerate rain and help prevent heat build-up. She recommended Zambian mats.

 

 Julyette Marshall helped us appreciate how many of our favorite plants are native to Africa, including, clockwise from
upper left, amaryllis, gerbera daisy, lily of the Nile, geranium, impatiens, bird of paradise, kalanchoe and  plumbago

 

 

 

 

* DR. BOB RANDALL sent in this in response to this column's Urban Harvest tribute last week: "Thanks for the thanks. As you know the community garden effort has been a strong one by many people over the years.  I was lucky to get a chance to work with others to make it happen and certainly worked hard and long, but so did others.  It is worth mentioning that Susan Fischer, Ray Sher, Gary Edmondson have been at this since the late 1980's.

"I moved to Houston in 1979, started teaching organic gardening through LLU in 1986, and started with the Interfaith Hunger Coalition in 1988.  It is worth mentioning that County Agent Arnold Brown was my mentor and he had pioneered the community gardens effort here in the late 1970's. There are several histories of this at the University of Houston Library and I have copies of them. It is also worth mentioning that a 'young' Chron reporter Brenda Smith wrote a key article that helped us a lot in 1989 about the Fourth Ward Community Garden."

 

* DRENDA BEUST must have been reading my mind. I was just marveling at how exceptionally beautiful angel trumpets have been this year and she sends a picture of her own lovely one. (Drenda is my cousin-in-law. We've had fun with our close names.)

 

 

* BARBARA G. in Spring emailed, asking which bedding plants bloom in winter in our area. She wants color in her front gardens for the holidays. In the same email batch came Rachel Gibbs' interesting "Color Bar" of winter color bedding annuals (see above) that do well here. Use these to provide eye interest around winter dormant plants. Link: Lanson Jones & Co. Color Bar Winter.

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     1. "Should Do This Month..."

     2. "If the Spirit Moves..."

     3. "If You're Feeling Really Energetic..."

 

 

 

  * Don't fertilize. We'll still probably have warm weather ahead that might trigger new growth. This tender growth will be far more susceptible to freeze damage and you might lose a plant that otherwise would have easily survived winter.  Okay to prune in January when temperatures tend to stay lower.

 

  * Don't do any heavy pruning. Same reason as above.

 

  * Don't overwater potted plants; they've hopefully gone dormant.

 

  * Don't work at all in beds soaked by heavy rains. You'll smush all the oxygen out.

 

  * Don't stop leaves that are falling into gardens. They make great protective mulch, not only free, but cheerfully supplied by your trees. As they break down, they enrich the soil with organic matter.

 

  * Stop feeding, watering clivia.

 

  * Don't plant these seeds in garden until January: garbanzo bean, bock choy, cabbage, collard greens, kale, mibuna, nasturtium, mustard, parsley,

 

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