Jesse Jenkins

Mangave, a hybrid of the Agave and Manfreda, is a beautiful and easy plant that stands out, requires little maintenance, and does not have any spines or points. They are available in a variety of colors and forms, with the potential for unique spotting as well as wavy and cascading foliage.

Mangave can provide an excellent focal point in your garden or landscape and can be potted or planted in the ground. Barbara, our accountant since the early 90s here at Gill’s, does not consider herself a plant person, but here’s what she has to say about her Mangave:

“I’ve never been great with plants; my husband jokes that my house is where plants go to die! So, the Mangave we had installed in our front porch bed has been a nice surprise. The day I walked out and saw a spike growing up out of the middle of the plant, I felt like a proud Mama! That spike (which started out looking like giant asparagus) has continued to get taller and taller. It is currently about 7 feet tall! I can’t help thinking about Jack and the Beanstalk every time I walk past it!

As it grew, clusters of buds began to appear on the upper portion of the stalk. My fear was that it would be so tall when it bloomed that I would need a ladder to see what it produced, but fortunately, that wasn’t the case. The buds have begun opening into unique spiky ‘flowers’. It has been so much fun watching this process, and it will be interesting to see what else it has in store!”

-Barbara Elliott

We’ve met so many kids over the years (as young as 10 months old) who really get a kick out of gardening. While kids and teachers are on a much-needed break from school next week, and the weather warms up, try a fun gardening project at home!

March is the perfect time to plant vegetables from seeds, including beans, okra, radishes, pumpkins, and watermelons. Now is also a great time to start small tomato plants, peppers, cucumbers, squash, eggplant, and strawberries. You don’t need to be an expert or have a ton of space to get started – these fruits and veggies can be grown in garden beds or in containers. Kids love watching their plants start to grow and getting to eat their fresh and healthy food once its ripe!

Fruits and veggies are fun and so are flowers! Plant Cosmos, Zinnias, and Sunflower seeds now to get beautiful color and attract butterflies and birds. Marigolds and Petunias are nice and easy!

We have child-sized gardening tools and gloves, colorful flags, bird houses, bug houses, and all the seeds, plants, and supplies you might need to create a fun space for kids to enjoy gardening.

-Jesse

Spring is here again, and as plants and flowers wake up, so do unwanted guests such as aphids and fleas. Some of the most effective ways to eliminate these pests and many others is to use beneficial bugs. We keep Ladybugs, Beneficial Nematodes, and Earthworms on hand here at Gill’s to get rid of pests and improve the health of your lawn and garden.

Ladybugs

Fun facts about Ladybugs- Ladybugs aren’t really bugs at all, they’re beetles. There are almost 400 different kinds of ladybugs in North America.

Female ladybugs can eat as many as 75 aphids in one day. They also like to eat scale, mealybugs, and spider mites.

Ladybugs smell with their feet and antennae. A ladybug’s jaws chew from side to side instead of up and down like our jaws. The color of a ladybug’s spots begin to fade as it gets older.

Ladybugs are most active when their body temperature is 75 degrees or warmer. A ladybug’s bright color warns birds that it does not taste good. When a ladybug flies, its wings beat 85 times every second. Female ladybugs are larger than male ladybugs.

Aphids are the first pest to hit in the spring and they love the new growth on plants. Buy your ladybugs now and keep them dormant in the refrigerator till your first outbreak of aphids, then release a few hundred at a time.

Use Ladybugs to help eliminate:

– Aphids
– Scale
– Mealybugs
– Spider mites

Beneficial Nematodes

Beneficial Nematodes are microscopic creatures that live in soil where they feed on the eggs and larvae of soil borne-pests. They’re voracious predators of fire ants, flea larvae, and white grub worms (the grubs that eat plant roots).

Beneficial Nematodes are the ideal organic pest control because they’re a naturally occurring predator of pests, but they don’t harm plants, animals, or people. They’re completely non-toxic and they’re easy to use.

You mix the nematodes with water, and then put the solution into a watering can or sprayer. A hose-end type sprayer is fine, as city water is fine to mix with the nematodes.

Speaking of water, beneficial nematodes do need rain or supplemental watering in order to live and reproduce in your soil, so they’re not appropriate for dry land farms or completely xeric landscapes.

Use Nematodes to help eliminate:

– Fire ants
– Fleas
– Grub worms

Earthworms

Earthworms, or Red Worms, are popular due to their many useful applications. Each Red Worm ingests its weight in organic matter every 24 hours.

They excrete a highly effective fertilizer called castings, which are high in nitrogen, phosphorus, magnesium, potash, and calcium, which are all great for your soil, grass, and plants!

These castings can also help repel chewing and sucking insects like aphids, whiteflies, and hard-shelled plant bugs; the chitinase (an enzyme) from the worm castings, which is absorbed by the plant, kills the bad bugs when they eat the plant leaves.

Use Earthworms and their castings for:

– Improving and aerating soil
– Fertilizer
– Starting compost
– Repelling chewing and sucking insects
– Fishing bait!

Now is a great time to get some good bugs and worms (ladybugs, beneficial nematodes, and earthworms) – before the bad bugs (aphids, fleas, mealybugs, whiteflies, fire ants, spider mites, and grub worms) arrive!

-DeAnna

As the spring equinox arrives, I’m wondering if Mr. Sunshine is ever coming back from his southern hemisphere vacation? Well, there’s no time to wait for the sun; I’m making hay without it! So, I’ve started pulling up the winter garden and sharing our final harvest.

The cool cloudy days make working in the yard wonderful! The plants are happy, the pets are frisky, and I’m not having a heat stroke in March. Gardening is an instant boost to the gloomy moods of cloudy days. Tons of research supports those words, but still the best is to get out and “see for yourself”.

Here’s some tips for instant “feel goods” in your garden. No sun needed!

Plant Some Color!

Spring flowers make me smile and my soil has not been too wet to plant. I’m adding color to my pots with new flowers and coleus. We have a new potting mix at Gill’s called Premium Potting Mix. It’s made by Back to Nature and I can’t wait to try it! Every plant’s getting a dose of Hasta Gro plant food.

Trim-Clean-Weed

Trimming off damaged branches and ugly foliage is helping my plants and me. I’m getting a great workout and they’ll be healthier with the spring flush of new growth.

Pulling weeds in our courtyard gets me face to face with my dogs; always a happy place!

Plant Tomatoes & Spring Veggies

The cool and clouds have prolonged tomato planting time. I’ll be putting in mine this coming weekend, rain permitting…LOL. I’m planning for peppers, squash, tomatillos, basil, maybe cucumbers, and eggplant. The cool cloudy days are keeping the bugs at bay too! At least so far…can I get an Amen?

Mulch It

Fresh mulch around your trees and flower beds makes everything look really good…really! I love hardwood mulch and pine straw. It’s a matter of taste; black, red, cypress, cedar, rock…they’re all available at Gills.

Bring It In!

If the weather just won’t let you get outside, there’s always something for your indoors. For instance, I did this air bromeliad project last weekend while it was raining. I bought a piece of our new driftwood, several tillandsias, a bag of royal pool moss from the nursery; dug out my old glue gun and had a blast putting this all together!

Happy Gardening Anytime! Rain or Shine!

-Debbie

I have had several customers bring me Tussock Moth Caterpillars they found munching on their oak tree leaves.

The creamy white hairs on the caterpillar are long and bristle-like and spread out in tufts down the sides. Two long, sharp black pencil like hairs protrude near the front and rear and these hairs are connected to poison glands, which excrete venom on contact. Contact with the venom may result in itchy irritation.

You can spray your tree with Hi Yield Thuricide Concentrate or Natural Guard Spinosad Hose-end. Both of these products are organic and safe to use on all plants. Thuricide reacts with the cells of the stomach lining of the target pest causing them to not be able to feed within hours of ingesting. Spinosad is a contact kill, but still safe and organic for all plants.

(photo via ocala.com)

-DeAnna

The City of Corpus Christi and Texas Agrilife Extension have joined together for a free soil testing campaign.

Have you had your soil tested lately? If not, please take advantage of this opportunity. The report will tell you your soil nitrogen, phosphorous & potassium levels and acidity level and can help you select the right fertilizer for your lawn, landscape, vegetable, and flower gardens.

Stop by our store and pick up the form and bag to prepare your sample – limit 3 per homeowner. Samples can be returned to us, then the results will be mailed directly to you.

-DeAnna

We are excited to share that Kathy Hubner, one of our landscape designers here at Gill Landscape Nursery, has become only the second Texan and first from Corpus Christi to be named a fellow of the Association of Professional Landscape Designers (APLD)! Kathy is one of only 83 APLD Fellows in the United States. She will receive her designation during the 2019 APLD Conference this summer in Seattle.

As an APLD Fellow, Kathy has been recognized for her significant design contributions, as well as service to the profession of landscape design. She served eight years on the Board of Directors of the APLD from 2000-2007, has been Chair of the APLD Awards Committee since 2014 and has been Treasurer of the Texas Chapter of the APLD since 2012. “It is an honor to receive this designation from my peers in the APLD,” Kathy said. “I’ve dedicated my career to enhancing the professionalism and standards and continuously learning about landscaping technology, science, and practices that translate into quality products for our customers.”

Kathy is one of APLD’s most award-winning designers specializing in complete landscape planning for residential, commercial, and ranch country properties, including patios, pools, outdoor kitchens, water features, shade structures, and updates for existing landscapes. She also specializes in Xeriscape (low water use) planning. Kathy is certified to prepare landscape ordinance plans for commercial projects. In her 30-year career at Gill’s, she has designed and installed landscaping projects throughout the Coastal Bend and South Texas in a wide variety of styles; from Mediterranean to Contemporary to Hill Country/Ranch style.

Visit our landscape department online, call us at 361.992.9674, or stop by 2810 Airline Road to start planning your project with Kathy or any of our other professional landscape designers.