flowers

Staff Pick: Indian Carnation

If you aren’t keen on the constant care involved in making your native soil right for Gardenias, here’s an alternative, and a good one. The “Indian Carnation” is a sub-tropical evergreen shrub and it does great in our heavy clay soil! It grows best in morning sun and afternoon shade, gets around 5 feet tall and wide. It has white flowers that look a lot like an “August Beauty” Gardenia, smells sweet, but not overbearing, but more importantly the “Indian Carnation” will constantly bloom from Spring through Fall, unlike a Gardenia! In my humble opinion, that’s a wonderful alternative!

Matt

Time To Treat For Grub Worms

Time to treat for grub worms. Did you know, grub worms come from June bugs? Grubs are the larval stage of the brown June Beetle that flies around your porch light every Spring. If you notice a large number of these beetles, you may want to consider treating your yard with Bayer Season Long Grub Control. It works to kill grubs for approx. 3 months. Grub worms eat the roots of your grass during the early spring and summer causing the area to die. You can literally roll your lawn up like a carpet. If you have grubs each year, then it is likely you will have them again. Taking precaution now is better than waiting till late summer or early fall and seeing the damage already done. An organic solution is to spray out Beneficial Nematodes. Each sponge contains 5 million nematodes, enough to treat 2000 sq. ft. of surface area. Reapplying these nematodes monthly will help to build the population for effective control of grubs and fleas through the summer. If do not want to treat or are unsure if you have the problem, just watch your grass closely. Any areas that look dry and wilted but the rest of yard does not, it could be grubs. Dig down and look. If you find more than 4 grubs in one square foot of area, then you should treat with Bayer 24 hour. If no grubs are found, and the ground is hard and dry, then check your sprinkler to make sure it is watering that area as evenly as the rest of the lawn.

-DeAnna

Mom’s Favorite Flower

Every year around this time, I think about how much my Mom has done for me. When I drive back home to visit her, I always look for her favorite flower (which of course is a weed!). Much to my Dad’s chagrin, I arrive home with a bushel full of Queen Anne’s Lace. If I could, I’d buy her enough Queen Anne’s Lace to make a whole bed of it for her, but generally nurseries don’t sell too many weeds! For Mother’s Day this year, instead of buying your Mom cut flowers, why not find out her favorite flower and come to Gill’s. We’ll help you take that flower and make a gift that lasts not just a few weeks, but for years.

Marta

My earliest childhood memories are of flowers. My dad taught me to grow them from seeds–Zinnias, Sweet Peas, Calendulas, Giant Sunflowers. As a mother I gardened with my sons. We grew tomatoes, peppers, squash and, of course, flowers. Now I reap the reward of watching my son and his wife teach their
young son the joy of getting outdoors to garden. And I smile, knowing they are passing the joy of gardening to another generation.
Gardening…..pass it on!

-Kathy

You may have already done several items on this list, but with all the recent rains they may have been depleted or washed away, therefore another application may be necessary.

Fertilize the lawn, shrubs, trees and tropicals again with Gill Lawn & Garden or Milorganite.
Continue to feed vegetables and herbs with Espoma Plant Tone. Citrus and fruit trees with Espoma Citrus Tone.
Apply pre-emergent again to prevent weeds, Amaze or Dimension.
Spray post-emergent again or as needed to kill existing weeds, Weed b gon or Image. You could also keep the weeds mowed before they go to seed. Most will die with the heat.
Drench Hackberry trees for wooly aphids, bougainvillea for caterpillars, hibiscus and jatropha for mealybugs etc.. with Bayer Protect and Feed to prevent insects for 9 months.
Treat the lawn with Bayer Season Long Grub Control or Beneficial Nematodes.
Watch for Chinch bug activity in the hot dry spots of the lawn near sidewalks and driveways. Spray with Cyonara or Triazicide. For organic control use Spinosad or Diatomaceous Earth.
Treat for fungus. Check the lawn for brown patch. Roses, Crape Myrtles and Gerbera Daisies for powdery mildew and Plumeria for rust. Use F-stop, Serenade or Actinovate for the lawn and Fertilome Systemic , Serenade or Actinovate for plants.
Plant sun or shade loving heat tolerant flowers and tropicals.
Mulch everything including potted plants to prevent weeds and hold moisture for the summer.

-DeAnna

Sights, sounds, and smells of nature are all relaxing. For sights, think about plants to attract birds, butterflies, and hummingbirds. They are so fun to watch as they move from plant to plant gathering nectar. Hamelia, Firecracker Plant, Hummingbird Bush, Shrimp Plant, Cape Honeysuckle, Lantana and many more are available to bring nature to your yard. Our plant signs throughout the nursery identify which ones attract birds, butterflies, or hummingbirds. For garden sounds, think of rustling leaves, a hand tuned windchime or the sound of running water from a fountain, all sure to relax the mind. For smells, many plants have wonderful fragrances in the daytime and some at night. Gardenias, Indian Carnations, Maid of Orleans Jasmine, Sweet Almond Verbena, Angel Trumpets, and Reseda add wonderful aroma to the landscape. Night Blooming Jasmine can be smelled from what seems to be 100 yards away. The tiny flowers flare the tips open in the

evening to release the sweetest smell imaginable. While having a cup of coffee early in the morning or a glass of wine after a hard day of work, do what you have always heard, take the time to look around, listen close, and “stop and smell the roses”.

-DeAnna

Did you know that soil is a living thing? We have all heard of microbes. The real deal is that without soil microbes, we would all die. The work they do in our soil is incredibly complex but it all boils down to this: microbes eat, thus we eat. Plants are unable to take from the soil the nutrition they need without microbes working in the soil.

Microbes are alive, and must have nutrition to survive, and that nutrition comes from organic matter. As they consume the nutrients they need, microbes create foods like nitrogen, carbon, oxygen, hydrogen, phosphorous, potassium and trace minerals for our plants. It is the microbes that convert the NPK and minerals in the soil into a form our plants can use to grow and produce food and flowers for us. Organic fertilizers feed our soil which is why they are so important to use instead of synthetic fertilizers which have little to no benefit to our soil.

We carry 3 different organic fertilizers for lawns & gardens. Milorganite which is made in Milwaukee from bio waste sewer sludge. It contains 4% iron and is non-burning. It does not have to be watered in immediately, but is activated once watered. Covers 2500 sq. ft. Medina Growin Green is made in Texas from kelp meal, humate, poultry manure, molasses, and green sand. Covers 3000 sq. ft. I usually recommend the one that meets your square footage needs. With all the recent rains and summer upon us, it is time to think about fertilizing the lawn and all your tropical shrubs again.

-DeAnna

Back in the late 70’s, when we first opened our Airline store, we met Henry. He was strikingly handsome, riding his beautiful horse, and had an amazingly warm and wonderful smile. And still does as shown in this picture taken in May!
Henry, upon returning from the Vietnam War in the late 60’s, joined his dad, Connie Brooks, in the family landscape and maintenance business. When he was trained and ready to go out on his own, his dad gave him a lawn mower, and edger (remember them?), a few rakes and brooms. And for the last 40+ years, Henry has been making Corpus Christi beautiful. He has long lasting relationships with many multi-generational families in our city. Henry compares his job as a landscaper to that of an artist, creating art outdoors by planting trees, shrubs and flowers, and then keeping his work looking good with regular care.
Henry’s hobby is training and racing quarter horses – his own horses. He’s raced in Louisiana, Texas, and Oklahoma. And that gets back to when I first met him in our parking lot, a long time ago.
When I saw him today at our Alameda store, he asked me if I was working hard or hardly working. I said of course I am working hard, that it seems we are both still working hard. His comment was, “Why would I sit at home doing nothing when I could be out taking care of my customers and making gardens prettier?” I agree! Thank you Henry, for your kind, gentle spirit, your beautiful warm smile, and our decades long friendship.

-Sally

We’ve covered organic fertilizers and organic insecticides. This week we will talk about organic fungicides. Serenade Garden Disease Control can be used on roses, vegetables, fruits, flowering plants, trees, shrubs and lawns. Use prior to disease development or at the first sign of foliar disease infection. Serenade prevents and controls black spot, leaf spot, powdery mildew, anthracnose, gray mold, scab and early blight. With all the recent rains black spot and powdery mildew are a problem, especially on roses. Actinovate and Actino-iron are also organic fungicides used for soil borne pl ant root rot and damping off fungi. Can be used to control diseases on vegetables, roses, trees, shrubs and lawns. It is a must for the control of phytophthera fungus which kills periwinkles. Actino-iron can be worked into the soil prior to planting or Actinovate can be mixed with water and sprayed or drenched around your flowers to prevent disease after planting and through the growing season. Horticultural Cornmeal is another natural substance that stimulates beneficial microorganisms to feed on pathogens such as brown patch in St. Augustine, damping off in seedlings, phytophthera and other fungal diseases. It also helps to build the soil. Remember all diseases are easier to prevent than to cure. Isn’t there an old saying, “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure”.

-DeAnna

flowers

Staff Pick: Indian Carnation

Time To Treat For Grub Worms

Mom’s Favorite Flower

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