tel: 512 280-1192 Thursday, April 14, 2016
Nursery Notes: rose special this weekend: buy 3 roses and
receive a free bag of Rose Magic (value: $10.99). 🌿 To attract
butterflies to your garden, try planting some pentas ($1.50, 4"
pot.) Hummingbirds? Plant Wendy's wish salvia $14.99, or the
hummingbird plant $7.99. 🌿 Premium soils and boosters from
Fox Farm now available. More details soon in upcoming news-
letter. 🌿 Russ's annuals table is brimming with color at the
moment: vincas, marigolds, verbenas, petunias, purslane, coleus
and more. Please drop by for a visit! 🌿
The Art of Color Choice: 'Planting for color is a complex subject
that can be intimidating,' writes Joanna Fortnam. 'The key thing to
remember is that color is a gift to revel in, not a problem to be
solved.' Read the complete article in Garden Design Magazine 🌿
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Spinach for breakfast? With its comforting mash-up of sweet
potatoes (maple-glazed), fried eggs, rice, and spinach, author
Lukas Volger suggests this as a perfect weekend 'lazy breakfast
or brunch for two.' From The Splendid Table 🌿
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Central Texas Gardener: a visit with Monica Gaylord from Nursery) shares list of plants that support bees, butterflies and
birds all year long. Learn how to grow-your-own stevia from
Trisha. Saturday at 4 p.m ; Sunday at 9 a.m. or watch it on-line
here: KLRU
Insect Control with Tobacco Plants
by David K. Sargert
Last year 'Mighty' Quinn Peterson joined us from Texas A&M.
We were in the midst of a particularly serious infestation of aphids
and white flies following the torrential rains of the spring. Quinn
advised us to place small tobacco plants at the entrances of the green-
houses.
He germinated the minute seeds himself, and in a few weeks we
He germinated the minute seeds himself, and in a few weeks we
had some fairly good sized plants . . . which immediately became
full of 'bad bugs.' This was pretty fascinating as they actually left
our 'good plants' to seek out the new plant in the house. I was in-
trigued.
Quinn explained that the bugs are drawn to the nicotine, become
Quinn explained that the bugs are drawn to the nicotine, become
addicted and will stay and not leave until death. Ugh, I thought,
this is bad stuff. Perhaps the Surgeon General should be made aware
of this.
I took a few of his baby plants and placed them in our new medic-
I took a few of his baby plants and placed them in our new medic-
ine, butterfly and hummingbird gardens. I planted them at the north
and south exposures as I figured this is the path of our prevailing
winds and the flight path of 'the invaders.' Bingo. It worked! Nei-
ther garden has had any pests in the past year. All of the plants are
still flourishing after our non-winter.
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Tobacco is a member of the nightshade family. The species we grow
is Nicotiana tabacum – Virginia gold. It reaches a height of 6 feet,
and has velvety light green leaves and beautiful pink trumpet flowers.
It's quite lovely and adds a level of interest to the gardens. Aside from
the myriad of images that magically become fixed in your head as
you weed and work around them like the Marlboro Man, a Camel
and some guy with a black eye, the smell is rather pleasant.
Many online gardening sites suggest using the tobacco plant as an
insect repellent, but this is incorrect. These plants are insect attractors.
In fact this is the reason tobacco crops take a tremendous toll on
the environment – because of the amount of chemicals required to
keep the plants insect-free to grow production-grade leaves. Some
tout the use of tobacco tea as an organic insect repellent. I’ve not
tried it yet only because I've not had to.
The tobacco we plant is purely sacrificial. We plant it to draw all
the bad bugs to it and that's that. I actually thought ours would have
died over the winter but they actually thrived and are bigger and
healthier than last year.
I have 500 plant babies started and we are selling them for $6.99
I have 500 plant babies started and we are selling them for $6.99
each. Plant them in full sun for best results. Tell us how they work-
ed for you for your bug problems. Save your seed pods for next year,
and you will get a million seeds . . . seriously! Please don't use the
leaves for anything else; your garden needs you. Happy gardening
everyone! 🌿
🌲 🌿 🌵
Please contact newsletter editor Darrel Mayers
with any ideas for articles or interesting links:
internationalrain@yahoo.com (hitting 'reply' to this email won't work)
Visit the website: Its About Thyme facebook
Visit the nursery: 11726 Manchaca Road, Austin, 78748
