HARRIS COUNTY MASTER GARDENER NEWSLETTER • MARCH 2020 UrbanDirt All About Herbs! Gardening Events and Information for Texans Herbal Prepping for Spring by Terri Simon, Master Gardener Photos by Terri Simon Nothing delights me more than to go down a walkway lined It’s sweet, smells with rosemary. The sweet, savory aroma released by rosemary great and it reseeds when I brush against it pleases me. I have a plant next to the porch every year. Another to welcome guests as they walk past it. Herbs are my favorite favorite of mine plants. I have a few trees and some flowers, but I could easily give is cardinal basil. those up if I had to. As long as I have my herbs, I’m in a happy The deep maroon place. I have a sensitive nose and I love to cook, so perhaps that’s flowers remind me why the herbs call to me. Every year I strive to grow ten or more of a cock’s comb. I varieties of basil. I have a serious basil fetish. This year is no would never eat it. I exception. Genovese, sweet, dark opal, Aristotle, Napolitano, Thai just grow it for the Anise basil holy and Aromato basil were some I tried last year and they’ll be glory, kind of like back. This year I hope to have amethyst improved and everleaf my peppers. Once I buy my variegated pesto pepetuo basil, my emerald towers basil collection for this year should be complete. basil. My favorite Other herbs I basil was given have included are to me by Rob several varieties of: Lucey, a former rosemary, oregano, Bear Creek mas- and mint. I have ter gardener and a large container a former editor of of lemon grass, the Urban Dirt. It but I don’t know has no name so I what variety it is. Rob's basil call it Rob’s basil. Basil cont'd on pg. 8 Upcoming Events .........................2 Junior Master Gardeners ............13 President's Perspective ..................3 Master Gardener Birthdays ........14 Herb of the Month ........................4 Open Garden Days at Genoa Plant of the Month .......................5 Friendship Gardens ................15 2020 Plant Sale Dates! ..................7 Commercialization of Mary Jane .16 MG Award Luncheon ....................9 Master Gardener of the Month ...18 Ask a Master Gardener ...............10 TMGA 2020 State Conference ...19 Master Gardeners in the City .....11 Gardening Tools .........................20 Growing with Plants & Nature ..12 Email your questions and photos to: phone [email protected] or Have Garden Questions? Call us Monday – Friday 9:00 am to Noon at 713-274-0950 URBAN DIRT • MARCH 2020 Upcoming Events MARCH 2020 Green Thumb Gardening Series Texas AgriLife Extension Service Herbs Horticulture Program in Harris County Mar. 12, Barbara Bush Library, 6:30 - 8:30 p.m. 9449 Grant Rd. 713.274.0950 Mar. 17, Spring Branch Memorial Library, 6:30 - 8:30 p.m. Houston, TX 77070 Mar 19, Freeman Branch Library, 6:30 - 8:30 p.m. Master Gardener Program Coordinator Mar. 21, Maude Smith Marks Library, 10:30 a.m. - 12:30 p.m. Brandi Keller - 713.274.0950 CEA – Horticulture Educational Programs Paul Winski - 713.274.0950 Mar. 12, Second Thursday 10:00-11:30 a.m. Program: Natural Habitats by Tim Pylate, CEA – Horticulture Armand Bayou Nature Center. Tim will be speaking about beneficial and poisonous snakes in Vacant our area. This will be the time of year when they begin to resurface. Tim plans to educate the public by bringing some snakes to observe, too! Genoa Friendship Gardens, 1202 Genoa Red Bluff Rd. Plants for sale in the greenhouse. Youth Activities Mar. 24, Growing with Plants & Nature (Formerly Open Garden Day at Weekley Center). Free for children ages three to twelve. 10:00 to 11:15 a.m. Weekley Community Center, 8440 Greenhouse Rd., Cypress, TX. REGISTRATION IS REQUIRED by Sunday, March 22nd. To 2020 Board of Directors register or for more information: [email protected]. President Master Gardener Awards Luncheon Beth Braun [email protected] Mar. 11, 11:00 a.m. - 2:00 p.m. Cherie Flores Garden Pavilion, Hermann Park, 1500 Hermann First Vice President Drive, Houston 77004. Register by 12 p.m. Wednesday, March 4th. Registration forms are Alan Fisherman available at February's First Tuesday meeting, in the Weekly Update emails and on page 9 of this [email protected] newsletter. Second Vice President Jonathan Correia [email protected] APRIL 2020 Past President Green Thumb Gardening Series Evan Hopkins Soils and Composting [email protected] Secretary Apr. 16, Freeman Branch Library, 6:30 - 8:30 p.m. Aida Pita Apr. 18, Maude Smith Marks Library, 10:30 a.m. - 12:30 p.m. [email protected] Apr. 21, Spring Branch Memorial Library, 6:30 - 8:30 p.m. Treasurer Dianne Lawrence Apr. 23, Barbara Bush Library, 6:30 - 8:30 p.m. [email protected] Educational Programs Directors Apr. 7, First Tuesday 12:00 - 1:00 p.m. Program: Rainwater Wrangling in the Big City: Douglas McLeod Danny Dunn Modern Solutions for an Ancient Practice presented by Nell Wheeler. The talk will cover why Janice Muhm one might want to harvest rainwater, how to size and design a rainwater system, legalities, Dana Goeggel and other fun facts. Arrive as early as 10:30 a.m. and bring a sack lunch. Trini Mendenhall Linda Saxman Community Center, 1414 Wirt Rd, Houston, 77055 Alexa Haass Marsha VanHorn Apr. 9, Second Thursday 10:00-11:30 a.m. Program: TBA Genoa Friendship Gardens, 1202 Genoa Red Bluff Rd. Plants for sale in the greenhouse. Genoa Friendship Gardens Steering Committee Coordinators Youth Activities Advisors Apr. 15, Growing with Plants & Nature (Formerly Open Garden Day at Weekley Center). Evan Hopkins Free for children ages three to twelve. 10:00 to 11:15 a.m. Trini Mendenhall Community Center; Georgia Lau 1414 Wirt Rd., Spring Branch. REGISTRATION IS REQUIRED by Monday, April 13th. • To register or for more information: [email protected]. Urban Dirt Editor Carolyn Boyd [email protected] Visit txmg.org or contact the Harris County Extension Office, 713-274-0950, Assistant Urban Dirt Editor [email protected] for information. Terri Simon 2 URBAN DIRT • MARCH 2020 President’s Perspective Where plants, shoppers, wagons, signs, $$$ and volunteers & Garden Show with a variety of plants, and GFG’s spring sale converge, you have an HCMGA plant sale! Add to that smiles all featuring perennials, herbs, and peppers. around. These are huge, time consuming and labor-intensive undertak- Countless volunteer hours go into these labors of love to offer ings. A big Thank You to the leaders who plan, recruit volunteers, plants that are uniquely suited to our environment. They put the and execute every part of these events, and to all of you who Harris County Master Gardeners “brand” into the community volunteer to make them happen. with face-to-face public outreach and education. Plant sales are Watch for volunteer links in the Weekly Updates. If you don’t the primary way the Harris County Master Gardener Association get onboard that way, check for dates and locations on our web- raises funds to support Master Gardeners’ activities throughout site and show up early and energetically to find an assignment: Harris County. These include Ask A Master Gardener (AAMG), https://hcmga.tamu.edu/plant-sales/. Spending time together with Cylinder Gardening, plant research trials, and the Speakers’ fellow Master Gardeners reinforces the connection and common Bureau. mission we share with each other. You may go home tired, but The West Harris County fruit tree sale on January 25 grossed you’ll go home happy. over $42,000 and welcomed nearly 580 shoppers. Other sales I look forward to reporting back to you on our sales. scheduled for this spring are Genoa Friendship Garden’s fruit tree and tomato sale on February 22, West Harris County’s toma- Beth Braun toes, peppers, herbs, vegetables and perennials sale on March 7, HCMGA Board President, 2020 and a double feature on March 21—a booth at the Cy-Fair Home Genoa Friendship Gardens Sales Campbell Hall, Pasadena Fairgrounds, 7600 Red Bluff Rd., Pasadena 77507 Mar. 21, 9:00 a.m. - 1:00 p.m. Peppers, Perennials and Herbs Sale West Side Sales Mar. 7, 9:00 a.m. - 1:00 p.m., Spring Tomato, Pepper, Vegetable & Perennial Sale Richard and Meg Weekley Park, 19110 Longenbaugh Rd, Houston 77090 (between Barker Cypress and Greenhouse Road) Mar. 21-22, 9:00 a.m. - 6:00 p.m. Cy-Fair Home & Garden Show, The Berry Center, 8877 Barker Cypress Rd, Cypress, TX 77433 3 URBAN DIRT • MARCH 2020 Herb of the Month Chicory Root (Cichorium intybus) by Karen McGowan, Master Gardener Ironically perhaps for the month in which herbs have been Boasting light blue flowers that will quickly turn to white if the chosen as the Green Thumb topic, this month’s herb article focus plant is placed in a vase of water, chicory is best known as a weed is a bit unusual. While not actually an herb, chicory root is quickly that will prolifically self-sow and quickly take over your garden becoming such a popular garden topic within the wellness field if allowed to set that it is chosen for this month’s special herb feature article. seed; therefore, the Freshly touted as possessing health properties and benefits usually flowers must be reserved for herbs and vegetables, chicory root has been highlight- regularly pruned ed within a number of fitness and wellness articles of recent note. during growing While chicory has a storied usage in folklore, it is enjoying emerg- season.