By Norman Winter | Horticulturist, Author, Speaker

The Garden Guy has become completely mesmerized by a bowl of blackcurrants. You can guess I am having a little fun with you. I am not talking about the fruit but the flowers referred to as Superbells Blackcurrant Punch.

This year most everything came through the winter including a few plants I am even asking where did you come from? The spring has been long, gloriously beautiful and still in progress and all of the Superbells calibrachoas taking your breath away with their beauty.
I have written about the ‘Punch Group’ but never about a single color. I love every one of them but this year I just have to dedicate a column to Superbells Blackcurrant Punch. Yes, I do have a couple of yellow bowls where they are showing out but in reality, they are mixed in a lot of my containers.

Superbells Blackcurrant Punch has won a ‘baker’s dozen’ of awards, Top Performers, and Perfect Scores north to south and east to west. Like the others they reach about 12 inches tall with up to a two-foot spread. They obviously have some cold tolerance as mine have come through the winter. The caveat is they did spend five consecutive nights in the garage. Their beauty in March and April has defied logic.

To read more, pick up a copy of the June issue of NTFR magazine. To subscribe by mail, call 940-872-5922.

By Jelly Cocanougher

With rainfall expressing all over the region, it looks in resemblance to landscapes that drape over the English countryside when viewed with a squint. There are lush and greened up landscapes with newly adorned blossoms peacocking themselves. Meanwhile, cowboys chase the horizon, in pursuit of cattle they seek to gather. A poetic infrastructure claims the enriched land, solace between nature, and the symbiotic relationship of horse and man.

By Tony Dean, [email protected]

Many of us who live and work in the country take note of when mesquites leaf out in the spring. For most people, this is just a casual observation of life around us and a promise that warm weather is around the corner.

If you are interested in killing mesquite with an herbicide, “bud break” on mesquites is a significant event and signals the beginning of your planning for a successful control.
Mesquites go through a fairly predictable life cycle every year. This, of course, changes somewhat with location, weather patterns, soils, and other factors, but the overall process is very similar wherever you find mesquite.

To read more, pick up a copy of the May issue of NTFR magazine. To subscribe by mail, call 940-872-5922.