By: Andy Anderson

It’s August, which means hunting season is right around the corner. Hunters will soon begin to venture back into the woods to start prepping. Part of this annual ritual is checking out the deer stand, camp area and to getting things cleaned up. This is dangerous and will make you scream for your mamma if you are not prepared!

A few weeks ago I was clearing some fence line out. I had just cut the wire and kicked the wire fence to push it out of the vegetation and away from the T-post. It was then I realized I had just entered into a very painful situation. Now, I’ve been stung by honey bees, wasp, hornets, ground hornets and more, but what I had just angered was unlike anything I had ever experienced.

As I stepped back to move down to the next post, I heard a buzzing sound and the all too familiar bug flying around my face. I gave a quick swat of a hand, a swat that seemed to kick it all off. All of a sudden, BAMM! Before my mind could catch up and process what was happening, I had been hit four or five times in the head. As I turned to run, two more hit me in the back and right above my belly button.

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

By Tony Dean, [email protected]

The Old World bluestems (OWBs) are a large family native to Eurasia, Africa, and Australia. Although there is strong evidence that Columbus may have inadvertently brought OWBs to the Americas, they were first officially introduced to the United States in the early 1900s. They have been widely planted in the Central and Southern Great Plains for forage production and erosion control.

The Old World family is made up of at least two species, the Yellow bluestems and Caucasian bluestem. The most common Yellow bluestem cultivars include King Ranch, Plains, Ganada, WW-Spar, and WW-Ironmaster. Caucasian has a single cultivar, WW-B Dahl bluestem. All of these cultivars are very similar and identification can usually only be made after a seedhead has developed.

Undoubtedly other species and varieties exist that have not yet been identified and categorized. For purposes of this writing, we will usually refer to them together as OWBs.

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

By Norman Winter | Horticulturist, Author, Speaker

After seeing the flowers at the Young’s Plant Farm Annual Garden Tour in Auburn, Ala., I felt a sense of desperation to get my hands on the Luscious Basket Tangeglow lantana.

I don’t always think about lantana being a component plant in mixed-container designs but they had several that were simply dazzling. Luscious Basket Tangeglow is a fairly new lantana and its name gives reference to its compact nature of 12 to 26 inches in height and a spread of 12 to 24 inches. You might wonder about the differences in height and width and that is attributed to the length of the growing season.

Luscious Basket Tangeglow has done great in university trials winning Perfect Score at the University of Minnesota, Iowa State, Oklahoma State and University of Tennessee. Then it took home Directors Select at Penn State and a bunch of Top Performer awards.

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