Mario Bautista
We wish for a perfect yard that looks like a photo from a magazine cover. Okay, so we don’t have enough time to achieve that dream. With tips from the experts, we can draw nearer to that goal by attending the Victoria County Master Gardener Association’s 2024 Smart Gardening Symposium Saturday, Sept. 28.
Gardening with Less Effort
The symposium will shed light on a stress-free lawn, garden pests, low maintenance landscaping and Texas fruit production.
Activities will be held at the Victoria Educational Gardens Pavilion, 283 Bachelor Dr., and the 4-H Activities Center located across from the Victoria Regional Airport control tower. The program will begin at 9 a.m. and conclude at 3:30 p.m.
Don’t Forget to Register
A registration fee of $60 per person will be charged. Every registration will include the not only presentations but also door prizes, goodie bags, snacks, refreshments and a lunch catered by Grapevine Café of Victoria. Attendees will have the option of selecting from sandwich and salad menus.
Pre-registration is required. Registration and meal selection forms are available at the Victoria County AgriLife Extension Office, 528 Waco Circle, or on online at txmg.org/victoria/symposium. Registration deadline is Sept. 23. Other details about the symposium may be obtained at the same online address .
Mail forms to VCMGA, ATTN: Symposium, PO Box 3822, Victoria, Tx., 77903. Checks and credit cards will be accepted. For further information contact BEA at 361-676-1144.
Spotlight on Speakers and Topics
Michael Potter, “Having a Stress-Free Lawn”
Potter will walk listeners through the economical steps of having a great lawn, and discuss water use reduction while also minimizing the use of lawn products.
He currently serves as Montgomery County extension agent. Potter has worn many hats during his career in horticulture which includes working in the retail and wholesale nursery business and as extension agent for Nueces County.
His expertise is in environmental education, landscape and water conservation, plant pathology, turf grass management and landscape design. He holds a bachelor-of-science in plant and soil science and a master-of-science degree in agricultural science from Texas A&M University-Kingsville.
Wizzie Brown, “How to Identify and Manage Common Pests in the Garden.”
Brown will show how to identify common culprits that damage our plants. She will touch on how to manage and avoid these pests.
Brown is senior extension service program specialist-IPM with Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service. She received her bachelor of science in entomology from Ohio State University. She has masters-of-science degree in Entomology from Texas A&M University. Brown specializes in Urban Entomology.
Cherie Foster Colburn, “Seven Easy Steps to a Knockout Landscape”
Colburn is an award-winning author and landscape designer. For three decades she has designed hundreds of landscapes for homes, commercial sites and schools.
Her book “Our Shadow Garden,” illustrated by and benefiting the children at MD Anderson Cancer Center, won the Growing Good Kids Excellency in Children’s Literature Award from the American Horticulture Society and Junior Master Gardeners.
A Texas Master Gardener, she uses native and adaptive plants to encourage success and promote low maintenance.
Stephen Janak, “Traditional, Unique, Lesser Known and Native Fruits for Landscapes and Commercial Farms.”
Janak, who grew up in Victoria, will report the findings of The Sustainable Fruit Project.” This project evaluates perennial fruit crop viability in Victoria, Houston, Austin and Corpus Christi.
He will discuss successful fruit production in this area of Texas. He also will review facts about lesser known and native fruits. A former Colorado County extension agent, Janak is an extension program specialist assisting farmers in perennial fruit production with emphasis on production of extra virgin olive oil.
Janak is pursuing a doctorate degree from Texas A&M University. He is researching improved sustainability and production of primocane blackberries.
