Barbara and Bobby Wright

currently in Austin

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Barbara and Bobby Wright

Meet under-the-radar native perennials for wildlife with Barbara and Bobby Wright from organic Wright’s Nursery in Briggs.

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Perennial Fun

Recent Episodes

Square Foot Gardening

Why is Mel Bartholomew’s innovative square foot gardening concept so valuable today? Son Steve Bartholomew from the Square Foot Gardening Foundation explains why his dad developed the concept, easy steps to make one, and how its global impact conquers hunger. In Leander, Ellen and Rick Bickling turned the kids’ old basketball court into square foot | watch episode →

Half-Pint Urban Prairie + Native Fruit Tress

Let’s get growing native fruit trees! Horticulturist Karen Beaty from the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center plucks a few for big and small gardens to feed us, the birds, and beneficial pollinators. To demonstrate the beauty and value of the Blackland Prairie, University of Texas at Austin students are seeding the future at the Half-Pint | watch episode →

January To Do List

Plant: ornamental & wildlife

Annual transplants: pansies, violas, calendula (wildlife plant), snapdragon, stock, larkspur, ornamental kale & cabbage, bluebonnet transplants, poppies. Transplants are preferred over seeds at this point.
Evergreen perennials
Trees, shrubs, roses
Evergreen groundcovers like monkey grass, liriope, creeping germander, frogfruit

Plant: herbs

Calendula, chervil, cilantro, chives, dill, parsley, feverfew, oregano, sorrel, thyme, garlic chives
Protect cilantro and chives in below freezing weather

Plant: food crops

Artichokes, asparagus, onions, greens, lettuce, spinach, radish, carrots, beets, bok choy, collards, kale, peas, turnips, leeks, broccoli
Prep potatoes to plant in February. Get now to cut and dry for a few weeks
Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Vegetable Planting Guides (Central Texas)

Plant: fruit

Apples, peaches, pecans, pears, pomegranates, persimmons, figs, almonds, grapes, strawberries, raspberries, blackberries

Prune

Okay to prune freeze-damaged perennials. If possible, leave as long as possible for wildlife shelter and food on seed-bearers
Prune grapes, fruit trees, blackberries
Cut asters and chrysanthemums to rosettes
Late month: prune woody salvias as much as ⅔ to encourage new growth
Trees, including red oaks and live oaks
Prune rosemary and oregano
Avoid pruning other evergreen shrubs

Divide/Move

Dormant perennials, roses, shrubs and trees. This is the best time to move plants!

Prep

Add compost to vegetable gardens along with organic fertilizer in prep for another round of winter vegetables
Soil test

Lawn

If must mow, keep high to shade out germinating weeds
It’s really not a good idea to overseed with rye unless you have new, muddy construction and a dog!

Other tasks

Spray trees
Keep floating row cover available; avoid covering plants with plastic
Spray fruit trees with dormant oil to control overwintering scale, plum curculio and other pests.

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