- Howdy, I'm John Hart Asher.

This week on Central Texas Gardener, get hands-on design Ideas.

On tour, Julie Nelson and Kay Angermann brought creative collaboration, muscle-wielding grit, and problem solving to rocky, flooding ground.

Travis County Master Gardener JoAnna Benko previews this May's garden tour.

Wizzie Brown answers your insect questions, and Laura Brennand shows you how to dry cut flowers.

So, let's get growing, right here, right now.

- [Announcer] Central Texas Gardener is made possible by the generous support from Lisa and Desi Rhoden.

Thank you.

(upbeat music) (birds chirping) - Julie Nelson and Kay Angermann brought creative collaboration, muscle-wielding grit and problem solving to rocky, flooding ground dubbed Katie Bird Farm.

- [Narrator] Creative collaboration, muscle-wielding grit, and passion for plants and animals.

That's what Travis County Master Gardeners, Julie Nelson and Kay Angermann brought to their new homestead dubbed Katie Bird Farm.

- We bought the property in 2013.

We had been eyeing it for a long time.

One of our best friends lives next door and we had spent many times on her back patio.

We kept talking about this rough, rough, rough, rough park.

- Dreaming about living next door and doing something fabulous.

When we first walked onto the property, well, we started designing it at that moment, but we had to back into it literally our bodies, because you couldn't walk.

- [Julie] Well, we had to chainsaw a path so we could actually pull the truck into the property.

- [Kay] First of all, we had to locate all of the oak trees.

We have 26.

- 26 oaks.

- So, we cleared it all out, figured out where we were gonna, you know, build the house and all.

This was over the course of a year.

And then all of a sudden the blackfoot daisy started showing up and some blue bonnets.

- The native yucca.

We have the yuccas everywhere.

- And the four-nerve daisies, and some grasses.

And we were like, oh my gosh.

Once we lifted that canopy, it was like everything woke up.

- Yeah, we love birds and we wanna make sure that we have a lot of habitat for them.

So, some of it was native, some of it we've enhanced.

All of those cedars, that's protection for the chickens, because it's less room for hawks and owls- - Predators.

- for predators to swoop in.

We are on very, very rocky property out here.

- [Narrator] From previous gardens, they knew how to deal with rocky land and shade.

Plus, they've got gardening roots.

- Our mothers, our grandmothers, my sister and brother-in-law own a big greenhouse in Des Moines.

It's in the family.

- My family, they're all farmers in South Texas.

- [Announcer] When they moved to Katie Bird Farm in 2013, Halloween floods washed out the driveway.

- And so, we ended up having to bring in a backhoe and all of these large berms around the property are literally from our washed out driveway.

- [Julie] Because they had to scoop it up and just dump it - Dump it some where.

- in a couple areas, - So, we rented a skid steer ourselves and we started forming.

- We shaped them.

- all of these berms.

- [Julie] We filled it in with some of the cruddy dirt that we had and then good dirt and then mulch.

So, you just layer this berm.

- [Kay] Everything was done in such an organic way.

Julie and I never wrote, drew a plan out or, you know, had a plant list that we wanted.

- I built all the raised bed gardens and we have to raise bed our vegetables, because it's so rocky out here.

We tried hay bale the first season, and that was okay, but then we realized we actually needed a different solution.

(gentle upbeat music) - Julie is really good at building and I'm really good at holding things while she builds them.

(Julie and Kay chuckling) - [Narrator] They did hire out for their sturdy and safe chicken coop.

- [Kay] And it's a mobile coop.

So, technically it could be moved.

It's on wheels.

I actually brought it in on my little John Deere Gator UTV.

And then we've kind of just, you know, made it our own thing, you know?

- We attached an old dog kennel, and we attach that to it, and then created a little fencing.

- Created more space.

- [Julie] So, they can free range some, but we can have 'em in a protected area at times as well.

- [Kay] We completely close them up at night, so they are completely protected.

- [Narrator] The happy hens are watched over by our Lady of Guadalupe rendered by graffiti stencil and mural artist, Federico Archuleta, known as El Federico to as many fans.

Then the chickens got company.

- The donkeys were clearly a midlife crisis for me.

Some people go out and, you know, get a sports car, do something crazy.

I got donkeys.

It was just something that, you know?

- [Julie] She'd always wanted.

- [Kay] I had always wanted, and we wanted to have a little hobby farm.

- [Narrator] They charm up every spot with unique and personable vintage finds that Kay sources for her business Hipbilly Kay, - Kay will bring something home that's really cool.

And she'll place it somewhere and I'll be thinking, you know, I think it might work.

And I'll just, I won't ask her necessarily.

I'll move it and say, "Hey, what do you think?"

And more times than not, it works.

We're like, oh, that does really work there.

So, we're constantly just kind of moving things around and looking for the right angles.

So, we have lots of collectible stuff.

- [Kay] And we utilize a lot of them.

I mean, a lot of them really have a purpose, you know, and most of them as planters, you know.

We've got a hog feeder with succulents in it.

Over here is my dad's old cast iron crock.

- But didn't your grandfather kept his minnows.

- Minnows in it.

- [Narrator] One of their favorite finds is an old windmill that inspired the barn's design.

This storage building and winter home to large container plants, had to be substantial enough to support the windmill's weight and 10-foot girth.

- [Julie] We owned the windmill before we owned this property, so we knew we needed to do something awesome.

- [Kay] And then we light it up and we keep the lights on it all year.

It illuminates the whole garden at night, and it's fabulous.

- [Narrator] Then they added a greenhouse as a propagation station where they also over winter cold tender plants.

- We actually got the greenhouse from the same guy that did the chicken coop.

- [Julia] We pack that greenhouse in the winter.

You can barely get in.

You can get in just enough to do the requisite watering.

Otherwise, you cannot maneuver in there.

- [Narrator] On super cold nights, a small heater in greenhouse and barn warms things up nicely.

- It's probably one of the biggest chores on this property is the winter rising it, because we have a big investment in our potted plants and we don't wanna lose them.

I mean,- - Yeah, we love 'em.

- [Kay] most of these plants in the pots we've had for four and five years that have made it through the winter.

- [Narrator] To protect plants from deer, they installed a six-foot goat wire fence.

So, what's behind the Homestead's name Katie Bird Farm?

- My grandmother from South Texas, from Violet, Texas, a little town outside of Corpus.

Her name is Katie, was Katie, Katie Burkhart, and she was an avid gardener.

She was a rose gardener and a farmer, a farmer's wife.

I just loved my grandmother.

In the vegetable garden here we have a gate that was her garden gate in her rose garden and well, at first was the gate to the house, the old farmhouse, and then she moved it into her rose garden to be a feature.

Kind of like we have these features around.

- [Narrator] One feature honors a resident roadrunner who adopted them from day one.

- I've always kind of thought of my grandmother as my guardian angel.

And so, I feel like that has, you know?

- Manifested itself.

- Manifested itself into this roadrunner.

She followed me around yesterday and sometimes I would come out and she would literally follow me all around the property.

It was crazy.

She's Katie Bird.

- And we're Katie Bird Farm.

- And you can meet Julie and Kay in person on this year's Master Gardener tour.

To give us a preview of the whole shebang, I'm joined by Travis County Master Gardener, Joanna Benko.

How are you doing today?

- I'm fine, John.

Thank you so much for having me.

- Well, Let's just start off right at the bat.

What is a master gardener and what is this Master Gardener tour that we're gonna be talking about?

- Well, the tour itself originated in 2005 and was held every 18 months, you know, until we had a pause in the tour.

But it is put on by the Travis County Master Gardener's Association in conjunction with the Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service of Travis County.

The tour this year is a one-day event.

It provides a rare behind-the-scenes look at four private gardens in Central Texas.

We have realistic, sustainable gardening practices for the Central Texas area.

The theme for this year's tour is For Gardeners by Gardeners, which focuses on the vast variety and practical beauty of native and well-adapted plants.

- Okay.

What about the admissions?

- Well, the event's gonna be on, as I said, the event's gonna be on Saturday, May the 11th.

Just in time for Mother's Day.

The tour itself it's $20 in advance through May the fifth and $25 on the day of the tour.

It's gonna be held rain or shine from 9:00 am to 3:00 pm and children under 12 are free.

- Let's take a look at the first garden.

So, that's our own Daphne Richards Garden.

So, this should be spectacular.

- It is, it is.

And we call it a work in progress garden.

Because when you have to do all the work yourself, Justice Daphne Richards, who is our Travis County Extension horticulture agent, knows it's always a work in progress.

There's a severe slope in the backyard that required adequate drainage, and digging in limestone soil is something we all know about.

There are bricks and stones that define the garden beds.

There is additional garden soil that has been added to allow the roots to grow.

The last snowpocalypse that we had presented another opportunity to experiment with new varieties of plantings, which is why so many of the plants in her garden are not that old.

You can never be sure of what you're gonna find in Daphne's Garden, but you'll be sure that she's the one that put it there.

- Well, that's wonderful.

Well, again, what is for, you know, the viewers at home, what is a master gardener and and what is the extension?

- Well, the Master Gardener program, there's one in almost every county in Texas and every certified master gardener receives special training in horticulture, which includes continuing education as well as an additional 50 hours of training.

Our mission as master gardeners, is to offer sound research-based horticultural advice to the public through educational service and volunteer work in conjunction with the Texas A&M Ag AgriLife Extension Service.

It's a really unique, unique agency.

It has a statewide network of professional educators, trained volunteers, and county offices, and it's been around for over 100 years.

- [John] Wow.

- [JoAnna] It's delivered innovative, science-based solutions and education, which intersect the areas of health, agriculture, and the environment and communities across the state.

- That's wonderful.

So, what are some just example projects that y'all have done in terms through the Extension or through the master gardening hours that they're required to procure?

- [JoAnna] Well, this is our busiest time of the year in the community as Texas as master gardeners.

We are at most of the plant sales and swaps and we're at almost all of the farmer's markets.

We have plant clinics that are staffed by master gardeners.

- Let's look at this next garden here.

- You know, we call this the elevated garden.

Master gardener Theresa Garcia and her husband, Donnie, bought the place in 2012.

The property sits directly on top of a stone quarry.

- [John] Wow.

- Yes.

So, to garden, they rose to the occasion.

(John chuckling) So, every bed is elevated.

There are large mulch berms that are linked by gravel pathways.

There's pots of all shapes and sizes that dot the one-acre property.

There are beehives, bird houses, and bird baths that entertain the cats.

- [John] Wow.

- They have dogs that play in the grassy areas and chickens that squawk in their coops.

It could also be designated as a wildlife habitat, but for now, it's just a master gardener's home.

- I love that.

What about this next garden we're gonna look at?

- Well, John, have you ever thought about gardening in a forest?

- [John] Not necessarily.

- [JoAnna] Well, we call this the Woodland Escape Garden.

Master gardener Sandy Stone's, two acres includes 65 mature live oaks.

- [John] Wow.

- [JoAnna] Plus numerous cedar elms and ash junipers.

Since moving to the property in 2007, she has some dense underbrush that has been cleared, not by her, but mostly by deer and drought.

The clay soil's been covered with a foot of good top soil and amended with compost and mulch.

While much of the land remains natural, it's dotted with a series of gardens.

Well, garden rooms throughout Sandy's place.

It is a place of natural beauty.

She has a plaque that states, "All gardeners live in beautiful places, because they make them so."

- That's beautiful.

Well, you had mentioned that these have been going on for about almost, what, 20 years, I think you said 18.

How do y'all go about selecting who's gonna have a garden during that year?

I mean, what's that sort of process?

- Well, we are very, very lucky, because we have over 100 Travis County master gardeners and we all stress the use of native and adaptive plants.

And for the location of the garden tour, we actually consider drivability, you know, that's important in Austin.

- [John] Sure, sure.

- [JoAnna] We're thrilled that all of these gardens, all four of these gardens, are with an easy driving distance in South Austin and they have all featured native and adaptive plantings.

- [John] That's wonderful.

- We provide to the public, once again, sound research-based horticultural publications and advice, because gardening in Central Texas is an ongoing seasonal challenge.

- [John] Absolutely.

- [JoAnna] And master gardeners are out in the community to help the public with that challenge.

- That's great, and so, if the public needs to contact the extension, they can do so by phone, is that correct?

- Yes, we have a master gardener phone desk.

It offers assistance with requests for information on various horticulture topics and advice on publications on a variety of topics.

We also have a master gardener email.

- [John] Wow.

- [JoAnna] Where the public can just send digital photos and along with detailed descriptions of their questions to a master gardener expert.

- All of these gardens that we've looked at are really spectacular.

What are some of the main advantages about going on this tour?

It's not that you're just gonna go and see stuff.

There's some really wonderful knowledge that you can sort of glean from.

The gardeners who will be present correct?

- Oh yes, exactly.

You know, as I said before, the theme for this garden tour is For Gardeners by Gardeners.

So, when you go to these particular homes, you'll be able to talk with master gardeners.

They'll be staffed with master gardener docents as well as the homeowners.

Then you'll be able to ask them questions about the plants, or the plantings, or any type of the bed structures that they have.

In addition, as we said before, there are so many gardening issues in Austin that have been addressed by these particular gardens, and I think it'll be very helpful for folks.

In addition, we will have plant labels for most of the plants.

So, we'll have the common names as well as the botanical names so that you'll be able to say, "I like this plant and this is what it is, and I can go now purchase it."

- Very important.

With the gardeners who are there too though, like you mentioned, they've been through a lot of the challenges that you really only get through, you know, experience, so to speak in gardening here in Austin and Central Texas.

But also, you know, everybody doesn't see the same on design.

So, you'll really get to look at different examples of design characteristics of some of these gardens correct?

- Oh, exactly, exactly, I know.

And this is something that most people do in their gardens, is they get a plant and they put someplace and it doesn't grow.

And so, these gardeners have done that themselves.

And they have moved plants around and they can talk to the public about their challenges and the difficulties that they may have had in their particular soil structures.

And it just makes it almost like a DIY-type of situation where you can really learn from someone else's mistakes and successes.

- Like I always say, you have to get your brown thumb first before you get your green thumb.

- [JoAnna] Exactly.

- Which can be a little disheartening for folks, but hey, that's gardening, okay?

And let's talk about the last gardens we're gonna be looking at.

What about these?

- Well, you've already seen the video of these gardens, but we call this the suburban farm.

Master gardeners Kay Angermann and Julie Nelson bought this undeveloped three-acre property in 2011.

And after clearing 450 cedar trees, they created an oasis of 35 gardens for five chickens, two miniature donkeys, a rescue pup named Sarge, and a rescue tabby named Jacks.

Kay And Julie truly love gardening.

For them, gardening is an experience and a lifestyle.

- [John] That's wonderful.

Well, you said it's on the 11th, but what about the admissions?

- As I said, the event's gonna be on Saturday, May the 11th.

Just in time for Mother's Day.

The tour itself it's $20 in advance through May the 5th and $25 on the day of the tour.

It's gonna be held rain or shine from 9:00 am to 3:00 pm and children under 12 or free.

- Oh, that's wonderful.

Well, JoAnna, I want to thank you so much for coming in today.

I'm really excited about this tour and a broad range of gardens that will be on show for everybody that everybody can learn from.

Thank you for coming in today, we really appreciate it.

- Oh, thank you so much, John.

- All right, well, next we're gonna check in with extension entomologist Wizzie Brown.

(upbeat music) - Hi, I'm Wizzie Brown, entomologist with Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service.

And today, I'm going to talk about caterpillars.

Caterpillars come in all different sizes, shapes, colors, and patterns.

Some are smooth bodied while others are covered in hairs and some are even able to sting.

Caterpillars have mandibles or chewing mouth parts and are known to feed on foliage of plants.

This is where things get interesting.

Do you manage caterpillars that are eating your plants?

That would depend on various factors such as, do you want to eat what the caterpillar is eating?

Cabbage loopers often feed on food crops including spinach, watermelon, lima beans, cabbage, peppers, lettuce, cantaloupe, and more.

If they're eating something that you also want to eat such as lettuce, then you may consider controlling them.

But if they're feeding on plant foliage that won't be directly consumed like the leaves of watermelon, then you may be able to be more tolerant of their populations.

There are other caterpillars that turn into desirable butterflies that gardeners specifically try to draw into their yards by planting particular food plants.

Examples of these would be milkweed planted for monarch or queen butterflies or passion vine planted for Gulf fritillary butterflies.

While I have had people call me in the past about caterpillars feeding on their milkweed, I think that most people know milkweed is a great food for monarch caterpillars and should be left alone.

There are other caterpillars that feed on foliage of trees such as tent caterpillars and fall webworm caterpillars.

If trees are mature and healthy, then they can handle populations of defoliating caterpillars on their own without human control strategies.

Many trees leaf back out just fine after defoliation.

Newly-planted trees may need to be protected until they become established.

Excluding pests can be done by covering with row cover or mesh screening, or by regularly monitoring the tree and treating when there's a pest problem.

Remember, to turn over the leaves, look along the trunk and branches, and at the base of the tree to be thorough.

From our viewers, Patricia Anderson in Bastrop shared a picture of black swallowtail caterpillars on her root plant last fall.

They devoured the whole plant, but that was okay.

She wanted the butterflies, so she covered the plant with shade cloth to save as many as possible, but most were gone the next morning, because they were eaten by predators such as birds and lizards.

These caterpillars feed on plants like carrots, parsley, rue, dill, fennel, flocks, milkweed, and Queen Anne's lace, which is also known as wild carrot.

From viewer Marjorie Maultz, comes a fall webworm caterpillar and a beautiful fuzzy IO moth.

Fall webworm caterpillars create unsightly webbing on the tips of tree branches, but rarely cause long-term damage to the trees.

If you feel the need to manage them, break open the webbing with a stick or a jet of water to allow predators inside the webs to feast.

IO moths are lovely as both adult moths and caterpillars, but the spiky green caterpillars can sting.

So, avoid picking them up.

IO moth caterpillars feed on blackberry, clover, elm, hackberry, oak, and other plants.

We'd love to hear from you.

Click on centraltexasgardener.org to send us your questions, pictures, and videos.

- Next, Laura Brennand shows you how to cut dry flowers.

(upbeat music) - Hi, I'm Laura Brennand with La Otra Flora, and today, I'm gonna show you how to dry flowers.

I love growing dried flowers, because they are long lasting and come with a lot of creativity.

For example, you can grow and cut and make these beautiful dried bouquets.

You can also make beautiful dried garlands.

And my favorite during the holidays, I love making wreaths.

The way to cut the flowers is when they are in full bloom with all color.

You can cut them with the long stem.

You wanna strip all of the leaves off and make a bundle with a rubber band and you can wrap 'em around and hang them to dry on a line in a cool dry place.

Maybe not a bathroom, but maybe in the living room to add lots of beautiful natural elements in your house.

The best time to grow these flowers is definitely in the spring and the summer.

Now, my favorite flowers to grow for drying are straw flower.

They hold their color really well and are very papery.

I love growing gomphrena.

This is a globe amaranth and they come in all different kinds of colors.

My favorite is probably status, because they really hold their color all year long.

And probably what's growing in the springtime right now is larkspur.

And they also hold their color really well.

I call these the dried flower all stars.

Now, this is an interesting, beautiful, textural dried arrangement.

This here is a mixture of Celosias and Amaranth.

Amaranth is comes in different kinds of shapes, and this dangly kind is my favorite.

It's called Love-Lies-Bleeding.

This is Celosias and it's kind of brainy and it has this beautiful wavy texture.

And then back here we have Celosias, which is long and stringy.

Now, they don't hold their color well, but they do have this beautiful, antique, beautiful texture that will last a long time.

Now, I'm gonna show you when and how to grow these flowers.

For Celosias Cock's comb and maybe my favorite Celosias Flamingo Pink and all different kinds of amaranth and gomphrena, you can sew all of these in the spring for summer blooms.

For straw flower and status, I recommend starting them in seed trays in the winter and planting out in early spring.

Now, all of these flowers are annuals, so they would make a great addition to any perennial bed and also any vegetable garden beds.

All of them bring all these beautiful pollinators and bring lots of beautiful, bright colors.

So, all of these flowers require full sun.

And you wanna make sure to prepare your beds by adding lots of organic matter.

Get your soil nice and fluffy.

And the best kind of soil for flowers is the sandy loam.

So, you wanna make sure you have your soil prepared before you sow or transplant any flowers.

I'm Laura Brennand, and this is Backyard Basics.

- Find out more and watch online at centraltexasgardener.org.

Until next time, remember, adopt the pace of nature.

Her secret is patience.

(upbeat music) (upbeat music continues) (upbeat music continues) - [Announcer] Central Texas Gardener is made possible by the generous support from Lisa and Desi Rhoden.

Thank you.

(bright music)