I had a chance visit with a friend this week and as chance would have it we got into a discussion of crab apple trees that are in bloom right now. I have an emotional attachment to crab apple trees and so does my friend. The crab apple tree in his yard was given to…

This week my wife, Leabeth, is filling in for me and writing this gardening column. I always enjoy it when she does, for I get a week off and I get to read her thoughts. If you are a faithful reader of this column, you may remember my shocking confession the last time I filled…

My daughter Abigail got a call this week from a poetry-quoting woman up in Appleby. Because my number was left out of the phonebook this year, Mrs. Connie Fletcher had called her in search of me to talk about flowers. Normally, Abigail does not much like taking my phone calls (only being moderately interested in…

Sometimes life’s necessities can turn into small pleasures. This is true of the necessary gardening task of pruning roses. Now is the time to prune your roses. This time of the year we East Texans are losing the precious little tolerance we have for the winter season. So, getting out into the garden and breathing…