Garden Success with Stephen Brueggerhoff

KAMU Studios · tamu.edu

Garden Success with Stephen Brueggerhoff is a call-in gardening show airing each Thursday from noon to 1:00pm on KAMU-FM. Stephen, an extension specialist in horticulture at Texas A&M Agrilife, serves as your garden consultant, answering questions to help you grow a bountiful garden and beautiful landscape in the Brazos Valley. Stephen will give you time-saving tips, guide you to the best plants selections and provide proven pest management strategies including both conventional and organic techniques.

243 episodes

17d ago latest

weekly cadence

English language

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Episodes 243

Garden Success — Redbud Roundup, Ground Cover Alternatives, and a Water Conservation Check-In
17d ago · 59:14
This week on Garden Success, host Stephen Brueggerhoff reports back from the Texas Nursery and Landscape Association's annual trade show in San Antonio with a redbud tree deep-dive: the diminutive "Emerald," the finicky non-transplantable "Carolina Sweetheart," and weeping, variegated varieties like "Golden Falls" and "Ruby Falls" — plus a reminder that the drought-tough "Oklahoma" redbud remains the reliable local pick. He also flags frog fruit's resurgence as a native ground cover after years out of commercial favor. Water conservation coordinator Jennifer Nations calls in for a timely check
Garden Success — Galls, Nests, and the Water You’re Not Wasting
24d ago · 59:15
This week on Garden Success, host Stephen Brueggerhoff walks through his own late-summer irrigation routine — twice-weekly watering, 15–20 minutes per station, guided by the Be Water Smart app — as a model for conserving water during the Brazos Valley's dry, triple-digit stretch, and shares a fellow gardener's report of possums and squirrels doing the fig-harvesting for her. Caller John opens a fascinating detour into insect galls on his live oaks — the tiny, non-stinging gall wasps behind those strange growths, why they're a curiosity rather than a health threat, and even their surprising his
Garden Success — Postcards from Abilene: Drought-Tolerant Natives & Backyard Q&A
1mo ago · 59:15
This week on Garden Success, host Stephen Brueggerhoff returns from a Texas County Agricultural Agents Association conference in Abilene with a suitcase full of plant inspiration from "cow country." He shares a personal-history detour — from Sam Houston State to the City of Houston Parks Department to a botanical program in Seattle to a full-circle stint at the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center — before diving into the drought-tough natives he spotted around the Abilene convention center and on a field trip to the 5,000-acre Rolling Plains Quail Research Ranch. The plant rundown is a highlig
Garden Success — Surviving the Summer Heat: Bald Cypress, Black Spot, and Rose Rosette Q&A
1mo ago · 59:17
This week on Garden Success, host Stephen Brueggerhoff checks in after a brutal 104°F day, sharing how his container fig trees, in-ground vegetable garden, and irrigation system held up — and offers practical watering wisdom for the sustained summer heat ahead: no more than once (or twice) weekly deep watering, cycle-and-soak techniques, and why a little wilting in the landscape is nothing to panic about. Then it's back to listener mail. Joel writes in about marginal necrosis on his bald cypress needles, prompting a deep dive into this Texas native's quirky "knees," its surprising flexibility
Garden Success — Inside the Plant Clinic: A Conversation with Dr. Kevin Ong
1mo ago · 59:17
This week on Garden Success, host Stephen Brueggerhoff launches a brand-new monthly segment, Ask the Plant Doctor, with guest Dr. Kevin Ong, director of the Texas Plant Disease Diagnostic Lab and associate department head of Plant Pathology and Microbiology at Texas A&M. Kevin pulls back the curtain on how the plant clinic actually works — from processing summer's flood of samples (mostly from arborists, landscapers, and commercial growers, with homeowner inquiries routed through county extension offices) to Texas's small network of specialized diagnostic labs, including the High Plains lab in
Garden Success — Soil Science, Rice & Water: A Conversation with Dr. Jake Mowrer
1mo ago · 59:17
This week on Garden Success, host Stephen Brueggerhoff sits down with Dr. Jake Mowrer, the newly appointed director of Texas A&M AgriLife Extension's Soil, Water and Forage Testing Laboratory, for a deep dive into everything happening beneath our feet. Jake shares how he stepped into the lab director role after 11 years as a soil fertility and water resource management professor (and 15 years in Extension work in Georgia before that), and explains why "don't guess, soil test" should be every gardener's and farmer's starting point. The conversation ranges from the philosophy of "soil function"
Garden Success – 7/2/2026: Q&A With Stephen Brueggerhoff
1mo ago · 59:17
Stephen Brueggerhoff discusses BV Water Smart, upcoming local events, wild grapevine varieties, a leaning oak tree, weed control, Canna Leaf-roller, a preview of next week's guest, and rosemary plants.
Garden Success – 6/25/2026: Q&A With Stephen Brueggerhoff
2mo ago · 59:17
Stephen Brueggerhoff discusses the warm weather, future show guests, pollinator week 2026, native grapevines, ornamental purselane, upcoming local events, and beetle damage to a tree.
Garden Success – 6/18/2026: Q&A With Stephen Brueggerhoff
2mo ago · 59:17
Stephen Brueggerhoff discusses the recent rains and heat, takeaways from last week's tomato tasting event, tomatoes in depth, cold-hardy citrus, use cases for liquid humic acid, delayed pruning of crape myrtles, upcoming local events, and purselane plant.
Garden Success – 6/11/2026: Q&A With Stephen Brueggerhoff
2mo ago · 59:16
Stephen Brueggerhoff discusses figs, an upcoming tomato tasting event, tomato varieties, a listener with a white webbing substance on leaves, how to keep birds away from tomato plants, thrips damage, okra plants, upcoming local events, and lace bugs on Lantana.
Garden Success – 6/4/2026: Q&A With Stephen Brueggerhoff
2mo ago · 59:14
Stephen Brueggerhoff discusses tomato season, stink bugs & leaf-footed bugs, invasive Lantana, Heart-leaf Skullcap, and vines.
Garden Success – 5/28/2026: A Conversation with Paul Winski
3mo ago · 59:22
Stephen Brueggerhoff & Paul Winski, Extension Program Specialist with Texas A&M AgriLife discuss Paul's horticultural background, his current research plots, an upcoming field day, and current trials across the state of Texas.
Garden Success – 5/21/2026: Q&A With Stephen Brueggerhoff
3mo ago · 59:15
Stephen Brueggerhoff discusses Gladiolus, spent blossoms on a caller's Lantana, Plumbago, Retama, upcoming local events, and Figs.
Garden Success – 5/14/2026: Q&A With Stephen Brueggerhoff
3mo ago · 59:18
Stephen Brueggerhoff discusses a caller's aphid problem, using soil-less media for container plants, potted plant fertilizing, tomatoes, upcoming local events, and avocado trees.
Garden Success – 5/7/2026: Q&A With Stephen Brueggerhoff
3mo ago · 59:16
Stephen Brueggerhoff discusses the mild spring weather, hummingbirds, how chill hours have affected fruit tree production, upcoming local events, and a caller's question about milkweed varieties.
Garden Success – 4/30/2026: Q&A With Stephen Brueggerhoff
4mo ago · 59:17
Stephen Brueggerhoff discusses wildflower season, quarantine requirements for certain import-restricted plants, chinch bugs in lawn, identifying pest grubs, cold-tolerance of figs, and upcoming local events.
Garden Success – 4/23/2026: Q&A With Stephen Brueggerhoff
4mo ago · 59:17
Stephen Brueggerhoff discusses the recent rains, root washing of containerized trees, Palo Verde, Figs, and Swiss Chard.
Garden Success – 4/16/2026: Q&A With Stephen Brueggerhoff
4mo ago · 59:17
Stephen Brueggerhoff discusses his recent appearance at KAMU's Earth Day event, Snake Plant, identification of Wild Carrot for a listener, using herbicides in a St. Augustine lawn, pruning Crape Myrtle, Philodendron, and upcoming local events.
Garden Success – 4/9/2026: Q&A With Stephen Brueggerhoff
4mo ago · 59:17
Stephen Brueggerhoff discusses Texas Mountain Laurel pruning, listener plant identification, suggestions for perennials that bloom in shade, butterfly weed, upcoming local events, prescribed burns, and increasing biodiversity in the landscape.
Garden Success – 4/2/2026: Q&A With Stephen Brueggerhoff
5mo ago · 59:17
Stephen Brueggerhoff discusses today's rain, truffles, tallow trees, Louisiana Iris, upcoming local events, a caller's tomato that's smaller than expected, and Knockout Roses.
Garden Success – 3/26/2026: Q&A With Stephen Brueggerhoff
5mo ago · 59:12
Stephen Brueggerhoff discusses the lack of rain in the forecast, BV Water Smart, tips on resetting a lawn, paper wasps, lawn fertilization, using extra-strength vinegar as an herbicide, redbuds, pet-safe lawn weed treatment, root washing, upcoming local events, hollies, and barometer bush.
Garden Success – 3/19/2026: Q&A With Stephen Brueggerhoff
5mo ago · 59:17
Stephen Brueggerhoff discusses how his tomatoes and potatoes fared in the recent frost, how to tell if a caller's Vitex plant survived the frost, a caller asking if Rhubarb can be grown in the Brazos Valley, a tomato plant with yellowing leaves, where to find local gardening interest groups, potential ground cover for an area with direct sun, upcoming local events, and Chili Pequin plants.
Garden Success – 3/12/2026: Q&A With Stephen Brueggerhoff
5mo ago · 59:17
Stephen Brueggerhoff discusses tomatoes, likelihood of a late frost, tips for pruning ornamental trees, whether it is too late to plant broccoli, mustard or lettuce, flowering basil, upcoming local events, bridal wreath, where to find research-based information, shade-tolerant grasses, cultivating corn, and privacy hedge plants.
Garden Success – 3/5/2026: Q&A With Stephen Brueggerhoff
5mo ago · 59:17
Stephen Brueggerhoff discusses forecasted rain, his tomato plants, Leaf-Footed bugs, wildflowers, Mexican Plum, Lawn pre-emergent herbicide, BV Water Smart, an update to last week's caller asking about privacy plants, and upcoming local events.
Garden Success – 2/26/2026: Q&A With Stephen Brueggerhoff
6mo ago · 59:15
Stephen Brueggerhoff discusses the current drought, salvias, ornamental plant suggestions for a caller, pruning roses, fig trees, green beans, suggestions for a caller wanting privacy landscaping, and upcoming local events.