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 across soil types, and how to rule out spider mites versus simple drought stress on a tree too large to spray. David asks about black spots on his dwarf yaupon, leading to a rundown of Cercospora fungal leaf spot in the holly family and when (rarely) fungicide is worth reaching for. And Richard sends in photos suspecting rose rosette disease — a real and detected threat in the Bryan–College Station area — but Stephen walks through why his roses' red new growth and leaf cupping look more like normal growth and irregular watering than the virus itself.

Caller Karen phones in with a fresh set of raised garden beds and questions about when to start planting vegetables, and gets pointed toward the upcoming Learning at the Library fall vegetable gardening session. Plus: an update on Stephen's own fig harvest (27 pounds and counting), a first sighting of fig rust on the foliage, and reminders about upcoming events — the Brazos County 4-H Club Fair and fall vegetable gardening class on August 15th, and the return of Ask the Plant Doctor on August 20th.

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 Canyon and the plant virus lab in Weslaco. He and Stephen also dig into the state's larger role in the National Plant Diagnostic Network, a nationwide web of land-grant university labs protecting U.S. agriculture from emerging and exotic pathogens.

The conversation covers real biosecurity stakes: laurel wilt's foothold in Houston, sudden oak death's watery, swimming spores (still not established in Texas — knock on wood), and why bringing home plant cuttings or seeds from a trip abroad is riskier than it looks. Closer to home, Kevin and Stephen trade stories from actual client cases — a live oak in decline traced back to root damage and compacted soil, a squirrel-stripped tree bark mystery, black spot disease plaguing roses across the state, and an update on the multi-state research hunt for rose rosette disease resistance.

Plus: practical guidance on reading fungicide labels and timing treatments correctly, where to find AgriLife's free rose disease fact sheets, and a plug for Stephen's free native-plant landscaping talk this Saturday, July 18th, at the Bryan library.

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" versus the trendy NRCS term "soil health," to Texas's declining rice acreage and Jake's cutting-edge research showing that intermittent flooding can cut rice irrigation water by 25% with zero yield loss — a potential game-changer for water-strapped Texas rice farmers.

Along the way: the surprising size of the soil microbiome, why extension work touches far more of daily life than most people realize, and a candid look at what did and didn't work in Jake's multi-year solarization trials for weed and nematode control (spoiler: mustard-based biofumigation is winning out).

Two callers phone in with real backyard battles: Jennifer wrestles with Bermuda grass overtaking a flower bed and asks about solarizing with plastic, and Rose seeks mulch strategies to keep lawn grass from creeping into her front garden bed. Jake and Stephen offer practical, science-backed advice for both.

Plus: a reminder about next Thursday's new monthly segment, Ask the Plant Doctor, featuring the Texas Plant Disease Diagnostic Laboratory, and a plug for Stephen's free native-plant landscape design talk on July 18th at the Bryan library.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Stephen Brueggerhoff discusses tomato season, stink bugs & leaf-footed bugs, invasive Lantana, Heart-leaf Skullcap, and vines.

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.

Stephen Brueggerhoff discusses Gladiolus, spent blossoms on a caller's Lantana, Plumbago, Retama, upcoming local events, and Figs.