Hi – I’m Don Wilkerson. On October 31, 2010 I retired from Texas A&M University's Department of Horticultural Sciences - where for 28 years I served as a Professor and Extension Specialist in the area of Ornamental Horticulture. I have degrees from Arkansas State University (BS), The University of Arkansas (MS) and Louisiana State University (PhD) – all in Horticultue/Plant Science. I also taught at Southern Illinois University and the University of Louisiana - Lafayette (formerly the University of Southwestern Louisiana). I am the co-founder (along with Dr. Mike Arnold) of the Texas A&M University Horticultural Gardens in College Station and I have worked closely with the Master Gardener program, public gardens and the GREEN industry throughout Texas and the US.
In addition to these academic/professional credentials (and perhaps more importantly), I have been an avid landscape gardener for most of my adult life. The last 28 years in the Bryan/College Station area. To garden in Central Texas you have to really want it bad. The water quality is poor, the soil is heavy clay, winters are cold and summers are extremely hot and dry. Like Frank Sinatra says – “If you can make it there you can make it anywhere!"
In addition to these academic/professional credentials (and perhaps more importantly), I have been an avid landscape gardener for most of my adult life. The last 28 years in the Bryan/College Station area. To garden in Central Texas you have to really want it bad. The water quality is poor, the soil is heavy clay, winters are cold and summers are extremely hot and dry. Like Frank Sinatra says – “If you can make it there you can make it anywhere!"
In May of 2008 (pre-Ike) my wife and I purchased a small home in Galveston. Like many houses in Galveston, it needed quite a bit of work and the landscape was non-existent. For the past 2 years we’ve been doing renovations as time and $$$ permits and enjoying the opportunity to garden in a semi-tropical environment. Despite the challenges left behind by Ike, we love Galveston and the Texas Upper Gulf coast more today than ever – it’s a great place to live, work and play.
For the past couple of months I’ve been the “energy” behind Galveston Gardening, a web-based effort designed to provide landscape gardening information for Galveston and the Texas Upper Gulf Coast. It's the combination of academic/professional credentials and practical experience that we think will make Galveston Gardening a valuable information resource and a terrific forum to share ideas, post events and get tips and suggestions on how to deal with a wide range of gardening problems. You’ll find us at http://GalvestonGardening.com, http://www.GalvestonGardening.blogspot.com and on Facebook.
Our goal is to provide information on landscape gardening topics, events and activities for the Texas Upper Gulf Coast area. We know we're not the only source of this kind of info and we hope to compliment those individuals and programs that are currently doing an outstanding job of delivering quality information.
Here at Galveston Gardening we have some unique qualifications and experiences that we hope will bring a different perspective to the scene. AND - we'll bring it with a HEALTHY SENSE OF HUMOR and FUN!!! Because after all - that's what coastal living is about...
Thanks for stopping by and we hope you’ll share this information with friends and fellow gardeners.
