October 5, 2018 - The Smith County Master Gardeners will be hosting their ever-popular “From Bulbs to Blooms” conference and sale Saturday, October 13, 2018, at Harvey Hall (2000 W. Front St., Tyler, Texas, directly across from the Tyler Rose Garden). Registration is at 8:30 am. East Texas Bulb farmer Keith Kridler will speak at 9:00 am on “Proven Spring Bulbs for Texas” and Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service horticulturist Greg Grant’s will speak on “Earth-Kind Summer and Fall Bulbs at 10:00 am. The bulb sale begins at 11:30 am and ends at 1:30 pm.
The sale features heirloom, hardy, and hardy to find bulbs uniquely adapted to Texas and the South, including narcissus, daffodils, jonquils, snowflakes, crinum lilies, rain lilies, oxblood lilies, spider lilies, and more, along with a selection of trees and shrubs. Most of the bulbs were produced by small growers in Texas and the U.S., including both Greg and Keith.
Greg Grant is the Smith County horticulturist for the Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service. Greg is co-author of Heirloom Gardening in the South, Texas Fruit and Vegetable Gardening, and The Rose Rustlers. The Master Gardeners will be selling autographed copies of these books at the sale to raise money for their scholarship fund. In addition to supplying some of the more special bulbs for the sale, Greg will also make a rare Lycoris available in a silent auction.
Keith Kridler is currently the president of the Texas Daffodil Society and is an expert on historic daffodils and show daffodils. He currently grows around 1,000 different varieties of bulbs scattered across his 20 acre “bulb farm” inside the city limits of Mt. Pleasant, Texas. He has been a Texas Master Gardener since 1998 and has presented countless programs on birds, bees, flowers, and trees. Keith is also a charter member of the Texas Bluebird Society and co-founder of the Texas Bluebird Society.
The conference is free and open to the public and includes vendors, local artisans, and door prizes.
For the schedule of events (and more) and the complete list of the bulbs and plants available, visit the Smith County Master Gardeners coming events page at
https://txmg.org/smith/coming-events/. For more information contact: SCMGtyler@hotmail.com or call 903-590-2980. Additional information is available on the Smith County Master Gardeners’ Facebook page.
