Garden Success — Surviving the Summer Heat: Bald Cypress, Black Spot, and Rose Rosette Q&A

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.