It’s hardly dawn on a Sunday early morning in July, and San Antonio talk radio host Bob Webster has actually currently talked about blister beetles, root rot, the gloriousness of Labrador retrievers, and the state of his Boerne ranch with his callers. Currently on the line is Diego, worried with his drooping sago palm, which is revealing signs of distress after its owner’s return from a two-week getaway. Numerous solutions have shown unsuccessful, and Diego requires Webster’s guidance. After a series of extreme and gradually dismal questions, Webster delivers the verdict. The crown of the plant, where the root fulfills the stem, is dying, and speedy action needs to be taken. However Diego is not left helpless: a snip of the infected location and a dash of fertilizer called Superthrive, and Webster predicts Diego’s sago palm will have brand-new life. “Now it’s on to Rita! Goooood early morning, Rita!”
Over the course of three hours, Webster doles out gardening advice to KTSA listeners across the state. A cast of characters files through the phone lines: Linda from Boerne, who would like to know how to keep bunnies out of her garden (“With a huge pet,” Webster quips), Dan from Devine, who has an update on a pest-control pointer he utilized at his feedstore, and Pat from Seguin, contacting us to ask Bob which sort of honey was it, again, that he recommended for allergic reactions? (It’s tupelo.) There are many greetings, a number of tacky jokes, and a dropped call or 2. And it’s been in this manner given that 1991. The Garden Show, as it was initially called, evolved out of Webster’s landscaping courses at Trinity University. When long time San Antonio Express-News editor Charles Kilpatrick got word of the unique classes, he persuaded Webster to compose a weekly column, which ended up being so popular it got the attention of the radio station. Now called South Texas Gardening with Bob Webster, the twice-weekly show frequently is available in at top in its time slot. Webster preaches a natural technique of gardening, born out of his youth working summertimes at his grandparents’ flower shop beyond Dallas. There, he helped cultivate tomatoes and grow cut flowers, and in time, he understood they grew much better when natural pest-control methods were utilized and the soil was abundant with chemical-free fertilizer and compost from vegetable waste. After college at SMU, where he graduated with a research study biology degree, Webster met several of his mentors, including Dallas-based organic landscaper and horticulturalist Howard Garrett and the “Garden compost King,” the late Malcolm Beck. Those early years formed his gardening viewpoint. “It is never real when individuals say natural landscaping approaches aren’t as reliable as chemical ones. Actually, the reverse holds true. That’s what I attempt to make clear in my work,” he tells me.By the
mid-1980s, Webster had written a book, lectured throughout the state, and opened Tones of Green, an organic nursery in San Antonio with his service partner, Roberta Churchin. A high end sanctuary near the airport, Tones of Green serves as both a reprieve from the stress of city life and a valued resource for locals. The personnel, utilized year-round, act as mini-Websters, providing suggestions to clients who often come in with pictures of troubled plants. When Webster does appear, fussing with a citrus tree or clipping at some plumbagos, consumers inform me his concentrated strength is difficult to disturb. Frequent buyer Elizabeth states that, although she understands he wouldn’t mind if she stopped him with a question (“Because he is so dang friendly”), the radio program is where she gets the majority of his recommendations.
Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, Tones of Green used totally free workshops on subjects such as veggie gardening and composting, which were so popular they would quickly offer out and cars and trucks would overflow from the parking lot. The workshops have yet to resume, but sales at the nursery have actually just increased. “We utilized to see clients mainly in their fifties and sixties, but now they are in their teenagers and early twenties. It has been a big change. Actually remarkable,” Webster informs me one current afternoon. “These young people, they read; they’re interested. They come in, and they know plant terms. They’re searching for houseplants due to the fact that they understand having a plant inside can increase oxygen levels. They are really deliberate about their purchases.” Research on the spending practices of millennials and Gen Zers backs this up. A 2020 report from predictive analytics firm First Insight showed that showed 73 percent of Gen Z customers were willing to pay more for sustainable items and natural products, and in June, a survey from speaking with giant McKinsey & & Business discovered that throughout the pandemic, millennials in specific looked for much healthier food. At the nursery, I ask Jake, a 22-year old college senior waiting to acquire a cactus, why he frequents Tones of Green. “Well, it’s better than House Depot down the street. The plants are much better quality, so I don’t mind if it’s little more expensive.” Lauren, a buyer in her early thirties, is searching the seasonal vegetable containers. In the area with a friend, she decides that the journey from New Braunfels was worth it to walk around the nursery. “So peaceful,” she sighs.
Compared to Shades of Green, the radio show can appear unpolished or even cumbersome, however the cast of characters constantly makes it an entertaining listen, green thumb or not. Regular callers often make amusing nicknames, like “Chicken Joe” or “Fred from Frisco.” Buddies are made over the airwaves. I have actually invested numerous hours listening to Webster’s radio program, the balanced tenor of his voice putting me into some sort of trance while I snip flowers or pull weeds. Since I am years from retirement age, I withstand some light teasing from my pals (all of whom still value my guidance on the cleaning power of orange oil). However like numerous millennials, I discover the value of organics important to the future of our world. For other listeners, Webster’s appeal is easier than that. My aunt, a frequent caller on the program, compares it to a book club or a church group. “We share something, and you learn more about individuals. Listening resembles catching up with family.” As evidence, she points out Linda from Seguin, who is now retired from mentor, something she only understands from listening recently. I think the show’s appeal might go deeper as she confesses, “Really, I listen for the company.”
Inquired about decreasing, Webster says that he does take a couple of days off here and there, and maybe takes a trip a bit less for his lectures. But a life committed to education and the conservation of the Texas landscape doesn’t lend itself to retirement. And while there are “definitely no strategies” to close Tones of Green’s doors, Churchin and Webster have actually put in place a plan to continue teaching long after they’re gone: eventually, Shades of Green will become a public garden. It’s all part of a life invested learning, starting years ago in the Dallas flower store. “My grandfather taught me work might be enjoyable. When it stops being fun, I will stop working,” Webster says. In some way, I doubt it ever will.
Source: https://www.texasmonthly.com/travel/bob-wester-godfather-organic-gardening/