How to plant shade trees in Texas
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- Published: Tuesday, 29 December 2020 14:46
Written by Adam Russell
In Texas, late-fall and early winter is the perfect time to plant shade trees.
Texas A&M Forest Service and Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service offer some expert advice to help you get your sapling out of the container, into the ground and off to a good start.
Transplanting and establishing container trees is a relatively easy process if you follow Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service recommendations. Now is a good time to apply these tips and get shade trees in the ground.
COLLEGE STATION, Texas —Texas A&M Forest Service launched an application today to help users quickly identify the root of a tree’s problem, whether it be caused by insects, diseases or other factors.
By Adam Russell, TAMU
The International Museum of Art & Science (IMAS) presents “Guided by Curiosity,” an exhibition featuring items from the museum’s permanent collection that will pique the viewer’s interest and fuel the imagination. It will be on exhibit now through March 6, 2021.
The Pharr Community Theater will present the popular Charles Dickens adaptation, A Tejano Christmas Carol 2019, on the Pharr Community Theater FB page. The two-act play will be screened live and free of charge starting December 20, 2020 at 7:30 p.m. until January 4, 2021. To watch the show, find The Pharr Community Theater FB page and give it a like and you can watch it with your family at home.
By Colleen Hook, Executive Director, Quinta Mazatlán
BROWNSVILLE, TEXAS—Rails-to-Trails Conservancy (RTC) and leaders from the City of Brownsville, the Palo Alto Battlefield National Historical Park, and across Cameron County, Texas, marked the opening of the Historic Battlefield Trail Extension at a private ribbon-cutting ceremony at the Palo Alto Battlefield last month. 
Join the Center for Urban Ecology at Quinta Mazatlán for a journey into the world of rare birds on Saturday morning, December 12. The program will deepen your understanding of who our rare birds are, what makes them rare, and puts them in the context of a changing bird community in the Rio Grande Valley. Visitors will get to share in the excitement and mystery of rare birds of the past, speculation on which ones may show up next, and will leave knowing more about the birds that secret away in the Rio Grande Valley’s forests, marshes, and even yards. 
You can visit holiday themed sandcastles at South Padre Island. The sandcastles are an ongoing thing and this year the sculptors have worked hard to get things done. The Christmas village is currently open for visitors.
The Christmas Extravaganza is now on display at Harlingen Arts & Heritage Museum featuring the creative ways people decorate Christmas trees. The exhibit runs through December 31.
The trails of Quinta Mazatlán in McAllen will be lined with thousands of candle luminarias to celebrate the winter holidays around the world. Presented by SpawGlass, ILLUMINA Fest 2020 takes place on December 16, 17, 18, and 19 from 6 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. Tickets go fast and can only be purchased online at www.ticketleap.com, search for Quinta Mazatlán.
The Rio Grande Valley supports two chapters of Texas Master Naturalist and both chapters are taking applications for the new class training that will begin January 7. The deadline to register is December 18.
This past week, Olga Papp of Lone Star National Bank, on South Padre Island, was excited to accept a pickup load of grocery items donated by Winter Texans Jean and Steve Fisher of Iowa. The bank is helping with a food drive for the food bank. The donated grocery items will be taken to Pharr where bank employees will continue to volunteer by helping to sort and distribute the food to needy families in the Rio Grande Valley. This is the Fisher’s third year visiting the Valley and each year they have found at least one organization to support. Their first year they donated nearly $5000 of stuffed animals to Sunny Glen Children’s Orphanage. Last year, they donated over $10,000 in Christmas presents, clothes and other items to over 30 children in Cameron County. When asked by the bank manager, Martin Infante, why they were generous with their donation, Jean said it is because they have been blessed and enjoy giving back. When we did a story on them last year, we learned Jean grew up in foster homes and has a connection with how hard it can be this time of the year. Both have worked hard to get where they are today and feel they are blessed with everything they have. They have made the choice to give back like this at least once a year to share their blessing with others. Last year Jean said, they were not in it for the glory, “It is not about the giving or the getting, it is letting them know that someone cares.”
