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Milberger's Nursery and Landscaping
3920 North Loop 1604 E.
San Antonio, TX 78247
210.497.3760
nursery@milbergersa.com
Three exits east of 281, inside of 1604
Next to the Diamond Shamrock station
Please click map for more detailed map and driving directions.
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CHRISTMAS GIFTS FOR THE WISE AND WARY Well, we all squeezed by Thanksgiving so now we must be coming into the home stretch for Christmas. That's a sobering thought! But it IS reality. Reality also involves getting those "special" people Christmas gifts. You want to be sure that the Christmas gifts are as "special" as the "special" people who are to receive them. And DON'T THINK THAT YOUR LOVED ONES ARE GOING TO FORGET A WORTHLESS CHRISTMAS GIFT! If you think it's just the thought that counts, think again. I have tried just giving thoughts for Christmas -- that mentality can get you battered and bruised! Knowing you want to give an appreciated, worthwhile gift which can be easily (mail ordered preferably!) obtained, I have compiled a listing of THE BEST Christmas gifts possible. http://www.joeloweryphotography.com/scenicsport/scenics.html To see all of the selections and prices, click at the bottom of each group of images.
Bulb gardening in Texas presents challenges unknown in cooler climates. Bulbs that work in Holland or New York fade in our mild winters, hot summers and uncertain rainfall. Yet there are hundreds of native and naturalized species of bulbs that thrive as far south as zone 9 and offer as many colors, shapes and fragrances. Price $31.97 This easy-to-understand manual can help even the novice gardener through the steps of propagating your favorite plants. Price $37.31 Owner of the Antique Rose Emporium, the author
has made Old Garden roses available through mail order and
at his display garden centers. He shows the rose as an integral
part of the garden, Price $37.36 This book gives frustrated gardeners everything they need to know about gardening on limestone, alkaline clay and caliche soils. Hundreds of lime-loving and heat-tolerant varieties of trees, shrubs, roses, annuals and perennials. Price $20.23 Price $42.65 Perennial gardens are a source of year-long delight. This book covers cottage gardens and perennial borders. Ryan also defines eight major ecological regions in Texas and offers plant suggestions for each. Price $29.84 The answers to all your vegetable questions can be found in this Texas gardening source the head of the department of horticulture at Texas A&M University. Price $26.63 Price $23.43 This book tells you low to design your gardens
to provide the habitat required by native wildlife. It also
lists beautiful and useful native plants appropriate to the
specific region of Texas in which you live. Price $31.97 Pass-along plants have survived in gardens
for decades by being handed from one person to another. In
this lively and sometimes irreverent book, 117 such plants
are described, giving particulars on hardiness, size, uses
in the garden and horticultural requirements. Although the
authors live in and write about the South, many of the plants
they discuss will grow elsewhere. Shipping Charges Orders to $15.00 ...........................$3.25 Call in your credit card order: 1-800-727-9020 =================================================== You can actually see a video clip of Herb Parsons throwing and breaking seven clay targets with a Winchester 12-gauge pump shotgun before even one hits the ground at: And click on “View Clip” The fellow causing all the commotion was a comedian as well as a master gunman. Spectators were either laughing at jokes or gasping in amazement at the firepower being nonchalantly maneuvered by this weaponry wizard. The man doing the shooting would catch his breath periodically and share with the crowd some down-home philosophy about gun safety, sportsmanship and "hunting with your boy so you will never have to hunt for him." He would blow a duck caller so clearly that one would be deceived into believing that a flock was nearby---he was a world champion duck caller. Soon he was rested and the fast moving shooting show began again. He was good with rifles but was genius with shotguns. Effortlessly tossed clay targets, blocks of wood, cabbage, eggs and other groceries would soon fall prey to well directed shot of all gauges of shotgun. The final feat was seven clay targets thrown into the air and individually broken with a separate shot before they hit the ground---using a pump twelve gauge shotgun. Finally the show was over and the crowd rushed forward to see the guns and talk with the man who had done so many amazing things with them. Spectators were surprised as they inspected guns which were available in any firearms store, yet were magic in the hands of Herb Parsons, the last of the great exhibition shooters for Winchester-Western. The exhibition shooter was a traveling salesman who demonstrated firearms in order to encourage sales. Traveling all over the nation and world performing exhibitions, establishing reputations as professional marksmen, and serving as goodwill ambassadors for the companies they represented, these men became legends in their own time. Arms and ammunition companies put dozens of top-notch shooters on the road, including San Antonio's own Ad Toepperwein and his wife "Plinky" (Winchester), Ed McGivern (Colt and Smith and Wesson), Billy Hill (Remington), Dave Flanningan (Peters), and Ernie and Dot Lind (Winchester- Western). Unfortunately, the feats of most shooters were never recorded so that future generations could enjoy them. The wizardry of the exhibition shooters is only recorded in print and the fading memories of those who attended a performance. With one fortunate exception! A professionally produced color film record of Herb Parsons' exhibition shooting was made in 1956, entitled "Showman Shooter." This 25 minute film is available to interested sportsmen video cassette (VHS) format. There is also another film named FAST AND FANCY SHOOTERS which features Bill Jordan, Herb Parsons and Ed McGivern and is available for $25 from the same address as the Showman Shooter video. You can relive an earlier spectator shooting sport that hundreds of thousands of the older generations of shooters were privileged to personally witness and enjoy.
GIFT CHOICE #5: The pecan harvest
is in full swing. Here are two of the Bragg Pecan Farm, 229 Highway 90 East (just past Walmart)
in Hondo San Prices (postage NOT included): Five pounds of in-shell (not
cracked or For LOTS of WONDERFUL pecan recipes, look at: GIFT CHOICE #6: If you want a "taste of the wild" without the expense of the hunt, try some Wild Game Meats for Your Table from the Broken Arrow Ranch (1-800-962-4263 ). The deer and antelope “harvested” are free-ranging, feeding on natural grasses and imparting complex, natural flavors into the meat that aren't found in farmed animals. Every animal is harvested under full government inspection. There is no safer, more nutritious meat. Some of their many choices can be see at the website: http://www.brokenarrowranch.com If you want to know how to catch and cook your own wild game, check out the new book by Elantu B. Veovode titled The Contented Poacher: Tales and Recipes from an Epicure in the Wilderness released in September 2003 by Ten Speed Press. The book is filled with richly narrated hunting and fishing stories, original drawings and original recipes. A description can be found at: http://www.tenspeed.com/catalog/all/item.php3?id=1633. The book is available through your local book store or online from Amazon.Com and Barnes & Noble. =================================================== GIFT CHOICE #7: For those of you who want to live happily ever after and have a lots of good luck next year, you should plan now to have black-eyed peas and country ham on New Year's Day. The peas won't be hard to find but the country ham -- true country ham -- is IMPOSSIBLE to find in Texas. However, I have located a place in Tennessee which sells the genuine item just like my old Mama used to cure. These are salt-cured hams which are hickory smoked just a little. The establishments name is Tripp Country Hams, Brownsville, Tennessee 38012- 3090 (Telephone: 1-800-471-9814 or 731-772-2130). They have a special Christmas deal in which you can get four packages (eight slices of center-cut, cured country ham) for $34 (postage and handling included). They also have biscuit ham slices available; four packages (20 slices) for $52.00. Since we're in a bit of a hurry, THEY WILL ACCEPT Visa and/or MasterCard for telephone orders. You can “check them out” on the web at: http://countryhams.com/ NOW -- BEWARE -- if you do not appreciate truly
good country ham, if you do not know how to cook country ham
(you merely warm it since it is cured -- cook it too long
and it turns to leather!), if you think Tennessee country
ham is too salty and haven't got sense enough to soak it in
water before cooking (if it's too salty for your taste) or
if you think red-eye gravy is something you eat after a bad
hang-over and are not willing to follow included preparation
instructions TO THE LETTER, you should NOT buy this product!!!
This pork is too precious for "non-believers"! DO
NOT WASTE our time and the pig's life unless you truly appreciate
this best country ham in the world. It is too precious to
waste on non-connoisseurs! |
GIFT
CHOICE #2: A useful Christmas gift which will be
enjoyed all year is a subscription to gardening magazines
and books. The best garden magazine in Texas is named "Neil
Sperry's Gardens". You can receive or send the next 10
issues of "Gardens" plus Neil Sperry's " Texas
Gardening Calendar" for only $39. (Telephone: 1-800-752-4769;
FAX line open 24 hours is 214-544-1278). The address for the
magazine is: P. O. Box 864, McKinney, Texas 75070-0864 For
more information, check Neil’s website: 
GIFT
CHOICE #3: Do you have a sports person in the family?
The only videos in existence of profession exhibition shooting
as it once existed feature Parsons and Toepperwein, the last
of the great exhibition shooters for Winchester-Western. A
video of San Antonio's own master gunman, Ad Toepperwein is
a recent find. The Herb Parsons' video entitled "Showman
Shooter" and the Ad and wife Plinky Toepperwein video
entitled "The Topps For 40 Years" are about 25 minute
video cassettes (VHS) can be ordered for $25 each (tax and
postage included) or both for $40 by telephoning 210-684-1573
(San Antonio) and leaving your name, address, telephone
number and name of tape(s) which you want on the answering
machine. NOW YOU CAN HAVE BOTH OF THESE EXHIBITIONS ON A DVD
FORMAT FOR $40. You can also send a check made payable to
Carolyn Parsons to : Carolyn Parsons, P. O. Box 380391, San
Antonio 78268-7391. 
Readers
may be wondering - what connection does the vegetable specialist
have with a world famous exhibition shooter? The answer is
a matter of genetics. When an exhibition shooter marries a
farm girl, the resulting offspring is a horticulture specialist
who is an expert at shooting off his mouth. People always
wonder - is the boy horticulture specialist as good with a
gun as his dad? The answer - good enough with a gun; maybe
better with the mouth! My father’s name was Herb so
I proudly relate to those plant folks who are herb-lovers
that I was ACTUALLY sired by an Herb!!!!! My father was stimulated
to become an exhibition shooter by Ad Toepperwein whose life
is described at: The GREAT thing about this video is that
it also documents the great shooting abilities of Ad’s
wife whose life is described at: