H.S. Stevens offered gardening advice at the Morning News for 20 years.

My first year in Extension someone told me about this H.S. Stevens fellow, a super-savvy gardener who used a hypodermic syringe to treat his squash vines with Bt (a natural control agent that controls squash vine borer and other caterpillars), and knew everything there was to know about gardening in the Dallas area.  When I finally met H.S., he was pretty much everything I expected.  Gravelly voiced, opinionated and sincerely enthusiastic about his job bringing gardening to kids through his Texas Agricultural Extension Service job.

H.S. left Extension to write more consistently for the Dallas Morning News, a job he continued to hold for over 15 years.  Besides being a source of good information for gardeners, H.S. was funny, full of energy and generous.  He helped a young entomologist plant his first tomato research plot, and always had the time to share his knowledge and tell stories about his grandkids and other children he was working with.

Mariana Greene has written a short tribute to H.S., who passed away yesterday.  From all your Extension colleagues and many friends, safe passage to you H.S. Heavens’ gardens await your attention.