From “LAZY GARDENER & FRIENDS HOUSTON GARDEN NEWSLETTER”
WE KNOW HER BEST AS THE LAZY GARDENER . . .
. . . but Brenda Beust Smith is also:
* a national award-winning writer & editor
* a nationally-published writer & photographer
* a national horticultural speaker
* a former Houston Chronicle reporter
When the Chronicle discontinued Brenda’s 45-year-old Lazy Gardener” print column, it then ranked as the longest-running, continuously-published local newspaper column in the Greater Houston area.
Brenda’s gradual sideways step from Chronicle reporter into gardening writing — first as a just-a-fun side Chronicle assignment in the early ’70s — led first to an 18-year series of when-to-do-what Lazy Gardener Calendars, then to her Lazy Gardener’s Guide book which morphed into her Lazy Gardener’s Guide on CD. which she now emails free upon request.
A Harris County Master Gardener, Brenda has served on the boards of many Greater Houston area horticulture organizations and has hosted local radio and TV shows, most notably a 10+-year Lazy Gardener specialty shows on HoustonPBS (Ch. 8) and her call-in “EcoGardening” show on KPFT-FM.
For over three decades, Brenda served as as Production Manager of the Garden Club of America’s BULLETIN magazine. Although still an active broad-based freelance writer, Brenda’s main focus now is THE LAZY GARDENER & FRIENDS HOUSTON GARDEN NEWSLETTER with John Ferguson and Pablo Hernandez of Nature’s Way Resources.
A native of New Orleans and graduate of St. Agnes Academy and the University of Houston, Brenda lives in Humble, TX, and is married to the retired Aldine High School Coach Bill Smith (1965 / UH Alum/member of Coach Bill Yeoman’s first UH team/Texas Bowl Gridiron Legend). They have one son, Blake.
Accomplishment