NATIVE PLANT SOCIETY OF   TEXAS

  Kerrville Chapter

DECEMBER  NEWSLETTER - 2003 

NATIVES ON THE GROW

Dedicated to the understanding, preservation and enjoyment of the native flora of the Hill Country

December Program: 

Cacti & Succulents that Thrive in the Hill Country

Larry Fagarason, a founding member of the Kerr County Cactus & Succulent Society, will give a presentation entitled “Cacti and Succulents that Thrive in the Hill Country” at our meeting on Tuesday, December 2nd beginning at  2 PM .  His slide presentation will show not only the plants that are easily grown here, but he will also discuss how to design and install a successful cactus and succulent bed.  These plants are very water-thrifty, and thus have different needs than many other common landscape plants.  Larry will describe the culture conditions to provide (and to avoid) to grow healthy cacti and succulents. 

Fagarason moved to Kerrville after his retirement from a career as a thoractic surgeon in the U. S. Army and in private practice.  Our favorable environment for growing cacti was a significant factor in his choice of Kerrville for his retirement.  The Kerr County Cactus & Succulent Society was founded in his living room over seven years ago, and he served as its President for two years.  Larry has also served as President of the Texas Association of Cactus and Succulent Societies and held other Board positions in this statewide organization as well.  

If you want to learn even more about today’s topic, the Kerr County Cactus & Succulent Society meets at 7 PM on the third Tuesday of each month at the Butt-Holdsworth Memorial Library downstairs meeting room at 505 Water St. in Kerrville.  Visitors are always welcome.

Many of you already know Larry and his wife Natalie as members of our Kerrville Chapter of the Native Plant Society of Texas.  Larry, along with member Bobby Crabb, designed and installed the impressive cactus and succulent bed in our Chapter's Native Plant Display Garden at the Kerrville Library.  Larry also makes good use of his cactus and succulent expertise in his business, Western Hills Landscaping, which is a sponsor of our Chapter (for more information, see the Sponsor section at the end of this newsletter).

The Kerrville Chapter of the Native Plant Society of Texas holds monthly meetings on the first Tuesday of the month (September through June) at  Riverside Nature Center ,  150 Francisco Lemos St in  Kerrville .  These meetings are free and open to the public.  If you have any questions about the Native Plant Society of Texas, or this program, please call June Hartley at 896-5191.  

FALL FIELD TRIP to “LOS RINCONES”

	Photo by Jim Stanley Identifying native plants on the steep slope of a box canyon

 

Twenty-five people enjoyed our November 1^st field trip to Los Rincones, the property of our late members, John and Karen Galley.  The property is 138 acres, and contains three box canyons.  The views from the ridges between the canyons are truly spectacular.  Our attendees, including folks from the NPSOT Kerrville,  Medina and Fredericksburg Chapters, as well as from the Texas Master Naturalist - Hill Country Chapter, first observed the long vistas from the third floor viewing platform of the home.  We could see how the Sheppard-Rees Fire of September, 2000 had burned vast areas of the surrounding hillsides.  We then hiked partway into a box canyon which had burned and along the steep hillside to observe the recovery of the vegetation.  The large 15’ cedars had been killed by the fire.  On this steep, dry, rocky hillside, the predominant hardwood species was lacey oak.  This species is known to have adapted to fire, and many of the trees had root-sprouted in an attempt to recover from the fire.  Unfortunately, the lacey oaks have not yet developed a mechanism to protect them from heavy browsing of their root sprouts by the Hill Country deer.  After three years of regrowing rootsprouts which were repeatedly browsed, a significant number of the lacey oaks no longer had green foliage on their short rootsprouts.  Lacey oaks where some of the canopy had survived the fire or had regrown did continue to put out rootsprouts.  These trees appeared to be more robust because the leaves higher in the tree could continue photosynthesis as an ongoing food source for the tree vs. the fully-burned trees surviving solely on energy stored in their roots.  We also saw escarpment black cherry trees deeper in the canyon that had survived the fire.  Young Mexican buckeye trees were growing, and some forbs and grasses were observed.

	Photo by Jim Stanley Native grasses have recovered from the fire on the deeper soils of the ridges.

After we emerged from the canyon, we hiked along a ridge to the west border of the property, which had a wonderful panoramic view of the rolling hills below, some burned, some unburned – and even the Kerrville Walmart in the distance.  Native grasses had recovered quite well on this ridge.  The extensive cedar on much of the property had probably provided too much shade and too little water for native grasses to grow in many areas.  The removal of the cedar by the fire had then begun a competition between grass growth and erosion.  In steep areas especially, erosion seems to be prevailing.  

While NPSOT is interested primarily in native plants, we all know that the deer can have a major impact on our plants. In recognition of this fact, the Texas Master Naturalist – Hill Country Chapter, Class of 2003 has undertaken a project to build “exclosures” (fences to keep the deer from eating the rootsprouts) around groups of trees involved in the fire in an attempt to foster hardwood regeneration.  This is not a trivial task on a steep, rocky canyon wall.  We wish them well, and will keep you informed on the successes of their project.

This property was preserved as a natural area by a conservation easement during the Galley’s lifetime, and now is held by the Natural Areas Preservation Association (NAPA), a private Land Trust.  For more information on  NAPA , or other properties in  Texas with either conservation easements or being held by  NAPA , visit their website at www.napa-texas.org. Some of these natural areas are open to the public.

Calendar

 Tuesday, December 2 at   2 PM  “Cacti & Succulents That Will Thrive in the Hill Country” by Larry Fagarason of Kerr County Cactus & Succulent Society at NPSOT – Kerrville Chapter meeting at Riverside Nature Center, 150 Francisco Lemos St., Kerrville..(see article above)

Wednesday, December 3 at 9 AM:  “Participatory Garden Nurturing” at the Kerrville Library.  (See article below.) 

MEMBERSHIP AND NEWSLETTER INFORMATION

The purpose of the Native Plant Society of Texas is promote the conservation, research and utilization of the native plants and plant habitats of Texas , through education, outreach and example.  In furtherance of this mission, we send our Chapter newsletter to visitors and others who request it, hoping they will become interested enough to become members.  Currently we are sending a substantial number of complimentary newsletters each month to visitors and members who have not kept their membership current.

Our Chapter Board has reluctantly decided that from now on, complimentary newsletters will be sent out only for a three month period.

Members receive a postcard from the State office reminding them to renew by sending their check and the postcard back to the State office.  Visitors may obtain membership forms at our meetings from the Greeting Table where they receive their free raffle ticket, or by contacting our Membership Director, June Hartley, at 896-5191 or juneh@ktc.com .  Adult membership is $20 per year which includes membership in the State NPSOT organization, our Chapter, and other Chapters with which you might choose to affiliate (such as  Medina , Fredericksburg etc.).  Benefits of membership include a bimonthly newsletter from the State organization including articles on wildflower research and wildflowers in various regions of  Texas , as well as ten newsletters each year from our Kerrville Chapter.  A portion of your dues returns to our Chapter to support our programs of promoting the awareness and utilization of native plants in our communities.  There are additional dues categories for families, seniors etc.  Please contact June Hartley at 896-5191 or juneh@ktc.com for more information.  Visitors who choose not to become members are still welcome at our meetings.

Highlights from “Fall Wildflowers and Prairie Restoration”

This presentation by Janis Merritt of San Antonio Natural Resource Department held at Cibolo Nature Center in Boerne on October 25^th was well worth the drive to Boerne.  Merritt had ten years of experience managing native meadows and plantings at the San Antonio Botanical Garden before her current position of managing native flora on new properties acquired by San Antonio to protect the Edwards Aquifer recharge zone.  

For all native restorations (wildflowers and grasses) she emphasized the importance of removing all of the invasive exotics by a combination of pulling them up, spraying with Roundup and scalping the unwanted vegetation (cutting it as short as possible) repeatedly for as long as it takes to kill it all.  For Johnson grass and bermuda grass, the process may take one to two years.  On the resulting bare site, for a wildflower meadow or a grassland, she recommended planting the following three readily-available native grasses that establish quickly to hold the soil:  green sprangletop, sideoats grama and Texas grama.  These grasses will help minimize colonization by less desirable annuals, such as thistles, since some other native grasses can take one to two years or more to sprout, depending on the rainfall. 

For establishing a wildflower meadow, Merritt recommended the following wildflowers that compete well with native bunch grasses:  blackfoot daisy and zexmenia; Maximilian sunflower and goldenrod for moist areas; and pitcher sage as a perennial.  Interestingly, we have an independent confirmation of the validity of her wildflower recommendations in that both blackfoot daisy and zexmenia are commonly found on rangeland throughout the Hill Country on properties where both the livestock and deer have been well managed.

For established meadows, mowing more than twice a year favors annual wildflowers, such as bluebonnets, as well as the less beloved annuals, such as thistles.  To favor a succession to perennial wildflowers, meadows should be mowed only once a year, in January or early February.  

Merritt recommended not fertilizing wildflowers since it encourages vegetative growth instead of flowers.  You want flowers for their beauty, as well as to make seeds for more wildflowers.  She does not recommend Fall mowing since seeds mature at different times, and immature seeds that are mowed will not ripen to make more wildflowers.  She added that mealy blue sage does like some compost, which is our modern equivalent of the “meadow muffins” left by the bison herds.

There is a wildflower for nearly every location, no matter how harsh the environment.  On high, dry sites exposed to the western sun, she recommends prairie agalinis, damianita and mountain pinks.  Again in support of these choices, damianaita thrives in the dry heat of the Chisos Mountain Baisin in Big Bend National Park, and mountain pinks are abundant in the roadbase along Interstate 10 west of  Junction.

For establishing a wildflower bed (no native grasses, just wildflowers), Merritt recommended the same steps as are described in the seed catalogs that we distributed this Fall at our meetings from our Sponsor, Native American Seed in Junction.  Both Cibolo Nature Center and the San Antonio projects managed by Merritt purchase their native wildflower and grass seed from Native American Seed, whose seeds are all native to Texas.  

New “Wildflower” Sign at  Library Garden

This month, John and Barbara Quinby obtained an impressive large black metal sign from an earlier NPSOT project and had it installed in a prominent location at the entrance to the  Native Plant Display Garden maintained by our Chapter at the Kerrville Library.  The sign is decorated with flower silhouettes around the word “WILDFLOWERS”, with the lower section of the sign indicating that our Chapter is responsible for the gardens.  The earlier signs were so small and unobtrusive that many folks missed them entirely.  This lovely new sign will address one of our concerns that people are unaware that our native plant garden is not just more of the typical exotic plant landscaping that one often finds around buildings.  Next time you are in the area, visit our  Library Native Plant Garden and admire our new “Wildflowers” sign.

We did have four volunteeers in November who neatened up the flower beds.  We do encourage others to join us.  You can help without knowing anything about native plants.  You can come just once, if you wish.  Again this month, a strolling couple stopped to enjoy the garden, chat and tell the workers how much they appreciated this contribution to the community.  Call John Quinby at 367-4612 or Gwynn Jackson at 792-5997 for more information.

OUR PLANT RAFFLE

For our November raffle, we purchased native plants from our Sponsor, Natives of Texas on Route 16 south of  Kerrville .  Plants in the raffle included formerly endangered Big Red Sage, Texas Betony, Slender Stem Bitterweed (also known as four-nerve daisy) and some other native plants, as well as Mexican petunias donated by our Treasurer, Tommie Airhart and some wildflower seeds.

REFRESHMENTS!

Refreshments at our October meeting, which rivaled a cruise ship buffet, were kindly provided by Kathleen and Gale Holloway.