NATIVE PLANT SOCIETY OF TEXAS
KERRVILLE CHAPTER

 NATIVE PLANT SOCIETY OF TEXAS

Kerrville Chapter

Website:  www.npsot.org/kerrville

 June, 2008

 NATIVES ON THE GROW

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

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.

 Flora of the Hill Country presented by Dr. Marshall C. Johnston

Tuesday, June 3, 2:00 P.M.

The Kerrville NPSOT meeting will be Tuesday June 3, 2:00 PM, at Riverside Nature Center, 150 Francisco Lemos, Kerrville. The speaker will be Dr. Marshall C. Johnston. Dr. Johnston is a native of South Texas, was on the faculty of the now-defunct Department of Botany of The University of Texas at Austin from 1960 to 1990. With Dr. Donovan Correll, he co-authored the Manual of the Vascular Plants of Texas published in 1970. He published lists updating the names in the Manual, in addition to 120 papers in professional journals and books. He has studied plants in 35 countries. The Texas Hill Country northwest of Austin is home for him and his wife LaVerne Johnston. His presentation will focus on the Flora of the Hill Country with emphasis on Kerr County.

Message from the President

Dear NPSOT member,
 Thank you for electing me president of the Kerrville Chapter of the Native Plant Society of Texas, Kerrville Chapter (NPSOT-KC).  We will have an active year and we want to know about your interests.
Could you please complete and return the survey that is included in this newsletter.  Copies will also be available at the June meeting.  You can bring the completed survey to the June meeting, mail it to me or copy the page to your computer and return it by email.
Thank you everyone for helping with the plant sale.  So many of you helped that I just want to give you all a big thank you.
I will not be able to attend the June meeting because I will be in Miami for the high school graduation of my only granddaughter, but I will see you at the September 2 meeting or before at the Library Native Plant Garden. 
This will be a great year for the Kerrville Chapter, Native Plant Society of Texas.
Edna Platte

 Special Thanks for May Field Trip

The Kerrville Chapter of the NPSOT would like to thank the Hunt School and Hunt Garden Club for sharing the Discovery Gardens Project at the Hunt School. This is an impressive project designed to encourage the youth of our community to become interested in nature, plants, and gardening.

Native plants are a new emphasis.

Also, many thanks to Bill and Trish Stone for the wonderful afternoon visit to their lovely native gardens along with refreshments and time to visit on their spacious veranda.

It was an afternoon well-spent.

ELECTION OF CHAPTER OFFICERS FOR 2008-2009

The following officers were elected at the May meeting:
 President – Edna Platte
VP – Programs – Anne Moss
VP – Outreach – Adele Junkin
Secretary – Cindy Anderson
Treasurer – Jerry Brown
Director of Membership – Mike Mecke
Director of Communications – Marilyn Butcher
Director-at-Large – Scott Magee

 Additional Opportunities

Saturday June 7, from 10 to 11:30 a.m., at RNC, Kip Kiphart will present, "Monarchs Ask:  What is a Garden?"  Would you like to attract butterflies and birds to your garden?   Kip will talk about basic ecological principals that help make a sustainable garden, living and nonliving things that influence a garden, the "butterfly ecosystem," and the monarch butterfly.  If you would like to plant a butterfly - hummingbird garden and create a Monarch Way station, this program is for you.   Kip and June Kiphart's butterfly- hummingbird garden is on the Cibolo Nature Center-Boerne NPSOT Tour of Yards.  Dr. Kiphart is active in Native Plant Society of Texas, the Texas Master Naturalists and the Monarch Larval Monitoring Project.   Cost:  $5.00 per adult/ $2.50 members.   

Library Garden

The next work day is Tuesday June 10.  I will be there at 7:30 and we will work until about 10:00.
 We had a wonderful workday on May 13.  Scott and Sandra Magee, Cindy Anderson, Sherry Egloff, Gary Gentry and Gwynn Jackson were there and we accomplished a lot.  Thank you.

.Helpful hints about membership dues

Membership dues cannot be accepted locally.  They must be sent to the State Office which is now in Fredericksburg at the following address.

Native Plant Society of Texas

P.O. Box 3017

Fredericksburg, TX 78624

The membership form is available at chapter meetings and the NPSOT website www.npsot.org.

When completing the form please indicate the Kerrville chapter name because our chapter gets refunded a portion of the dues for our chapter expenses.

If you are renewing your membership, please send your renewal to the address above and include your membership ID to ensure we credit the correct account.
Also include any address, phone or email changes.
(You will find your membership ID printed on the mailing label of the state newsletter.)

Membership Categories and Annual Dues:

Benefits of Joining the Native Plant Society of Texas

Goals:

    To educate both its members and the general public and to foster a greater awareness and understanding of our native flora;
    To preserve rare and endangered species and their habitats;
    To encourage landscaping with appropriate native plants, for their beauty, ease of maintenance, and water-conserving qualities;
    To protect, conserve and restore native plants threatened by development;
    To encourage the responsible propagation of native plants;
    To promote an appreciation and understanding of current, historical and potential uses of native plants.

See membership information above.

Please support our sponsors!

Survey

 Native Plant Society of Texas – Kerrville Chapter (NPSOT-KC)

Interests and Ideas for 2008/2009

Projects and activities.  Please check all activities you think NPSOT-KC should pursue.  Current projects are in Bold type.

______ Plant sale at Riverside Nature Center’s Earth Day in April (our only fund raiser)

______ Monetary grants to organizations to purchase and/or promote Native Plants

______ Eight public programs a year that relate to native plants

______ Native Plant Garden at the public library

______ Drawings for donated native plants at monthly meeting

______ Make available Native Plants for Landscaping in the Texas Hill kCountry list

______ More field trips instead of meetings

______ A special project at Riverside Nature Center

______ Grow native plants to sell at the Earth Day Plant Sale

______ A NPSOT table at Down by the Riverside at RNC in October for information.

______ A dinner or another social event with a speaker

Your other suggestions or comments are appreciated.

 Programs for 2008/2009.  In the past NPSOT-KC had 8 public daytime programs at Riverside Nature Center (RNC) and two field trips each year.

            Please indicate your suggestions for a program, speaker or field trip below.  Landscaping with native plants and Texas wildflowers are always popular.  Growing native plants from seed has been suggested. 

 1.

 2.

 3. 

 Meetings

            Evening meetings have been requested to enable people who work to attend NPSOT meetings in Kerrville. As a trial, we can try to have at least three evening meeting next year. These meetings could include:

January-a dinner meeting at a local restaurant’s meeting room with a speaker

June-(It will be daylight for the June meeting.)

May field trip                                                              One fall meeting

Do you have any comments or concerns about meeting times and places?

Thank you very much for your help.  Edna Platte, President-elect, NPSOT-Kerrville Chapter.

You can return this survey to me at 310 Circle Ave. Kerrville TX 78028, bring it to the June meeting or copy the survey and email it to me at platte@ktc.com.

Please contact me at 257-2185 or platte@ktc.com  if you have questions or comments.

 Your name (optional)_________________________________________________________