NATIVE PLANT SOCIETY OF TEXAS
Kerrville Chapter
 MARCH NEWSLETTER

NATIVES ON THE GROW

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

March Program:  

Grasses of Hill Country

Lee Knox of USDA – Natural Resources Conservation Service in Kerrville, will speak on the “Grasses of Hill Country” to the Kerrville Chapter of the Native Plant Society of Texas on March 4 at Riverside Nature Center beginning at 2 PM.  Grasses are the most efficient means of holding the soil in place and preventing erosion.  Grasses also provide essential food and cover wildlife, as well as economically-important grazing for livestock.  Knox will discuss the remarkable diversity of Hill Country grasses.  Attendees are encouraged to bring samples of grasses from their land for identification and discussion.  

Knox holds a Bachelors degree from Texas A&M University and a Masters degree from New Mexico State University, both in Range Sciences.  Prior to joining USDA-NRCS, Knox served as a County Cooperative Extension agent in Kendall and Grayson Counties.  See you there!

Calendar

Tuesday, February 25^th at 7PM:  “Organic Gardening” by author Judy Barrett of Austin at the NPSOT Fredericksburg meeting in the Gillespie County Ag Building, 1906 N. Llano St., Fredericksburg

Tuesday, March 4^th at 2 PM: “Grasses of Hill Country” by Lee Knox of USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service at NPSOT-Kerrville meeting held at Riverside Nature Center (RNC)

 Tuesday, March 4^th at 6:30 PM:  “Plants of the Llano Uplift” by NPSOT member Mike McBride at NPSOT- Boerne meeting

 Wednesday, March 5^th at 9 AM:  Gardening at the Kerrville Library Native Plant Garden.  Call John Quinby at 367-4612 for more information.  

 Tuesday, March 11^th at 9:30 AM (at park)   NPSOT- Boerne Field Trip to Enchanted Rock with Mike McBride   (Rain date is March 13^th )

 IN MEMORIUM

It is with great sadness that we must tell you that Claude Swearingen, a member of our Chapter since its organization, passed away February 12^th.  We send our sincerest condolences to his wife Edith.

EARTH DAY CELEBRATION:  UPDATE

1.  VOLUNTEERS  NEEDED:  At our February meeting, about 30 folks signed up to help at our Earth Day Celebration on April 26, but there are still jobs to be filled.  We still need people in the following roles:

        ·         Traffic Control and Parking
·         Entrance Table Greeters to give out maps and membership information, accept cash donations, and sell raffle tickets 
·         Cashiers for Native Plant Sale
·         Cashiers for Herbs and Book Sales
·         Plant Sale Docents 
·         Cashiers for Hot Food and Snack Food 

Volunteering at this event is a great way to meet other Native Plant Society and Riverside Nature Center members, to share our interest in native plants with the community, and of course, to raise funds for our Chapter projects.  Please contact our Volunteer Chairman, Carol Wever (cwever@ktc.com or 257-8452) to sign up for one of these opportunities! 

2.  FOUR  INCH  POTS  NEEDED:  Some members are growing plants for our plant sale at the Earth Day Celebration.  If you have any 4 inch pots that you could contribute to this effort, please either bring them to our March meeting, or drop them off at Riverside Nature Center for Gwynn Jackson, our Plant Sale Co-chair .

 HILL COUNTRY ENDEMICS

Edith Bettinger, our VicePresident of Outreach, has prepared a list of native plants endemic to the Hill Country.  This is the first article in a series to share this information with our members.  An endemic plant is one whose range is restricted to a particular area, in this case, Texas Hill Country.  We believe that these plants are worthy of our special consideration to ensure their survival.

	CEDAR SAGE
	Salvia roemeriana
	Cedar sage has several attractive characteristics:   1.  It has brilliant red tubular flowers, about one inch long, and blooms from March to July.  2.  It prefers to grow in shade (while many wildflowers prefer full sun). 3.  It is a perennial, one to two feet tall. 4.  It is readily available in native plant nurseries in our area. 5.  It has attractive green leaves, somewhat kidney-shaped with blunt teeth.   If you have a shady area in your garden that could benefit from the addition of cheerful red flowers, consider planting our Hill Country native Cedar Sage. (see Enquist, p. 169)

 
Docents Needed for School Programs at Riverside Nature Center

Riverside has a formal curriculum of nature interpretation for elementary and middle school classes.  Volunteer docents, known as “Nature Guides”, are trained to give one or more of these age-tailored programs.  Nature Guides volunteer for a specific class visit when it is convenient for them.  We all understand how important it is to share our love of nature with children, both for their sake and because the environment can never have too many advocates.  

Training on Wildflower Interpretation will be held on March 12.  Training on Wildlife Interpretation for grades 6 – 8 is also available.  For more information, please contact Maryallen Meriwether in Kerrville at 830-792-4841.

THANKS for your donations to our Plant Raffle & Refreshments

Natives of Texas of Kerrville donated a Penstemon trifloris, a skeleton-leaf goldeneye, a 4-Nerve daisy & a Damianita.  Edith Bettinger donated a set of pressed wildflower notecards & Missouri violets.  Alice Bulechek donated an Agarita, a Creek plum, a Golden groundsel & Tall goldenrod.  Gail Hollaway donated a Purple prickly pear.

 Thanks also go to Laurie Pesez and Maryallen Meriwether for our delicious and healthy refreshments.

MARCH  BLOOMERS

Member Raul Pena has compiled a table of native plants blooming beginning in March. This list is provided to help us know which plants will be blooming soon.  Also, if you find a flower in March that you don’t recognize, it has a good chance of being on this list.  You can go to our Chapter website at http://npsot.org/Kerrville, click Hill Country Flora, then Wildflower Check List, and in many cases, click on the plant name (if underlined) to see a photo.  Alternatively, you could look in Enquist’s Wildflowers of the Texas Hill Country.

Please send any suggestions or comments on this newsletter to the Editor:  Priscilla Stanley at jpbstan@ktc.com