NATIVE PLANT SOCIETY OF TEXAS

Kerrville Chapter

Website:  www.npsot.org/kerrville 

MAY NEWSLETTER - 2004

NATIVES ON THE GROW

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

May Program: 

A Tour of the Gardens at Medina Garden Nursery 

Our meeting on Tuesday, May 4^th will be a trip to one of our sponsors, Medina Garden Nursery, for a tour of its over two acres of native plant demonstration gardens.  Both the owner of Medina Garden Nursery, Ernesto Carino, and the Manager, Ysmael Espinoza, have over 15 years of gardening experience, and are skilled growers, propagating and raising native plants.  On our guided tour, Mr. Espinosa will explain how to utilize water-thrifty native plants in landscapes, and how to care for these plants for optimal performance.  The demonstration gardens show how the native plants will look in an established landscape.  

Medina Garden Nursery:  Entrance to over 2 acres of Demonstration Gardens

We will also see three new gardens at the Nursery, including a Caliche Garden featuring plants that thrive on difficult caliche soil, and a Keyhole Garden showing how native plants can be used in a more formal landscape.  The Nursery is located on the cypress-lined banks of the Median River.  After the tour there will be plenty of time for enjoying the gardens and shopping in the nursery for native and adaptive plants, shrubs and trees.  

This trip will be in place of our May monthly meeting at Riverside Nature Center.  We are inviting interested members of the public to join us on this educational trip.  Attendees can either drive directly to the Nursery for the tour beginning at 2:00 PM, or meet at Riverside Nature Center at 1:15 PM to arrange carpools or caravan to the nursery.

Driving directions:  From Kerrville, go south over the State Route 16 (Sidney Baker) bridge over the Guadalupe River, and proceed south on State Route 16 to Medina (approximately 25 miles).  Continue south on State Route 16 through the town of Medina until you reach the southern outskirts of Medina.  Medina Garden Nursery is located on Route 16 at the Medina City Limits on the right side of the road, marked by a sign. 

The Kerrville Chapter of the Native Plant Society of Texas holds monthly meetings on the first Tuesday of the month (September through June) usually 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.  

Calendar

April 14 – May 19  9 AM – Noon:  “Botanical Drawing of Native Plants” by Chapter member Joy Poe M.F.A. at Riverside Nature

May 1  NPSOT  - Kerrville  Chapter - Field Trip on Native Trees by Patty Leslie Pasztor at the Leslie Ranch.  (See article below, for times, and driving instructions).

May 1  10:00 AM - 5:00 PM: Fredericksburg Nativescapes Garden Tour  by NPSOT -  -Fredericksburg Chapter.  Six private gardens will be featured - two in Fredericksburg and four in the countryside surrounding it.  Tickets are $7 for adults.  for more information, visit www.npsot.org/Fredericksburg or contact 

Lonnie Childs   (830) 685-3811 hollowcreek@starband.net.

May 1:  Nature Fair in the Kerrville-Schreiner Park co-sponsored by the City of Kerrville Parks & Recreation Department and the Master Naturalists – Hill Country Chapter.  (See article below for times and programs) 

May 4:  NPSOT – Kerrville Chapter Meeting at Medina Garden Nursery (See article above)

May 22:  Tree and Shrub Identification by Susan Sander sponsored by Club Ed (Kerrville Adult Education) and Riverside Nature Center.  Workshop fee is $45, and part of fee goes to Riverside Nature Center.  You must pre-register at 830-895-4386. This workshop will teach the use of the Tree Identification Key, a botanical decision-tree system that will allow you to correctly identify most Hill Country trees and shrubs by observing their leaf structure and characteristics.  You will have practical hands-on practice identifying trees at Riverside.  

Native Plant Field Trip to the Leslie Ranch

Our Chapter’s second Field Trip of the 2003-2004 year will be a tour of the native trees and other plants on Leslie Ranch guided by Patty Leslie Pasztor, the co-author of Texas Trees: A Friendly Guide (by Paul Cox and Patty Leslie).  Ms. Pasztor, an ethnobotanist and naturalist, worked at the San Antonio

This trip is for NPSOT members only, since we will be guests on private land.  We will meet at the Leslie Ranch on Saturday, May 1st at 10:00 AM  (see driving instructions below).  

If you prefer to carpool, meet at Riverside Nature Center at 9:00 AM to organize carpools.  We recommend a 9:15 AM departure.  We will meet you at the Leslie Ranch.

 

Driving instructions:  Driving time is about 45 minutes from Kerrville.  Coming from Kerrville on IH-10, take the 1st exit to Comfort.  Turn south (right) on Hwy 87 towards Comfort.  At Blinking Light turn Left on Route 473 towards Sisterdale.  After about 5 miles, Route 473 turns to the right going on to Sisterdale - Do Not Turn but Continue Straight on Old #9 for about another 5 miles to gate on left with Giles Ranch Rd. green street sign and Hillingdon Ranch big sign.  Go through gate and after 2 miles, turn left at cattleguard with rock marker #129.  Road bends between a red house and barn/pens.  Continue on road through field for about 1/2 mile that dead ends into Leslie House.

(Coming from Kerrville on Hwy 27, go through Comfort to Hwy 87 going towards Fredericksburg.  Before the IH10 exchange, turn Right at the Blinking Light at Route 473 towards Sisterdale.)

Vote for Your 2004-05 Officers At May Meeting

Our Chapter Nominating Committee, comprised of Tommie Airhart, Barbara Quinby and Ernest Tremayne, submitted the following slate of recommendations for consideration by the general membership.  Voting will occur at our May at Medina Garden Nursery.  The new officers will be installed in June.  The first meeting under the new Board occurs in September after our summer break.
            President:                                 John Quinby
            1st VP, Programs:                     Julia Campbell
            2nd VP, Outreach:                     Melinda Wasson
            Secretary:                                 Edna Platte
            Treasurer                                   Otis Fox
            Director of Communications:       (open)
            Director at Large:                       Selma Gibson
            Director of Membership:  Janey Crum
There is currently no nominee for the position of Director of Communications.  This officer writes and publishes the monthly newsletter, and handles press releases to the local papers.  The candidate needs to be able to publish the newsletter using Microsoft Word.  If you are interested, or know of a candidate with these qualifications who would like to assist, please notify one of the members of the Nominating Committee.

MAY DAY with MOTHER NATURE

A Family Affair

Saturday, May 1^st, 2004 at Kerrville-Schreiner Park

A Nature Fair is being co-sponsored by the Master Naturalist – Hill Country Chapter and the City of Kerrville Parks & Recreation Department.  The program includes some excellent presenters and topics which may be of interest to you.

Speaker schedule:

9-10 am            Guadalupe River Critters – UGRA staff

10-11 am           Close Encounters with Snakes– Kathy Rice Fletcher 

10-10:15 am      Ribbon-cutting Ceremony for the new city park 

11-noon Butterflies, Jewels of the Skies – Dr. Robert Carpenter  

Noon-1 pm        The Haile Family Storytellers

1-2 pm              The Secret Lives of Bugs – Dr. Ed Gage

2-3 pm              The Ins and Outs of Trees – Lee Haile and his portable sawmill

Children’s Activities:  throughout the day

Exhibitors:  (will be there all day)

1. Texas Parks and Wildlife Trunk Show - Rufus Stephens, Wildlife Biologist
2. Texas Pioneer and Mountain Man demonstration – Allen Heiser
3. Hill Country Archeology Exhibit – Bryant Saner    
4. Natural Resources Conservation Service Rain-machine Demonstration – Billy Griffin
5. Bear Springs Blossom Nature Conservation Group – The Bonenbergers
6. The Nature Conservancy of Texas – Paul Barwick
7. Friends of the Fredericksburg – Bill Elliot
8. The Monarch Larval Monitoring Project – Kip Kiphart
9. Old Tunnel Bat Exhibit – Maggie Tatum
10.  Native Plant Society of  Texas - Boerne Chapter–  Suzanne Young
11. Texas Master Naturalist - Hill Country Chapter (event co-sponsor)
12. Insect Exhibit – Ed Gage
13. Aquarium – UGRA

DOOR PRIZES

Due to the flooding, we were unable to obtain our usual door prizes of native plants.  Our April door prizes included one lovely Big Red Sage (a species thought to be extinct until a small population was discovered in the wild in 1987) donated by an attendee, and packets of wildflower seeds given to folks attending their first meeting.

At our typical meetings (without flooding), each member or visitor who signs in at the Welcoming table receives a free ticket for the door prize drawings.  

REFRESHMENTS!

Thanks go to Barbara Lownethal and Edna Platte for the delicious refreshments at our April meeting.

No refreshments are needed for our May meeting, since it will be a trip to Medina Garden Nursery.  

 

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