|
|
The Grapevine
Williamson County Chapter Native Plant Society of Texas
Dec 2006/Jan 2007 |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Upcoming Events
Semi-annual Pot Luck Supper December 14; 7:00 PM Williamson County Agriculture Center
Bring your favorite dish and get to know fellow members. There will be no speaker.
January Meeting Program January 11; 7:00 PM Williamson County Agriculture Center
Landscaping using Ecology by Pat McNeal
Learn how to choose the correct native plant palette for our individual growing conditions using nature as a model. Pat McNeal is the owner of McNeal Growers in Manchaca, a wholesale grower of native and adapted grasses, ground covers and flowering perennials that are suited to the condition of the western two-thirds of Texas. He specializes in plant solutions to the problems of urban, suburban and rural development and construction and has been instrumental as a consultant for restoration projects including restoring impacted grasslands, woodlands and other naturally occurring plant communities. Pat also is a consultant in water management engineering structures such as rain water control, erosion control, and watershed development.
Meeting minutes can be found on the website http://www.npsot.org/WilliamsonCounty/. Copies will be available at the meeting.
October 12 Program Notes
Cathy Slaughter of Gabriel Valley Farms presented a program on native and adapted herbs for Texas. Texas has a large number of native herbaceous annuals and perennials such as Stachys coccinea (Texas betony), Monarda citriodora (Horsemint, Lemon mint), and Lepidium virginicum (Peppergrass). Adapted herbs tend to come from the Mediterranean area and include varieties of such plants as Lavender, Oregano, Rosemary and Sage. Samples of many of these varieties were shown to the audience. Almost all herbs have common growing requirements including: lean, alkaline soil with good (fast) drainage and full to half a day of sun. Because of these requirements, herbs do best if they are given little to no fertilizer and very low water.
November 9 Program Notes by Susan Waitz
erosion. With full color photographs taken with the latest photography techniques, the book simplifies the identification of some of our most important native grasses. There is also a section in the book naming the important parts of the plants to help learn how to identify different species. (Identification in the book is arranged by spike or panicle seedhead/inflorescence types. Panicle types include spicate, digitate spicate branches, alternate spicate branches, verticillate spicate branches, contracted, and open. – ed.) Brian and Shirley provided an informative and entertaining slide show on the most informative field guide to grasses now available for our area. Pictured above are Janet Church, Phyllis Dolich, and Agnes Plutino looking at Herbarium specimens of grasses as Shirley Loflin (far right) explains.
2006 NPSOT Symposium
The 2006 NPSOT meeting, “Convergence and Diversity: Native Plants of South Central Texas,” was held October 19-22 in San Antonio. Topics ranged from how the earth formed in Bexar County to the life of the soil, how birds and butterflies co-evolved with plants, what that means to today’s ecology, and local restoration projects. The symposium was accompanied by numerous guided tours to special natural areas, an awards dinner and silent auction. Many of our members attended at least part of the symposium and associated trips.
Lady Bird Johnson Fall Plant Sale
Field Trips
Burleson Prairie
Selah, Bamberger Ranch Preserve
demonstrating the clarifying quality of water that has been strained through grass as oppose to the dark, stained water that has filtered through cedar (Juniperus ashei) . On the right, Dale and Marna McQuinn. For more information, visit the Selah web site at http://www.bambergerranch.org/ .
Granger Lake Prairie
Library Garden
The club has developed a maintenance guide for the library garden to be provided to the City of Georgetown. The guide provides a planting plan and plant pictures to aid in identification in addition to the maintenance requirements. This guide was shared club members at the October meeting and is currently being discussed with the city. Once this guide is finalized it will be provided to club members.
2007 is a big year for the Williamson County Chapter of NPSOT. It is our 10th Anniversary as a chapter. Most importantly, our chapter is hosting the 2007 State Symposium jointly with the Native Prairies Association of Texas (NPAT). The theme is The Blackland and Grand Prairies and Edwards Plateau Grasslands, highlighting the endangered and disappearing tallgrass prairies and grasslands that make up our native ecosystems.
Set aside the third weekend in October, 2007 for this event. If you’ve never attended a state symposium this will be a great opportunity to see what NPSOT is all about, from the state level down. You meet great unforgettable people.
The symposium will feature topics such as the geology, native plants and plant communities, and wildlife of our native prairies, gardening for wildlife with native prairie plants, and conserving and restoring prairies and grasslands. The need to protect and restore native prairies as the habitat for grassland birds, the most declining group of birds in North America, will also be a major topic.
Most of Williamson County and a significant portion of Texas was tallgrass prairie when the settlers arrived, but most of the prairie was destroyed during the last 150 years by plowing, overgrazing, and development. Now less than 1% of Texas’ tallgrass prairie heritage remains.
With a message of hope and action, the symposium will draw attention to the beauty of our native plants and the need to protect and restore our few remaining native tallgrass prairie and grassland remnants before they disappear forever.
Serious planning has already begun and we need your input and help. Phyllis Dolich is in charge of planning and had done a tremendous job of putting together a list of required Committees.
The Committees are; Communication, Education, Events, Finance, and Logistics. Contact Phyllis (512-869-0356) soon if you are interested in joining a committee.
Even if you are not inclined to chair a committee, please volunteer to help in whatever capacity you are comfortable. Feel free to attend any and all planning sessions. They are not just for the chairpersons. It will take a tremendous effort on our part to make this the best State Symposium ever.
In the meantime, enjoy your gardens, take a walk, or pick up a good book to read. I’d recommend “Prairie Time, A Blackland Portrait” by Matt White. I read it while on vacation in Missouri and found it extremely interesting. It was a bit depressing at times as it makes you realize how quickly so much of our natural world is disappearing. It also made me feel good to know that what I am doing in my own backyard, as small as the effort might be, is on the right track.
Bauhinia lunarioides (B. congesta) (Anacacho Orchid Tree)
limestone content. Because this tree is somewhat tender here, it is recommended that it be placed where it can get winter sun but be protected from the winter wind. However, it does not need the reflected heat in the summer and will benefit from some shade. Once established, it does not need supplemental irrigation although it can withstand regular garden water. Fertilizer is generally not needed although it is recommended that a rock or native hardwood mulch be used to cover the roots. Pruning is seldom needed and is used only to standardize (make a single trunk) or eliminate crossing branches or dead wood. Although young trees respond well to pinching of the apical bud, which stimulates new branches, pinching or tip pruning of the branches typically causes awkward, unsightly branching.
B. lunarioides are best propagated by seed. The seed will germinate better if you pour boiling water on the seeds and let them cool in the same water before planting. Plant the seed in a cold frame in the fall or store the seed and plant in the spring. Seeds should be planted in deep containers to accommodate long roots and covered with about ½” of soil or vermiculite. Soil should drain very well. Plant up to larger pots as required, plant in the ground quickly, or plant in root-pruning containers to prevent root girdling. For heavy soils, amend with sand and some (not too much) compost to assure good drainage, add limestone rock if soil is acidic, and plant the tree a little higher than ground level. It takes about 2 years to get a 5 gallon sized plant although it will bloom after about 1 year.
Most of the good companion plants come from the same alkaline area. Some of these plants are Leucophyllum frutescens (Cenizo), Ericameria laricifolia (Turpentine bush), many of the salvia and penstemon spp., Wedelia hispida (Zexmenia), Hesperaloe parviflora (Red yucca), Nolina texana (Basketgrass), Yucca spp., Melampodium leucanthum (Blackfoot daisy), Chrysactinia mexicana (Damianita), and many of the spring annuals. Information on all of the above except the annuals is given in the article on the winter garden. Note that these plant are all drought tolerant; plants that take regular garden watering can be used as long as there is good drainage.
This plant can be found at Barton Springs Nursery in Austin, Hill Country Natives in Leander, Bloomers Garden Center in Elgin, McIntyres Nursery in Georgetown, Sweetbriar Nursery in Belton and The Natural Gardener in Austin. Local nurseries can also order this plant from the wholesale Native Texas Nursery. It has also been sold at the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center plant sales, usually at the Spring sale.
References:
The annuals are gone and most of the perennials, shrubs and trees are dormant. We’ve all been told that brown is a color too and interesting effects can be achieved with plants that have turned brown or tan. Think of the swaying of grass with the dried plume stalk above it, the architectural effect of a dried perennial with a large flower/seed head, or the beautiful colors of some tree and shrub trunks. However, these effects are often enhanced by the use of evergreen plants (including perennial winter rosettes) and winter berries.
If you are establishing a new garden, some designers recommend that you first design your garden for the winter season and then add in plants that provide interest the other seasons. Whether you do this or simply want to add more winter interest to your current landscape, it often helps to list the plants that currently provide interest and then add plants that will enhance this interest. The following provides a partial list of evergreen or berried native plants that are often used effectively.
Key: Feature (E = Evergreen; SE = Semi-evergreen; T = Tender; WR = Winter rosette of leaves; spr =- Spring; sum = Summer); TX = Texas range (C = Central; E = East; etc.); Exp = Exposure (S = Sun, PS = Part Shade; Sh = Shade); H = Height (flw = flower height); W = Width; Wat = Water (Low = Low, M = Moderate, H = High); DR = Deer resistant
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
