By Bill Ward
Published in The Boerne Star on April 15, 2003
We were lucky to build our house in a subdivision where most of the native vegetation had not been stripped away as the new lots were laid out. Our builder was careful to place our foundation on the lot so that only one of our 70 live oaks had to be taken out, and he respected our wishes to remove no other vegetation unless it was absolutely necessary.
Besides the live oaks, our 1.5 acres has large red oaks, cedar elms, and hackberries. as well as the understory plants Texas persimmon, agarita, possumhaw, gum bumelia, prickly ash, Ashe juniper, twist-leaf yucca and Buckley yucca. Consequently, when we moved in, our yard already was “naturally landscaped” with large trees as well as the understory shrubs and small trees.
We like the natural understory vegetation, because it attracts birds and other wildlife. For example, if it were not for a thick clump of agarita under an oak just outside our back windows, we probably would not be visited by the spotted towhees and Lincoln sparrows we enjoy every winter. In the late fall, the possumhaw close to our backdoor attracts a variety of birds, including summer tanagers.
On many other lots in our subdivision, the larger trees were saved, but all other native vegetation was stripped away. An important part of the natural ecosystem – the understory vegetation-was removed. Birds, butterflies, and other wildlife that depended on the understory habitat had to move elsewhere.
Of course, those homeowners replaced some of the understory by purchasing shrubs and other small trees, most of which are not native to this area. Commonly these nonnatives fail to restore the habitat that song birds and other wildlife prefer. Besides that, many of the purchased plants require more water and other care than the native shrubbery their property once had.
Our subdivision land was a working ranch a little over 20 years ago; therefore, much of the original understory vegetation undoubtedly was lost to grazing cattle. Just across the road from our subdivision, some friends have a large-acre tract that for many years has had only limited farming and ranching. On visits to that property, we learned that our immediate area has a wealth of understory plants, including redbud, Texas mountain laurel, silktassell, Mexican buckeye, red buckeye, rusty blackhaw, Texas madrone, evergreen sumac, flame-leaf sumac, Carolina buckthorn, wafer ash rough-leaf dogwood, escarpment black cherry, kidney wood, and Texas honeysuckle, in addition to the ones we have on our lot.
We are now adding (or probably reinstating) most of those plants to the understory on our little property. We enjoy thew interesting array of native understory plants, and the birds seem to appreciate it also. Usually there are at least 20 different kinds of birds around our yard. Bluebirds, Carolina wrens, titmice, Carolina chickadees, golden-fronted woodpeckers, and red-shouldered hawks all nest on our lot.
Several of the understory plants are available at local nurseries, but others can be found only at nurseries specializing in natives. Boerne’s Chuck Janzow is the only wholesale nurseryman who supplies some of these Hill Country natives to retail nurseries. The supply is uneven, because of the irregular production of seeds in nature.
On Saturday, April 19 there will be a tour of some yards which use natives as landscape plants. The event is a joint effort of the Cibolo Nature Center, Texas Parks & Wildlife, Texas Forestry Service, and Boerne Chapter of the Native Plant Society of Texas. Directions for the tour will be available at Cibolo Nature Center between 9 a.m. and 1 p.m. on April 19.
