Articles by Bill Ward

By Bill Ward Published in The Boerne Star on January 6, 2006 Operation NICE! (Natives Instead of the Common Exotics!) Plant of the Month for January is yaupon holly (Ilex

By Bill Ward Published in The Boerne Star on December 23, 2005 Tall-grass prairies and marshes probably are two things that rarely come to mind when you think about the

By Bill Ward Published in The Boerne Star on December 9, 2005 When I first started hanging out around the native-plant crowd, I was more than a little intimidated by

By Bill Ward Published in The Boerne Star on November 25, 2005 Probably the most frequently asked question about native plants in Hill Country nurseries is, “Do deer eat it?”

By Bill Ward Published in The Boerne Star on November 11, 2005 The angle of the morning sun was just right so that the whole area seemed to glow golden-brown

By Bill Ward Published in The Boerne Star on October 28, 2005 Fall is a good time to plant trees and shrubs in Hill Country yards.  The Operation NICE! (Natives

By Bill Ward Published in The Boerne Star on October 14, 2005 A beautiful new book on native plants of this area is just off the press.

By Bill Ward Published in The Boerne Star on September 30, 2005 October is a good month for planting wildflower seeds, but many people find sowing wildflower seeds to be

By Bill Ward Published in The Boerne Star on September 9, 2005 When our neighbor Denise Blanchette walks around our subdivision, she is especially attracted to the remnant wild patches.

By Bill Ward Published in The Boerne Star on August 26, 2005 Operation NICE! Plant for September is rough-leaf dogwood.

By Bill Ward Published in The Boerne Star on August 12, 2005 Last week Kathy and I experienced a second spring with cooler weather and lots of wildflowers.

By Bill Ward Published in The Boerne Star on July 29, 2005 Clematis and passionflower are two of the most popular vines cultivated in home gardens.

By Bill Ward Published in The Boerne Star on July 15, 2005 For me the most beautiful spots in the Texas Hill Country are where shallow, spring-fed streams flow through narrow limestone canyons.

By Bill Ward Published in The Boerne Star on July 1, 2005 Operation NICE! plant of the month for July is twist-leaf yucca.

By Bill Ward Published in The Boerne Star on June 17, 2005 In many places ecological restoration requires removal, not addition. Restoration of some habitats can be accomplished by eliminating

By Bill Ward Published in The Boerne Star on May 27, 2005 Operation NICE! selection for June is nolina or sacahuista, the bunch grass that isn’t a grass.

By Bill Ward Published in The Boerne Star on May 13, 2005 If you’ve visited the Cibolo Nature Center, you undoubtedly have met the friendly hosts.

By Bill Ward Published in The Boerne Star in April 2005 Operation NICE! plant for May is Texas betony, which also might be called Texas tough.

By Bill Ward Published in The Boerne Star on April 8, 2005 A lot of people enjoy up-close encounters with butterflies and birds, and many have learned that landscaping with

By Bill Ward Published in The Boerne Star in April 2005 A lot of people enjoy up-close encounters with butterflies and birds, and many have learned that landscaping with certain native plants can help attract these creatures.

By Bill Ward Published in The Boerne Star in March 2005 Operation NICE! plant for April is yellow jasmine, also known as Carolina jessamine. It is evergreen, deer-resistant, and a faithful spring bloomer.

By Bill Ward Published in The Boerne Star in February 2005 The March choice for Operation NICE! (Natives Instead of the Common Exotics!) is an easy sell. Everyone seems to appreciate the big-tooth maple, the close relative of the sugar maple.

By Bill Ward Published in The Boerne Star in February 2005 A good friend recently gave me a copy of Roy Bedichek’s Adventures with a Texas Naturalist. As a Texan who always has enjoyed Nature, I like Bedichek’s astute view of man’s relationship to Nature.

By Bill Ward and Ann Black Published in The Boerne Star on January 28, 2005 If John Nance Garner had his way during the 1901 session of the Texas Legislature, the prickly pear cactus flower would be our state wildflower.

By Bill Ward Published in The Boerne Star on January 14, 2005 There is no native-plant equivalent of the black-capped vireo, Comal blind salamander, nor gray wolf. Any one of these endangered animal species might halt development of an area in which it lives.

By Bill Ward Published in The Boerne Star on December 31, 2004 Project NICE! (Natives Instead of the Common Exotics!) will not choose a specific Plant of the Month for

By Bill Ward Published in The Boerne Star on December 17, 2004 The rufous hummingbird that lives in our backyard from late August until mid-March seemed grateful for the cultivated

By Bill Ward Published in The Boerne Star on December 3, 2004 Boerne chapter of the Native Plant Society of Texas will present the SUN Award (Standing Up for Natives

By Bill WardPublished in The Boerne Star on November 12, 2004 The recently discovered 150 to 200 big red sages (Salvia penstemonoides) growing along Cibolo Creek in southern Kendall County are by far the largest known natural population of this rare endemic plant.The once-large patch of big red sage on Frederick Creek near Boerne has dwindled…