A chance to go native

Admittedly, some of the native plants lauded in this column over the past two years are not readily available in a typical nursery.

However, once a year the Mostly-Native-Plant Sale provides an opportunity to purchase a wide variety of natives. This popular spring fund raiser for the Cibolo Nature Center will be held on Saturday, April 17 at the Kendall County Fairgrounds.

Several vendors who specialize in native plants of the Hill Country will offer their merchandise at reasonable prices. Some generous local nurseries have donated natives for the sale.

In addition, organizations such as the Boerne Chapter of the Native Plant Society of Texas will have booths with lots of different plants from which to choose.

Among the plants the Boerne Chapter will have on hand are locally-native vines that might add interest to a home garden. One is the noninvasive Lindheimer’s morning glory (Ipomoca lindheimerii), which has large blue flowers from April to October.

Another is scarlet leatherflower (Clematis texensis), noted for its eye-catching red leathery flowers during the spring and early summer.

A third vine to consider is Texas honeysuckle (Lonicera albiflora), the non-aggressive white-blooming native honeysuckle that grows wild in the Boerne area.

Other plants not often seen at nurseries will include the shade-loving frostweed (Verbesina virginica). This is a tough native that will thrive in dry soil under shady oak trees. During the fall, the three-foot plant is topped by a big cluster of numerous small white flowers, which are magnets to butterflies. Frostweed gets its name from the phenomenon that takes place on mornings of the first hard frosts. The base of the dead stem develops longitudinal splits out of which extrude long delicate curls of white ice “shavings.” A sort of nature’s ice sculptures.

Boerne Chapter member Chuck Janzow will sell from the healthy collection of shrubs and small trees he grew from locally collected seeds.

For example, one shrub that I hope gets more widespread use in Hill Country landscaping is the silktassel (Garrya ovata subsp. lindheimeri). It is a handsome evergreen bush that, even in my subdivision, the deer do not munch.

Chuck probably also will have understory trees such as wafer ash (Ptelea trifoliata), roughleaf dogwood (Carnus drummondii), and Texas madrone (Arbutus xalapensis).

Another shrub he grows is Texas barberry (Berberis swaseyi), a less-common cousin of agarita (Berberis trifoliolata).

More than one vender will sell bigtooth maple (Acer grandidentatum). Also keep an eye out for the rarer Blanco crabapple (Pyrus ioensis var. texana), spicebush (Lindera benzoin), canyon mock-orange (Philadelphus ernestii), and our native palmetto (Sabal minor).

All three native mist-flowers will be available: blue mist-flower (Eupatorium coelestinum), white boneset (E. serotinum), and, my favorite, thoroughwort (E. havanensis). For fall butterflies thoroughwort is one of the best.

Other native flowers that brighten a yard and attract hummingbirds and butterflies are cardinal flower (Lobelia cardinalis), blazing star (Listris mucronata), standing cypress (Ipomoрsis rubra), many salvias, and various penstemons, to name but a few.

The array of native plants suitable for Hill Country gardens is large and interesting.