Native Plant Society of Texas

Native Plant Month
2024-04-01 08:00 - 2024-04-08 17:00 (America/Chicago)
During the month of April, people and organizations across the country can celebrate native plants in April by planting native trees, shrubs, perennials, vines and grasses, planning educational events with schools and community organizations, hosting hands-on workshops, removing non-native invasive plants so native plants can thrive, and restoring areas with native habitats to allow birds, bees, butterflies and all wildlife to flourish.

Clear Lake Chapter Spring Plant Sale - April 5
2024-04-05 16:00 - 19:00 (America/New_York)
Our spring plant sale is happening Friday, April 5, 2024, from 4–7 p.m. on the UHCL campus! Don’t forget to bring your wagon or cart.

Cash and credit cards accepted. Prices vary. Look for signs throughout the sale for pricing information.

New this yearRaffle: Enter for a chance to win a bluebird house or an owl box! These prizes are perfect for enhancing your backyard habitat and welcoming native wildlife into your garden.

Market: In addition to our amazing selection of native plants, we’ll be offering a variety of garden supplies and yard art to help you create the garden of your dreams.

Of course, our sale wouldn’t be complete without an abundance of native plants. We’ll have more than 70 species of plants! Check out our catalog below.

LocationEIH is located on the UHCL campus at 2700 Bay Area Blvd. Enter Entrance 2, take a left on Bayou Rd., and follow the signs to the NOA 1 Bldg. OR use Entrance 3 on Middlebrook Dr. and take a right into parking lot D4.

Get directions on Google Maps: bit.ly/getdirectionstoeih

April 6 - 8:00am-3:30pm - Native Landscape Certification Program, Level 1
2024-04-06 08:00 - 15:30 (America/Chicago)
Native Landscape Certification Program, Level 1 – Introduction to Native Landscapes

April 6 – 8:00am-3:30pm – Cibolo Nature Center Auditorium

The class if full, but a waiting list is kept at registration: https://www.npsot.org/our-work/class-schedule/

Williamson County Chapter Plant Sale April 6
2024-04-06 11:00 - 14:00 (America/Chicago)
See all the details on our page => NPSOT-Wilco’s Spring 2024 Native Plant Sale

The Not-Moths of Moth Night - Hybrid Clear Lake Chapter Meeting
2024-04-08 18:15 - 20:30 (America/New_York)
Please join us for our chapter meeting in person or online!

6:15 Doors Opens – UHCL Bayou Building, Room 25246:40 Zoom Opens6:45 Business Meeting6:55 Plant of the Month7:00 Guest Speaker8:00 Mothing at UHCL

Rich Sommer will discuss “mothing” and some of the interesting species he has encountered. While Rich loves a hike hunting for insects, an easy way to find specimens is using a UV light to attract them at night. Engaging in regular “moth nights” at locations such as Exploration Green and Deer Park Prairie, Rich actively introduces others to the world of mothing at venues like Buffalo Bayou and Memorial Park. Interested in boosting your observation and species count for the City Nature Challenge? Consider mothing in your own backyard, as these “moth nights” attract a diverse array of night-flying insects. He will also talk about the upcoming City Nature Challenge, an event he eagerly anticipates each year. Notably, he was the Houston region’s top observer the last two years. Furthermore, he will highlight the role of iNaturalist, an integral tool in his mothing pursuits.

Following the meeting, attendees are encouraged to participate in a hands-on mothing experience. Rich and his team will have moth stations set up with UV lights and will provide assistance with viewing and identifying the specimens for up to an hour after the meeting.

About the Speaker

Rich Sommer began volunteering at Exploration Green nearly 10 years ago, with little knowledge about native plants. Through his involvement with Exploration Green, NPSOT, the Texas Master Naturalist program, and iNaturalist, he gained a deep understanding of the importance of native plants to the ecosystem. He joined NPSOT around 2016, the Exploration Green Board of Directors in 2018, and the Gulf Coast TMN chapter in spring 2021. Over time, he started noticing the insects in his flower and bird photographs. As his knowledge expanded, he became fascinated by their life cycles and their complex relationships with plants, mammals, and other insects. Rich finds parasitic wasps and insect galls particularly intriguing.

In-person – Parking Pass Required

Parking passes required. If you have a pass, don’t forget it – you will not get another one if you picked one up previously. DO NOT park in faculty/staff parking (tickets will be issued). Martha Richeson will be passing out parking passes Monday evening. Watch for her bright blinking vest on the sidewalk between the Bayou Building and the pay station near the Recreation Center. If you miss out on the NPSOT parking passes, you will need to buy a parking pass from the pay station.

Map and Directions – The meeting will be held in Room 2524 of the Bayou Building at UHCL.

University of Houston-Clear Lake2700 Bay Area Blvd.Houston, TX 77058

Online – Zoom

Register in advance for this meeting. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.

This is a FREE EVENT. Meetings are open to members and non-members. If you would like to become a member, you may join online. For more information about the Native Plant Society of Texas and the benefits of membership please visit: npsot.org.

Hosted by the Environmental Institute of Houston, University of Houston-Clear Lake.

Pines and Prairies NLCP Committee Meeting
2024-04-08 19:00 - 20:00 (America/Chicago)
Dear NLCP Committee Members,

This Monday begins our first meeting of 2024. We will meet at 7:00pm on the 2nd and 4th Monday of the month on this Zoom link:

https://npsot-org.zoom.us/j/87628189964?pwd=[REDACTED]

We’re a small committee, and we don’t get to see each other in person very often, so please plan to join with your camera on.

See you Monday!

—

Jay Gowen, NLCP Chair, Pines and Prairies Chapter, 832-513-5785 (cell)

Habitat Workday @ EIH
2024-04-09 09:00 - 11:00, 2024-04-16 09:00 - 11:00 (America/New_York)
Habitat volunteers help weed and mulch flower beds, plant native plants, maintain pathways, and trim trees and bushes. Volunteers may also help clean out the pond on select work days.

No experience necessary—we’ll show you what goes and what stays

Bring your own tools or use ours (we have gloves too)

Don’t forget to bring a reusable water bottle, hat, and sunscreen!

Volunteers must be 18 or older to participate in EIH’s workdays unless prior arrangements have been made.

We do not hold workdays when the university is officially closed. Also, workdays are canceled during inclement weather, though a light sprinkle or drizzle rarely keeps us out of the garden. If you’re not sure, please call 281-283-3950 or 281-283-3045, and we’ll let you know if we’re digging in.

LocationEnvironmental Institute of Houston (Click link for Google Map)University of Houston-Clear LakeNorth Office Annex (NOA) 1 Building2700 Bay Area Blvd.Houston, TX 77058

Chapter Meeting - Cancelled due to Eclipse
2024-04-09 14:00 - 15:00 (America/Chicago)

NPSOT Website Committee
2024-04-09 19:00 - 20:00 (America/Chicago)
Open to any members who help manage content on their chapter or committee website.No registration required.

Join Zoom Meeting

Meeting ID: 897 7771 6314Passcode: [REDACTED]

Native Garden Workday
2024-04-10 09:00 - 11:00 (America/New_York) | Texas Museum of Handmade Furniture, 1370 Churchill Drive, New Braunfels, Texas, 78130, United States
Please join us at the Texas Museum of Handmade Furniture to help maintain the Lindheimer Chapter’s native demonstration garden. Please bring water, closed toe shoes, gloves, and your favorite gardening tools. Contact Craig Bruska at craigbruska@hotmail.com for details and to confirm the workday.

Executive Committee Meeting - Apr 10
2024-04-10 19:00 - 21:00 (America/Chicago)
Native Plant Society of Texas (NPSOT) Executive Committee meetings occur monthly and any member may attend. Contact the Executive Director prior to the meeting at state@npsot.org for Zoom and applicable document links. Please be prepared to follow the Visitor’s Executive Meeting Protocol.

NPAT Zoom Series – Climate, Water, Science and Society in 21st Century Texas - A Historical Perspective - April 11
2024-04-11 18:00 - 19:00 (America/Chicago)
From our partners at the Native Prairies Association of Texas (NPAT). How will climate change impact Texas and the native prairie and savanna ecosystems? How do we plan restorations to be sustainable in 2050? Do we need to change our land management practices? The NPAT Fayette Prairie Chapter will host a year-long series of presentations to explore climate change and the implications for the Fayette Prairie ecosystem. Beginning with the climate models, this series will examine the forecasts within a historical context, then focus upon water resources, management practices, projected changes in tallgrass prairies and soil microbial structure, and end with restoration paradigms in a changing world.

This session will be presented by Jay Banner, Dept. of Earth & Planetary Sciences, University of Texas – Austin.

Drought-Tolerant Native Plants: Nothing Works Like Natives - Williamson County Chapter Meeting, April 11
2024-04-11 19:00 - 20:30 (America/Chicago)
[4/14 Replaced handout link, handout was updated. 4/3 Event updated to add link to handout]

Join NPSOT-Williamson County on Thursday, April 11, 2024, when our featured topic will be “Drought-Tolerant Native Plants: Nothing Works Like Natives” with Randy Pensabene. Free and open to the public. The meeting begins at 7:00 PM. Our guest speaker’s presentation begins after a short business meeting.

NEW Randy has provided a handout ==> (link updated Apr 14) click this link to download the handout.

About our speaker: Randy Pensabene is past president of the Native Plant Society of Texas, Williamson County Chapter, and is involved in the chapter’s native plant garden projects and native plant sales. She has also converted her yard from the typical hedges and non-natives to a beautiful low-water, National Wildlife Federation Certified Wildlife Habitat using Texas native plants. She enjoys sharing her enthusiasm for our Texas native plants and teaching others about their beauty, drought-tolerance, and benefits.

NOTE: this month’s in-person location is the Georgetown Public Library, 2nd floor, 402 West 8th St, Georgetown, TX 78626.

The original meeting announcement is here on the Williamson County Chapter’s blog page.

Heard Museum Native Plant Sale - Heard Members Only
2024-04-12 16:00 - 19:00 (America/Chicago)
The Heard Museum & Wildlife Sanctuary in McKinney will be hosting its annual Spring Native Plant Sale from April 12th to 14th. We are proud to partner with the Heard Museum on this event, which is renowned as one of the longest-running, largest, and best native plant sales in the state.
On Friday April 12th, there will be a pre-sale session exclusively for Heard Members from 4:00 to 7:00 pm. The sale opens to the public on April 13th (9:00 am to 5:00 pm) and April 14th (1:00 pm to 5:00 pm).
Stay tuned for more details about the sale in the coming weeks. We look forward to seeing you there!

Who Are We? - April 13
2024-04-13 09:00 - 11:00 (America/Chicago)
Join us for our first chapter meeting! We will present the overall mission of the Native Plant Society of Texas and our focus on the Rio Grande Valley. We will discuss the features and programs that the state program brings and how we plan to adapt them to our region.

We will be meeting in-person at the South Texas Ecotourism Center in Laguna Vista. For those that can not join us in-person, we are planning to offer a virtual option which we will post as the date gets closer.

After our planned 1 hour chapter meeting, stay a while longer as we explore the South Texas Ecotourism Center with a native plant walk.

Location: South Texas Ecotourism Center, 501 Hwy 100, Laguna Vista, Tx.

Questions? rio-grande-valley-chapter@gmail.com

(Our Chapter Meetings will be held monthly on the 2nd Saturday and begin at 9am.)

Native Plant Container Gardening - May 11
2024-04-13 09:00 - 11:00 (America/Chicago)
Join us as we welcome Matt Kauffman, well-known Rio Grande Valley native plant enthusiast. Matt will share his experience and knowledge from years working with native plants in his container garden.

We will be meeting in-person at the South Texas Ecotourism Center in Laguna Vista. For those that can not join us in-person, the meeting will be streamed live on our YouTube channel: http://www.youtube.com/@RioGrandeValleyChapter-npsot.

After our planned 1 hour chapter meeting, stay a while longer as we explore our upcoming Native Landscaping Certification Program.

Location: South Texas Ecotourism Center, 501 Hwy 100, Laguna Vista, Tx.

Questions? rio-grande-valley-chapter@gmail.com

(Our Chapter Meetings will be held monthly on the 2nd Saturday and begin at 9am.)

2024-04-13 09:00 - 12:00 (America/Chicago)
April 13 – 9:00am – Noon – Second Saturday Workday at Cibolo Nature Center Demonstration Gardens.

Please bring work gloves, hat, water, sun and insect protection.

Second Saturday Workday at Cibolo Nature Center Demonstration Gardens - April 13, 9:00am to noon
2024-04-13 09:00 - 12:00 (America/Chicago)
Second Saturday Workday at Cibolo Nature Center Demonstration Gardens.

Please bring work gloves, hat, water, sun and insect protection

Lantana Earth Day Event
2024-04-13 09:00 - 12:00 (America/Chicago)
Lantana’s North Amenity Center, 11555 Lantana Trail, Lantana

The Native Plant Society of Texas will be hosting a booth at this fun event. We’ll have information for you as well as knowledgeable volunteers to answer your questions. Please stop by and say “Hello.” Happy gardening!

Heard Museum Native Plant Sale
2024-04-13 09:00 - 17:00, 2024-04-14 13:00 - 17:00 (America/Chicago)
The Heard Museum & Wildlife Sanctuary in McKinney will be hosting its annual Spring Native Plant Sale from April 12th to 14th. We are proud to partner with the Heard Museum on this event, which is renowned as one of the longest-running, largest, and best native plant sales in the state.
On April 12th, there will be a pre-sale session exclusively for Heard Members from 4:00 to 7:00 pm. The sale opens to the public on April 13th (9:00 am to 5:00 pm) and April 14th (1:00 pm to 5:00 pm).
Stay tuned for more details about the sale in the coming weeks. We look forward to seeing you there!

Library Talk Series - A Conversation About Invasive Plants
2024-04-13 10:30 - 11:30 (America/Chicago)
A Conversation about Invasive Plants / What they are / Why They’re Harmful / And How We Can Do Better for the Environment by Pam Lienhard at Butt-Holdsworth Memorial Library

This program will discuss what plants are considered invasive; the difficulty in recognizing and controlling invasive plants; the damage they might cause to the environment; why native plants are better for our habitat; and offer suggestions on which native plants are suitable substitutions in your landscape.

A handout of common invasive plants of the area and suggestions for native Texas plant alternatives will be available.

Healthy Parks Healthy People
2024-04-13 15:00 - 19:00 (America/Chicago)
Healthy Parks Healthy People at Bentsen-RGV State Park in Mission.

Our chapter will have an outreach table where we will run a native plant scavenger hunt as part of the Children in Nature event. You can stop by to say hello or volunteer to help out.

Questions? rio-grande-valley-chapter@gmail.com

Beaumont Chapter Meeting
2024-04-15 18:00 - 20:00 (America/Chicago) | Tyrell Park, 6088 Babe Zaharias Drive, Beaumont, Texas, 77705
Join us for our monthly chapter meetings. You do not need to be a member to attend. We meet the 3rd Monday of each month.

Meeting Location: Tyrrell Park – 6088 Babe Zaharias Drive, Beaumont, TX 77705

We meet in the Binks Horticultural Center in the Beaumont Botanical Gardens area of the park.

NPSOT Dallas April 15th, 2024 meeting with Janet D. Smith: The Right Plant in the Right Place
2024-04-15 18:30 - 20:30 (America/Chicago)
It’s not just the placement of plants in your yard, but in the world that will sustain life as we know it. Plants that feed the local insects are the base of the food web and give us a planet we can live on.

Read more….

ZOOM our monthly meetings at: https://npsot.us9.list-manage.com/track/click?u=f20269a37974d8413fc79c831&id=12aa33f97f&e=d2e8f28b23 If needed, use: Meeting ID: 837 2523 6133 / Passcode: [REDACTED]

Austin Chapter Meeting - Effective Use of Natives in the Landscape - April 16
2024-04-16 19:00 - 20:00 (America/Chicago)
Join us for part 2 from last month’s topic with Deedy Wright. Last month she told us how to avoid invasive plants, and this month will go into what are better native choices and how to effectively use them in your landscape. The topic is targeted at beginners or frustrated intermediate gardeners.

Deedy Wright is a life-long Texas gardener. Her particular interests are native plants and invasive plants. She has been an active member of the Native Plant Society of Texas (NPSOT) since 1996. She has completed multiple native plant courses at the Ladybird Johnson Wildflower Center and Texas A&M, and the Texas Invaders training on invasive plants.

In addition Deedy was a certified Master Gardener for 15 years in Bexar and Guadalupe counties, with specialist training in propagation and vegetable gardening. A retired secondary language arts and social studies teacher, Deedy has taught adult continuing education classes on various gardening topics in the San Antonio area.

This is a virtual meeting using Zoom. Please check back closer to this meeting to register to get the Zoom for this meeting.

Register in advance for this meeting:https://npsot-org.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZwtc-2rqD0iGtYJPdJFgc-egNO4rLRYnyVk

After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.

Here are some resources that Deedy has provided:

Deciding on Plants for Your Landscape

Landscaping and Plant Resources–Travis County

Don’t Rock Your Landscape

Cues of Care Is it a weed patch

Invasive Species Alternatives List and References

Field Trip: Bayside Regional Park
2024-04-17 08:30 - 11:00 (America/New_York)
Stop by Bayside Regional Park anytime between 8:30 and 11 a.m. for a tour of the demonstration garden. Martha Richeson and Sandy Parker will be leading the tour.

LocationBayside Regional Park (Google Maps)4833 10th St.Bacliff, TX 77518

April Chapter Book Club
2024-04-17 12:00 - 13:00 (America/Chicago)
Noah’s Garden by Sara SteinButt-Holdsworth Memorial Library 505 Water Street Kerrville, Texas

Chapter Leader Forum - Apr 18
2024-04-18 12:00 - 13:00 (America/Chicago)
Topic: How to Navigate the Member Portal, Find State Forms and Materials, and More!

Description:

We know that navigating the Member Portal and Dropbox can be challenging, so we are here to help. Meg will tell you how to log on to your Member Portal and look through all the resources that are available to you for running your chapter. Bring your questions. Let’s go through them! We hope to have all state staff at the meeting so we can address a variety of questions.

Presenters:

This forum is hosted by Meg Inglis and state staff members.

When: Thursday, April 18, 2024 (Third Thursday) 12 – 1 pm

Zoom Registration Link:

https://npsot-org.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZwsfuygqD8uG9WkaNAeL2ywzbpa6zOVtPkR
