News and Events

News and announcements from our committee chairs, board members, and chapter leaders. Subscribe to our mailing list to stay up to date. For chapter news, visit Chapters. If you are looking for a calendar of events, see our Events Calendar.

  • Chapter or Committee

Clump of white flowers.
Boerne

March 2012

NICE! Plant of the Month (Melampodium leucanthum) Family: Asteraceae Other Common Names: Rock daisy, Plains blackfoot Type: Perennial Growth: Low growing 6 to 18 inches tall, normally wider than tall. Deer Resistance: Yes Wildlife: Nectar for bees, butterflies and insects. Seed for birds Light Tolerance: Full sun to part sun

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Ten Years of NICE!

By Delmar Cain It could still freeze but this warm weather really feels like spring. Kip Kiphart has been sending pictures of small blooming plants and thinks that just because I stayed in a Holiday Inn once that I should be able to identify them. Of course he is wrong.

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Our friends are back, but for how long?

**ARCHIVED POST ** “They” are back. I told my friend Kip Kiphart that I thought that I had seen one last week in Boerne and another at my house a few days later. But the ones that I saw were some distance away and neither slowed down to say hello.

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Bexar Roots March 2012

**ARCHIVED POST ** from 2012-03-01 Click Here **ARCHIVED POST** **ARCHIVED POST LINKS & PICTURES MAY NOT WORK** **ARCHIVED POST AUTHOR: tmaslonka **

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Letting Nature Make The Call

By Delmar Cain At the last meeting of the NPSOT in Boerne, Wendy Leonard, a Park Naturalist for the City of San Antonio Natural Areas, gave an interesting presentation about her research on the Bracted twist-flower (Streptanthus bracteatus), a beautiful flower found in colonies in only a few places in

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Healing hands help heal the land

Members of several Native Plant Society chapters joined with Master Naturalists and Master Gardeners, garden club members, hundreds of school children, and many other sponsors and participants to help heal the wounded lands after the devasting wildfires  of 2011

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Mound of yellow flowers.
Boerne

February 2012

NICE! Plant of the Month (Chrysactinia mexicana A. Gray) Family: Asteraceae (Aster Family) Type: 1-2 ft. tall and wide, evergreen shrub, very aromatic leaves with woody base, forms rounded mound. Natural Habitat: Lower Edwards Plateau, Trans-Pecos into NM and Mexico on caliche and limestone south facing hillside outcrops. Growth: Slow

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Damianita—Cold Hardy and Drought Tolerant

By Delmar Cain I am sure that it goes without saying that age does not necessarily improve everything. The creaks in my knees that show up with the changes in temperature are not an improvement. Apparently age and changing temperatures have not improved the USDA hardiness zone map that was

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Bexar Roots February 2012

**ARCHIVED POST ** from 2012-02-01 Click Here **ARCHIVED POST** **ARCHIVED POST LINKS & PICTURES MAY NOT WORK** **ARCHIVED POST AUTHOR: tmaslonka **

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Vacancies filled on executive board

**ARCHIVED POST ** At the January meeting in Fort Worth, the State Board filled vacancies for Vice President Finance and Vice President Administration. Gailon Hardin was appointed to the head financial job, a position she previously held in 2006 and 2007. She also served as President in 2009. Gailon is

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New chapter in Victoria

**ARCHIVED POST ** A new chapter in Victoria was recognized during the State Board meeting in Fort Worth. The new chapter is calling itself the Bluestem Chapter. Martha McAlister has been elected president and Kay Dillingham will serve as treasurer. Unfortunately two chapters were decommissioned during the same board meeting.

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About the Region

Fall Symposium 2025 Logo - Teach for the Future

Salado, the location of our Fall 2025 Symposium, lies at the intersection of two ecoregions: the Edwards Plateau (Limestone Cut Plain) and Blackland Prairie (Northern Blackland Prairie).

The Edwards Plateau area is also called the Hill Country; however, this general term covers a much larger area extending farther north. Spring-fed creeks are found throughout the region; deep limestone canyons, rivers, and lakes (reservoirs) are common. Ashe juniper is perhaps the most common woody species found throughout the region. Additional woody species include various species of oak, with live oak (Quercus fusiformis) being the most common. Sycamores (Platanus occidentalis) and bald cypress (Taxodium distichum) border waterways. This area is well known for its spring wildflower displays, though they may be viewed in spring, late summer, and fall, as well. According to Texas Parks and Wildlife, average annual rainfall in the Edwards Plateau ranges from 15 to 34 inches.

The Blackland Prairie extends from the Red River south to San Antonio, bordered on the west by the Edwards Plateau and the Cross Timbers, and on the east by the Post Oak Savannah. Annual rainfall averages 30 to 40 inches, with higher averages to the east. This region is dominated by prairie species. The most common grass species include little bluestem (Schizachyrium scoparium) and Indian grass (Sorghastrum nutans) in the uplands and switchgrass (Panicum virgatum) in the riparian areas and drainages. Common herbaceous flowering plants include salvias, penstemons, and silphiums. This area has suffered greatly from overgrazing and agricultural use. Few intact areas remain, though many of the plants can be found along county roadsides throughout the region.

Our fall Symposium host chapter, the Tonkawa Chapter, includes both of these ecoregions.

Source: Wildflowers of Texas by Michael Eason