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.
Ball moss – good or bad?
Ball moss commonly grows as an epiphyte, or non-parasitic plant living on other plants, similar to many other bromeliads as well as orchids, ferns, and lichens
The Devils River valley – a botanical wonderland
**ARCHIVED POST ** During a Thursday morning hike last week, I saw three plants I never expected to get to see in the wild. I would have felt lucky to see just one of these plants in its native habitat, but all three in the same area was – as
Fall color – the understory factor
**ARCHIVED POST ** In a newsletter of the Boerne Chapter of the Native Plant Society of Texas, Jack Morgan wrote a good piece on how lucky we are to live in bigtooth maple country. He is so right! This fall especially, the bigtooth maples are living up to their reputation.
Driven up the wall by herbivores
Populations of many native plant species would be much larger if not for the decades of sheep and goat browsing followed by the overabundance of deer
Trip to the “cielo” of native-plant diversity
**ARCHIVED POST ** “Cielo” usually means sky or heaven or paradise, sometimes roof or canopy. Every one of these translations probably could apply to some aspect of El Cielo Biosphere Reserve in the state of Tamaulipas, Mexico. I think probably “paradise” is the best meaning to use for this region,
January 2009
NICE! Plant of the Month (Yucca baccata) and (Yucca rostrata)A smaller, narrower-leafed variant of this species is sometimes called (Y.thompsoniana). Copyright © Texas Agricultural Experiment Station, and Texas Native Shrubs – a collection of original photographs taken by Mr. Benny Simpson, Texas naturalist and plantsman extraordinaire, and long time researcher
Strategic plan presented
The Strategic Planning Committee presented the 2009-2012 Strategic Plan at the Annual Meeting in Jasper in October 2008.
Sally and Andy Wasowski
Andy & Sally Wasowski were pioneers of the native plant movement who have authored 10 books encouraging readers to garden with native plants
Everyone loves winecup
**ARCHIVED POST ** Everyone seems to like the winecup. This Texas native is a favorite along highway rights-of-way and on wildflower trails, as well as in home gardens.
Ball moss – the good, the bad, and the “ugly”
Author: Bill Ward My good buddy J. W. Pieper recently asked me to please write a column on ball moss. J. W. frequently leads nature walks at Honey Creek State Natural Area, and he thinks that the thing people on his trips are most confused about is ball moss. This
NICE! fall color — the understory factor
Author: Bill Ward In the recent newsletter of the Boerne Chapter of the Native Plant Society of Texas, Jack Morgan wrote a good piece on how lucky we are to live in bigtooth maple country. He is so right! This fall especially, the bigtooth maples are living up to their
Remembering Kate Hillhouse
Kate found a calling later in life when she began teaching others what she’d taught herself about botany. She created a workshop to instruct gardeners across Texas on how to use dichotomous keys for plant identification
