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The ligustrum woods of Boerne
**ARCHIVED POST ** One day the land just back of the soon-to-be-built Boerne Public Library will be a pleasant wooded slope with pathways winding through native trees and shrubs down to shady banks of an intermittent creek. It will be a place to take a stroll, read a book, watch
Brush – it’s a matter of perspective
**ARCHIVED POST ** Brush … you know … that worthless mix of small trees, shrubs, and vines that needs to be cleaned off the land. Or is that really a sensible definition of “brush”?
The ligustrum woods of Boerne — landscape at its worst
One day the land just back of the soon-to-be-built Boerne Public Library will be a pleasant wooded slope with pathways winding through native trees and shrubs down to shady banks of an intermittent creek. It will be a place to take a stroll, read a book, watch birds and butterflies,
Prairies — more than grass on flat land
Author: Bill Ward A couple of years ago, Kathy and I were fortunate to be on a field trip that visited Burleson Prairie, a several-hundred-acre restoration project on the Blackland Prairie near Temple. Being fairly naïve about prairies, we were surprised by such a large variety of native plants, both
Nolina — the “bunch grass” that isn’t grass
Author: Bill Ward Operation NICE! (Natives Instead of Common Exotics!) selection for November is nolina or sacahuista, the “bunch grass” that isn’t a grass. Nolina texana commonly is called beargrass, bunch-grass, or basket grass, but it is a member of the agave family, making it a cousin of yucca, sotol,
Prairies — more than grass on flat land
The wide diversity of native plants on prairies supports a big variety of insects, birds, mammals, reptiles, and other animals. Prairies are teeming with life!
November-December 2009
NICE! Plant of the Month (Nolina texana) Family: Lily Family Other Common Names: Nolina, Sacahuista, Basket grass, Bunch-grass Type: Perennial, evergreen grasslike plant growing in a 3 ft. wide clump. Natural Habitat: On slopes and ravines in rocky soil from the Edwards Plateau, central Texas to the upper Rio Grande
On the trail of big red sage
Big red sage has a certain celebrity for being “rediscovered” after it was thought to be extinct. Wild populations of big red sage are found in very few sites in the Texas Hill Country and no where else on earth.
The ‘bunchgrass’ that is not a grass
**ARCHIVED POST ** Nolina texana commonly is called beargrass, bunch-grass, or basket grass, but it is a member of the agave family, making it a cousin of yucca, sotol, and century plant. Another name is sacahuista.
Native bunchgrasses make great landscape plants
More people are talking about using native grasses in their yards these days? Not lawn grass but grasses in flower beds and as substitutes for low shrubs – bunchgrasses.
Awards recognize utilization, conservation of Texas native plants
The Society recognized notable achievements and acts to promote native plants at its 2009 annual Awards Banquet in Wichita Falls
Big Red Sage Near Boerne, Then and Now
Author: Bill Ward The Recent Discovery May 10, 2004 was a big day for me… or I should say, a big-red day. On that day, Patty Leslie Pasztor and I kayaked through limestone canyons on Cibolo Creek a couple of miles southeast of Boerne. We wanted to compile data on
