By Bill Ward
Published in The Boerne Star on February 27, 2004
By now, nearly everyone who lives in the Boerne area is aware of the substantial problem with water supplies in the Hill Country, especially where folks depend on the Trinity Aquifer. In my humble opinion, a real understanding of the Trinity Aquifer is years away. However, it is obvious from present data that the Trinity Aquifer System is composed of several thin aquifers which are highly variable from place to place.
The rapidly growing population of the Hill Country may deplete Hill Country may deplete some of these Trinity aquifers before they can be recharged. Surely the price of maintaining high quality water supplies will continue to rise. Thus, it would seem to go without saying that water conservation should be of the highest priority in the Hill Country.
One domestic endeavor that is encouraging significant conservation of water is the movement ward more use of native plants in home landscaping. After all, the greatest nonessential use of water on the domestic level is watering lawns and gardens. Landscaping with native flowers, bushes, trees, and grasses can greatly reduce the amount of water used by a household. Not only that, native plants require less pesticides and fertilizers, thus making the runoff less likely to contaminate the natural water systems, both surface and subsurface.
The idea of using native plants in a home landscape is an anathema to some people who worry that non-traditional “wild” yards will deflate property values. Unfortunately, some uses of native vegetation might even violate city ordinances or subdivision covenants. This of course inhibits many people from trying “alternative” landscaping that would help conserve and protect the water supply.
The other thing which discourages homeowners from trying native plants is their limited availability at retail nurseries, even though there is a large array of native flowers, grasses, shrubs and trees that could be appropriate for almost any garden or home landscape. Native vegetation can be used in formal or informal settings. Some of the most beautifully landscaped gardens in this area are planted with natives.
The demand for native vegetation is growing in the Boerne area, and some local nurseries are making special efforts to carry more native plants. In all likelihood. homeowners will be able to purchase more types of native plants as time goes on.
A good example of an urban yard which makes effective use of native plants is on North School Street at the home of Bob and Dani Vollmer. When the Vollmers bought this creek-side property. the one-acre lot had been kept mowed and was cleared of native bushes and “trash” trees, but no lawn grass had been sodded.
Previously, the Vollmers “had been slaves to San Augustine lawns” at their other Boerne homes. In their new home or School Street they were eager to break those bonds with traditional landscaping and, instead, to take advantage of the natural setting and native vegetation.
When they declined to mow large parts of the yard, many different wildflowers, rough-leaf dogwoods, and native grasses began to sprout up. They introduced some other water-saving native shrubs, such as silktassel, evergreen sumac, and Texas pistache, and they allowed part of the front yard to become a wildflower meadow.
The Vollmers’ yard is anything but an unkempt weed patch. Parts of the yard use natives in a semi-formal landscape, and other parts are less formal. Some native bunch grasses are used effectively as accent plants. The wildflower and grassy0meadow portions of their landscape have their awkward periods of the year while the plants go to seed, but in time these areas are neatly mowed.
The Vollmers have found many benefits to growing native vegetation in addition to saving on the expense of water and upkeep.
The native vegetation enhances their opportunity to enjoy Nature right from their own dining table. For example, their native flowers attract many butterflies and hummingbirds. The native shrubs and understory plants entice many kinds of birds and other wildlife that do not frequent the typical manicured lawn-with-trees landscapes.
The joy of wildflower patches is that they bring ever-changing colors and textures for many months of the year. But from year to year the abundance of any one species is unpredictable. As the Vollmers have found out, there’s a certain mystery to growing wildflowers.
One thing I enjoy about having native vegetation in our own yard is that it gives us a heightened awareness of subtle changes in the seasons throughout the year. Most exotic landscape plants appear to remain insensitive to the natural setting. They remind me of eating in one of those chain restaurants, where you can’t tell if you’re in Texas or Connecticut or Oregon. Landscaping with native plants puts you in touch with Nature.
It is never boring.
