By Bill Ward
Published in The Boerne Star in October 2005
A beautiful new book on native plants of this area is just off the press. Trees, Shrubs, and Vines of the Texas Hill Country A Field Guide is by Jan Wrede, my good friend and colleague at the Cibolo Nature Center. The book was published as part of the series of Texas A&M University Press Nature Guides.
On November 17 at 7 PM, there will be a book signing and presentation by Jan Wrede at the Cibolo Nature Center. Jan will talk on Native-plant conservation, why and how for the Hill Country. Her books will be available for purchase. This event is a fund raiser to support the community work of the Boerne Chapter of the Native Plant Society of Texas. Tickets are $5. Please call 249-8240 to reserve your tickets.
Jan’s new book has excellent photographs and descriptions of most of the woody plants of this area. It is not only useful for field identification of native vegetation, but it also provides photos of the native shrubs and trees that are good to use in local landscaping.
Another place to see many of these native plants with landscape potential is at Cibolo Nature Center in the Jodie W. and Odelia B. McCarley Teaching Garden, named in honor of Marty Hixon’s parents. This is a botanical garden of species found only in the upper Cibolo Creek drainage basin.
Several years ago I asked the Cibolo Nature Center Board for permission to start this botanical garden as a way of educating the public on the diverse flora of this area. At the time, I had just started learning more about native plants and was amazed at the variety of natives in Kendall County. I thought other people might be equally surprised to see what grows around them and what could be good drought-resistant landscape plants for their yards.
We chose a then-unused plot of land near the headquarters house and laid out a winding path to divide the area into smaller sections. Jamie McLean’s Eagle Scout project improved the paths with crushed granite spread over weed-block material. After Hugh Walker, Brandon Wilson, and I hauled in mulch from the City mulch pile, it was time to begin planting.
Chuck Janzow kindly donated most of the plants from his Green Cloud Nursery, and Jennings Carlisle kept them watered during the first year until they got established (little watering is necessary now). The plants are identified by etched anodized-aluminum signs, made at the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center in Austin. The WFC ordinarily does not make these signs for other gardens, but I traded the signs for a few workshops on Hill Country geology.
Among the native bushes and small trees to see in this botanical garden at Cibolo Nature Center are all the local members of the sumac family (Anacardiaceae): smoketree (Cotinus obovatus), evergreen sumac (Rhus virens), flameleaf sumac (Rhus lanceolata), aromatic sumac (Rhus aromatica), and poison ivy (Toxicodendron radicans).
Other shrubs include spicebush (Lindera benzoin), larvae food for the spicebush swallowtail butterfly, and wafer ash (Ptelea trifoliata), larvae food for the giant swallowtail. Soon the garden also will have prickly ash (Zanthoxylum hirsutum), another favorite of the giant swallowtail caterpillars.
Many other local woody plants are growing well in this garden, including American beautyberry (Callicarpa americana), Lindheimer’s silktassell (Garrya ovata subsp. lindheimeri), Texas madrone (Arbutus xalapensis), and Carolina buckthorn (Frangula caroliniana). All of these shrubs and small trees are excellent landscape plants for Hill Country yards.
Now that the construction for the new Lende Learning Center is completed, the botanical garden soon will be expanded. Come see what grows in the upper Cibolo Creek drainage basin. You may be surprised.
