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— by Kathy McCormack
The Native Plant Society of Texas (NPSOT) Williamson County chapter recently worked with the Williamson County Parks & Recreation Department to install nine new interpretive plant signs along the eastern half of the Jim Rodgers Hiking Trail in Southwest Williamson County Regional Park. Six signs were previously installed along the western half of the trail. Maps for these signs can be found at the bottom of our chapter’s Interpretive Plant Signs webpage.
There is ample parking for this relatively flat, mulched, 1.7-mile trail (plus an additional 0.5-mile walk along the park road back to your vehicle). You can check out the new signs any time on your own, or join us on May 29, 2022 at 6:00pm for an evening field trip on this trail. (See this field trip announcement.)
Honey Mesquite, Prosopis glandulosa. Photo by Nancy Pumphrey.
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— by Vicky H.
On April 9, 2022, the Williamson County Chapter of the Native Plant Society of Texas (NPSOT) hosted a booth during the annual Family Nature Fest held at Garey Park in Georgetown, Texas. This annual event, originally to celebrate Earth Day, took a hiatus during the pandemic but came back with renewed excitement on a sunny and windy Saturday.
Future NPSOT members?
Geared towards the kids in attendance, our blue tent was set up in a mowed field near the Play Ranch and Equestrian Center. This new location opened with a nature poetry walk and continued around a semicircle with booths sporting ways to get closer to nature, including native plants, master naturalists, outdoor enthusiasts, Balcones Canyonlands, and the quintessential pony rides, tortoises, owls, opossums and a menagerie of snakes!
Susie and Vicky
Our fearless volunteers (thank you, Susie Hickman, Marcia Wutke, Vicky Husband and Beth Erwin) alternated handing out starts of Cowpen Daisy-Golden Crownbeard (Verbesina encelioides) with chasing flying sheets of stickers, brochures and plant lists. The 250 plant starts were introduced to the kids as a great monarch butterfly nectar source, and billed as a tough and showy plant for planting directly into the yard. The parents loved the grab-and-go aspect of the plant starts, and many showed serious interest in expanding their knowledge of native plants for use in their home landscapes. Grown by Wright’s Nursery in Briggs, Texas, all starts were handed out by the end of the event!
Take-aways from this educational event include a definite “yes” for attending future Family Nature Fests due to the success of the outreach: the volume of families in attendance, the excitement of new homeowners and young gardeners at the formative point of their learning, while keeping in mind the elementary school age of the kids and their dual interest in attracting pollinators and growing flowering native plants.
Thank you to everyone who helped to make our booth a success – a great event for our chapter!
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– by Belinda and John Buescher
John and Belinda Buescher like to walk along a trail that connects their neighborhood (Parkside at Mayfield Ranch) to Williamson County’s Southwest Regional Park. The path is charming – bordered with Indian Blankets in late spring, punctuated with prickly pear, and dancing with butterflies in the summer. In winter the wind whispers through stands of little blue stem.
The county had constructed an information kiosk where the neighborhood trail met the park trail. But it had been neglected in recent years and had become, well, less than inviting:
The orphaned kiosk.
The Bueschers offered to “adopt” the orphaned kiosk and spruce it up with native plant signs that NPSOT’s Field Trip Committee had already developed. The signs would be affixed with Velcro so they could be switched out seasonally. Committee Chair Kathy Galloway arranged a meeting with the park manager, Toby Bonnet, who enthusiastically accepted their offer.
The couple compiled a list of native plants along the trail. Kathy McCormack, a fellow NPSOT Field Trip Committee member, arranged for the printing and lamination of the signs. Toby consolidated the park information that would need to remain in the kiosk, leaving half of the display area for NPSOT information. Belinda ordered Velcro squares; John bought a vinyl tablecloth and a staple gun. And the fun began!
Work underway.
John, Belinda, and the finished kiosk.
Up close.
NPSOT has now been invited to update all the kiosks in the park!
Photo credits: “Before” photo by John Buescher. Remaining photos by Kathy McCormack.
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