Family Nature Fest at Garey Park, Georgetown, Saturday, April 9, 2022

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Enjoy the festivities at Garey Park’s Family Nature Fest on Saturday, April 9, 2022 from  1:00 PM to 4:00 PM. This Georgetown Parks & Recreation event focuses on connecting families with nature through a variety of activities, demonstrations and environmental education.

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NPSOT-Wilco booth at Garey Park Earth Day, April 2019.

At the festival, NPSOT-Williamson County Chapter’s booth will promote Texas native plants through education, outreach and example!

We’ll hand out small plugs of native plants as our kid’s activity (with a plant info card for the parents so they can successfully plant at home) and copies of our Garey Park Plant List for natives found in the park.  (Vicky Husband has lined up our booth volunteers, but if you have any questions, please send an email to wilco-chapter@npsot.org and we’ll get it to Vicky.)

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April 2019,

Garey Park entrance fees are required to get into the park, but the Family Nature Fest activities are free unless noted otherwise. Find Georgetown Parks & Recreation details at this link=> https://parks.georgetown.org/family-nature-fest.

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First draft of plant list for March 26, 2022 Spring Plant Sale

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[3/22 post updated with link to the final plant list.]
See this post for the most recent plant list=> Save the Date post
The post below was published on Feb 28, 2022.

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The first draft of our Spring 2022 Plant Sale list is here! We have several plants that are making their debut on this list.

The current plant list is at this link=>  February 27 2022 PDF. (If we update the list, we send a new blog post out to alert subscribers.) See other plant sale details here.

For those of you that like to grow your own food and browse your yard like a deer, we have two new plants that check that category. Prunus angustifolia, Chickasaw Plum will give you deliciously plum-scented flowers in early spring, and very tasty little red plums around August. Ribes aureum, Buffalo Currant, pops out spicy-scented golden flowers in April that turn into edible black currants in late summer. Both species’ fruits are also suitable for jams, jellies, and sauces. Birds will eat them if you don’t.

If a low-carb diet is more your thing, check out Pycnanthemum albescens, Whiteleaf Mountain Mint, Monarda fistulosa, Beebalm, and Salvia ballotiflora, Blue Bush Sage. The mints offer their signature flavorings. Blue Bush Sage is suggested as a substitute for oregano when seasoning meats. All are wildly popular with pollinators.

For those of you seeking the very rare, seldom available species, there is Aristolochia coryi, Cory’s Pipevine. This diminutive native of rock crevices in western Texas is a Pipevine Swallowtail Butterfly host. We will be offering it in 6-inch hanging baskets, the better to observe the Dutchman’s pipe-shaped burgundy & yellow flowers.

Glamor in the perennial border will be yours in a few years with the addition of Baptisia sphaerocarpa, Wild Yellow Indigo. This showy legume will require patience on the gardener’s part as it grows to its mature 3 X 3 foot size but bragging rights will be yours from then on when it covers itself with golden flowers in early summer. The bumblebees will also be delighted with your choice.

These are just a few of the 109 species (at this point) that are on the list. Check it out!

If there is a TEXAS NATIVE PLANT you are seeking NOT on this list, please ask. It would be extremely helpful if you would include the botanical name or a link to a picture of the plant. We may be able to get it for you. We only deal with Texas native plants. If you request something that is not native to Texas, we will politely say so. This offer will end a week before the sale, but you can still ask.

EXCEPTION: 3-5 gallon/$30 plants. Typically, we only bring 4-5 of each species in that size. If you know you want several of a single species in that size, let us know so we can try to accommodate you.

  • Contact us with the form at this link.
  • Find hours and location for the sale here.

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Hidden Springs Feb 13 Field Trip Report

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— By Nancy Pumphrey

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Plant survey trip February 2022.

February 13th was a beautiful day up at Hidden Springs Preserve. We had a good showing of 20 people and explored the southeast quadrant of the preserve.

Even though it was still winter and most things were dormant, it was easy to spot the first early signs of spring. Wild geraniums, anemone and watercress were spotted just beginning to come up. Of course, the small bluebonnet rosettes were seen.

Around the pond in a wet area, we saw a forest of common button bush (Cephalanthus occidentalis) but they were bare on this date. It will be fun to revisit these in the summer. This was near the watercress (Rorippa Nasturtium-aquaticum) of course.

We went from wet areas to drier slopes with many different plants noted. It was easy to see our native evergreens on this trip although there are not many. On the drive in, I spotted one of my favorites – nolina. It was standing all alone out in the full sun with a large clump of evergreen leaves.

We had a very diverse group of individuals with us for a wonderful hike through this lovely preserve. Botanists, beginners, experts and high school students joined us on this sunny mid-winter adventure to learn and teach about Texas Native Plants.

We even made it back in time to see the Super Bowl kickoff!

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