Category: Native Plants

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Program Summary: March 14’s Travis County Floodplain Reforestation Program:  A Natural Solution to Contemporary Problems

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— by Gary Bowers

Collin McMichael, Education Coordinator of TreeFolks,   presented our program entitled  Travis County Floodplain Reforestation Program:  A Natural Solution to Contemporary Problems.   Quite a mouthful and quite an amazing program.   In case you are not familiar with TreeFolks you can find out more at www.treefolks.org.

image of group at meeting

The mission statement of the organization is:

Our mission is to empower Central Texans to build stronger communities through planting and caring for trees.

Aha!   It says “Central  Texans.”  Maybe it’s not limited to Travis County.  In fact, there was some discussion about expanding into Williamson County.  This group has been dedicated to urban forestry since 1989 and has helped reforest the Lost Pines area following the 2011 Bastrop County Complex Fire, and in Blanco County following the terrible flooding in 2015.   Collin’s program instilled hope in those of us concerned about insidious carbon in our environment.   See his presentation (available below) for a full understanding of the fabulous work that Tree Folks is doing.

Collin’s full presentation can be found here in PDF format.

You can see the March 14, 2019 business presentation slides here.

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On April 11: “Promoting Habitat Restoration in Urban Areas” with Cheryl Lewis

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(Please note, tonight’s meeting is at the Cedar Park Recreation Center, not at the Georgetown Library.  See info at the bottom of this post.)

image of GT library garden
Library demo garden. Photo by Agnes Plutino.

Join us at NPSOT-Wilco’s chapter meeting on April 11, 2019, for our program topic “As it was in the beginning, it shall be again:  Promoting habitat restoration in urban areas” with Cheryl Lewis. 

Cheryl Lewis, from the Brazos Valley, will explain the importance of native plant communities and the ecosystem services they provide.  The current plight of insect pollinators will be explained and information provided on how using native plants in urban landscapes can help restore their habitat, health and numbers. Cheryl will discuss ways to engage the public, including newspaper articles, social media, plant sales and demonstration gardens.

Cheryl grew up in the Pineywoods and Coastal Prairie ecoregions of Texas. She comes by her love of plants from an extended family in which at least one household always had a vegetable garden and seasonal canning was routine. She graduated from Texas A&M with a Bachelor of Science in Range Science and a Master of Agriculture in Horticulture. On becoming a Texas Master Naturalist, Cheryl has focused on habitat restoration and landscaping with native plants. In addition to serving as a master naturalist, Cheryl is also president of the new Post Oak Chapter of the Native Plant Society of Texas in College Station.

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NPSOT-Williamson County meetings are free and open to the public.

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Field Trip Report: Garey Park 2/16/19 “In Search of Early Bloomers”

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— by Vicky Husband

NPSOT Field Trip Report for Garey Park, Survey 5 of 12

On Saturday, February 16th, 2019, thirteen field trip attendees explored the top half of the newly named Saddle Loop equestrian trail at Garey Park in Georgetown, Texas. We enjoyed finding a number of early spring blooming species, mostly with diminutive flowers, such as elbow bush, agarita, pink vervain and prairie verbena, bluets and mistletoe. This particular Saturday was overcast and chilly, but the Friday before had seen temperatures in the eighties! We were sure we would find something “tricked” by the weather. We even saw Mr. Garey out in his mule on the trail.

We observed the following species during our walk: some botanical names cited might be outdated due to recent classification revisions. Also, E.123 refers to the page number in Wildflowers of the Texas Hill Country by Marshall Enquist; W.123 refers to the page number in Trees, Shrubs, and Vines of the Texas Hill Country by Jan Wrede.

  • Agarita, blooming — Berberis trifoliolata, E.33
  • Cedar elms with wings — Ulmus crassifolia, W.168
  • Cucumber weed — Parietaria pensylvanica
  • Dakota vervain, Prairie verbena — Glandularia bipinnatifida, E.158
  • Dewberry — Rubus trivialis, E.49
  • Elbow bush, Spring herald, blooming — Forestiera pubescens, W.136
  • Greenbrier — Smilax bona-nox, W.189
  • Lace cactus — Echinocereus reichenbachii, E.109
  • Little bluestem — Schizachyrium scoparium
  • Malta star-thistle — Centaurea melitensis
  • Mexican Hat — Ratibida columnifera, E.227
  • Peppergrass — Lepidium virginicum, E.39
  • Pink vervain, Low verbena — Glandularia pumila, E.159
  • Sedge — Carex texensis or Carex, ssp
  • Small bluets — Houstonia crassifolia, E.197
  • Storksbill rosettes — Erodium texanum, E.80
  • Texas bluebonnet, rosette — Lupinus texensis, E.63
  • Texas thistle — Cirsium texanum, E.248
  • Twist-leaf yucca — Yucca rupicola, E.11
  • Mistletoe — Phoradendron tomentosum, W.174
  • Fruits of Western horse-nettle — Solanum dimidiatum, E.178
  • Wind-flower, white — Anemone heterophylla, E.28
  • Yellow mystery plant !
  • Yarrow — Achillea millefoilum, E.243

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