Tag: native plants

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May 12 Chapter Meeting (In Person and Virtual), “Riparian Management, Why Creeks Act the Way They Do” with Ricky Linex

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Join NPSOT-Williamson County on Thursday, May 12, 2022, when our featured topic will be Riparian Management, Why Creeks Act the Way They Do with Ricky Linex.   Free and open to the public. The meeting begins at 7:00 PM.

About our topic:  This presentation goes into the relationships of riparian areas to the uplands that provide water to the riparian areas and the importance of good land stewardship for the maintenance of healthy creeks and rivers. I will show several native riparian plants and discuss a strength rating of each plant as well as its wetland indicator rating which shows how much wetness a plant can tolerate. We will discuss what goes wrong when vegetation and landform cannot support the excessive amounts of water provided to the creeks, say from overgrazing or urban growth, and how erosion results. We will show how creeks can be restored by removing the hindrances that created the problem.

Ricky has provided a handout for his presentation (see this link) listing riparian plants of north central Texas including their strength ratings and wetland indicator ratings.

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About our speaker:  Ricky Linex retired in 2021 as a wildlife biologist for the Natural Resources Conservation Service and works as a range and wildlife consultant. With NRCS, Ricky worked 52 counties in north central Texas covering the Rolling Plains, Cross Timbers, Blackland Prairie and Post Oak Savannah vegetational regions. He worked 38.5 years with NRCS in Goldthwaite, Snyder, Abilene and Weatherford. Ricky is the author of Range Plants of North Central Texas, A Land Users Guide to Their Identification, Value and Management, a plant identification book for Texas. Range Plants was recognized in 2015 as an outstanding publication by the Texas Chapter-The Wildlife Society, the Native Plant Society of Texas and the Texas Section-Society for Range Management.

At every meeting, we give away a book — about native plants or the meeting topic — to one randomly chosen meeting attendee!

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NPSOT-Williamson County meetings are free and open to the public. We hope you attend!  Meetings may be in person, virtual, or both, so be sure to check details in the meeting announcement. Meetings are announced on our website, our calendar and Facebook.

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UPDATED final plant list for March 26, 2022 Spring Plant Sale

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The final final plant list for the Spring 2022 Plant Sale is at this link==> March 23 2022 PDF.  (Date is in the upper left corner on page 2.)   We do not expect to update the list again, but if we do, we’ll send a new blog post out to alert subscribers.

From Beth:
“Here is truly the final draft of the plant availability list.  Most notable are the additions of Dwarf Palmetto, Sabal minor and Devil’s Shoestring, Nolina lindeimeriana.  Both are in the five gallon size.  We only have two Nolina, but we have lots of Dwarf Palmetto.  There are a few things on the list that have a strike-through.  That means they will be a no-show, probably because they haven’t rooted well enough or really waked up enough to get on the trailer and come to the party.  Hope to see you Saturday morning.”

  • Find hours and location for the sale here.
  • Find extra descriptions of some of the plants being offered here.
  • Contact us with the form at this link.

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April 14 Chapter Meeting (In Person and Virtual),”The Importance of Native Plants for Birds” with Gil Eckrich

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Join NPSOT-Williamson County on Thursday, April 14, 2022, when our featured topic will be The Importance of Native Plants for Birds with Gil Eckrich.   Free and open to the public. The meeting begins at 7:00 PM.

About our topic:  Native plants are essential to our avian species. They provide shelter, nesting material, and what the birds eat!

Ruby-throated Hummingbird enjoying nectar from native Cardinal Flower/Lobelia cardinalis
Ruby-throated Hummingbird enjoying nectar from native Cardinal Flower/Lobelia cardinalis (USFWS Flickr Creative Commons)

About our speaker:  Gil Eckrich was born in Germany and came to Texas in 1964. Upon graduation from college in 1970, he entered the U.S. Army as an officer in the Infantry. Twenty years later, and with assignments around the globe, he retired as a Lieutenant Colonel in Central Texas.  After that, Gil taught state and federal government courses for Central Texas College until retiring from that position in August 2009.  Until his most recent retirement in March of 2013, Gil had also been a wildlife biologist in Fort Hood’s Natural Resources Management Branch for 22 years. In that position he became knowledgeable about Central Texas native plants, their beauty, and their necessity for wildlife. Since his retirement, Gil has been traveling extensively in the US, Germany, Ecuador, Scotland, Alaska, Costa Rica, and most recently on his third trip to Colombia – always in search of a good photo of an elusive “lifer” bird species.

At every meeting, we give away a book — about native plants or the meeting topic — to one randomly chosen meeting attendee!

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NPSOT-Williamson County meetings are free and open to the public. We hope you attend!  Meetings may be in person, virtual, or both, so be sure to check details in the meeting announcement. Meetings are announced on our website, our calendar and Facebook.

** ARCHIVED POST – LINKS AND IMAGES MAY NOT WORK**