seeds – NPSOT-Williamson County Chapter

September 7, 2023September 7, 2023

Meeting Reminder: Sept 14, “Seed Saving for Native Plants” with Colleen Dieter

Please note: our in-person location this month is the Georgetown Parks & Rec Administration Building, not the Georgetown Public Library.

Join NPSOT-Williamson County on Thursday, September 14, 2023, when our featured topic will be Seed Saving for Native Plants with Colleen Dieter from Central Texas Seed Savers. Free and open to the public. We begin at 7:00 PM with a short business meeting that is followed by our guest speaker’s presentation. Read more about this month’s topic in our previous meeting announcement.

==> If you attend in person, we’re at the Georgetown Parks & Rec Administration Building, 1101 N College St, Georgetown, Texas 78626. Come early (6:30 PM) for expert advice, to check out the seed swap board, or just to visit.

==> To attend via Zoom instead of in person, register at https://npsot-org.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZAofu2qrzkuG93_Lb-b3ceHknfjIA6MJSVw#/registration

==> If our guest speaker has granted permission, we post the Zoom recording on our YouTube channel after the meeting date.

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

Have an idea for a speaker? Let Program Leader Susie Hickman know via email to wilco-chapter@npsot.org.

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. See info about upcoming topics on our page Wilco Home.

August 23, 2023August 24, 2023

September 14 Chapter Meeting: “Seed Saving for Native Plants” with Colleen Dieter

Please note: our in-person location this month is the Georgetown Parks & Rec Administration Building, not the Georgetown Public Library.

Join NPSOT-Williamson County on Thursday, September 14, 2023, when our featured topic will be Seed Saving for Native Plants with Colleen Dieter from Central Texas Seed Savers. Free and open to the public. The meeting begins at 7:00 PM. Our guest speaker’s presentation begins after a short business meeting.

==> If you attend in person, we’re at the Georgetown Parks & Rec Administration Building, 1101 N College St, Georgetown, Texas 78626. If you attend in person, you are giving consent to be videoed for Zoom and YouTube (if the meeting is to be posted on YouTube). Come early (6:30 PM) for expert advice, to check out the seed swap board, or just to visit.

==> To attend via Zoom instead of in person, register at https://npsot-org.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZAofu2qrzkuG93_Lb-b3ceHknfjIA6MJSVw#/registration

About our topic: Who, what, when, where, why and HOW to save seeds from native plants. Central Texas Seed Savers is a growing network of people who love seeds. The mission? “Preventing the extinction of culturally, ecologically and culinarily important plants.”

About our speaker: Colleen Dieter is a landscape consultant at ATXGardens.com. As a top gardening educator, she is often asked to speak to audiences about native Texas planting. Her speaking appearances include Ladybird Johnson Wildflower Center, TreeFolks, Central Texas Seed Savers, Williamson County Master Gardeners and the Natural Gardener. She is an International Society of Arboriculture Certified Arborist and earned a Certificate in Fruit Tree Care from OrchardPeople.com. She offers her expertise on The Horticulture Hangover call-in radio show every Saturday morning from 8-9 AM on KLBJ. Colleen co-hosts the Horticulturati podcast, available wherever you listen to podcasts, with her friend and landscape designer, Leah Churner. She is a founder of Central Texas Seed Savers, an organization dedicated to preventing extinction by sharing local seeds. She is also the creator of “Let’s Care for Texas Plants”, a guide to maintaining local landscapes.

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

Clematis-drummondii - Old-Mans-Beard — Seedpods. Old Man’s Beard, Clematis drummondii. Photo by Bob Kamper.

Have an idea for a speaker? Let Program Leader Susie Hickman know via email to wilco-chapter@npsot.org.

May 13, 2022April 27, 2023

Native American Seed April 23 Field Trip Report

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

— by Erin Buhl

On April 23rd we had our field trip to Native American Seed in Junction, Texas. The area was very dry and windy, and is part of a multi-county area of Central Texas currently experiencing drought level D4 – Exceptional, the most severe. The group included around 33 people from our chapter and the Austin Chapter, as well as some from the Master Naturalists group.

photo of group — Bill Neiman (top left) sharing a few words with the field trip participants. Photo by Vicky Husband.

The field trip started at the Hacienda House where Bill Neiman, the owner and founder of the company, spoke to us about his youth and how he got started in the business after initially doing a lot of landscaping work using exotics. Bill’s philosophy about the importance of native plants is summarized on the company’s website on their pages What We’re About, and Sensible People… Why Native Plants are the Right Choice, and I encourage you to read both articles.

Prairie Verbena (Glandularia bipinnatifida). Photo by Erin Buhl.

Next, we made our way down to see the fields. Despite the dry conditions and difficulty of irrigating the fields, the beauty of the native flowers in spring shone through as you can see in these photos. Our tour guides, George and Emily, freely shared of their knowledge and answered our many questions. Some of the plants we saw that were currently in bloom were Prairie Verbena (Glandularia bipinnatifida), Mealy Blue Sage (Salvia farinacea), Winecup (Callirhoe leiocarpa), and Huisache Daisy (Amblyolepis setigera). We were too early in the year to see the field of Standing Cypress (Ipomopsis rubra) in bloom, but were told it is an amazing sight.

Mealy Blue Sage (Salvia farinacea) with Winecup interlopers (Callirhoe leiocarpa). — Mealy Blue Sage (Salvia farinacea) with Winecup “interlopers” (Callirhoe leiocarpa). Photo by Erin Buhl.

Huisache Daisy (Amblyolepis setigera). Photo by Erin Buhl.

Eventually we made our way up to the equipment area and the seed collecting barn. The equipment and time needed to sort the seed from the chaff and ensure its purity and viability are surprising. The business has to take seed and farming equipment that is made for general use (corn, soybeans, etc.) and convert it to their purposes with so many different species of natives that they are growing. They are providing a unique and essential service to the entire state of Texas and I encourage everyone to support their business for your native seed needs.

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