Sunday, May 21, 2023

Day in the Park 2023

So last Thursday, James and I helped out with the annual Kids Day in the Park at Blanco State Park. It was hosted by the state park and volunteer educators like me with the Texas Master Naturalist Highland Lakes chapter. Altogether, approximately 80 third graders from Blanco Elementary School rotated through seven stations, which included mammals, fish/reptiles, art, habitat games, bats and Project Wild. James was my “lovely assistant” while I talked to the kids about one of my favorite topics – SPIDERS. Of course! Fun day and beautiful weather!


Monday, May 15, 2023

Trailing ratany

Another drainage ditch rescue! I just happened to spot this treasure because it’s blooming – trailing ratany (Krameria lanceolata). I was especially excited because last year I’d seen one growing two streets away. Now that area is scraped, and it’s gone. I sure hope this one will be happy in our back yard. Another neighborhood native! 

Spotted in the ditch
New digs


Saturday, May 13, 2023

Drainage ditch rescues

For a few days, I’d had my eye on some onion-looking plants in a nearby drainage ditch. This afternoon, I grabbed a hand shovel and small container. Then I beelined to the ditch and dug some up of the bulbs to add to our neighbor native plants. Meet meadow garlic (Allium canadense). Then James went back with me and dug up some Hill Country rain lilies (Cooperia pendunculata) in the same ditch. 


Meadow garlic in a row

Rain lily on back left suffered a broken bulb. One on far right intact. A small young bulb, front and center, also jumped into James’ shovel. 

UPDATE May 6, 2023

We dug up another plant from the ditch. I think this one is a wild leek (Allium ampeloprasum).


Tuesday, May 9, 2023

Our neighborhood and county natives

We tend a Texas Wildscape here at our Blanco home. Year around, we love to share our native plant gardens, where a huge diversity of flora and fauna thrive. Just check out my iNaturalist account (@sherylsr), and you’ll see! Currently (as of May 5, 2023), I’m up to 1,278 species documented primarily around our property! That includes 207 vascular plant species, mostly native but also a few pests that we’ve tried to eradicate. 

One of my personal goals has expanded to include rescuing, preserving and promoting the native species that already grew on our property and in our neighborhood. That includes transplanting into our back yard, throwing collected seeds and/or germinating seeds. A couple of years ago, I was fortunate to collect seeds from a flowering plant that has since been cleared away to make way for new homes two streets away. I hope to germinate and grow them here. Right now, I’m going on “seed safaris” to collect from plants that grow along street easements. Last year, I was lucky to find seeds from an Illinois bundleflower that grew in a ditch. 

All that to say that I decided it’d be helpful and interesting for me to compile two plant lists for our property, which demonstrates how beautiful and wonderful our true natives are. In the case of Blanco County native species, many of those natives, such as our trees, were purchased at plant sales or native plant nurseries.

I plan to keep adding to these lists. 

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Lazy daisies along Greenlawn Parkway

Key:

E – Existing 

P – Purchased

S – Seeds

T – Transplanted


EXISTING NATIVES ON OUR PROPERTY / IN OUR NEIGHBORHOOD

Agarita E

Ashe juniper E

Antelope-horns E

Alamo vine T

Blue-eyed grass E, T

Carolina snailseed E

Eastern redbud E

Elbowbush E

Engelmann daisy E

Fragrant sumac E

Frogfruit E, T

Gray golden-aster E, T

Hill Country rain lily E, T

Indian blanket E

Indian mallow T

Indian paintbrush E

Lazy daisy S

Meadow garlic T

Mexican hat E 

Narrowleaf four o’clock E

Old man’s beard E, P

Osage-orange E

Pearl milkweed vine E, T

Pink evening primrose E

Prairie verbena E

Purple milkweed vine E, T

Roadside gaura S

Scarlet pea E, T

Sensitive briar T

Southern dewberry E

Stiff greenthread E

Sugar hackberry E

Texas bush-clover T

Texas dandelion E

Texas lantana E

Texas live oak E

Texas mountain laurel E

Texas snoutbean T

Texas star E

Texas thistle E

Trailing ratany T

Twistleaf yucca E

Velvet bundleflower T

Wild four o’clock E

Wright’s skullcap E, T

Yellow passionflower T

Zizotes E, T


BLANCO COUNTY NATIVES

Birdwing passionflower T

Blue curls S

Carolina buckthorn P

Cedar sage P

Damianita P

Edwards Plateau crestrib morning-glory T, S

Eve’s necklace P (gift)

Evergreen sumac P

Fringed puccoon T

Foxglove penstemon P

Fragrant gaillardia P

Golden dalea P

Maximilian sunflower P

Mealy blue sage P

Mexican plum P

Narrowleaf globemallow T

Plateau goldeneye P

Possumhaw P

Purple leatherflower P

Roughleaf dogwood P

Rusty blackhaw viburnum P

Scarlet clematis P

Snapdragon vine P

Texas kidneywood P

Texas persimmon P

Texas skeleton plant P

Turk’s cap P

Virginia snakeroot T

Wafer ash P

Wedelia T

Western ironweed P

Winecup P, S

Woolly ironweed P


Monday, May 8, 2023

Bah, bugs!

In April 2012, I reported our awful infestation of beetles (Phaedon desotonis) beetles. That spring, they decimated our stiff greenthreads in the Meadow. It was awful. Now and then, I spot a few of those dratted beetles, but they've yet to return with such a venegance. 

THIS year, meet the conchuela bug (Chlorochroa ligata). A few days ago, I noticed quite a LOT of them on our agarita bushes, evidently either eating the berries and/or laying eggs in them. According to Bugguide.net, they do feed on agarita fruits. I shrugged. Everybody's gotta survive. 

That is, until YOU EAT MY BLUEBONNET SEED PODS! ARGH! As you can imagine, I was NOT thrilled to find one yesterday in the Meadow on a bluebonnet. You can see how it completely destroyed the pods. As I like to say, "That's nature!" But sometimes, it sure does stink. 



Our "vacant property"

 

 Thus began one of numerous copy-and-paste letters that we get from agents outside of Blanco offering to sell or buy our properties. I finally got fed up and emailed this one last Friday. Naturally, no reply.

Here's what I wrote to that person. I included the photo and my blog link:

 

Dear Xx. X xxxx:


In regards to your recent letter about our “vacant property” at the corner of Ninth and Cedar streets in Blanco, it is NOT. It is a very special piece of land where lots and lots of native plants grow. I nurture antelope horns and other milkweeds for monarchs. I am also trying to rescue neighborhood natives that are being destroyed by development and bringing them to our property. Our diversity of fauna has increased tremendously because my husband and I have planted primarily Texas natives. 

Perhaps you would like to drop by sometime and see for yourself? We’d be happy to give you a tour.
 
 
Sincerely, 
sheryl rodgers