Native Plant Society of Texas s1

Native Plant Society of Texas Boerne Chapter

The Home of Operation NICE!™ Natives Instead of Common Exotics

Web site: http://npsot.org/Boerne

NEWSLETTER APRIL 2013 Volume 13 Number 4

Monthly Meeting Tuesday April 2, 2013 Cibolo Nature Center at 140 City Park Road, Boerne TX

Mia McCraw spoke about the Texas Native Seeds program and about her work. Mia is a graduate of Texas A&M University with Bachelor degrees in Rangeland Ecology and Management and Ecological Restoration. Currently, she is the Research Associate for the Central Texas portion of the new Texas Native Seeds program. Her primary responsibilities include opening communications with area landowners and collecting native-plant seeds for propagation and evaluation.

President’s Message My Journey from “Just Lush” During a short vacation which landed me at a lovely spot in a jungle setting on the Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico, I was struck by the different kinds of beauty in plant communities. It was very lush all around, very green, very humid and very crowded with plants competing for space. I recognized many of the plants and the resort had put signage on a few. I suspect the signage was predominately on those which were poisonous or that would cause rashes. One was actually labeled “The poison tree”. It seemed a little strange that the gardening staff was always watering every morning and that you could see sprinklers going off every evening. Across the road in the non resort areas it was every bit as lush, green and crowded. There was a time when all that lushness was my definition of a beautiful landscape.

It took several years after coming to the Hill Country for me to see how fabulous and beautiful the plants are in this landscape. I’m preaching to the choir, but each of us needs reminding every once in a while to really look and take time to wonder at the adaptations and hardiness of even our smallest botanical wonders.

Part of opening up to other types of plants and landscapes happened in the Tucson desert area. My first visit to Tucson left me with only one impression – light brown. Since color, especially bright color, has always been special to me (maybe genetically I’m part pollinator) the desert didn’t impress. But after making several trips to visit a dear friend and doing some hiking in the canyons, things began to look different. I can now stroll around my friend’s property which is a couple of desert acres while experiencing a whole new perspective. There is even great color when you look. One example is the retama. What a unique and interesting green it has. Of course when the desert blooms there is nothing like it and I have been gifted with that on two occasions.

That is the story of my journey from “just lush” to enjoying all kinds of landscapes. Anything we as an organization can do to speed up the process for others who hold the same opinion that I used to will benefit all of us for many practical reasons. You all know them – conservation, water availability and just plain enjoyment.

Jane McAuliffe

Operation NICE! ™ Plant of the Month April 2013 Aquilegia canadensis Eastern Red Columbine by Emily Weiner Dark and gloomy spots in the garden gotcha down? Brighten them up with Eastern red columbine. This native perennial flourishes in the shade and provides interesting color and texture year-round. A member of the Ranunculaceae, or Buttercup family, red columbine can be found throughout the eastern United States and Canada. The columbine growing along wooded canyons and shady cliff faces of the Edwards Plateau are considered a distinct population. What can we say? Columbine loves our calcareous soils!

The red and yellow lantern-like flowers rise 1’-2’ feet high above the semi-evergreen mound of compound, deeply cleft leaves. As you might expect, the striking flowers are a favored nectar source for hummingbirds, bees, butterflies, and moths, and birds enjoy the tan seeds. Additionally, the Columbine Duskywing butterfly uses the red columbine as a larval host.

Red columbine is a true shade lover, doing best in partly to fully shaded areas. Plants exposed to continuous sun will likely exhibit stunted growth and suffer leaf burn. It is also important to ensure the soil is not too rich and is very well-drained.

The bloom period of the red columbine runs from February to July. Personally, I have seen red columbine blooming along the shaded rock faces at Guadalupe River State Park beginning in mid- March. The leaves will remain long after the bloom period has subsided; however, leaves may go dormant during extended periods of severe heat or drought.

Red columbine will happily self-sow and shamelessly hybridize with our native yellow columbines, producing a mixture of red and yellow flowers.

OPERATION NICE! TIP: Consider planting Columbine in those difficult shady areas instead of invasive exotics such as English ivy and vinca or water-loving geraniums and begonias.

The Operation Nice! 2013 Plant of the Month poster is available on our website http://npsot.org/wp/boerne/files/2013/01/2013_NICE_FINAL_poster.pdf

Wanna Meet-up?!?! by Emily Weiner Well, now our Chapter has another way to get the word out about meetings, events, volunteer opportunities, classes and the like!

San Antonio Meet-up is a centralized website for groups to announce upcoming events to their members and to the community. We hope that by creating the Meet-up group we can increase member and non-member involvement, reach newcomers, and encourage new members. You do not have to join Meet-up to search for events on the website, but in creating an account and joining our Boerne NPSOT Meet-up group you help show the community that we are proud to be members and what an awesome group of native-plant lovers we are!

So, head over to http://www.meetup.com/Boerne-Native-Plant-Society-of-Texas/ and take a look around.

Reminders Invasive Plant Removal April 20, 2013, 9 AM The City of Boerne has asked the Boerne NPSOT chapter to take control of a restoration effort of the Cibolo Creek right behind the Agricultural Heritage Museum. April 20, 2013 the Texas Invaders will be helping us out by identifying invasive plants and removing or treating them to kill them. NPSOT folks are needed to team up with the Invaders to start the process of restoring a very beautiful part of our creek. Bring gloves, hand axes and tree loppers. Meet at 9 AM in the swimming pool parking lot next to the Agriculture museum. This is being picked up as a Texas Master Naturalist project, so time working here counts as volunteer hours. For more information call Scott B. Barthel 830-537-5442 or email at [email protected] .

NPSOT Annual Symposium The NPSOT annual symposium and member’s meeting will be held on October 17-20, 2013, at the Holiday Inn - Emerald Beach located at 1102 South Shoreline on the bay shore in downtown Corpus Christi. Attendees will receive a discounted rate of $89 per night plus tax for standard rooms with the reduced rate also made available for the added nights of October 16th and 20th. The discounted rate applies for all reservations booked by October 3, 2013.

Reservations at the hotel can now be booked on-line at http://www.holidayinn.com/hotels/us/en/reservation/roomrate . Be sure that the “Group Code” field is filled-in with NPS in order to receive the discounted rate of $89 per night. You may also call (361) 673- 9074 to book your reservation via phone. Be sure to mention that you will be a NPSOT symposium attendee or mention the “Group Code” of NPS.For more information on the hotel, go to http://www.holidayinn.com/hotels/us/en/corpus-

Regional Stuff Warblers Are Lifetime Birds Workshop with Bill Lindeman April 9, 2013 at 7:00 PM Fredericksburg, Texas American Wood Warblers live exclusively in the Western Hemisphere and are among the most colorful and interesting families of birds we enjoy as birders. Among the smallest of our North American birds, warblers offer birders challenges regarding identification, as well as providing great diversity in plumages, songs, habitats and ranges. After being a birder for only a short time, I realized that these sprites were my favorites among the many different families of birds in North America. I have been asked to conduct a workshop on warbler identification and hope that many of you can join in this exercise.

The workshop is being sponsored by the Friends of the Fredericksburg Nature Center and will be held at the Gillespie County Ag-Life Building on April 9 in Fredericksburg beginning at 7:00PM. The Ag-Life Building is located at 95 Frederick Road off Texas Highway 16 north. Approximately fifty species can be found in the United States, most of them in Texas. In the workshop I will systematically go through the list of species, but spend more time on those warblers that can be found in the Gulf Coast and Hill Country regions. It will be both an educational and fun event.

Most new birders are overwhelmed by large families of birds with many species. At first all appear to be alike, including sparrows, sandpipers and warblers. Sparrows are often lumped together as those “little brown jobs.” Although yellow may be the most common color in warbler plumages, many other colors are present and often accented with black and white markings in the form of streaks, spots, eye rings and wing bars. In their breeding plumages, warbler males can hold their own in any bird beauty contest.

Warblers are very active as they forage for insects both in leaf matter, understory brush and tree canopies. Because they do not sit still, birders have to be quick with the binoculars to get good looks at them as they scurry through dense foliage. The males in breeding plumage generally have distinctive colors and markings to help birders pin down their identities. Prior to the fall migration season, males molt into a more drab plumage that resembles that of females and juveniles. Legendary ornithologist Roger Tory Petersen coined the phrase “confusing fall warblers,” a term which conveys the challenge even the most practiced birders experience in identifying the birds.

The workshop agenda will focus on using not only plumage characteristics, but also range, preferred habitat, behavioral patterns and song and call vocalizations. Because many of the warblers breed in the northern states and southern Canada, birders in Texas do not get to hear them during their breeding season. Birders are now equipped with cell phones that have applications to help them recognize warblers’ songs and calls. Memorizing songs and calls give birders an advantage in locating the birds before the birders see them to confirm their identifications. The Golden-cheeked Warbler’s song is very important in finding the bird in the cedar and oak foliage within the bird’s breeding territory.

The workshop will focus on the key identifiers as related to plumage, feeding sites, behavior habits, or vocalizations. Looking for warblers along the Gulf coast is much easier because they are often concentrated in vegetation “traps,” where they seek cover and food after extended travel over the Gulf of Mexico waters. After recuperating from their travel stresses, they tend to fan out inland as they proceed northward to their breeding grounds. Whether you are searching for warblers along the coastal areas or inland in the Hill Country, knowing what to look for, where to look and which birds are likely to be present, will help birders appreciate these special songbirds. If you are just interested in seeing photos of beautiful birds, I hope you will find the workshop rewarding. Bring your favorite bird book to help you follow what will be shown and said.

The Hill Country Chapter of the Texas Master Naturalists April 22, 2013 “Answering the Call” Dr. Dale Rollins, Professor and Extension Wildlife Specialist, Texas AgriLife Extension Service, San Angelo, Texas The Hill Country Chapter of the Texas Master Naturalist will host Dr. Dale Rollins, Professor and Extension Wildlife Specialist with Texas AgriLife Extension Service, at their April 22, 2013 monthly meeting. Dr. Rollins’ subject will be one near and dear to his heart, quail management, entitled ‘Answering the Call’. His presentation will touch on the declining bobwhite and scaled quail populations of South Texas and the high Rolling Plains, along with the factors affecting their reduction such as land fragmentation, loss of habitat and the significant impact of our current drought. Good land management practices will be discussed along with ‘learning to love your weeds’. Rollins’ current base of activity with Texas AgriLife Extension Service is in San Angelo, Texas, where his vocation and avocation are bound together through his teaching and research work on all things quail and his constant companions, bird dogs, Lil’ Annie, Babe, Deuce, Tracer and Shag.

Dr. Dale Rollins is a native of Hollis, Oklahoma—he often quips that he is “the other ‘DR’ from Hollis”, referring to football coaching legend Darrell Royal. Rollins earned his Bachelor of Science degree from Southwest Oklahoma State University; his Master of Science Degree from Oklahoma State University, and his PhD from Texas Tech University. He has written over 800 popular articles on wildlife management with regular columns in Texas Wildlife, Livestock Weekly and Farmer-Stockman magazines. His expertise spans subjects from predator management to prescribed burning, but his specialty is quail management.

Rollins is a highly respected authority in his field and has been recognized as “Outstanding Educator for 2002” by The Wildlife Society; “Volunteer of the Year Award” from Quail Unlimited and Winchester Ammunition in 2005; and more recently as a “Quail Crusader” by Outdoor Life Magazine in 2012, and many others too numerous to mention. He is the founder of the “Bobwhite Brigade”, an intensive youth educational program and is currently counsel to several graduate students who are researching quail ecology.

Dale has served as Executive Director of the Rolling Plains Quail Research Ranch in Fisher County since 2007. He is presently coordinating a “Quail Decline in Texas” initiative that is aimed at reversing the declines of quail experienced in the state.

The monthly meeting of the Master Naturalist is free and open to the public. Please join us at the Upper Guadalupe River Authority’s lecture hall, located at 125 Lehmann Dr. in Kerrville. Socializing begins at 6:30pm, with the program starting at 7:00pm. For questions regarding this presentation, please contact our program coordinator, Tom Hynes at 830-990-5750. Happenings – the Calendar April 2 (Tuesday) 7:00 PM. Mia McCraw spoke about the Texas Native Seeds program

May 7 (Tuesday) 7:00 PM. Chad Norris, Texas Parks and Wildlife Department Natural Resource Specialist, will speak about springs of the Edwards Plateau. May 11 (Saturday) 9:00 – Noon. Workday in the CNC Demonstration Gardens

To find out about activities and workshops with other organizations call or visit their websites: Cibolo Nature Center (830.249.4616) http://www.cibolo.org/calendar Master Naturalist: San Antonio, Alamo Chapter http://txmn.org/alamo/ Kerrville, Hill Country Chapter http://txmn.org/hillcountry/ Friends of Friedrich Wilderness Park (210.372.9124) Medina River Natural Area Second Saturday Programs (210.624.2575) For more information or to RSVP for any event please contact by telephone. Website: www.sanaturalareas.org

 Our meetings are free and open to the public. Join us the first Tuesday of the month, January-June and September- December, at 6:30 p.m. at the Cibolo Nature Center, Boerne, Texas. Our Sponsors Please support the following businesses that sponsor our newsletter GARDEN GATE COTTAGE BERGMANN A LITTLE FANICK’S ON EVERGREEN COURT LUMBER CO. NATURE STORE GARDEN CENTER Boerne, TX 236 S. Main 106 E. Theissen St. 1025 Holmgreen www.gardengateguesthouse.com Boerne, TX Boerne, TX San Antonio, TX Rebecca Rogers. Proprietor 830-249-2712 830-249-2281 210-648-1303 [email protected] 830-816-2193 830 249 1808 RAINBOW REMAX HILL COUNTRY GARDENS ASSOCIATES- AFRICAN VIOLETS 2585 Thousand Oaks BOERNE STONE & SOIL DEPOT INC. & NURSERY San Antonio, TX Bob Bockholt, GRI 26923 IH 10 West 32005 IH 10W Ronnie Grell, 309 Water Street, Boerne, TX 210.687.1005 Boerne, TX President Boerne, TX 830-249-2614 210.494.6131 830-816-2660, Free 800-455-1551 Burns Garden Center Medina Garden Nursery & Landscape Growing Native Plants Since 25840 IH 10 West Ste 1999 C Become a Sponsor! Become a Sponsor! 3417 State Hwy 16-N, Boerne, TX 78006 Medina, TX 78055 210-698-9669 (830) 589-2771 www.burnsnursery.co m