Newsletter 2021
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
NORTH CENTRAL TEXAS N e w s Native Plant Society of Texas, North Central Chapter P Newsletter Vol 33, Number 5 S May 2021 O ncc npsot newsletter logo newsletter ncc npsot © 2018 Troy & Martha Mullens & Martha © 2018 Troy Purple Coneflower — Echinacea sp. T May 2021 Program Virtual Meeting May Program by Bill Neiman & Friends "Become Native to Your Place With Native American Seed" Chapter of the Year (2016/17) Chapter Newsletter of the Year (2019/20) Visit us at ncnpsot.org & www.txnativeplants.org Index Chapter Leaders President's Corner by Gordon Scruggs ..................... p. 3ff Flower of the Month, American Germander President — Gordon Scruggs by Josephine Keeney ........................................ p. 8f [email protected] Activities & Volunteering for May 2021 Past President — Karen Harden by Martha Mullens ....................................... p. 10f Everything you need to know about Wildflowers Vice President & Programs — by Martha Mullens ....................................... p. 11 Morgan Chivers Answer to last month’s puzzle and a new puzzle ...... p. 12 Recording Secretary — Debbie Stilson May Calendar” Page by Troy Mullens ....................... p. 13 Treasurer — Position open Texas Wildscapes: Gardening for Wildlife Hospitality Chair — Corinna Benson, Book review by Martha Mullens .................... p. 14 Traci Middleton Best Plants for Novices by Martha Mullens ............... p. 15 April Program review .................................................. p. 16f Membership Chair — Beth Barber Membership Report by Beth Barber .......................... p. 18 Events Chair — Position open Hospitality by Corinna Benson ................................... p. 18 NICE! Coordinator — Avon Burton April Meeting Minutes by Debbie Stilson ................... p. 19 Plant Sales Coordinators - Gordon Scruggs Parting Shots, News & Views by the Editors ............ p. 20ff & Sandy Fountain & Josephine Keeney Volunteer Position Opportunites: Must read ........... p. 20 Education/Outreach Chair — Open Farmers Calendar by Troy Mullens ........................... p. 21 Webmaster — Frank Keeney Habitat for pollinators ................................................... p. 22 Monarch waystation by Kim Conrow ........................ p. 23 Field Trips — Eric Johnson Demo Garden and resources By Kim Conrow .......... p. 24 Speaker’s Bureau — Theresa Thomas Prairie verbena by Karen Harden ................................ p. 25 Donations/Grants Chair — Open Palafoxia by Martha Mullens .................................... p. 26f Parliamentarian — Martha Mullens Native Plants in My Garden by Jeanette Hyden ..... p. 28f Facebook Manager — Open Breadroot by Hollie Carron ...................................... p, 30f Newsletter Editor — Troy Mullens Paradise lost by Eric Strickland ................................ p. 32ff Tom Salmi ................................................................... P. 35ff [email protected] Recommended Plants List (Complete) ................... p. 38f Assistant Newsletter Editor — This Year's Programs by Morgan Chivers .................. p. 40 Martha Mullens Prairie Verbena, NICE! Plant of the Season (Spring) Southwest Subcourthouse Garden Leaders by Dr. Becca Dickstein ..................................... p. 41 Gailon Hardin & Dawn Hancock Spring Plant Sale by Sandy Fountain .......................... p. 42 Native Plant Gardens at the Southwest Join NPSOT, Mission Statement, next Meeting ......... p. 43 Regional Library Leaders — Newsletter Submission Requirements ....................... p. 43 Theresa Thomas & Char McMorrow Molly Hollar Wildscape Garden Leader — Ann Knudsen Fielder House Garden Leaders — Josephine Keeney & Jane Osterhuis O.S. Gray Natural Area — Questions, Josephine Keeney White Settlement Waystation — Comments ? Tom Salmi (new) Publicity Chair — Chairperson needed Use this link below ! & Martha Mullens Troy ©2017 NLCP Classes Coordinator — [email protected] Sandy Fountain, Theresa Thomas The President’s Corner - May 2021 - by Gordon Scruggs I hope you and your family are well. All winter dens that will be blooming through August. August I have been anticipating the beauty of the spring wild- is a tough month for pollinators because it is hot, dry, flowers. I was overjoyed in early March when my first and many plants are either stopping or starting to bloom was a Four nerve daisy / Tetraneuris scaposa. produce flowers. So Green milkweed will help fill the Now joining the daisies are Sundrops (Day prim- August flower gap in the gardens. rose) / Oenothera (Calylophus) berlandieri, Texas The key element to adding any plant to your paintbrush / Castilleja indivisa, Autumn sage / Salvia gardens is…location, location, location. Green milk- greggii, Engelmann daisy / Engelmannia peristenia, weeds need full sun. There are four trees on my lot Yellow prairie flax / Linum berlandieri, Horseherb / and many trees on my neighbors’ lots, meaning there Conyza oanadensis, Cedar sage / Salvia roemenia, are few spots on my lot that receive more than four Texas thistle / Cirsium texanum, and, the NICE! plant hours of direct sunlight. So I spread the seedlings of the season, Prairie verbena / Glandularia bipinnat- around the gardens, some in marginal locations, try- ifida. ing to limit the plantings to locations that receive at My excitement has turned to elation upon least four or more hours of direct sunlight per day. observing the many milkweeds sprouting in my gar- When considering where to plant the milk- dens. I have written several articles in the Newsletter weeds, I tried to set the locations in groups with about expressing my frustration with my inability to culti- five or more plants together. Putting them in groups vate the two common North Texas native milkweeds, will allow Monarch caterpillars to move to a nearby Green milkweed / Asclepias viridis and Antelope plant if they strip the leaves from their host plant. horns milkweed / A. asperula (see the May and No- Also, by having separate groups, disease and milk- vember 2020 Newsletters). My frustration culminated weed herbivores are likely to stay in one group and last spring and I decided on the shotgun approach. not affect other groups of milkweeds. This approach is simple, plant an outrageous num- Two were planted in the front Cedar elm gar- ber of milkweeds all over the gardens and some are den. Okay, I broke my “grouping rule”, but I can al- bound to survive my poor cultivation techniques! ways come back later and add more milkweeds. These So I planted 29 Green milkweeds, spreading are under a large double trunked native Cedar elm / them around in the front Cedar elm garden, south Ulmus crassifolia and a non–native Crapemyrtle / La- side garden, and backyard garden. I ordered the milk- gerstroemia indica (commonly referred to as a Crap weed through Monarch Watch and they arrived on myrtle). Under the canopy of the Cedar elm, they will April 11, 2020. They only cost about $2.30 each and only receive about 4 hours of direct sunlight. Howev- came as 1- to 3-inch tall seedlings. This is the same er, it will be in the heat of the day. Five were planted program Morgan Chivers took orders for last year in the south side garden. This garden is visible from and was taking orders for early this year. I had to pur- our dining room through a large double window that chase a pallet of 50 plants (one species only), because extends almost to the floor. Although it only receives I purchased the milkweed before Morgan started the about four hours of direct sunlight, the sunlight in the milkweed order program early last year. If you missed spring and fall is reflected and intensified off the dou- ordering through Morgan this year, no problem. ble window. Plants that require full sun thrive in this There will be about 100 milkweed plants at the spring garden. The other 22 plants were scattered in groups plant sale, consisting of roughly 50 Green milkweeds around the backyard garden. This includes four plants and 50 Antelope horns milkweeds. under the canopy of a large Bois d’arc (Osage orange) / I chose Green milkweed, A. viridis, because of Maclura pomifera tree in my neighbor’s backyard and its bloom period. Typically, Antelope horns produce three plants under a neighbor’s Water oak / Quercus flowers from March or April until as late as August. nigra. Green milkweed begin flowering in April or May and flower through the summer into September. This is important because it adds another plant to my gar- Continued on Page 4 May 2021 NPSOT News North Central Chapter Page 3 The President’s Corner - May 2021 - by Gordon Scruggs Continued from Page 3 The Monarch Watch site has a lot of good information (Ten-Petal Anemone) / Anemone berlandieri, and about how to plant milkweeds. One thing I picked Meadow pinks / Sabatia campestris. up on was that it was important for the roots to have Mulch is limited to light leaf litter, except for contact with the surrounding soil when planted. So I seven of the plants in the back garden that were plant- looked at how to make a hole that matched the size of ed in goundcover that is a mixture of Frogfruit / Phy- the seedling pot. I found that by driving a 1 x 2 stake la nodiflora and Horseherb / Calyptocarpus vialis. in the ground to the depth of the seedling pot and Because this winter was in severe drought in Tarrant twisting it, the desired size hole was achieved. I plant- County, the groundcover stayed low until the rain in ed after a spring rain so the ground was moist. After March. Of