N NORTHe CENTRALw s TEXAS Native Plant Society of Texas, North Central Chapter Newsletter Vol 30, Number 7, August 2018 P Chapter of the Year (2016/17) Visit us at ncnpsot.org and S www.txnativeplants.org August 2 Meeting Normal program times, O 6:00 Social, 6:30 Business 7:00 Program Orchid-Iris Room Deborah Beggs Moncrief Garden Center SW Sub-Courthouse Coneflower © 2018 Troy Mullens T Fort Worth Botanic Garden August 2, 2018 Program Native Yards/Gardens by Three of Our Longstanding Members Sandy Fountain ----- Gailon Hardin ----- Josephine Keeney Utilizing Native Plants in Your Yards Details on Page 18 Sandy Fountain Gailon Hardin Josephine Keeney Chapter Leaders President — Kim Conrow Index [email protected] Past President — Starr Krottinger President’s Corner, Kim Conrow ............................. p. 3f Vice President/Programs — Wild Petunia, Flower of the Month Ray Conrow by Josephine Keeney ........................................ p. 5 Recording Secretary — Karen Harden Activities & volunteering for June & Beyond, 2018 Treasurer — Gailon Hardin by Martha Mullens ....................................... p. 7ff Hospitality Chair — Corinna Benson Reviews and Comparisons of Wildflower Field Guides by Martha Mullens .......................................... p. 10ff Membership Chairs — Patti Maness & Membership by Donna Honkomp ............................. p. 15 Donna Honkomp Refreshment hosts by Corinna Benson ..................... p. 15 Events Coordinator — Vanessa Wojtas Southwest Subcourthouse by Gailon Hardin .......... p. 15 NICE! Coordinator — Rozanna Francis NC NPSOT Texas Speakers Bureau Plant Sale Coordinators — Gailon Hardin, by Theresa Thomas .......................................... p. 15 Sandy Fountain & Josephine Keeney NICE! Plant of the Season by Dr. Becca Dickstein, Education Chair — Bill Freiheit Autumn Sage, Salvia greggii .......................... p. 16 Ways & Means — Josephine Keeney Geocaching by Sheila Franklin .................................. p. 17 Webmaster — Frank Keeney Answer to last months puzzle and New Puzzle ....... p. 18 August Program Details by Ray Conrow .................. p. 19 Field Trips — Eric Johnson “August Calendar” Page by Troy Mullens ................ p. 20 Financial Review Committee — Monarch Information and links ................................ p. 21 Eric Johnson, Chairperson “Blooming now” .......................................................... p. 22 Speaker’s Bureau — Theresa Thomas Great Photo by Patti Maness ..................................... p. 22 Outreach Chair — Laura Penn Fielder, Knapp, and Molly Hollar News Parliamentarian — Martha Mullens by Josephine Keeney ....................................... p. 23ff Facebook Manager — Sandra Fountain NC Texas Pollinator Garden Plants .......................... p. 26 Newsletter Editor — Troy Mullens [email protected] Two Lucky Members to Receive Grants to attend the State NPSOT Symposium Assistant Newsletter Editor — Apply Now !!! .................................................. p. 27 Martha Mullens Southwest Subcourthouse Garden Leaders Join NPSOT, Mission Statement, Sept. Program ..... p. 28 Gailon Hardin & Dawn Hancock Hulen Regional Library Garden Leaders Theresa Thomas & Char McMorrow Molly Hollar Wildscape Garden Leader — News Flash Ann Knudsen ******************** Fielder House Garden Leaders — Josephine Keeney & Jane Osterhuis It’s HOT ! Publicity Chair — Vicki Gleason NLCP Classes Coordinator — Don’t forget to give your Merita Knapp newly planted natives ©2017 Troy & Martha Mullens Troy ©2017 Nominating Committee — some water. Eric Johnson, Chairperson August 2018 NPSOT News North Central Texas Chapter Page 2 The President’s Corner - August 2018 - by Kim Conrow Walk out the door and enjoy life! Every month Martha Mullens puts together a great list of upcoming events and volunteer activities for our newsletter. Reading through them always makes me happy. It is a good feeling to know that people can find ways to get into nature and learn about native plants. There are so many opportunities to get involved. Ray and I took a botanical drawing class at the Botanical Research Institute of Texas (BRIT) and guess what? His bluebonnet drawing is in their current art show! Have a look at the photo of the lupine in our yard. Didn’t he do a good job? It really did look like a longhorn! The exhibition is going on now through August 9th, 10AM-4PM. There are a lot of original botani- cal art pieces, all done by students at BRIT, in the exhibition. It is a wonderful experience to view these amazing works. Nature is just out our front door, and we put up signs to prove it. Having the signs out in public goes a long way towards helping people understand why our landscape looks so different from most. Having native plants in abundance in your landscape means having dancing butter- flies and dragonflies and singing birds in abundance. It is a lofty and respectable goal to make this kind of wildscape the norm. Every little bit helps, so keep on adding natives to your garden! Summer is going to give way soon to fall, and the much anticipated fall Monarch migra- tions will be upon us before you know it. It is time to get out into our gardens and make sure they are prepared to provide the nectar needed to fuel the migration! These awe-inspiring ani- mals need to fatten up for their journey and for over-wintering in Mexico. Early to mid-July is a great time to deadhead those coneflowers, trim back the salvia and goldenrod etc. to get those extra blooms full of nectar. In this particular hot and dry summer you might want to give those special nectar plants a touch of water. They may need a deep watering once or twice a week de- pending on your circumstances. Enjoy your activities. The bounty of nature is just out your door. It’s waiting for you. Nature Photos next page.....p.4 Presidents Corner Continued on Page 4 August 2018 NPSOT News North Central Texas Chapter Page 3 Nature and Ray Conrow’s photo & painting Bluebonnet Ray Conrow’s Bluebonnet Painting August 2018 NPSOT News North Central Texas Chapter Page 4 Flower of the Month for August Wild Petunia, Ruellia nudiflora Story and Photographs by Josephine Keeney Wild Petunia, Ruellia nudiflora Acanthaceae (Acanthus Family) Are you dreaming of a plant that can bloom in the heat of summer with very little water and propagate itself? If so, this is the plant for you!! This plant is a wonderful choice for edging a flower bed because of its low profile of about twelve inches. It can also be used as a ground cover and can even be mowed or cut back very short, but don’t worry, it will bounce back with renewed vigor. The flowers are light purple little trumpets that last one day, but never fear, it will continue to make new ones everyday for a long blooming season that starts in late June and continues through fall. Ruellia nudiflora has amazing roots that are at least five times the length of the plant and maybe more, making this plant basically fool proof and very drought resistant. This plant is not picky about soils and does well in sand or clay, but it likes full sun to part shade. It doesn’t do well in full shade, and it may not bloom there. Propagation is not a problem with this plant because it is so very prolific. I have never had to plant seeds or root cuttings from it because it will propagate itself for you abundantly. I have seen it blooming lately at the xeriscape where it has planted itself and looks like a carpet of beautiful purple trumpets !! One of the special reasons for this plant’s ability to reproduce itself is the fact that it is “cleistogamous”. This is a special process that Ruellias, Violas and other plants take advantage of when they want to make seeds without spending too much energy. They make self-fertile flowers without petals that never open, thus allowing them to make seed a lot quicker and with very little effort. As if all those attributes were not enough, this plant is also a larval host for the beautiful Buckeye butter- fly and the Texan Crescent butterflies which happen to be two of my favorites. by Josephine Keeney Photographs Continued on Page 6 August 2018 NPSOT News North Central Texas Chapter Page 5 Flower of the Month for August Wild Petunia, Ruellia nudiflora Photographs by Josephine Keeney August 2018 NPSOT News North Central Texas Chapter Page 6 2018 ACTIVITIES for August and September other than NPSOT by Martha Mullens BRIT Yard Smart Seminars Free Hosted by Fort Worth Water Department & Texas AgriLife Extension Service Seminars are held at BRIT from 6-8PM on Thursdays. Registration required. fortworthtexas.gov/yardsmart August 2 Water U Doing? Water Efficient Sprinklers Sept. 6 Grow Your Own Vegetables Oct. 4 Texas Trees Nov. 1 Composting Fort Worth Nature Center & Refuge ($5 fee for nonmembers) Check out programs other than the ones listed below at fwnaturecenter.org. August 4, 5, 11, 18, 19, 21, 25, 26 9-11 AM Monarchs Sat., August 4 2-3:30 PM Colors of Plants & Animals Sat., August 11 1:30-3 PM Nature’s Cleanup Crew Native Prairies Association of Texas Fort Worth Chapter 5301 Campus Drive, Fort Worth Monday, August 13 6:30-8:00 PM State of NPAT Prairies by Pat Merkord Tarrant county Master Gardeners Thursday, August 2 10 AM Bugs in the Garden by Gail Manning 2300 Circle Drive, Fort Worth Saturday, August 4 9:30 AM Fall Gardening Symposium 9015 Grand Ave., NRH Library, North Richland Hills AUTUMN Saturday, Sept. 15 Native Landscape Certification Program FWBG Saturday, Sept. 22 Molly Hollar Wildscape Greenhouse Plant Sale Arlington October 6 Monarch Festival in partnership with Fort Worth Pollinator Ambassadors. Venue is the Fort Worth Botanic Garden October 18-21 NPSOT State Fall Symposium in San Antonio Activities Continued on Page 8 August 2018 NPSOT News North Central Texas Chapter Page 7 NORTH CENTRAL CHAPTER of the NATIVE PLANT SOCIETY of TEXAS by Martha Mullens Continued from Page 7 Board Meetings open to members of NCNPSOT 6:30 PM, F W Botanic Garden August 28 September 25 October 23 November 27 December-none General Meeting Programs: (6 PM Social, 6:30 PM Meeting, 7 PM Program) August 2 Native Gardens of Our Members: Galion Hardin, Josephine Keeney, Sandy Fountain (Video presentation.) Sept.