Almost anything can become visually routine in our day-to-day lives, can’t it? We get accustomed to seeing the same things repeatedly — like a piece of art on a wall at home that hasn’t moved in decades — so we take it for granted and forget to stop and really look at it. But that’s simply not the case with a field full of Texas bluebonnets (Lupinus texensis), which astonishes us every spring, like this one in Whitehall, Texas. The state flower of Texas deserves every bit of its praise, signaling spring again and again, and stopping us in our tracks for a minute to marvel at nature’s astounding beauty.
PHOTO Theresa DiMenno
As busy as a bluebonnet? It may not appear so at first glance, but wildflowers are hard workers. Bluebonnets (Lupinus texensis) are known for roughing it; they grow during harsh winter weather and love nothing more than a gravelly bed. And in spring, they bloom with flowers that evolved so that pollinators may, quite literally, take a seat on a petal and enjoy some lunch. They produce enough pollen to both support their own reproduction and feed bees and other pollinators, which takes a lot of energy. This in turn benefits the plant, the pollinator, and our entire planet. Not to mention the lucky person who witnesses it. This bumblebee was photographed near a pond in South Austin.
PHOTO Theresa DiMenno
The Growing Season Begins
AS I WRITE THIS IN FEBRUARY, we’re predicting a strong year for our iconic spring wildflowers. They’ve had just the right bursts of precipitation this winter to nurse them along into the warmth of a new growing season.
Everything must be nurtured. We all need certain inputs to survive, much less thrive. Even those species that succeed in adverse conditions — like some of our wildflowers — require some level of equilibrium, like just enough water (but not too much), plentiful food (but not too much) or abundant sunshine (but not too much).
It’s no wonder that spring feels like an annual magic trick, when life buds, pops and bursts before our eyes. Yet, what seems like magic is a tightly choreographed exchange of energy that relies on all the pieces falling into place, at the right time, in the right amounts, to bring new life forth.
Whether rescuing native plants from development sites, studying and managing wild stands of endangered plants, letting native lawns grow into pocket meadows, or simply swapping plants and seed with neighbors, there’s a whole lot of nurturing going on in this issue of Wildflower magazine.
When we plant things and help them thrive, we’re fulfilling a deep-seated, instinctual desire to nurture. And many of us (like me and possibly you) are in turn nurtured by that process. That exchange of energy I mentioned before isn’t only between the plant and its environment. It’s also between us and our environment and each other. And that’s the real magic. If there’s anything I’d ask you to consider this season, it’s the act of sharing your passion, commitment and enthusiasm for plants with someone who might be nurtured by them. Whether gifting someone a native plant, bringing them to visit our gardens and trails, or helping them overhaul a garden bed with natives, please jump on the opportunity to share what you and I already know, which is that our natural world heals, feeds and teaches us daily.
I hope you feel nurtured this growing season.
Lee Clippard Executive Director
Horticultural Heroes
Rescuing flora from Central Texas’ development boom requires gloves, not capes by Asher Elbein
Not Cutting It
Why No Mow May isn’t enough to change Texas lawn culture by Addie Broyles
PLANT PICKS Homegrown alternatives to popular landscape plants
BOTANY 101 Payback for pollinators
URBAN GROWTH Sowing a home in East Austin
PEN & PETAL Springtime haikus
FIELD GUIDE Buds that steal the show
NEWS AND UPDATES The latest on our gardens and our work
THINGS WE LOVE Favorites from our newly renovated Shop & Gallery
ON THE COVER Ashley Landry, founder of the Native Plant Rescue Project, shepherds a longleaf buckwheat (Eriogonum longifolium) to safety. PHOTO Ann Alva Wieding
ABOVE Slow your mow and let it grow! ILLUSTRATION Drue Wagner
WILDFLOWER
2024 | Volume 41, No. 1
Addie Broyles is a writer raising two boys, a warren of rabbits and a medicine garden at an urban farm she shares with her husband in North Austin. A longtime food writer, she now writes a weekly column about ancestry, grief and history — and other things that connect us that we cannot see — at thefeministkitchen. com.
Christine Glenn is a poet and multidisciplinary storyteller. Her work is heavily inspired by the natural world and the mystical poetic traditions. She lives in Dripping Springs, Texas, with five dogs, twenty-eight chickens, two barn cats and her husband, David.
Kate Rowe is a freelance writer and editor specializing in gardening, food and children’s books. She studied cooking in France and has more
than 20 years of cooking and gardening experience. She pairs picture book recommendations with garden and kitchen adventures @ThePictureBookCook on Instagram.
Lisa Spangler is a software engineer turned artist and lifelong plant nerd living in Austin, Texas. She became a Wildflower Center member 20 years ago and has volunteered for vegetation monitoring and led plant walks. She served two terms as president of the Native Plant Society of Texas’ Austin Chapter. Lisa can be found roaming through nature doing field studies and considers herself a watercolor wanderer — make that a wonder-er — because watercolors never fail to fill her with joy and wonder, even when they’re misbehaving.
Drue Wagner is a Texas-born illustrator
and graphic designer. She started at Pentagram design in Austin before working at various publications in New York City, including GQ, Bon Appétit and The Wall Street Journal. Happy to be back in Austin, she is currently freelancing, swimming whenever she can, and looking for quirky characters and scenes to draw and paint.
Ann Alva Wieding is a commercial, documentary and portrait photographer from Austin, Texas. As an avid gardener and naturalist with a background in Art & Museum Education, she combines her passion for the natural world with capturing environmental portraits of others doing the same. She loves to travel and wander through various environments, looking for flora and fauna in vast landscapes.
Materials are chosen for the printing and distribution of Wildflower magazine with respect for the environment. Wildflower is printed locally in Austin , Texas, by Capital Printing.
LET’S FACE IT: Whether due to their growth habit, bloom, bark or simply nostalgia, many non-native plants are beloved. But as climate changes and native plants become more of a necessity than an option, may we suggest a few to replace the old standards? You can expect your native swaps to outperform and outlast their non-native look-alikes, so why not give them a shot?
Here, some of our staff (who are all dedicated home gardeners) offer up a handful of informed suggestions.
There are two great alternatives to crepe myrtles (Lagerstroemia spp.). If it is blooms that you’re after, then a good native substitute would be Barbados cherry (Malpighia glabra), the understory shrub with bright pink flowers and sweet edible fruit that’s pictured here. If you’re attracted to the crepe myrtle for the smooth bark, then consider Texas persimmon ( Diospyros texana .) for its beautiful smooth grey bark and sculptural limbs.
Leslie Uppinghouse Lead Horticulturalist
Native Doppelgängers
Consider swapping your traditional landscape plants for these homegrown look-alikes.
by Wildflower Center Staff
A great replacement for boxwood ( Buxus spp.) is dwarf yaupon holly (Ilex vomitoria var. nana) since it can fill the same role in a landscape by growing into a dense, clipped small hedge that lends cottage style to the garden.
Amy Medley Lead Horticulturist
Texas redbud (Cercis canadensis var. texensis), goldenball leadtree (Leucaena retusa) and desert willow (Chilopsis linearis) are healthy native alternatives to the overused, weak Bradford pear tree (Pyrus calleryana) still used in landscapes.
Julie Marcus Senior Horticulturist
Instead of planting ligustrum ( Ligustrum spp.), a visually similar native plant is rusty blackhaw (Viburnum rufidulum). Both have dark green, waxy leaves and similar flower forms. Rusty blackhaw grows as a small tree or large shrub, so it can serve the same purposes as ligustrum while being native and not invasive.
Maggie Delamater Administrative Assistant
Instead of French or English lavender, which does not thrive in the Hill Country, try mealy blue sage (Salvia farinacea), which has a similar upright form, striking blue flowers, and blooms heartily from spring through fall. It loves our climate and soil, provides nectar for bees, and reseeds itself in a manageable way.
Scott Simons Communications & Marketing Director
Need more native plant info? Search our mobile-friendly Native Plants of North America database for bloom times, planting conditions and more: wildflower.org/plants-main
Perks for Pollinators
Some plants go above and beyond to reward pollination
by Daniel Murphy
A sweat bee ( Agapostemon sp.) and a Lindheimer’s senna (Senna lindheimeriana) forge a symbiotic relationship.
PHOTO Wildflower Center
PLANTS ARE DRIVEN TO REPRODUCE. For flowering plants, a critical part of this process is moving pollen from a flower’s anther to a stigma found either in the same flower or one nearby. This is the definition of pollination, and animals are frequently recruited to assist in this act. In most cases, pollinators receive some kind of reward for their services — a transaction that both ensures pollination will take place and helps sustain the pollinators doing the work. The two most common floral rewards are nectar and pollen, and nearly all animal-pollinated flowers supply one or both. But there are additional or alternative floral rewards, a few of which are as tangible as pollen and nectar, while others are less so. Here is an exploration of some of those important rewards.
Pollen is a highly nutritious offering, consumed by virtually all bees as well as a diverse collection of other species, including beetles, flies, butterflies, birds and mammals. Flowers that offer pollen as a reward often produce it in excess, ensuring that at least some will serve the intended purpose of pollination. Some plant species produce two types of pollen, one intended for reproduction and another non-viable type offered as food. Twinleaf senna (Senna bauhinioides) employs this strategy, the idea being, perhaps, that by gifting plenty of food pollen, reproductive pollen will be deposited onto the stigma in the process.
Pollen dispersed as a reward comes in the form of easily collectible, individual grains; but some plant species in both the orchid and milkweed families package their pollen in hard-to-consume clusters called pollinia that attach to the bodies of visiting insects. Pollinia is inadvertently moved from flower to flower as the insects continue their journey. In many orchids, there is no reward for this task. But in milkweed flowers, abundant nectar is in regular supply.
Nectar is a sugary solution derived from sap and produced in nectaries, which are generally located somewhere within flowers, but can be found on other parts of the plant depending on the species. Insects and other animals that come in search of this easily digestible fluid are recruited to assist with the transfer of pollen. Compared to pollen, nectar is easy to produce and can be supplied continually during the life of the flower. While some plants have a single nectary per flower, others partition nectar across a series of nectaries. The flowers of desert willow (Chilopsis linearis) hold the bulk of their nectar in one large nectary and smaller amounts in five, more difficult to access locations, presumably a ploy to keep pollinators hunting longer to ensure contact with pollen. In hot, dry climates where access to water is limited, nectar can be a source of water for many pollinators — a dual reward in a way.
Alternatives to pollen and nectar include things like oils, resins, waxes and scents . These products are much less common and suggest an evolutionary relationship with a specific group of pollinators. In Texas, small shrubs known as rhatanies (Krameria spp.) produce oil in place of nectar, attracting oil-digger bees equipped with comb-like structures on their front legs used to collect oil found within the flowers. The oils are combined with pollen picked up by the bee’s hind legs and brought back to the nest.
Some flowers also serve as a place to lay eggs or as a rest stop. Yuccas have a unique relationship with yucca moths, which lay their eggs in the ovaries of yucca flowers. The moths pollinate the flower, and malformed seeds become food for their young. Adjacent seeds in the fruit form normally and are left unconsumed, making the relationship mutually beneficial. Globemallow bees are often found sleeping in the flowers of globemallows (Sphaeralcea spp.), and sunflowers (Helianthus spp.) are known for tracking the sun across the sky during the day, providing warm and inviting locations for pollinators even when ambient air temperatures are low.
Understanding the intricate relationships that flowers share with their pollinators makes it easier to understand why planting pollinatorfriendly plants is so important. For within the small world of a flower and the variety of creatures that visit, there is more than meets the eye.
A village for those overcoming homelessness has gardens at its heart
by Melissa Gaskill
A MASTER-PLANNED NEIGHBORHOOD OCCUPYING 51 ACRES in far East Austin includes a community center, outdoor theater, tiny house bed-and-breakfast site, market, health clinic, dog park, and chapel — along with some 500 residents.
Through shared maintenance of the Genesis Gardens, Community First! Village residents and neighbors create a “forged family.” PHOTO Mobile Loaves and Fishes
More importantly, Community First! Village, which offers permanent housing for those coming out of homelessness, encourages — as its name implies — a sense of community. Tiny homes cluster around common areas with laundry rooms, outdoor community kitchens and green spaces, including more than 10 acres of organic gardens scattered around the property, collectively known as Genesis Gardens.
“The idea to create Genesis Gardens originated from Genesis 2:15, which says: The Lord God took the man and settled him in
the Garden of Eden to cultivate and care for it,” says Alan Graham, founder and CEO of Mobile Loaves and Fishes, which created the Village. Residents here represent what Graham calls a “forged family.”
“This same idea is a metaphor for our gardens program,” he says. “We invite others to come serve alongside our neighbors in the gardens to produce organic foods that nourish our formerly homeless brothers and sisters — while at the same time cultivating community amongst each other.”
Gardens Manager Judea Atarji says that a produce garden was one of the first programs at the Village, which opened in 2015.
“Our true belief is that homelessness is a catastrophic loss of family and community, and here we bring that back,” she says. “There is something special about food and relationships with food.”
The program encourages healthy eating through the power and dignity of choice, Atarji points out. Food is available for residents through a farmers’ market, open every Saturday. Everything is free, but the market is intentionally set up not to feel like a food bank.
“People can say: I want this, or I don’t want that,” Atarji says. “It is a powerful, beautiful, and important thing to tell people they deserve the best and freshest food you can have. It also matters how we hand out the food. If you give someone a mixed bag of salad items and a dressing, that is different from just giving them a head of lettuce.” The market provides recipe cards to help residents try new vegetables, and pre-mixed salads and soup kits. People can cook together in community kitchens. Staff and volunteers deliver to residents unable to make it to the market.
Studies show that community gardening can enhance nutrition and mitigate food poverty. Adults in households where members participate in a community garden eat more fruits and vegetables than those who do not participate. But the benefits go beyond food. Community gardens encourage physical activity, reduce stress and improve wellbeing through increased social contact and culturally valued activities. Gardens at
the Village even provide income for upwards of 20 people.
The plants themselves are neighborly here, too. Atarji uses companion planting, which involves putting plants that enhance each other’s growth close together.
“Companion planting is using like-minded or symbiotic plants,” she says. “If you put one pepper in a pot, your yield is pretty low. Put a pepper plant in a bed with edible flowers and herbs, it blossoms and fruits at a higher rate. In one bed, I may have up to eight different types of herbs and veggies. Everything works
symbiotically. It’s a beautiful analogy for the community, too.”
She starts all the gardens in-house from seeds (except for root vegetables) and everything is no-till, with soil worked by hand and not a tractor. “Neighbors, volunteers and staff are part of an entire hands-on process that culminates at the farmer’s market,” she says. “Every single thing is edible and there is a wide variety so people can try different things and to hit everyone’s palate.”
The property’s main garden includes clusters of picnic tables, the farmers’ market, rows and rows of mixed crops, fruit trees, a chicken house, and a shed for drying herbs. A garden in the second phase of the Village has plots rather than row beds, including one with corn,
Community First! Village residents are invited to select healthy eats at a cheerful farmers’ market every Saturday. PHOTO Mobile Loaves and Fishes
beans, and squash and another growing okra, peppers, and flowers, and a pumpkin house. The site is wheelchair accessible, with pecan shells used in between the plots instead of mulch. The gardens may contain more than 50 types of plants in a season. A 300-foot okra wall at the edge of the property is laid out to make harvesting easy. Melon patches are scattered among wildflowers. An aquaponics greenhouse includes tomatoes, basil, peppers, chard and leafy greens.
Genesis Gardens also includes more than 70 fruit and nut trees scattered around the property, a tropical geodome with lime and avocado trees and other plants, permaculture garden patches, a mushroom house, and facilities for chickens, ducks and bees.
More than 120 laying chickens ranging free in five separate pastures dine on scraps from the gardens. Their eggs are available at the farmers’ market, and the birds also provide companionship, Atarji says.
The Village continues to expand with additional housing, and in the newest phase, Atarji focuses on water and rain retention for the gardens.
“Last summer in the high heat, we planted
things that needed minimal water and that we could shade,” she says. “But there are times when we have to water here and there. That’s just the nature of the beast when you’re farming in 115-degree weather.”
She also hopes to offer foraging opportunities in the new section and plans areas of natural vegetation, including wildflower fields.
“I was put on this planet to grow food and give it away and I’m really good at it,” Atarji says. But for her and for Graham, the gardens are about more than providing healthy food. They exist to engage the larger community and to give residents the opportunity to restore their dignity through meaningful work.
“Each week, hundreds of volunteers who are serving in the Village are led by our formerly homeless neighbors as they work alongside one another across the property,” Graham says. “Our neighbors are able to engage with the community daily, and through their work, their fellow neighbors have access to free, fresh foods weekly at our farmers’ markets.”
The Garden of Eden described in the book of Genesis is long gone, but Genesis Gardens at Community First! Village provides a hint of what it may have been like.
Genesis Gardens Manager, Judea Atarji, examines the crops.
PHOTO Mobile Loaves and Fishes
Wildflowers Haikus
by Christine Glenn
Pioneering plant Lady Bird’s living legacy Roadside formation
Cup-shaped pink petal
Glimpse of tender flesh’d night bloom
Dainty and shy lass
Violet explosion
Tears of Isis scattershot Springtime eruption
Verbena
Bluebonnet
Pink Evening Primrose
Our Best Buds
A quick guide to our favorite flowers-in-training.
by Elizabeth Standley
Illustrations by Lisa Spangler
IS ANTICIPATION THE MOST THRILLING
human emotion? Quite possibly. Consider the days leading up to a dream vacation, bucketlist concert or long-awaited reunion — most people are bouncing off the walls with excitement! Here at the Wildflower Center, flower buds give us a little dose of that feeling every day. This quick guide is designed to help you ID some of our favorites.
TEXAS BLUEBELL
Eustoma exaltatum spp. russellianum
Spindly sepals surround each paintbrush-shaped bud
Found in moist places, especially in areas adjacent to streams
Showy flowers are most often purple, but sometimes blue, pink or white
Telltale trait: Buds keep forming and opening well into summer, after other plants turn crispy and brown
PURPLE LEATHERFLOWER
Clematis pitcheri
Buds nod from ends of slender stems, eventually producing flowers that do the same
Unusual grasping leaf petioles allow vines to climb 10 feet or higher
Perennial, blooming Mar. – Oct. before dying to ground
Telltale trait: Urn-shaped sepals are thick, succulent and leather-like — hence the common name
Tetragonotheca texana
Green bracts pucker around flower head, creating a boxy, dumpling-like shape
Red-tinted disk flowers protrude prominently from head of bloom
Plant is usually around 18 inches tall but can reach four feet
Telltale trait: inent collar around open flower
AMERICAN BASKET-FLOWER
Centaurea americana
Stiff, straw-colored bracts encircle the flower head
Bracts, called phyllaries, have up to 15 spine-like appendages along their margins
Lavender-pink, filamentous flower heads with cream-colored centers appear Feb. - Aug.
Telltale trait: Has a sweet, honey-like scent
SQUAREBUD DAISY
Spring happy hours are back!
Live Music + Food Trucks + Flowers
Tuesdays, 5 - 8 p.m. March 19 - May 14
HORTICULTURAL HEROES
HORTICULTURAL
Rescuing flora from Central Texas’ development boom requires gloves, not capes
by Asher Elbein | Photos by Ann Alva Wieding
Volunteers with the Native Plant Rescue Project use small flags to mark the location of significant plants.
THE WIND WHIPS OVER A STRETCH
of Pflugerville, Texas prairieland, rustling the grass and setting tiny orange and blue flags bobbing. Each marks the location of a special plant, its long summer foliage hidden among the golden grass stalks. In the near future, this former residential property will be bulldozed and developed.
But on this bright, humid morning, the people wandering the prairie in safety jackets and hard hats aren’t there for construction. They’re volunteers with the Native Plant Rescue Project, and they’re here for the plants.
The loamy plains and hardscrabble hills of the Texas Hill Country host a botanical garden’s worth of interesting native plants, each specifically evolved to thrive within the challenging landscape. But many of these plants — uncultivated by private nurseries or academic institutions, unrecognized by casual wildflower enthusiasts — are under pressure from the boom in development throughout the I-35 corridor. As ranchlands and empty fields are converted into housing and businesses, some of the region’s interesting plants are at serious risk of losing ground. The Native Plant Rescue Project is here to offer them a way out.
The Texas Hill Country sits at the intersection of multiple habitats. To the east of I-35 runs the rich, dark clay of the Blackland Prairie, fueling tall grasses and agriculture. To the west rise the rolling hillsides and limestone outcrops of the Edwards Plateau, with their pockets of hardy plants and fields of seasonal blooms. This crossroads landscape — raked by summer heat and occasional gushes of rain — has given rise to a patchwork ecosystem filled with interesting and opportunistic native plants and wildflowers.
Some, like the famous bluebonnet, are beloved, grown in nurseries and seeded avidly throughout private property. Many others are more obscure, but no less fasci-
nating, with names that seem right out of a fairy tale: longleaf buckwheat and narrowleaf puccoon, slimflower scurfpea snake apple, prairie pinkroot and Dutchman’s britches. Some have showy flowers; others bloom in more subtle ways, their blossoms poking up above the bronze grass in high summer, when the bright carpets of spring have withered.
“I’ve always been interested in native plants, but I didn’t know ours,” said Ashley Landry, leader of the plant rescue. She grew increasingly fascinated in plant identification through her involvement with the Texas Master Naturalist Program and use of tools like iNaturalist. She also began looking for native plants to put in her yard. But whenever
she went to a local nursery, she found few of them available. “There was this disconnect between the plants I could see out in the field, and the ones I can get,” she said.
More concerning, she said, was the fact that many of the plants that interested her in Williamson, Travis and Hays Counties were at serious risk of being paved over. In 2022, the suburb of Georgetown saw the fastest rate of growth in the country, with Kyle and Leander not far behind; with that growth in Travis, Williamson and Hays counties has come attendant housing developments, business
parks, box stores and parking lots. “With the development everywhere, we’re throwing these plants away when they’re not available in the nursery trade.”
Last summer — after spending time researching the legalities and talking to other native plant societies — Landry started the Native Plant Rescue Project, an initiative powered by volunteers from the Native Plant Society of Texas, Good Water Master Naturalists, and other interested parties. She finds potential sites by keeping an active eye on construction permits filed in Williamson County.
Landry founded the Native Plant Rescue Project last summer to save her favorite blooms.
FROM LEFT Volunteers prepare for a day of plant rescue in Pflugerville, Texas; Landry and a volunteer admire an intricate root system; A longleaf buckwheat (Eriogonum longifolium) on its way to salvation.
There are subtleties to this, she said: plots of Blackland Prairie to the east of I-35 are more likely to have been used for agriculture, with native species lost to the plow. “On the west side its easier to find these cool plants but you have to watch for overgrazing.”
When she finds a spot that looks promising, she’ll drive by the roadside perimeter to see if anything interesting — cacti, milkweed, perennials — is growing there. Then she contacts the landowners with a pitch that includes pictures of any plants she’s seen.
Some landowners never get back to her. But she’s worked hard to forge agreements with others in the construction permitting process, who give permission for her and her volunteers to enter the property and take whatever plants interest them. Most of these landowners prefer anonymity, and the site of these rescues is kept secret. Others, like Sabey Construction, are enthusiastic about the experience. “We really try to respect what these landowners want and make it as easy and risk free as possible,” Landry said. “We couldn’t do it without them, and I think it’s the most ethical way to take plants and do good with them because the plants would otherwise perish.”
Once they get the go ahead, Landry and volunteers visit the property to scout for any important plants, mark them, and form
a plan to go get them. In 2023, that occasionally meant trekking around properties in triple digit heat, sometimes in stands of tall grass with a risk of rattlesnakes. Volunteers drag along wagons and carry special shovels on their backs, working carefully to extract plants and get them into cooling bags. Then they fill in the holes and go, bringing the rescued plants to their new homes.
Some of those plants — particularly cactus species like horse crippler, lace cacti, pineapple cacti and the little Missouri foxtail , which crouch unobtrusively amid dry prairie grasses — end up at botanical gardens like the Wildflower Center or San Antonio Botanical Garden, in part because cacti reproduce slowly and are at particular risk for poaching.
“In general the two botanical gardens are for conservation, so they can be caretakers of these species,” Landry says. “If it’s in a yard, someone can move or die, and the property can change hands. In the gardens, it’s forever.”
Native plant seeds also go to the Wildflower Center’s conservation seed bank, part of a collaboration that’s just beginning to flower. “They’re not necessarily always rare species that we’re collecting, but they’re really interesting because these populations are going to be wiped out,” said Jessi White, Wildflower Center seed bank coordinator.
“Everyone wants to plant pollinator gardens, but if we manage what we have — we already have acres .”
Landry and White are also figuring out places they can share seeds with to increase the amount of native species in gardens public and private. “They are central Texas natives, so we want to keep them where they’re best — in central Texas,” White said. “Because these properties are being developed, it’s a really good opportunity to connect with community, share these seeds and save plants that otherwise are not going to be around much longer.”
Landry places a particular emphasis on getting native Hill Country plants into the nursery trade. Many of the Texas plants sold in Austin-area nurseries come from far afield — as far east as Houston or from the deserts of the Trans-Pecos, she noted. There are comparatively few species available from nurseries or seed companies in Austin’s backyard. “We want to change that to where you can actually buy more Central Texas species from
native plant growers,” Landry said, so that gardeners can source natives, like a medicinal plant, from the commercial trade. “We send some of our rescue plants to local growers for propagation, and we also collect seed to send to Native American Seed, who will propagate and sell it, so that more of these species will eventually be available to the public.”
The trick, however, is to make sure that the plants are distributed as widely as possible, Landry said. That doesn’t just ensure that these plants will be distributed around Travis and Williamson Counties in the future: it also ensures that the plants are on people’s radar. For many people in Texas, Landry said, spring wildflowers are the main show, and summer- and fall-blooming species are rarely discussed.
Some of the work Landry does is within Round Rock, Texas which recently joined the Xerces Society’s Bee City USA program
Landry uses a rootslayer shovel and elbow grease to extract deeply rooted plants.
and has been an enthusiastic supporter of the rescue. (Austin is already a member.)
Despite these initiatives, municipal inertia can see wildflower meadows mowed in areas of Georgetown or Round Rock after the more visually alluring spring season, dealing a blow to the fall blooms. Mowing itself isn’t necessarily the problem — roadsides have been mowed for decades, Landry says, and remain an important reservoir for species that have had a harder time on agricultural land. But it helps to be intentional about where and when it’s done.
“Sometimes these city departments want to do the right thing, but there are different parts of city government that don’t always talk to each other,” Landry says. “Everyone wants to plant pollinator gardens, but if we manage what we have — we already have acres.”
IT’S A BRIGHT, COOL MORNING IN Pflugerville as Landry and her volunteers fan out. The property they’re working over was once a residential plot, with a relatively well-kept front lawn and a back acre left to grow wild. The resulting parcel — a dry, rocky grassland — is surprisingly rich in species.
Knee-high grass swishes against our legs as we walk. Landry points out several unobtrusive but handsome species: the tall, purpleflowered Leavenworth eryngo, Barbara’s buttons, and twist leaf yucca. Dragonflies zip like dogfighting aircraft overhead.
But the volunteers are on a mission. Landry stops regularly to mark clumps of longleaf buckwheat, a stalky, white-flowered plant that’s particularly beloved of bees. There are several mature individuals throughout the property that she’s flagged, and as we walk, she keeps noticing more. Finally, she brings the rootslayer shovel off her shoulder and digs it into the stony ground, cutting a wide circle around a big buckeye. The ground bulges and buckles as she pries it up. Then she carefully places it in a cooler full of cool water for the roots. Then she moves on to the next plant, and the next. Around the field, her colleagues are busy harvesting as many plants as they can.
Some of what they’re collecting isn’t blooming yet. Landry herself stops now and then to pull up seemingly unremarkable bits of root and gristle-dry stalk. There are plenty of species that need rescuing which aren’t in
bloom by the time they get out to a property, she says, and you need to be able to recognize them regardless of the state they’re in. Very often, they come out to find that Landry’s initial quick estimate of species has been wrong, and that there are far more interesting plants than expected.
But that’s the difficulty: there’s a limited amount of time and space, and many of these properties contain snapshots of species assemblages under serious pressure. Sometimes all they can do before the bulldozers arrive is to save a handful of plants, and let the landowners know what treasures they had, hidden in the seemingly unremarkable grass.
“A lot of time they’re very surprised by what we find,” Landry says. “I once had one of the developers tell me, ‘I just thought it was weeds. I just thought it was trees and weeds and rocks.’”
TOP An eryngo (Eryngium leavenworthii ) brightens up a development site; A parcel of dry, rocky grassland slated for development hosts a surprisingly rich number of species.
Why No Mow May Isn’t Enough to Change
Texas Lawn Culture
BY ADDIE BROYLES
ILLUSTRATIONS
BY DRUE WAGNER
ACROSS AMERICA, WHERE METICULOUSLY MANICURED LAWNS
IN MANY AREAS ARE FACING UNPRECEDENTED DROUGHT AND AN UNCERTAIN CLIMATE FUTURE, A MOVEMENT IS AFOOT TO DIVERSIFY LAWNS BY MOWING LESS.
A driver of this is No Mow May, a 2019 campaign by the British nonprofit Plantlife that encourages homeowners to stop mowing for one month in spring to encourage plant diversity and create more fodder for pollinators. Tempted by the idea of flower-filled meadows, some Americans have jumped on the No Mow bandwagon, only to find their yards full of windpollinated grasses and their mailboxes stuffed with HOA citations.
It’s an admirable attempt to get people to try something different with their yards, says Dr. Sean Griffin, director of science and conservation at the Wildflower Center, but it falls short of making much of an impact.
“No Mow May doesn’t tell the complete story,” Griffin says. “Most native bees and pollinators need resources throughout the whole growing season. And if you are doing No Mow for a single month and the rest of the time mowing as normal, you are likely just encouraging a bunch of lawn weeds that don’t benefit the pollinators.”
Cultivating a Monoculture
Our modern obsession with having a perfectly uniform and green yard can be tied to Europe as far back as the 17th and 18th centuries, when landscape paintings of the exquisitely kept gardens and short cut lawns of Versailles inspired early American landscape designs in places like Monticello and Mount Vernon.
After the Civil War, Americans started congregating in cities, where little cultivable land existed. But after the industrial revolution, they returned to rural areas, where homeowners — or even renters — could have their own tapis vert (French for “green carpet.”). A lawn to take care on the weekends. A place where kids could play in the sprinkler.
To keep that grass preternaturally green and unblemished, people quickly turned to fertilizers and pesticides. Throw in a gas-powered lawnmower and white picket fence, and you have an almost stereotypical picture of the American dream that hasn’t changed much in the last century.
Front yards in particular became an expression of power, a sign for all the world to see that the man who took care of it — and it was most likely a man until just 30 or 40 years ago — had the ability to conquer nature and command it
into submission.
In a country that values individualism, lawns seem to be one of the few places where we prize uniformity. But after a century of monoculture, Americans are realizing that diversity in any ecosystem is healthier for everything that lives in that ecosystem — including humans.
Does No Mow May Fix Anything?
Most of us learned how to take care of our yards from our parents, who learned from their parents and so on, says Andrea DeLongAmaya, director of horticulture at the Wildflower Center.
“Those habits get passed down whether they are good or not,” DeLong-Amaya says, and as people move around the country, they take their lawncare practices with them, but what works in New York or Oregon won’t work in Texas.
Having a cultivated lawn is something that many Americans are reluctant to give up, so it’s surprising that No Mow May has gained as much traction as it has among U.S. gardeners.
In places with milder spring and summer climates, like the upper Midwest where DeLongAmaya is from, homeowners might have more success with mowing less during the month of
May, but by the same time in Texas, conditions are comparable to what would be considered “summer” elsewhere.
The types of grasses that fill lawns from coast to coast vary, but for the most part, they are monocultures of species like St. Augustine (Stenotaphrum secundatum), Bermuda (Cynodon dactylon) and zoysia (Zoysia spp.) that do nothing for butterflies and bees, says DeLong-Amaya.
“If you just stop mowing, even for a month, the only thing that is going to come up is the grass getting taller,” DeLong-Amaya says. “Even if you have the native buffalograss, it’s not going to do much for pollinators.”
Rather than skipping a month of mowing, Griffin suggests a “slow mowing” strategy of cutting back on how frequently you mow all year round — every two or three weeks during the height of the growing season and once every month or even more infrequently during the dormant months.
He knows this isn’t feasible for every lawn, but his ideal mowing schedule would be once a year in late September or early October right before the rains begin.
Seeding Plant Diversity
Improving the micro-ecology of your yard
requires more than not mowing as often, Griffin and DeLong-Amaya say.
You have to actively plant new types of low growing flowers and grasses that don’t mind a little disturbance now and then. She recommends seeding native broadleaf herbaceous plants and low-growing creepy plants, such as scarlet pea ( Indigofera miniata), copper lily ( Habranthus tubispathus), prairie fleabane ( Erigeron modestus), gray golden-aster ( Heterotheca canescens), verbena (Verbena spp.), pink evening primrose (Oenothera speciosa), and native ruellia ( Ruellia spp.). Look into other kinds of groundcover, such as frogfruit ( Phyla nodiflora), which has a habitat value greater than grass. These are plants that tolerate being mowed periodically and provide fodder for pollinators if you decide to skip a month of mowing here and there.
Griffin recommends buying seeds from places like Native American Seed outside of Junction, Texas, which sells mixes of native grasses and flowers that will promote the greatest diversity of both plant and insect species. (The Wildflower Center sells several of these varieties in its Shop.)
“Leave the leaves” is another lawn care
“IF YOU USE NATIVE PLANTS AND SHRINK THE AMOUNT OF LAWN
YOU HAVE TO CARE FOR, IT REDUCES THE AMOUNT OF WORK YOU HAVE TO DO WHILE STILL HAVING A YARD THAT LOOKS GOOD.”
philosophy that is gaining traction, but DeLong-Amaya says this one requires scrutiny. While not all leaves break down quickly over time, especially the live oak leaves that fall each spring when the trees molt, it’s true that most leaves are harmless, even beneficial. You can rake your leaves and use them as mulch in your flower beds or around trees, which will help retain moisture during the hot months, or you can add to your compost pile.
An Experiment and an Experience
Think of No Mow as a science experiment rather than a game-changer, DeLong-Amaya says.
Leave a corner of your yard unmowed for a few weeks in April and May and again in October and November and see what happens. Take notes so you can reference them in the future. Get your kids or even teenagers involved so they can start taking note of the habitat they call home. She points out that bluebonnets ( Lupinus texensis), which are among the first flowers to bloom each spring, act as a natural deterrent to excessive mowing during a time of year when pollinators are looking for food.
She understands that not everybody has the time or interest to tear up the expensive sod in the backyard, but a little can go a long way. “Even planting lantana in a pot can be beneficial.”
She doesn’t recommend using chemicals on lawns because they are tied to the decline of insects — and not just butterflies and bees, which seem to get all the attention in the No Mow May campaign — but all of them, which affects the entire food chain.
“Not everybody is touchy feely about insects, but birds survive by eating insects and most people like having birds around,”
DeLong-Amaya says. “It’s not just about the butterflies and the bees.”
DeLong-Amaya takes the long view when talking about whether or not to let your grass grow longer than usual. She wants us to stop thinking about lawn care as a chore, she says.
“Don’t rely on what commercials tell you your yard should look like,” DeLong-Amaya says. “We are in an existential crisis right now because people are so disconnected from nature. We don’t value it. And we are screwed if we don’t turn that around. If we all start thinking about our lawns as a mini ecosystem that we have a responsibility to tend, the better off we’ll be as a global community.”
If you’re feeling confused about what’s best for your yard, you can always take classes through your local extension office, the Wildflower Center or organizations like the Austin Permaculture Guild. There are lots of landscape designers and permaculturists who can help assess the specific conditions and needs of your yard.
What Will the Neighbors Think?
Matt O’Toole knows a thing or two about dealing with HOAs.
A few years ago, the director of lands and operations at the Wildflower Center lived in Kyle, and when he tried to cultivate a yard with native flowers and grasses, “it was HOA notification central at our house,” he says. His household received citations for, among other things, having bluebonnets growing amid the St. Augustine grass.
O’Toole specializes in the restoration of landscapes in urban and rural settings and has since moved to Wimberley, where he has been building up organic material on the thin, low-nutrient Hill Country soil.
Within just a few years, he’s already seeing a natural diversification of the plants growing in his yards that includes little bluestem ( Schizachyrium scoparium) and milkweed ( Asclepias spp.), the latter of which is a critically important source of food for many species of butterflies, including the monarch ( Danaus plexippus).
Although O’Toole doesn’t have to worry about an HOA anymore, he understands that keeping up appearances is something many people have to take into consideration, even if they are just trying to keep the peace with their neighbors.
“The biggest thing is keeping a clean edge,” he says. That’s how you can communicate to neighbors that whatever you have going on in your yard is intentional. “You can do almost anything, as long as you keep that edge clean. It makes it look purposeful.”
Drought-conscious gardeners got a boost in 2013, when the Texas State Legislature passed S.B. 198, which prohibits homeowners’ associations from restricting property owners who want to install drought-resistant landscaping, water-conserving turf or rainwater collection systems, such as rain barrels.
Many HOAs require property owners to submit a variance request, but it is worth looking into if you are determined to have a yard that incorporates some of these strategies.
O’Toole encourages people to focus on the small successes. “You don’t want to overcommit, and then walk away in complete failure. You’ll lose your motivation. Take on a little at a time and then grow from there.”
Restoring a lawn into prairie can take a number of years, so O’Toole recommends creating a pocket prairie by seeding with panicums, gramas, little bluestem, big bluestem ( Andropogon gerardii ), purple top (Tridens flavus) and Indiangrass (Sorghastrum nutans). Eventually, you can transition to having just a pocket of manicured lawn, which would allow you to have some area for kicking around a soccer ball or enjoying the feeling of walking around barefoot on grass.
O’Toole doesn’t own a mower and prefers to manage his property using a string trimmer twice a year to mimic the dormancy cycle of perennial grasses, once in February as spring is starting to awaken and again in July when the plants start to dry out.
Using the trimmer during these times of year also helps distribute the seeds more
effectively than a mower, which concentrates the thatch and isn’t good for the soil or for seed germination. It also allows you to avoid wildflowers that might be starting to come up and creates a textured plane that is more forgiving for folks who can’t spend every weekend maintaining their yard.
Changing decades-long yard maintenance habits can take more than one growing season, Griffin says. “I worry about giving people too much homework, so I try to give them permission to do less work rather than more.”
Like his Wildflower Center colleagues, Griffin recommends starting with a corner of your yard to experiment with new plant varieties and maintenance strategies. “If you use native plants and shrink the amount of lawn you have to care for, it reduces the amount of work you have to do while still having a yard that looks good.”
Griffin noted that, in some ways, property owners are darned if they do something ecologically significant for their yard and darned if they don’t. During last year’s drought, the city of Austin gave citations to people who were watering their lush green lawns outside of the restricted days, while HOAs were fining people who let their grass die naturally.
Changing Lawn Culture
With so many people moving to Texas and the sprawling neighborhoods being built to accommodate them, it’s going to take a long time to change Texas lawn culture, even with worsening drought conditions, but Griffin finds hope in places like Tucson, where homeowners have shifted their entire culture away from traditional lawns to xeriscaping.
Daphne Richards, the Travis County extension agent for horticulture, is quick to point out that xeriscaping does not mean desert.
“People think that xeriscaping is taking out all the plants and putting in rocks and desert plants,” she says. “That’s not it at all. It’s a philosophy that builds your landscape with water conservation in mind.”
Plants that require the most water are planted closest to the house, and everything gets a proper layer of mulch to keep water in. What people don’t realize is that grass is a kind of living mulch that keeps water in the soil, insulates soil from the sun and prevents erosion.
“We never want people to change everything to rock,” she says. “Taking grass out
and replacing it with non-living material [including Astroturf] is not the answer.”
“We need something living on our soil, whether that’s a lawn that you water judiciously or something else, but something needs to cover the ground so when we have water deluges, the soil doesn’t get washed away. Grass is like a living mulch, and it prevents erosion.”
Richards knows that the majority of property owners aren’t ready to give up their manicured lawns, so she advocates for people to take good care of what they have by first being informed about what they have. Take note to see if you have horseherb (Calyptocarpus vialis), native ruellia species (Ruellia spp.), rainlily (Cooperia pedunculata) or other native “weeds” already growing in your yard. Maybe avoid mowing them to encourage them to spread.
“It’s complex for people to understand. Mowing, fertilizing, watering — these are all challenging tasks, especially with the unpredictable climate. Lawn care isn’t one-sizefits-all.”
She sympathizes with people who have tried to seed or plant new species only to have them die during a prolonged drought. Even
native plants in the sun need supplemental water during the summers we’ve been having, she says.
It’s easy to want to give up on your yard after a particularly tough stretch of drought, but Richards says it’s important not to just ignore what’s outside your house.
“I don’t beat people up for having a lawn,” she says. “If you know how to take care of a lawn, it will come back after a dormant summer.” If you do fertilize, wait until the end of May, and only do it a few times a year, not every month.
Whatever you do, don’t cut your grass more than a third of its total length or you’ll damage the plant. So if you let it grow tall, you’ll have to cut it back slowly over several weeks.
“It’s good to think about reducing the size of the lawn, but consider what you need from your yard. You are part of the ecosystem, too.”
In a state with such a strong sense of identity, Texans will chart their own course when it comes to lawns, but hopefully No Mow May will encourage them to learn the strategies that work best for their property, no matter its size or what’s growing on it already.
Mow less. Mow later. And plant wisely. After a few seasons, you might not be mowing at all.
The latest on our gardens and our work by Wildflower Center Staff
CELEBRATING TEN YEARS OF INSPIRED PLAY
SINCE 2014, the Luci and Ian Family Garden has provided countless opportunities for our youngest visitors to learn about nature through hands-on play. From a kid-sized wildlife blind to a flowing creek with dinosaur footprints, the 4.5-acre space is a model of sustainable landscaping that offers more than a dozen interactive and educational features made of natural materials. Truly transformative, the Family Garden has facilitated innovative new programming, welcomed imaginative exhibitions, and attracted thousands of new guests and members to the Wildflower Center for ten years.
GIFTS OF NOTE
The Wildflower Center would like to acknowledge these generous gifts and their donors:
John and Page Schreck $600,000 in support of the Carriage House Restoration Project
Winn Family Foundation, $250,000 in support of Science and Conservation
Laura and John Beckworth/ The Hobby Foundation
$25,000 in support of Fortlandia
St. Elbow, LLC $40,000 in support of the St. Elmo Arts Residency
Garrison Brothers Distillery $30,000, plus continuous support from the sale of the distillery’s Lady Bird Expression Bourbon, in support of the Carriage House Restoration Project
Tres Grace Foundation, $25,000 in support of Education and Community Access
PHOTO Brian Birzer
TEN QUESTIONS WITH AMY WELCH
Our new Ten Questions feature focuses on volunteers, experts, donors and other passionate individuals who significantly contribute to the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center and native plant conservation.
What do you collect from your garden or land?
In our family home in Iowa, we harvest luscious black raspberries for weeks and make the BEST pies.
Mountains or ocean?
Oceans or deserts. Mountains are fine in the distance, because my two least favorite things are heights and cold.
Who or what originally inspired you to be a gardener or land steward?
Reading “Silent Spring” by Rachel Carson in middle school, “Living the Good Life” by Helen and Scott Nearing in high school — and then getting to meet them later. And, finally, my Environmental Studies classes as a freshman at Iowa State in the 1970’s.
Amy Welch has been a volunteer with the Center since 2017, and an active docent since 2018. Upon retirement from a long career in mental health and medicine, Amy began studying drawing and painting, a hobby that has blossomed into a second career. Amy focuses much of her artistic energy on native plants, and her delicate, accurate botanical renderings are proudly featured in the Wildflower Center’s new Shop and Gallery.
What recharges you?
Very long hikes, making art and reading a really good book.
Your favorite native North American plant?
Bluebonnets of course. But I also love all kinds of spiderworts and milkweeds.
Your favorite garden in the world?
My favorite garden is the Wildflower Center. I was also wowed by the Denver Botanic Garden, the Greater Des Moines Botanical Garden, and I love Filoli in California. I already have a list of gardens to visit for 2024!
What do you look forward to all year in your garden?
Seeing the changes in each plant and enjoying their architecture.
If you went back to college for fun, what would you study? I am back in college, to some extent. At the tender age of 65, I just began a diplomate program in Botanical Illustration in the United Kingdom.
Is there anything that frustrates you about gardening? Not being in one place consistently to take care of mine.
Favorite country outside of the United States?
Right now, it would be western Crete (Greece) where I’ve traveled the past two years and spent my days going on very long hikes, painting, and then reading really good books! I am off to New Zealand now so that may soon change.
CENTERED: Thank You, Donors
$100,000 and ABOVE
Jeanie and Tommy Carter*
Estate of Warren Gould
Page and John Schreck*
Melinda and Stephen Winn*/ Winn Family Foundation Inc
$25,000 to $99,999
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Estate of Hester Currens
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Nancy Taylor
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Recognizing contributions given from Sept. 1, 2022, to Aug. 31, 2023
Foundation Inc.
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Native Plant Society of TexasFredericksburg
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*Lady Bird Society | Society members sustain the work of the Center by pledging unrestricted annual gifts for three years or more, providing a stable source of funding for key programs.
Texas Attorney General’s Office Information Technology Team
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Richard Tomhave
Janey Trowbridge
Angela and Mario Ubalde*
Nancy and Terry Wagner
Carole Walsh-Knutson and Kelley Knutson*
Richard Ware
Serene and Christopher Warren*
Harvey Weisblat/Dallas Jewish Community Foundation
Irina Weisblat
Banford Weissmann*
Donald Wertz
Westchester Community College Foundation
Lyn White
Marget and Mark Wincent
Tomi and Pete Winstead
Betty Wright
Charles Young
Mary Zachry
$500 to $999
Tyler Abell
Ramona Adams
Adla Studio
Albert Amado
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Ana Hunt
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Mary Y. Knight
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Margaret Kress
Barbara Kyse
Nicole LaFlamme
Estate of Charles M.Langford III
Patricia Larsen
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Mary Lott
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Lynn Marderosian
Charles Martin
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Ailsie and Peter McEnteggart
Earl McGehee
Shannon McGill
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Summers McKay
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Tait Moring
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Mary Sheppard
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Daniel Stenger
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Holland Timmins
Alexander Tschursin
Paula Vaughan
Thomas Vetter
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Lee Weatherford
Dan Wheat
Mary White
Sarah Whitley
Roger Williams
Ann Wilson
Elizabeth Alford Young
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CORPORATE GIFTS & PARTNERS
$25,000 and ABOVE
St. Elbow, LLC
Garrison Brothers Distillery
H. E. Butt Grocery Company
Tito’s Handmande Vodka
$10,000 to $24,999
Bartlett Tree Experts
$5,000 to $9,999
TexCrete Designs
Madera Custom Homes
$1,000 to $4,999
Capital Printing Company, Inc.
Oso Electric Equipment, LLC
Texas Urban Sawmill
GLIDE, LLC
Austin Wood Recycling
WayAround
Desert Door Distillery
Lady Bird Mixer Company
Desert Door Distillery
Austin Community Foundation
A Wild Soap Bar
New Directions in the American Landscape
$500 to $999
Central Texas Valet
Texas Coffee Traders, Inc.
Eco Blossom Nursery
Jerry’s Artarama
Thermo Fisher Scientific, Inc.
Meridian Hive Meadery
YETI Holdings, Inc.
Applewood Seed Company
Environmental Survey Consulting
EarthShare of Texas facilitates workplace giving by offering employees the opportunity to pledge a portion of their paychecks to environmental nonprofits. To learn more and donate, visit earthshare-texas.org
Can Do
Garden Giving Grows Here
Plants and seeds are a natural fit for barter economies
by Kate Rowe
WHY IS IT THAT GARDENERS SEEM TO BE INHERENTLY GENEROUS PEOPLE?
Perhaps it is because gardening is an activity that creates so many opportunities for giving. There is something deeply satisfying about sharing the fruits (and vegetables! and flowers!) of one’s labor, whether a bouquet of homegrown blooms or an envelope of seeds from a recent harvest. Of course, such gifts don’t come on demand every season. Difficult weather and uninvited pests can foil even the most dedicated gardener. Yet these experiences, too, are opportunities for sharing, even if it’s simply the act of commiseration. Regardless of the quality or quantity of one’s garden output, the act of gardening produces a sense of overflowing abundance, meant for passing along to others.
Two Austin gardeners are finding ways to share their gifts and, through these acts of giving, connect with neighbors and other gardeners.
A charming, greenroofed seed library from the East Austin Seed Exchange. PHOTO Central Texas Seed Savers
SAVING, SHARING AND SOWING SEEDS
In 2018, Colleen Dieter, a garden educator, podcast host and the owner of Red Wheelbarrow Landscape Consulting, founded Central Texas Seed Savers, a group focused on preserving and sharing seeds that are diverse and locally adapted. The group organizes seed swap events, fruit tree scion swaps and monthly seed gatherings. It also provides seeds to local seed libraries, which can be found within some public library branches.
The swaps bring together people of all levels of gardening, from newbies to the very experienced. What all participants tend to have in common, Dieter has observed, is that they tend to 1) be smart, 2) love plants and 3) enjoy talking about plants and sharing their knowledge with others. A swap offers a chance for such gardeners to connect and learn without being in a formal class. “Just somebody sharing their knowledge one on one, it’s really special,” Dieter says. Gardeners can hear “straight from the person who grew it how successful it was and what it’s like to grow it.”
At the Fall 2023 Central Texas Seed Savers Swap at the Austin Central Library, there was a buzz of energy, excitement and laughter as people
perused tables filled with vegetable, fruit, tree, wildflower and native plant seeds; filled envelopes with their seed selections; asked questions and shared stories; and came away with seeds to take home to plant in their home gardens.
It’s not hard to start a conversation at a seed swap, whether it’s asking about a variety that has eluded one’s grasp or getting more information about a plant one has never heard of. Gardeners who bring seeds to share at the swap, meanwhile, discuss not only the properties of the plants they are contributing, but the special connections they have to them.
Seed saving and swapping fit right in as part of a sharing and giving economy. Dieter has heard from participants that being able to get seeds from a seed library or a seed swap event has helped them have a garden that they wouldn’t be able to otherwise.
“If someone is bringing seeds from their garden, it means that that plant was successful enough to make seeds… it gives you an edge over purchasing seeds from a company based in another part of the world,” Dieter says. She is constantly considering ways Central Texas Seed Savers might expand their efforts to share knowledge and seeds. High growth potential, indeed.
A well-attended seed swap at the Austin Central Library.
PHOTO Kate Rowe
A LITTLE FREE HERB GARDEN
Jenna Burleson-Davis is the gardener behind the Little Free Herb Garden in a North Central Austin neighborhood. This garden, which she started the summer of 2022, is tucked in her front yard, close to the curb and her driveway. Similar in spirit to the concept of a Little Free Library, where visitors are invited to take a book from and/or leave a book in a volunteer-
hosted book exchange box, this little free herb garden is all about giving fresh herbs to any passerby. Cut what you will use, with no need to leave anything in exchange.
The idea for creating this free herb garden percolated with Burleson-Davis for a long time. Through her own experience with backyard gardening, she knew that some herbs can grow enormous and provide much more than she could ever dream of using. She also observed that some herbs start to flower quickly and need to be cut frequently to keep producing. The more they are harvested, the better they taste and the longer they thrive. At the same time, Burleson-Davis was participating in a local Buy Nothing group and appreciated being a part of the gift economy, where things are freely given with no expectation of exchange. “It feels really good to just plain give things to meet needs and plants just feel like they were meant for such a calling!” she says.
All of the herbs are clearly labeled for easy identification, as is the garden itself with a Little Free Herb Garden sign, and Burleson-Davis provides a pair of scissors for easy harvesting. People walk, bike, scoot or drive by to snip a few leaves, then proceed on their routes, later incorporating the herbs into their cooking at home. “It feels a bit like a magical garden because you really wouldn’t know that anyone is using it!” Burleson-Davis exclaims. “Whatever herbs are in season remain full and lush and overgrown, even! I swear the plants that people tend to clip from grow back twice as full. Magic!”
During the ice storm of February 2023, Burleson-Davis was very concerned about protecting her herb garden. She went to great lengths and consulted with other gardeners on ideas to protect the plants from the extreme conditions. “Because it’s for other people, I find myself caring for it more,” she said. She tucks a few garden tools directly behind the bed, so that she can immediately dig in if she notices something needs attention on one of her frequent walks by the garden.
Neighbors, meanwhile, appreciate this ready supply of fresh herbs. They leave thank you notes in Burleson-Davis’ mailbox letting her know how often they use her herbs in their kitchens. Some neighbors share gifts of food they’ve made with her herbs. Others use herbs from the garden in dishes they bring to neighborhood potlucks. This ongoing gift of garden herbs has resulted in the sharing of food, recipes and tips. The natural bounty of the herb garden, paired with neighbors harvesting frequently and Burleson-Davis tending with care, has grown a cycle that feeds itself.
GARDEN GIFTS FOR US ALL
There’s something thrilling about seeing a plant thrive and then being able to celebrate and share that joy with other plant lovers. It’s a circle of giving and receiving, growing and harvesting, passing along the plants and the knowledge.
Dieter emphasizes that the sharing of seeds and information is of special importance in Central Texas, that farmers and home gardeners need to have access to varieties that thrive within the parameters of the odd seasons, extreme weather and less-than-optimal soil conditions. We all benefit from the exchange of plants and seeds, knowledge and experiences – whether it’s a jar full of fresh herbs to cook with all week, wildflower seeds to sow or a problem-solving tip. Gardeners are connecting in new ways and sharing information to cultivate and nurture their communities.
A Brentwood resident supplies neighbors with fresh herbs. PHOTO Kate Rowe
KEEP THE SHOW ON THE ROAD
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Plant People
Up close and personal with big red sage (Salvia pentstemonoides) in the Wildflower Center gardens.
PHOTO Wildflower Center
Go Big Red
Fans Rally to Conserve a Rare Sage
by Jessi White, Seed Bank Coordinator
THE DISTINCTIVE DEEP-FUSCHIA FLOWERS OF TEXAS’ BIG RED SAGE (Salvia pentstemonoides) lit up the Wildflower Center’s gardens in 2023. Thanks to the care of our horticulture team, a casual observer would not know how elusive this plant is in the wild.
Found only in the Edwards Plateau in Central Texas, it’s among the rarest plants in Texas and remains under constant threat from drought, herbivory, and habitat destruction. By 1949 it was believed to have gone extinct, and stories of its rediscovery range from dramatic tales of arson, trespassing and betrayal to inspirational anecdotes full of luck, hope and joy.
Given the rarity of this beautiful plant in the wild, our science and conservation team at the Wildflower Center has made big red sage a primary focus of our work. We scout for undocumented wild populations, collect seeds, and cultivate new plants to learn more about its biology. Expanding our seed bank collections allows us to study how this species responds to long term storage, ensuring that we have a healthy collection of backup seeds in case one of the scarce wild populations is destroyed.
There are only six known wild-growing big red sage populations in our area, and we were able to monitor a few of them this summer. Prolonged drought resulted in bleak outcomes, but one special population located at a privately owned site managed by the Cibolo Center for Conservation, was doing surprisingly well. This site not only hosts our healthiest known population of big red sage but possesses a notably high concentration of endemic plant species in general, especially
in comparison to other important areas in the Edwards Plateau region.
Our three incredibly passionate and generous guides were also notable. Our initial scouting trip was led by Dr. Clark Terrell, a retired psychiatrist and current volunteer, Patty Leslie Pazstor, an independent environmental consultant and educator, and Darla Reid, an environmental scientist for the Cibolo Center. Each volunteered their time to show us around the site. Their extensive knowledge of local flora and commitment to this place seemed boundless.
Clark Terrell (left), tour guide, and George Yatskievych (right), curator of the Billie L. Turner Plant Resources Center, admire a big red sage flower stalk from the edge of a bluff.
PHOTO Jonathan Flickinger
A big red sage flower stalk, showing the various stages of seed development. At the top there is a flower in bloom. Below that, the green calyces (part of the flower that encloses the petals) have immature seeds inside that are still developing. And at the bottom, the brown calyces have mature seeds and are ready for collection.
We stopped about every five feet to observe something interesting — wand butterflybush (Buddleja racemosa), plateau milkvine ( Matelea edwardsensi s), and spreading leastdaisy (Chaetopappa effusa) — all within yards of each other. We shared stories of plants we’d seen and tricks to help identify them, bonding over how incredible it was to see so many endemic species occurring there in such abundance. We marveled at the intricate tracking system Clark created to lead him back to all the specific species he monitors on this site. I feverishly took notes in
hopes of one day knowing a place as well as Clark knows Cibolo Bluffs.
When we reached the big red sage population, our guides warned us to watch our step and made sure nobody rolled an ankle on the stones that dappled the entire landscape. It became clear why these particular plants were in such great health — turns out, an outcropping on the side of a cliff is the perfect hiding spot for rare plants. Two other beloved rare species, Boerne bean ( Phaseolus texensis) and hairy sycamore-leaf snowbell ( Styrax platanifolius ssp . stellatus) were thriving
PHOTO Jessi White
The view from the top of the bluff where these big red sage plants live. The location provides ample protection from herbivory. PHOTO Jessi White
alongside big red sage. This microhabitat was perfectly situated away from threats of deer, and the rock formations allowed water to flow right through the area. The overlook was challenging to access, but we climbed down, one at a time, to catch a glimpse of the striking flowers.
Other populations in the area lack such advantages. Patty offered to take us to the site where the original population was rediscovered, even though it was no longer present due to a flood. The absence of big red sage highlighted the plant’s vulnerability and emphasized the need for protection. Motivated by the experience, we left with a renewed commitment to the work ahead.
A couple months later, I returned to collect seeds. Clark and Darla led me back to the population. Clark went down first — backwards, holding onto rocks for support — and I followed, handing him my clipboard with my envelopes and data sheets before descending to the ledge.
Collecting the seeds was an unforgettable experience. Surrounded by deep green rosettes with long toppling stalks and remnants of what was once an unmissable deep-fuschia bloom, I was overwhelmed by the beauty before me. There is also something thrilling about balancing on the side of a bluff to ensure all seeds make it into the envelope. What struck me the most, though, was the immense dedication of my guides and the connection they held with this place.
Visiting this population of big red sage and meeting Clark, Darla and Patty confirmed that the health of this species is dependent on the health of wild populations, and wild populations are most successful when dedicated, passionate people share their knowledge and continue to steward places like this one. Our work at the Wildflower Center aims to not only conserve plants like big red sage, but to ensure the memories, stories, histories and people associated with them are not made obsolete.
Our group hiking out to the population on our initial scouting trip. Clark (in front, leading the group) showed us a lot of cool endemic species throughout this wooded area. PHOTO
Jessi White
When One Door Closes
How Losing My Job Made Me a Gardener by
Lisa Boice
I WAS AT WORK, LOOKING AT MY PHONE as I reviewed the estimate my landscaper sent me. A text then popped up about a last-minute meeting. I turned to my laptop, logged on to the video meeting and, in a matter of 15 minutes, was informed that my position at the company was eliminated.
Spring obedience plant (Physostegia intermedia) grows near a fence in the author’s garden. PHOTO Lisa Boice
With all the feelings that come with life-changing news, I called my husband. After we hung up, I took a deep breath and texted the landscaper: I can’t sign the estimate. I just lost my job.
Though I had worked 34 years for large corporations — this last one for over 18 years — I was nine years from retirement. A year earlier, I started dabbling in gardening during the pandemic, when working from home cut my commute and freed up some time. I had also given up on annuals purchased from hardware stores and wanted to start a garden of native plants. It’s the reason I’d originally contacted the landscaper.
The job loss hurt and left a huge hole in my life. Aside from the obvious financial hit, I was not expecting to also grieve the loss of purpose and community. I needed to move forward, so I told my husband that evening, “Well, now that I have all this time on my hands, I can create this garden myself.”
That week, a co-worker who heard I was let go filled up the back of my car trunk with native plants from her garden. A neighbor gave me extra purple coneflowers (Echinacea purpurea) from hers. And that same week, I shopped at the Wildflower Center’s Fall Native Plant Sale, filling up my trunk again. I found myself with loads of plants but there was a problem: I was leaving town in a few days. I knew I needed to prepare the area, but I threw up my hands and just put the plants in the ground.
Once back in town, I faced an empty calendar, so I made appointments with my garden. I’d block out time for the trips to a landscape supplier where I handpicked rock out of wire baskets and loaded them into my car trunk. Most days, I only focused on a couple square feet in my yard, placing rocks for a border, working on the soil, or weeding around the areas where I hastily put in plants prior to leaving town. Other days I laid brown paper grocery bags as a weed barrier and covered them with mulch.
Throughout the process, I wondered how I would ever make any progress with such small, insignificant efforts. Then one day I stopped to look at what I’d done. I saw color, texture, contrast and repetition. These were elements of design I understood, having worked with creative people over the years. My heart swelled with delight as I said out loud: “I made this garden!”
Over the years, I’d forgotten what the satisfaction that comes from seeing something to
fruition felt like. At my old job there were so many false starts to a project. Even if a project did start, it wasn’t recognizable after so many colleagues got involved.
At home, among native flowers and grasses, I learned to go easy on myself if I made a mistake. In the garden, the stakes weren’t high like they were at my former job. So what if I had planted an American beautyberry (Callicarpa americana) too close to other plants? I’d simply move it.
I also realized what I couldn’t control. Mother Nature sent ice storms and record-breaking 100-degree plus temperatures. And when I loosened my grip on how I viewed weeds, I released the pressure on myself. If it looked okay, I’d leave it. It wasn’t the end of the world.
Perhaps the greatest gift was that I was learning something new. I stretched my brain in ways I hadn’t before. I attended classes at the Wildflower Center, noting how and when to cut back my plants. Instructors taught me how to weed and what tools to use. I found a new community of people to help me.
New visitors flitted and buzzed around my infant garden. We’d always had bird feeders, but more birds were showing up. Goldfinches fed on the seeds of the purple coneflowers. Hummingbirds not only drank from our nectar feeders but enjoyed the salvia (Salvia spp.) and wax mallow (Malvaviscus arboreus var. drummondii ) blooms. Bees of all types adorned the flowers and a host of ladybugs gorged on aphids that briefly overwhelmed my white gaura (Oenothera lindheimeri ). Swallowtail butterflies fluttered their wings from bloom to bloom.
At a time when I lost my sense of purpose, my garden rescued me. I learned patience, and that mistakes were okay. And that little efforts, when strung together, pay off in a beautiful way. My former job didn’t teach me those things, but my garden did.
The author at the Wildflower Center’s Fall Native Plant Sale. PHOTO courtesy Lisa Boice
